Poll: When did you start to call yourself a gamer?
- Thread starter CaitSeith
- Start date
I don't call myself a "gamer", just because it seems kind of a weird way to word the fact that I play games. I suppose if someone directly asked me if I was a "gamer", I'd say yes. The term doesn't really have any particular connotations to me other than "Person who plays video games", and that definition would apply to me from before my earliest memories.
I don't really get either the people who hate the term or who wear it as a badge of pride, it seems pretty neutral to me.
I don't really get either the people who hate the term or who wear it as a badge of pride, it seems pretty neutral to me.
I grew up with "gamer" as a catch all term for folks (like myself) who played tabletop/pen & paper games. So, while I can't suggest a better alternative "gamer" just hits my ear weird when it's used as a term for folks who play video games so I don't tend to use it.
Honestly, i have no idea where the controversy over the word "gamer" came from. were people this divided on it before the recent dust up if so this is the first i've heard of it. gameing has always been my hobby and as such i'm a gamer, i'm also a comic book nerd, a metal head, and a film guru. there is an equivilent term in almost every hobby. gearhead, sports fan, bookworm, all that good stuff. I grew up in an environment that being a "gamer" was a bad thing, I was a nerd and as such the jocks and other idiots picked on and bullied me. I "identify" as a gamer because i'm not ashamed of it and some internet slap fight between misandrists and a subset of gamers isn't going to make me ashamed of something i do on a daily basis. the thing i learned the most from being bullied in middle/high school is that if you're ashamed of something you genuinely enjoy doing then the bullies have won. so fuck it, be as loud a gamer as you want to be, same goes for being gay or trans or a comic book nerd or anything else that dumbasses like to single you out for, the way you win is by enjoying it more and enjoying it louder.
I think it was when I started to buy gaming mags and reading the guides of the games I was playing (back when there was such a thing called a cheat book and before the existence of Gamefaq let along the broadband).
"Who cares? I just want to play games." is the one I picked.
I'm not a "gamer" anymore than I'm a "reader" or a "movie goer" or a "skier" or a "bowler" or whatever the fuck have you. These are hobbies I enjoy and that I occasionally sink a lot of time into, but I'm not going to be defined by them.
I'm always a little suspicious of the need to identify yourself by one trait, whatever it may be. I feel like it's something we all should've gotten away from sometime in high school, but the need to carry it further and further into your life is only getting worse. It seems like a way to reduce yourself, and allow others to reduce you. And defining myself solely by a hobby just seems lame.
I do like games, though, and I'll gladly talk about how I play them with friends and random acquaintances. If they want to think of me as a gamer, that's fine, I'm just not going to get so obsessed with being that one thing that it becomes a little box that doesn't allow me to explore other stuff.
I'm not a "gamer" anymore than I'm a "reader" or a "movie goer" or a "skier" or a "bowler" or whatever the fuck have you. These are hobbies I enjoy and that I occasionally sink a lot of time into, but I'm not going to be defined by them.
I'm always a little suspicious of the need to identify yourself by one trait, whatever it may be. I feel like it's something we all should've gotten away from sometime in high school, but the need to carry it further and further into your life is only getting worse. It seems like a way to reduce yourself, and allow others to reduce you. And defining myself solely by a hobby just seems lame.
I do like games, though, and I'll gladly talk about how I play them with friends and random acquaintances. If they want to think of me as a gamer, that's fine, I'm just not going to get so obsessed with being that one thing that it becomes a little box that doesn't allow me to explore other stuff.
Thinking being a gamer means you identify yourself solely on gaming is kind of retarded.
I never thought about the term. I don't know if I even read it consciously before someone said gamers were dead. I call myself (and others who play games) gamers. Even if someone says he hates the term, he or she still is a gamer in my book. Saying to someone he is not a real gamers is real dumb though. The term is not exclusive. I am a gamer because I play games, therefore you are a gamer if you play games. I can't take that away from anyone.
I never thought about the term. I don't know if I even read it consciously before someone said gamers were dead. I call myself (and others who play games) gamers. Even if someone says he hates the term, he or she still is a gamer in my book. Saying to someone he is not a real gamers is real dumb though. The term is not exclusive. I am a gamer because I play games, therefore you are a gamer if you play games. I can't take that away from anyone.
Hey label was given to me, go with it.
Everyone is and isn't a gamer. It really depends on how they themselves define it. Wear it, don't wear it. Play only table top, you're a gamer. Or you're not, that's up to you.
