Question of the Day, May 19, 2010

[hamster mk 4]

While I piracy is a blight on the industry, I am a firm believer in who you are should not be determined by how you spend your money. The act of playing a game makes you a gamer not the act of buying a game. People who tell you who you are is an aspect of what you buy are either in marketing or are so brain washed by marketing that they do the marketer's job for them.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

You're a gamer if you play games. Even if it's just stick cricket.

 

[Egitor]

Yes. You're playing games, therefore you are a gamer. You might be a cheap gamer or even a pirating git of a gamer, but a gamer nevertheless.

Payment has nothing to do with the activity. Just because somebody else pays for your dinner doesn't mean it's suddenly classified as fasting


Reversely, buying games but not playing them (say, daddy buying his son all the latest and greatest because he's spoiling the kid) does NOT make you a gamer.

 

[robert022614]

even if you pirate them which no i dont condone you are still a gamer its just the action of playing games people!! i mean even if you enjoy a good game of monopoly and have the ability to make it through one game i guess technically you can call yourself a gamer. all in all people try to make it some kind of elitist term for a way of life. i love games and yes i pay for them and play them, but if i pirated them i probably would still love them and play them so maybe i dont get it.

 

[Flying Dagger]

F2P MMOs are games, Which I assume the poll is talking about.
as opposed to pirates, which I feel this thread is aimed at.

All pirates will have bought one game at one time or another.
And even if they haven't, they may be scum, but they are still gamers.

Well put. I know a guy who I play games with all the time, who pirates every game he plays (except the games I play with him, TF2 and Diablo 2, because you need to pay to have online access.) I also know lots of people who never paid to play Doom, only playing the shareware copies that we'd loan to each other. That shareware episode was so great I think it got everyone I knew hooked on gaming.

that's kind of my point, even pirates will usually own a multiplayer game or two that they couldn't pirate so just bought.

 

[WrcklessIntent]

If you play like online games then yea you can still be a gamer. If you get pirated versions of games than no you aren't. You aren't helping out the industry so your just stealing work that people spent years making.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Of course they are... Some one who plays a game for 4 hours a day straight every day after work/school is a gamer... Regardless of whether they paid for it or not...

Even Pirates... they are just the asshole kinda gamers...

 

[_Janny_]

Theoretically, anyone who plays games on a regular basis is a gamer. Regardless of the situation. Playing games means you're a gamer, just like fixing pipes on a regular basis means you're a plumber. You might not buy the pipes yourself, but you're still a plumber.

 

[Luke Cartner]

Ummn what about all the 14 year boys whose parents buy the game for them... pretty sure they are gamers.
And I know pirates who are pretty hardcore gamers.. You might question the morals but not the skills..
Plus there are free games online...
A gamer isn't someone for companies to extract money from, they are someone who enjoys the experience of playing computer games and to reduce them to a commercial level is mildly insulting to someone who does pay for his games..

 

[b1u3too]

Yes, you are a real gamer if you're playing F2P online games, anything past browser-based, I guess. Again, making a generalization, but that's what we do.
However, pirates are not gamers. I'll argue my point if need be, but I'm sure most of you know what I mean. =]

 

[Accountfailed]

Ok, let's breach morality here for a second and use facts like smart people.

The difference between a pirate and a customer is 60 bucks

Every other difference is irrelevant. so to say that a pirate is not a "true" gamer because he doesn't pay for his games is like saying that you're not a "true" alcoholic because you piked the booze you're guzzling from the nearby off license.

If one were to say that I'm a pirate(hypothetically), I would reply that there's nothing logically wrong with it, the prices of "big industry" games are outlandish, considering the cost to make them (see here [http://videos.howstuffworks.com/cdrom2gocom/711-cd-dvd-replication-process-video.htm]). Essentially you are paying for the digital equivelant of a fifth of a shot glass of injected molded plastic and some shiny foil, correction; you're paying 60 bucks for it. You don't even know if the game is going to be worth it, this is why piracy is correct in a logical sense. You can try it, play it, finish it, and if the game was worth anything near the X million dollars it cost to produce, it will have a "replayability" or online factor strong enough to make you want to pay for it.

So long story short any "true g4m0rz" who are harping on about how immoral piracy is, get off your pedestal. I paid 50 euro for Turok when it came out, and I vowed never to buy before trying again.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

PS: The difference between a blu ray and a DVD is a sharper laser. production process remains essentially the same.

 

[messy]

If you don't help contribute to the industry you are not a gamer I'd argue. Sort of a parasite to the whole medium

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Depends, really. If we're talking pirating, then sure. If you mean those sad fools that 'play' by watching youtube, or subsisting entirely off of demos without playing the full title somehow, then no.

 

[gigastrike]

Yes, if you play games then you're a gamer. It doesn't matter if you pirate, it doesn't matter if you only play flash games. If you pirate games, you're an immoral gamer. If you only play flash games, that's your prefferance.

BTW, there's no such thing as a "fake" gamer. "Real" gamer is just an elitist term used by people who think that they are better than other people because they play larger games. Seriously, stop glorifying terms! There is nothing better about being a gamer rather than a non-gamer!

 

[Accountfailed]

If you don't help contribute to the industry you are not a gamer I'd argue. Sort of a parasite to the whole medium

But is it not true to say the industry is in itself parasitic of it's customers? overpricing games and lack of quality control in the industry, by not contributing to bad games you're causing developers to work harder to make their games not only better but last longer, Don't believe me? This kind of adaption has already begun, take a look at DLC's, Online Rpg/achievement content and games having a higher/total focus on multiplayer balance. seems to me that these are actions taken in order to help flesh out a games lifespan and to spur players to buy it.

and I would argue that piracy makes the whole medium more accessible to new gamers, as we don't all have the 299 euro + the extra 120 or so for a ps3/xbawks and games.

I don't see paying for a game as contribution to any medium, it's the same with movies and music, if you pay for shit, someones gonna be selling more shit. If you don't then there's eventually no demand for the supply of shit and shit stops getting made. If you really think that not paying is parasitic then in the same sense so is the Escapist Forums, because by discussing which games are worth buying we are cheating two faced, half assed game companies out of their 60 unearned dollars.

Saying that you're "contribute to the industry" is just a form of justifying shilling out more then it's worth for a game you're only going to play maybe once.

PS: please keep in mind that I'm not separating "big industry" games and indie games but I do support indie games more, granted they are genuinely good and not useless shit hiding underneath a giant "hippie indie game please buy me I need to feed my kids" sticker.

 

[DarkHuntress]

No. Gamers are a passionate breed. It takes passion and a love of gaming to pluck down $60 for a new game. Every player is not a gamer. Gamer's live in a different world. They live for games. When they play, they are immersed in their games. Distrub them while they are playing and you risk bodily harm.

People who enjoy demos or free games are "players" not "gamers"

No, you can't be a gamer and not be willing to pay for what you enjoy.

 

[Accountfailed]

No, you can't be a gamer and not be willing to pay for what you enjoy.

That's a very obtuse post. are you saying that If I enjoy a game that I was given among with all of my other games I'm not a passionate gamer? that If I swap games or borrow a game that I'm not passionate? Passion by Paying is a very easy way to throw away your cash. I defy any of you to say I'm not passionate about gaming.

If you borrow books from your local library does that mean you're not passionate about books because you didn't pay for them?

 

[Billion Backs]

Yes, playing games for entertainment does make you a gamer.

That's all there's to it.

Why does everybody suddenly think there's some kind of mystical scroll of rules and a cult initiation before you can be a gamer?

Do you play games? Yes? You are a GAMER!

That.

 

[latenightapplepie]

Sure. Of course you can be a gamer if you don't pay for games. Otherwise, for the first 15 years of my life I couldn't have been a gamer because my folks bought all my games.

Okay, that's a technicality because then someone's still buying them for you.

But still, even if you pirate games or just play free games, or just play your friend's games, you can easily still be a gamer.

At least, that's what I think.

 

[ItsAPaul]

Apparently people have never been under 18 before. I had to pay for my games since my mom hated them, but everyone else just asked for them.