Poll: Do you know the definition on gamer?
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When I use the word, I generally refer to people who play games as a hobby and have some interest in them as a medium.
They talk about them with friends, hang out on forums, or follow the gaming news...
But if someone who just played Angry Birds on his daughter's phone once wants to call himself a gamer, it's not like I mind.
And I generally don't identify as one because I don't have much reason to.
They talk about them with friends, hang out on forums, or follow the gaming news...
But if someone who just played Angry Birds on his daughter's phone once wants to call himself a gamer, it's not like I mind.
And I generally don't identify as one because I don't have much reason to.
I guess you could say what makes is a gamer is anyone who's experiences with games goes beyond just playing them, regular discussion, joining game related groups and reading trending news of games would make you a gamer. It's like the difference between a movie goer and a movie snub.
Right now there's a bit of a tantrum going on because someone declared "no more gamers," so we apparently didn't.Casual Shinji said:
I agree with the idea that simply playing games isn't enough to be a gamer - and if it is, then the word is meaningless and we need a new one.
Using the same logic, not everyone who has hummed a random tune is a composer, eating fast food doesn't make you a restaurant critic, and we can't all proudly put "writer and author" on our resumés just because we wrote out a shopping list that morning and once wrote a story in school. We could blur the boundaries and twist meaning to "prove" some agenda we had, but in doing so we'd be rendering the point moot.
Using the same logic, not everyone who has hummed a random tune is a composer, eating fast food doesn't make you a restaurant critic, and we can't all proudly put "writer and author" on our resumés just because we wrote out a shopping list that morning and once wrote a story in school. We could blur the boundaries and twist meaning to "prove" some agenda we had, but in doing so we'd be rendering the point moot.
Actually they did exist way back in the arcades. A casual gamer would always get destroyed when it was their turn to play SF or MK. Hardcore gamers ruled the arcades, especially the ones I been too. So yes, they did exist back then as terms. The problem is that the terms have little meaning now because of matchmaking systems and other things that prevent hardcore gamers from destroying the rest and creating a social hierarchy.small said:
It's only ever meant someone who plays games, and ( to varying degrees) usually as a hobby.
While gamers do adopt the term to describe themselves, they aren't the only ones who use it. Companies push and force the "gamer" term in order to create consumer culture to sell games/merch/TV/mags to make money. Games Journalism also partakes in this.
But now they decide to turn on this concept and a large portion of the their consumer base in order to cater to ??? to make money by ???
It's also amusing that as hard as they're trying to force "gamer" into being a bad word, "gaymer" is still a-ok.
While gamers do adopt the term to describe themselves, they aren't the only ones who use it. Companies push and force the "gamer" term in order to create consumer culture to sell games/merch/TV/mags to make money. Games Journalism also partakes in this.
But now they decide to turn on this concept and a large portion of the their consumer base in order to cater to ??? to make money by ???
It's also amusing that as hard as they're trying to force "gamer" into being a bad word, "gaymer" is still a-ok.
Ostensibly it'd be a person who plays games, but apparently in the eyes of the community at large it's a person who devotes their entire life to playing games.
EDIT:
Oh yeah and this too:
EDIT:
Oh yeah and this too:
Zhukov said:
Someone who finds that gaming is his hobby and invests himself into it.
Same as someone who simply eats 3 meals a day isn't a gourmand, someone who turns on a phone game just to kill time isn't a gamer.
It's a hobby. I'm not a coin collector for having coins in my wallet. I'm not a moviebuff for going in the cinema twice a year. It's not a deeper meaning. It's a deeper relationship between the person and the games.
Same as someone who simply eats 3 meals a day isn't a gourmand, someone who turns on a phone game just to kill time isn't a gamer.
It's a hobby. I'm not a coin collector for having coins in my wallet. I'm not a moviebuff for going in the cinema twice a year. It's not a deeper meaning. It's a deeper relationship between the person and the games.
Oh wonderful, another thread hell-bent on separating us into further classes of "true gamer".
OT: It's a hobby. Some of us are more into it than others, and some of us have more time for it than others. Just because I went out and spent a bajillion dollars on my PC doesn't mean I'm any better of a gamer. A modern true "gamer" would be trying to support the industry by buying ALL the consoles, building a mid-range PC, playing new releases every week, and blogging about it.
So maybe I'm not hardcore enough, but to me it's just someone who also enjoys video games that's apt enough to talk with me about it.
OT: It's a hobby. Some of us are more into it than others, and some of us have more time for it than others. Just because I went out and spent a bajillion dollars on my PC doesn't mean I'm any better of a gamer. A modern true "gamer" would be trying to support the industry by buying ALL the consoles, building a mid-range PC, playing new releases every week, and blogging about it.
So maybe I'm not hardcore enough, but to me it's just someone who also enjoys video games that's apt enough to talk with me about it.
Answer your question with another question:
What's your definition of a game?
To those that say "people that play games" do we include baseball players and people who play chess often?
And if we say "computer games or video games" do we include people who play Microsoft solitaire and web browsers like Neopets?
But I pretty much agree with the usual definition of "people who play video games as a main hobby". And yeah that includes playing just Microsoft solitaire and neopets 24/7. I have a pretty broad definition and I think it really varies from person to person. I personally don't find the term neither sacred or offensive either. I tend to throw it around willy nilly.