I put a lot more into this hobby than say others so I wouldn't call myself a 'movie buff' or a 'football fan'. Personally I'd call myself "Interactive Consumer" if I really want to define it. I like media I can interact with; games, chose your own adventures, streams and races among friends and table top games.
People might want to toss the label, not care either way or embrace it. But it's on us to define what 'gamer' means to us. Yes there's accepted usage for 'gamer' but given how much variety this hobby has why shouldn't this term be too? Basically I'm cool with whatever definition you have for it but don't be surprised if it doesn't link up with someone else's.
Whatever you call or don't call yourself, at least game on people. Game on.
Everyone is and isn't a gamer. It really depends on how they themselves define it. Wear it, don't wear it. Play only table top, you're a gamer. Or you're not, that's up to you.
I put a lot more into this hobby than say others so I wouldn't call myself a 'movie buff' or a 'football fan'. Personally I'd call myself "Interactive Consumer" if I really want to define it. I like media I can interact with; games, chose your own adventures, streams and races among friends and table top games.
People might want to toss the label, not care either way or embrace it. But it's on us to define what 'gamer' means to us. Yes there's accepted usage for 'gamer' but given how much variety this hobby has why shouldn't this term be too? Basically I'm cool with whatever definition you have for it but don't be surprised if it doesn't link up with someone else's.
Whatever you call or don't call yourself, at least game on people. Game on.
When you spend all your money on Tekken 3 in the Arcade, there is no other word for you 
Realistically though around the time the Gamecube came out and I entered my teens. You go through a kind of realization, a transition period if you will.
Realistically though around the time the Gamecube came out and I entered my teens. You go through a kind of realization, a transition period if you will.
Hear-fucking-hear.nightmare_gorilla said:
It's humorous to me that so many here seem absolutely adamant about saying, "I'm not a gamer! I'm not a gamer! Now excuse me while I go post comment after comment on a GAMING-CENTRIC FORUM."
The lack of self-awareness is hilarious.
While I would probably fit the definition one attaches the term "Gamer" to I would never identify as one.
I play video games as a hobby, I am not a "Gamer" and especially not with all the current negative connotations attached to that term.
I play video games as a hobby, I am not a "Gamer" and especially not with all the current negative connotations attached to that term.
While you might identify others as gamers it doesn't mean they don't identify themselves as gamers to others.Vigormortis said:
One person's definition of a gamer is different to anothers' so why use a label for yourself that you believe has a high probability of being misdiagnosed by others?
When I was in high school, and on weekdays, when I wasn't RPing in Whitewolf campaigns or playing M:TG, I was raiding the Planes of Power or slapping around Grummus with a few friends and my crafted planar bow. I'm not offended by the term and I don't agree with any stigma that may be attached to it as I am a healthy, employed male and have never ceased being active, though the employed part is debatable.
Better question: Why give the power over what defines you to others? Why let them define what the labels mean?Abomination said:
Just because some assholes decided the word is synonymous with "sexism" and "racism" doesn't mean that it actually is. And it certainly doesn't mean we, as gamers, should capitulate to their lunacy by avoiding the word altogether.
And as I said before, I don't care if people don't want to use the word for themselves. That's fine. That wasn't the point of my previous posts.
I has nothing to do with power but everything to do with perception.Vigormortis said:
Others opinions matter and if their definition of a gamer is different to what gamer means to you then it's best to not use a label with so many negative connotations with others.
I wouldn't introduce myself as a gamer to a potential employer so I wouldn't introduce myself as a gamer to anyone else. I also don't like pigeonholing myself into a group that consists of individuals I do not agree with.
Anyone who makes the assumption that someone is sexist when they haven't any proof is an ignorant asshole, don't think for a second that others outside the hobby cannot be critised as well. Seriously, would you make that assumption about gamers?Abomination said:
Also, why would you say to your employer you play games at all? It's none of their business. And if you must list hobbies for some reason, then do you really want to work for a wanker that can dish out assumptions just like that? What makes you think they won't assume you're the worst for just playing games?
And what do you mean by the last sentence exactly? Who are you disagreeing with? Any hobby you pursue you are always going to disagree with many on something.
I don't. Not for lack of actual gaming, rest assured. I just don't relate to the term or the community from a consumer standpoint.
I don't pre-order, I don't download, I don't own digital, I don't buy peripherals, I don't play online and I'm always one or two generations behind.
I don't pre-order, I don't download, I don't own digital, I don't buy peripherals, I don't play online and I'm always one or two generations behind.
I've met people that play only table tops(CCGs, boardgames, model wargames) and have called themselves 'Gamers'. To me it doesn't matter what you play or how often. So game on buddy.Johnny Novgorod said: