Poll: The term "gamer"

[Escapefromwhatever]

Is it just me, or does the term "gamer" annoy anybody else? I can't quite fully articulate what I don't like about it, but I guess it annoys me because it seems like anybody who has touched anything remotely related to games is automatically labeled a gamer, and is assumed to be part of some quirky social order, as if there is some "Gamer HQ" where people dressed up as Gordon Freeman and Mario plot to take over the world.


Also, how cool would it be if Gordon Freeman and Mario took over the world?

 

[Super_Nintendo_Chalmers]

I think that the term Gamer is too generalising, Gamer should be a word that's used only for serious gamers, or, we could be called Players. Which has a much better ring to it.
And yes Gordon Freeman and Mario would be awesome as overlords of all mankind.

 

[Shadow Law]

I wear the name gamer like a golden star.

 

[mr mcshiznit]

Honestly i'm totally cool being called a gamer. I mean its just like being called a jock or anyother label. This however this is coming from someone who is not bothered by 99% of the shit thats talked about him.

 

[Alex_P]

It annoys me because I don't think it's a useful subcultural label. Games are so varied and tastes and experiences are so varied that "gamer" is pretty much meaningless.

I don't identify as a member of some kind of "TV-watcher" or a "book-reader" subculture, after all.

-- Alex

 

[Klagermeister]

I prefer the term "gamer" over anything else.
It shows I'm smart enough to spend my down-time having some SERIOUS fun.

 

[CeeJay]

It annoys me because I don't think it's a useful subcultural label. Games are so varied and tastes and experiences are so varied that "gamer" is pretty much meaningless.

I don't identify as a member of some kind of "TV-watcher" or a "book-reader" subculture, after all.

-- Alex

But consoles aren't 'furniture' yet - even people who say they "don't really watch TV", still have a TV.
I think the term 'gamer' is valid. It's just like calling someone a 'film-buff'.

P.S. I'm not a 'reader'

 

[Marv21]

Hey its a good description!

 

[Cogings]

I'm not a big an of being called a gamer, its more stereotyped in a negative way I feel!
WE NEED CHANGE!

 

[Fenring]

It annoys me because I don't think it's a useful subcultural label. Games are so varied and tastes and experiences are so varied that "gamer" is pretty much meaningless.

I don't identify as a member of some kind of "TV-watcher" or a "book-reader" subculture, after all.

-- Alex

I'm a "watcher."

Anyways, I like it, it allows me to feel part of a sub-culture, and in leu of a better name for us it'll have to do.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Part of the reason it annoys me is it is just another example of society needing to give everything a label, and all we end up getting from it is a wierd, useless term that people can then exploit by targeting something towards the "gamer" subculture.


EDIT- See that period at the end of the last sentence? Yeah, that wasn't always there.

 

[Cortheya]

i just hate the stereotypical gamer....regular is perfectly fine with me

 

[runtheplacered]

I couldn't care less what someone calls me. It makes no real difference to me anymore. Maybe I would've cared in High School, but that's just because I hadn't had any real problems yet.

 

[Mookie_Magnus]

I personally don't care if I'm called a gamer or not. I know that compared to my gamer friends, I'm not hardcore. But to anyone else, I say: 'Why the fuck should I care what you think about me?'

 

[9of9]

Well, living here in the UK, I've never actually run into an awful lot of people who are interested in pigeon-holing every single person they see into the usual 'jock', 'nerd', 'gamer', 'hippie' ... whatever stereotypes, as popular american culture would leave me to believe I should have. Maybe I just hang around really good social circles or maybe this whole silly labelling thing is a lot more america-centric than we're led to believe.

Still, on the internet the tag 'gamer' seems to bring quite a bit of baggage with you and, even just from participating in a number of forums, it seems in its most common usage (or most common manifestation), the term 'gamer' oftens tends to imply a very particular kind of person, namely those who have an XBox Live account and have a fondness for chainsaw brutality.

Perhaps we need a few more terms to tell ourselves apart? But maybe, just maybe, we should stop stereotyping and pigeon-holing people based on a single, tiny aspect of their life and just treat them as individuals in their own right, free from prior prejudice...

...as if that's gonna work...

I think that the term Gamer is too generalising, Gamer should be a word that's used only for serious gamers, or, we could be called Players.

I believe that term already has a meaning. It is quite different.

Edit: Also, to the poster above me - what are 'preps'? I've never heard that one before.

 

[Johnny Xtreme]

There is no group i would rather be stereotyped with.

 

[TaborMallory]

The opposite of that Mr Bluray guy..

Gamer is just a title and it doesn't bother me when I'm labeled thus (improper grammar/usage?).

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

I want to be called "gamer".

hey, gamer.

there you happy now?
all i need is someone to return the favour.

Hey gamer.

I think I should add on to why I like being called a gamer.

I guess I'll add on to that. Well, first of all, how could you hate being called a gamer, you're at a frickin gaming website. I like being called a gamer, because in case someone needs help with a game, I know everything (I know bad reason). Gamers seem to be the smartest out of any label, probably because the games they play help them through real-life events like zombie apocalypse and a wasteland. Gamers, to me, must be wealthy since an actual "gamer" spends money on consoles that cost 300$ and games that cost 50$. The only thing bad about gamers are the gamers that are annoying 12 year olds, casual gamers who call themselves gamers because they are pro ranking in every wiisports sport, and the overly competitive gamers. I like being called a gamer, they seem like the best people to be with anyway, gangsters are annoying trashy kids that usually get thrown in jail at the age of 8, preps are like, OMG, and then the jocks, who are actually not that bad as people think they are. I'm friends with all the jocks at my school, most of them are smart and friendly too. Plus the other groups, jocks are gangsters, must bow down before us when we own them at halo or gears of war, because the "gangsters" I know, only know those two games, and every time I own them I get a cookie. Preps are just annoying, no one wants to be them, and they insult all the other groups, especially gamers, like "get a life", but as one of these people on this site knows what to reply, "I don't need a life, I'm a gamer, I have many lives."

1. However much we like to fantasize, I don't think a zombie apocalypse counts as a "real event."
2. Go see The Breakfast Club
3. Is it possible to italicize things on this forum?

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

DAMN PROUD TO BE ONE!

 

[9of9]

3. Is it possible to italicize things on this forum?

Yes. Just use standard bbcode - a [/i] at the end and a at the beginning of the italics.