Rocket Girl said:
This does not reflect my personal experience with the term "gamer" and the community that uses it. But I do get where you're coming from; the point is that it's a term that applies to anyone that plays games regardless of gender, sex, race, political affiliation etc. and the recent consistent efforts to tear it down are not helping anyone and especially the plead of those developers.
We should use the term for everyone, yes, but I'd argue some people don't -- and enough don't for it to be an ugly, uninviting sore point on the community. For example, have you ever heard someone refer to some gamers as "casual gamers"? Others go on to say those "casuals" aren't real gamers. In fact, a thread on the Escapist recently, regarding the population of female gamers had several people ponder aloud if they were "real gamers" or just played casual, "iPhone" games. I can dig some quotes up for you if you like, but I imagine you've seen them as well.
No doubt the term gamer should be used freely by anyone that enjoys video games. But our community could use some work on just how we address some of our fellow video game lovers.[/quote]
The difference here, though, is that one can easily be a self-identified "gamer". Worst-case-scenario they will run into some elitist prick that will mock them, but they still won't be able to remove that title from them. Even that scenario is comparetively rare in the community. The question of casual gamers vs hardcore gamers isn't new and while it's been applied now between mobile games and traditional games, five or eight years ago the same debate was happening in regards to traditional games and the Wii shovelware. The term is constantly redefined, because it's tied to technology and its progress, hence the various similar debates, but there isn't an actual need (or push) for distinction between gamers.
This destinction exists, mind you, but this has always been the case. For all intends and purposes I'm a casual gamer, because I don't spend a ridiculous amount of money on all the available systems. Before that, I was a casual gamer, because I wouldn't complete every single on of the hundreds of quests in Baldur's Gate 2, like many completionists would.
In the medium's current form, the countless people I even overhear talking about Fruit Ninja or Flappy Bird have put money in the industry and have welcomed its effects and distinctions from other forms of entertainment. They may themselves be defined as "casual" gamers, but they are gamers nonetheless.
