Question of the Day, August 26, 2010
- Thread starter The Escapist Staff
- Start date
We should drop a label because some people assoiciate it with a negative steroetype? I'm already an American, Catholic nerd...I really don't think one more is gonna be a problem 
I don't know; "gamer" sounds like an almost derogatory term nowadays.
So I'd rather people not use it.
So I'd rather people not use it.
Yahtzee's problem wasn't with the term itself. I mean if you play tennis you are a tennis player. If you play the piano you're a pianist. If you splat paint on things and sculpt dicks out of clay you're an artist. "Gamer" is as good a word as any to describe what someone does when they partake in the activity of playing video games.
Yahtzee's issue was with people defining themselves as a gamer. "I am gamer, hear me roar" type thing. The problem with the term is it being used for what people are rather than what they do.
Like I said, "gamer" is as good a word as any, regardless of the negative connotations with the introverted lactase-odoured crowd and I think more and more the word is being used less to describe that kind of steriotype - mostly because "gamers" (as such,) are a market and marketers have found that insulting your markets by treating them like an unflattering steriotype isn't the best way to get ahead, (look at "Gamer Grub" which many people quite reasonably took as an insult.)
Eventually the word "gamer" won't relate to the steriotype as much as it does and will be used simply to describe one aspect of a person's interests - as it should. Still, that will take time and it's not helped by those who are the unflattering steriotypes who wear the label of "gamer" like a self-defining badge of honour.
Yahtzee's issue was with people defining themselves as a gamer. "I am gamer, hear me roar" type thing. The problem with the term is it being used for what people are rather than what they do.
Like I said, "gamer" is as good a word as any, regardless of the negative connotations with the introverted lactase-odoured crowd and I think more and more the word is being used less to describe that kind of steriotype - mostly because "gamers" (as such,) are a market and marketers have found that insulting your markets by treating them like an unflattering steriotype isn't the best way to get ahead, (look at "Gamer Grub" which many people quite reasonably took as an insult.)
Eventually the word "gamer" won't relate to the steriotype as much as it does and will be used simply to describe one aspect of a person's interests - as it should. Still, that will take time and it's not helped by those who are the unflattering steriotypes who wear the label of "gamer" like a self-defining badge of honour.
I try not to use the word 'gamer' in converstation, because it makes me feel like I've gone full-blown nerd.
I don't even like to use the word 'anime'.
I don't even like to use the word 'anime'.
Labels, especially when dealing with humans, are only useful if they are very specific, with numerous traits, and distinct from any similar label. "Gamer" isn't like Chelicerata or Hexapoda; it is vague, indistinct and groups people into a vast group based on a trait that is highly variable and non-essential. The term has more in common with stereotyping than actual classification, thus is useless as a descriptive term.
Yahtzee does have some points, but abandoning a whole word for the sake of the overall population not to instantly stereotype us seems a bit extreme. And besides, even if we get rid of the word, people will stereotype us no matter what. That's just how the world works.
Yeah, I'm gonna agree with Furb on this one.Furburt said:
I'll say one more thing, though: We can refer to ourselves as gamers, to each other, and everything's perfectly fine. It's just when we bring people that think of people who play games as 'fatty, sweaty, antisocial loners' that we should probably use "Blokes who enjoy a game or two" or something similar.
Like I posted on Yahtzee's article, I wrote a long drawn out response on my personal blog, but Ill summarize it here. I think that the implied argument Yahtzee was making is 2 fold - first that gamer has a negative stereotype that we don't necessarily want to be associated with, and second that the term gamer is superfluous because gaming is pervasive in society.
The stereotype - easiest way to change that is to apply the term to yourself and break the stereotype. There's really not other way to change it other than by doing. A stereotype was created by doing, it can only be changed by doing.
Now, as for requiring a term to describe those, I termed us as those who have an exceptional interest in gaming, or an above average interest in gaming. Right now, in addition to the mouth-breathers and neck-beards, gamer typically refers to someone who has more interest in gaming than the average person. Yahtzee's argument was that you don't call someone who likes movies a moviegoer, and its true we don't. Going to movies is implied in social participation. But we do have a term for those who are exceptionally interested in movies - movie-buffs.
The primary difference here is that the 'naked' term gamer still describes those of us who are more interested in gaming than the average person, whereas for movies (and other activities) we typically append a modifier to describe those who are really interested in games. I think that although the term gamer is probably overly generic at this point and when loosely applied applies describes the vast majority of the population, we still need a distinction to describe those who have a strong, above average interest in gaming.
To read my full response -
http://www.rogue-gamer.com/2010/08/gamer-is-bad-word-i-mean-what.html
The stereotype - easiest way to change that is to apply the term to yourself and break the stereotype. There's really not other way to change it other than by doing. A stereotype was created by doing, it can only be changed by doing.
Now, as for requiring a term to describe those, I termed us as those who have an exceptional interest in gaming, or an above average interest in gaming. Right now, in addition to the mouth-breathers and neck-beards, gamer typically refers to someone who has more interest in gaming than the average person. Yahtzee's argument was that you don't call someone who likes movies a moviegoer, and its true we don't. Going to movies is implied in social participation. But we do have a term for those who are exceptionally interested in movies - movie-buffs.
The primary difference here is that the 'naked' term gamer still describes those of us who are more interested in gaming than the average person, whereas for movies (and other activities) we typically append a modifier to describe those who are really interested in games. I think that although the term gamer is probably overly generic at this point and when loosely applied applies describes the vast majority of the population, we still need a distinction to describe those who have a strong, above average interest in gaming.
To read my full response -
http://www.rogue-gamer.com/2010/08/gamer-is-bad-word-i-mean-what.html
If someone plays games...they're a gamer.
I don't see what the big deal is.
If people are that afraid of being judged by other people, then they probably just shouldn't play any games.
Perhaps next, dogs will get so self conscious and upset by always being referred to and considered under the generic 'dog' stereotype, that they'll demand we start calling them specifically 'Grey Hounds' or 'Chihuahuas' or...'Steve'.
In summary, this is the most stupid and pointless discussion ever.
I don't see what the big deal is.
If people are that afraid of being judged by other people, then they probably just shouldn't play any games.
Perhaps next, dogs will get so self conscious and upset by always being referred to and considered under the generic 'dog' stereotype, that they'll demand we start calling them specifically 'Grey Hounds' or 'Chihuahuas' or...'Steve'.
In summary, this is the most stupid and pointless discussion ever.
The term 'gamer' does tend to carry negative connotations these days, albeit not so much as 'hardcore gamer'. I fail to see why people feel the need to classify themselves by one of their hobbies though. Most if not all 'gamers' have other hobbies and interests as well as gaming, what marks out 'gaming' as being so special and worthy of note?
Personally I don't see why people would want to pigeonhole themselves based on just one of their interests - if I was asked to describe myself I wouldn't say 'gamer' or 'bookworm' or 'film buff' or anything like that, I'd just say "normal bloke".
Personally I don't see why people would want to pigeonhole themselves based on just one of their interests - if I was asked to describe myself I wouldn't say 'gamer' or 'bookworm' or 'film buff' or anything like that, I'd just say "normal bloke".
I disagree, to me the term 'gamer' is right on par with terms like 'surfer' and 'guitarist'.T3hMonk3y said:
Even if the term was ditched, what would we call ourselves instead, "People who play games"? Being called a gamer should be something to be proud of.