What's your definition of a game?
To those that say "people that play games" do we include baseball players and people who play chess often?
And if we say "computer games or video games" do we include people who play Microsoft solitaire and web browsers like Neopets?
But I pretty much agree with the usual definition of "people who play video games as a main hobby". And yeah that includes playing just Microsoft solitaire and neopets 24/7. I have a pretty broad definition and I think it really varies from person to person. I personally don't find the term neither sacred or offensive either. I tend to throw it around willy nilly.
I've answered this before on other posts. The way I define a gamer is can I talk to you about games. I'm not talking about your kill streak in Call of Duty, or the latest Madden game that you're in love with. I mean if I ask you a question about Dark Souls lore, can you talk about it? What was your favorite loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2? Oh man, remember than one time in Final Fantasy VII?
Stuff like that. Can I have a conversation with you that goes beyond, "Yeah, I played that game. It was fun"? If the answer is yes, then that is what makes a gamer to me.
Stuff like that. Can I have a conversation with you that goes beyond, "Yeah, I played that game. It was fun"? If the answer is yes, then that is what makes a gamer to me.
Specificity is inherently gonna exclude some people because for something to be one thing it is inherently not being another thing. The thing is that...this happens due to reasons. Due to valid reasons, if I may say so.Phasmal said:
Gamer as a notion came to be from an age where casual gaming the likes of which can be had on modern phones and facebook didn't really exist. It didn't really cover stuff like that. It is simply inaccurate to broaden the scope of the term for the sake of being inclusive. Yes, we do indeed become more inclusive that way but we also become less accurate in our terminology. This inaccuracy causes conflict, confusion, alienation, arguments and a whole lot more trouble than being not as inclusive as possible would.
The problem with being more specific with a term such as gamer is pretty much described in this thread- nobody can agree on a definition BEYOND `plays games`.Dreiko said:
It IS a broad term. I kind of fail to see how it would cause conflict, confusion, alienation OR arguments. Why would it?
The only reason I can think is if you meet another person who defines themselves as a gamer in a different way than you do, and then you just move on. It's not particularly upsetting.
Gamer has come to mean, at least in my head, something like fan of video games. Someone who enjoys them and consumes them on, as regular basis as his life allows him.
It's not some super hard core title, worthy of elite few and maybe could exclude people who play snake because they can not do anything else at that moment. But that is as much as deep as I'm willing to cut.
So, my friends mother who plays zuma and clones at least hour a day along with some plants vs zombies etc is not only a gamer but an avid gamer, person who relies on video games as a form of relaxant, a activity that makes her life better and happier.
It's not some super hard core title, worthy of elite few and maybe could exclude people who play snake because they can not do anything else at that moment. But that is as much as deep as I'm willing to cut.
So, my friends mother who plays zuma and clones at least hour a day along with some plants vs zombies etc is not only a gamer but an avid gamer, person who relies on video games as a form of relaxant, a activity that makes her life better and happier.
Aside from the fact that it refers to someone who enjoys video games, gaming is such a ridiculously diverse topic that any attempts to be more specific are ultimately futile.
In that case, no. There is no definition of "gamer" because it is only used to distinguish us from "not true gamers".CaitSeith said:
- Did you own ever console generation from the Odyssey on?
No. Then you are not a gamer.
Yes - Did you beat God Hand on hard?
No. Then you are not a gamer.
Yes. - Can you tell by memory the conditions to get a golden chocobo in FF 7?
No. Then you are not a gamer.
Yes. - Can you tell me the date of Outlaws release on Atari 2600?
No. Then you are not a gamer.
Yes. - Can you tell me the commands to the Scorpion fatality in MK 1?
No. Then you are not a gamer.
...
See what I did there? Its sort of a catch 22, where I can keep adding conditions so that only those I deem worthy of the title get it. At heart, gamers are people that like to play video games, not some cabal of people with some higher understanding and secret handshake.
Phasmal said:
If you peel back the irrelevant layers I only see two definitions. Either everyone's grandmother who once played wii sports is a gamer just as much as people who win millions of dollars on DOTA or someone who fits the profile of a serious hobbyist is a gamer.
Any other opinion is either easily filed under these two definitions or too uncommon to be able to be ascribed to a big demographic with any degree of success. Of course, it sucks for those who do genuinely hold those opinions which indeed fall outside of that binary scope but it doesn't change anything with regard to this topic. Nobody is gonna go after them, people just go after the other side of the binary opinion I describe above, whichever that "other side" happens to be with respect to their own view. Therefore, I think focusing the discussion around just these two reigning views is most prudent.
On the other hand, at the time, the term could apply to someone that played mostly Tetris and Doctor Mario on their gameboy. However, most people here would resist to include those that play similar games on facebook or mobile.Dreiko said:
If this has to be a definition, it has to stand the test of time. It has to be about the experience, not the device, and it can't be changed with every device that enables that experience. It would be like saying only those watching movies on the cinema gets to be called "cinephile", thus excluding people that watch DVDs; or only those that played the games on their original form to be called gamers, thus excluding emulators.