Poll: What is a gamer?

[tippy2k2]

Friendly neighborhood Tippy-man warning: What you have in your post is not nearly enough. Expand on it...tell us what you think, why you put the options you did, etc. If you keep it the way it is, there is a very good chance that you will get a warning for it. Too late!

Anyway, for me, a Gamer is a person who spends a decent chunk of their time gaming. They do not need to play everything that has ever existed, they do not need to own multiple systems, they do not need to know about everything happening in the gaming world, they just need to play games. Gaming doesn't even have to be their main source of entertainment.

With that said, anyone can call themselves a gamer. If you force a line to be drawn, where does this line go? My examples in life: I have 80-year old grandmother who plays Angry Birds, my mother who plays Dance Central 3 when I bring my 360 over, my step-brother who only plays FIFA, my Dad who plays only Mass Effect/Dragon Age, and my brother who has a PC and plays Modern Warfare 2 & Skyrim on it. Not one of these people in my life would call themselves a "Gamer" (actually, my brother might) but if they did, I see no problem with it. A gamer is someone who plays games...the end. Is that enough or do they have to be like me to qualify for "gamer" (I own a 360 and a PS3; I subscribe to multiple gaming magazines; I have a giant E-Penis Gamerscore; most of my free time is spent gaming; etc. etc.)

I have no problem with the "Casual" label if that makes a "Hardcore" gamer feel better about their hobby (I'll use the term to differentiate the crowds I'm talking about here on The Escapist but without the venom that so many seem to add); it seems silly to me to split the gaming community this way but hey, who am I to question "xX133txGm3rXx"?

 

[sanquin]

If you go by the dictionary: A person who plays games, especially computer or video games.

If you go by the more 'unwritten' definition, then it differs from person to person. Some say that even someone playing angry birds on their phone is a gamer. Some say that being a gamer is a lot more than that. I belong to the latter group.

So for me personally:
-If you play games on a pc and don't even know what computer specs you're running, you're not a gamer.
-If you play games on a console and hardly know about the hardware accessories, you're not a gamer.
-If you play only the extremely casual 'app' games, like angry birds or plants vs zombies, or other such games you're not a gamer.
-If you only play maybe one hour or less a day on average, even if you have a lot more free time than that, you're not a gamer.
-If you've never participated in competitive play, you're not a gamer.
-If you know nothing/hardly anything about what's going on in the industry as a whole. What's happening with the more well-known companies, what games are coming out soon, etc.

Sure, they're all criteria that tell you when you're -not- a gamer. But it's quite easy to take the opposites of the criteria to tell you what I think -does- make you a gamer. And I want to make it clear that this is my opinion on the matter. Not the be-all-end-all of what being a 'gamer' should be. It just basically comes down to 'is your gaming your actual hobby, or just some pass-time in between?' A person that maybe plays golf every once in a while for fun isn't called a golfer either. A person that has 3~4 paintings hanging in his house isn't called an art-collector either. Etc.

PS:
Let's also not forget that within the 'gamer' group there are sub groups. I'll use WoW as an example since it has all types of gamer in it.

-Brainless: Think playing but not going into raiding or arena.
-Casual: A bit of raiding and arena/pvp, but nothing serious.
-Dedicated: Actively raiding, and/or trying to at least get a decent arena/pvp rating.
-Hardcore: Raiding several times a week, trying to get everything done on the highest difficulty, and/or trying to get to the top rankings in arena/pvp
-No-life: Being at the very top of the raiding or pvp scene because WoW is pretty much all you do in life. No-life excludes professional gamers that earn their income with it by the way.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

What is a gamer?


Well, you did ask.

A gamer is anyone who enjoys playing videogames as a hobby, the same way a golfer enjoys playing golf as a hobby, a reader enjoys reading books, a trainspotter enjoys looking at trains.

It doesn't really matter what particular franchise or genre they're in to, just as an athlete is anyone who enjoys playing anything out of a whole range of sports, or a bookworm is someone who enjoys reading anything out of a vast collection of literature, a gamer is anyone who enjoys spending their free time playing a videogame, be it 'casual', 'hardcore', 'indie', or whatever.

 

[Iyon]

I'd say anyone who considers gaming to be a fairly big hobby of theirs would be a gamer. For the most part, anyone who identifies themselves as gamer could probably be considered a gamer. Excluding those "fake gamer chicks" that apparently exist I guess.

Really though, the only mislabelling of gamers I've seen has come from the media with headlines along the lines of: "Gamer Numbers Down 20 Percent!" and then when you read the article you realize they're actually just referring to people who play Facebook games.

 

[StriderShinryu]

For me, it's not so much about how many hours one spends playing games, it's more about how interested the person is in actually experiencing a variety of games and how interested they are in the industry. So no, I don't consider someone who plays nothing but Angry Birds while waiting for the bus a gamer. I also don't necessarily consider someone who plays WoW or CoD for hundreds of hours a gamer because, while those are certainly more core gaming experiences, if it's all they play then they aren't experiencing an array of games and likely don't have much interest in games outside of the game they are dedicated to.

To me, gamer is the game equivalent of a cinephile. Sure, almost everyone watches movies but most people don't really have any interest in the goings on behind the scenes of said movie or how/why said movie was made.

 

[DustyDrB]

A person who plays games.
I don't really feel offended by being associated with Facebook gamers. Though maybe that just shows how little I actually care about this "issue". I equate it with the term "movie-goer".

 

[DoPo]

A person who plays games. Well, since pretty much everybody plays one game or another in one form or another, presumably one who you'd call "gamer" would have a bit more dedication. They won't have to play games all the times but, dunno, probably express more interest in them.

 

[JagermanXcell]

If its something that you enjoy as a hobby, are interested in seeking variety with other genres, or you see games as influences to your future career or entertainment wise, you're a gamer. But thats just my definition.
The dictionary says that its someone who plays games. So go play that hardcore Hungry Hungry Hippos to your hearts consent, you MLG pro.

 

[Zeldias]

A miserable little pile of cheat codes.

On a serious note, I'd say anyone with some investment in the subculture as well as actually plays the vidya games. A person who plays games is different from a gamer, I think; sort of like how a person who occasionally writes is different from a writer.

 

[Rednog]

This was my definition of a gamer in another thread and people seemed to like it.

You're a gamer if you play games and they're pretty much a major form of entertainment to you and it would be difficult for you to replace it completely with another form of entertainment.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Ostensibly someone who plays games and chooses to label themselves as such, which I no longer do.

EDIT: That is, I still play games, I just don't associate myself with that label.

 

[Nexxis]

For me, a gamer is a person who plays games, especially pc and/or video games. From there, I think that gamers are just split into types of gamers, such as hardcore, casual, etc. There may even be genre oriented types, like FPS gamer, MMORPG gamer, mobile gamer, etc.

 

[Ham Blitz]

I would pretty much say anyone who plays and enjoys video games regularly. That is pretty all there is to it. I can't think of anything else that is needed to define that.

 

[New Frontiersman]

To me it's just someone who plays video games.

It doesn't matter to mewhat kinds of games or how often as long as they play them.

I suppose one other criteria I would assign is they label themselves as, or at least don't distance themselves from the label "gamer", if they don't want to be gamers then they probably aren't, even if they play games.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

-If you've never participated in competitive play, you're not a gamer.

I often see people put this and do they mean like competitive as in a public tournament or playing pvp because I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone who has played publicly yet I have a lot of friends I'd definately count as 'gamers' even if I didn't include myself in there. Maybe one guy who used to play CS.

I have never really had the opportunity to compete besides arcades and LAN's but then again I live in the middle of nowhere.

 

[EboMan7x]

I chose "A Hardcore player who takes games seriously" as it was the closest to how I actually feel. A gamer, to me, is someone who takes games seriously as works of art, rather than just taking them seriously in the sense of trying to play them well. And beyond that, anyone who cares what happens in the games industry. So anyone who's done research on games, or read articles about games, or even just found out about a game and was very excited about it before launch, I would deem a gamer.

 

[Unit72]

Gamer has to be someone who plays games a lot. Sure playing a quick game of bejewled or solitare can classify you as "gamer" becuase your playing a game but as you say, if we did have to draw a line then it would have to be on time commited to the hobby. PLaying angry birds makes you no more a gamer than changing the oil in your car makes you a mechanic. You can exclusivly play things like plants vs. zombies, angry birds and recetear for hrs at a time and still be a gamer since its all your doing but at the same time you dont have to devote 16 hrs of ur day to be one.

People can still be movie buffs or football fans or anything as well as bieng a gamer. I would think 4hrs+ a day would classify one as a gamer. No need to know your pc specs, no need to own the latest triple A titles, no need to be familiar with classic games or know what the amiga or atari 2600 was.

I say time commitmenmt becuase its what makes gamers, experience in the playing of the game ur in. If you can get in a game and understand what people are talking about when they spam or say things like "lfg2m for X dungeon", or "care here, 3pt hot zone" then your a gamer as much as the hard core 18hr guys.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

If you enjoy playing video games than you are a gamer. You don't have to be hardcore in my eyes. I do get a kick out of the fact "Takes games seriously" is on the list though. Video games are so serious ! ! !

 

[Zen Toombs]

A gamer is (le gasp) [HEADING=2]A PERSON WHO PLAYS GAMES[/HEADING]

Shocking, I know.

Spoiler: Boring actual discussion

I do agree that the term "gamer" doesn't apply to EVERYONE who plays games, but I do think it applies to everyone who plays games and believes that the term belongs to them. I see it as no different from sports: you are an athlete if you play a sport, no matter how professional you are at it or how serious your sport is.

 

[Berithil]

For me, anyone who plays games. Yup...

But trust me, if you claim that you're "a gamer" with complete conviction, and all you play is Facebook games or Angry birds, I will most definitely have a chuckle at your expense, and probably not take you as seriously as far as video games go.

And then probably introduce you to some better games.