Subculture: gamers
- Thread starter Gggamer
- Start date
TBH a gamer is just someone who plays games.
Sometimes we try to divide ourselves into 'casual', 'hardcore' or other random crap classifications, but I don't think there's actually an accepted set of criteria for each. Then there's the mock PC gaming master race and Console plebs, and probably 101 other subfactions that we get divided into, none of which are really clearly defined.
A gamer can be that guy who sits in his mother's basement all day, playing WoW with a neckbeard and glasses, drinking Mountain Dew and eating pizza, or they can be that guy you went to a party with last night who got smashed with you, who everyone you know loves, who's got a great girlfriend, amazing job, and probably a great future ahead of him.
As recent news has shown, gamers can be IT specialists who work on million dollar pieces of equipment in banks and national defence networks, or they can be politicians, diplomats, schoolteachers or anyone else.
As with most things these days, you can provide stereotypes of the 'gamer' subculture, but you cannot truly define what a gamer is - at least not in a way that is agreed upon by people, as these forums have shown time and time again.
You could put arbitrary restrictions in that for you to classify as part of the gamer subculture you must play X hours of videogames a day, must hold true to y values regarding games and life, and must not be z - but that's disingenuous.
Now, from the subtext in all this you should be able to answer all the questions in the OP, but basically;
Is gaming a subculture? Technically you could create a set of criteria that someone must fulfill to be a gamer beyond simply playing games, however no-one agrees on this criteria, and with nothing to define it beyond 'We play games', its a rather broad and open subculture. You can split gamers into various subfactions, however the criteria for them are also not agreed upon by most people. This is, however, probably true for most subcultures, so the end decision of whether to label gaming a subculture comes down to you since you're doing the presentation. Really, the answer shouldn't matter - just how you justify it.
What values do gamers hold? Any and all. As said above, seeing as the general level of acceptance into 'gamer society' is "I play videogames", you really get any and every type of person in it, and dependent on which fandom you go to for your answers you'll get a lot of different values and beliefs.
Stereotypes?
Well, where to get started with this...
In slightly older times, and still somewhat today, it was/is this:
Modernly its probably presented more along these lines:
Or like this:
They are also generally considered part of the broader 'nerd' or 'geek' stereotype, often depicted as such:
or
Part of the nerd stereotype is also that they grow up to be rich and successful thanks to their technical knowledge, though this probably does not apply to the gamer sect so much as those who are depicted as having no life beyond study, and having supreme intelligence.
What is a gamer really like?
Anyone and everyone you meet. They personally might not be a gamer, but someone out there in the world like them will be. They could be that guy who sits quietly at the back of class, or the most popular and attractive girl at school that everyone wants to go out with. So long as the criteria remains only that they must play some form of videogames, they all fit in. Thanks to games on phones, Ipods, Ipads and Facebook, odds are most people are gamers these days.
In saying that though, it is generally expected of a gamer, at least within heavily gaming communities, to not game casually on a Phone/Ipad/Ipod, just playing Angry Birds all day. Whilst technically it classifies as a gamer, dependent on how open that certain part of the community is criteria might be raised higher - such as you must play games on a major console or PC to be considered a gamer, or dedicated gaming portable device like a DS or PSP. Some parts of the community will want you to play only a certain type of game to be considered a gamer, or play games in a certain way in an attempt to exclude the masses that play games such as CoD, running 'round and screaming into mics from being classified as gamers.
All in all, depends on where, when, who and what for this. Different communities will have different views.
Oh, and Welcome to the Escapist.
Sometimes we try to divide ourselves into 'casual', 'hardcore' or other random crap classifications, but I don't think there's actually an accepted set of criteria for each. Then there's the mock PC gaming master race and Console plebs, and probably 101 other subfactions that we get divided into, none of which are really clearly defined.
A gamer can be that guy who sits in his mother's basement all day, playing WoW with a neckbeard and glasses, drinking Mountain Dew and eating pizza, or they can be that guy you went to a party with last night who got smashed with you, who everyone you know loves, who's got a great girlfriend, amazing job, and probably a great future ahead of him.
As recent news has shown, gamers can be IT specialists who work on million dollar pieces of equipment in banks and national defence networks, or they can be politicians, diplomats, schoolteachers or anyone else.
As with most things these days, you can provide stereotypes of the 'gamer' subculture, but you cannot truly define what a gamer is - at least not in a way that is agreed upon by people, as these forums have shown time and time again.
You could put arbitrary restrictions in that for you to classify as part of the gamer subculture you must play X hours of videogames a day, must hold true to y values regarding games and life, and must not be z - but that's disingenuous.
Now, from the subtext in all this you should be able to answer all the questions in the OP, but basically;
Is gaming a subculture? Technically you could create a set of criteria that someone must fulfill to be a gamer beyond simply playing games, however no-one agrees on this criteria, and with nothing to define it beyond 'We play games', its a rather broad and open subculture. You can split gamers into various subfactions, however the criteria for them are also not agreed upon by most people. This is, however, probably true for most subcultures, so the end decision of whether to label gaming a subculture comes down to you since you're doing the presentation. Really, the answer shouldn't matter - just how you justify it.
What values do gamers hold? Any and all. As said above, seeing as the general level of acceptance into 'gamer society' is "I play videogames", you really get any and every type of person in it, and dependent on which fandom you go to for your answers you'll get a lot of different values and beliefs.
Stereotypes?
Well, where to get started with this...
In slightly older times, and still somewhat today, it was/is this:
Modernly its probably presented more along these lines:
Or like this:
They are also generally considered part of the broader 'nerd' or 'geek' stereotype, often depicted as such:
or
Part of the nerd stereotype is also that they grow up to be rich and successful thanks to their technical knowledge, though this probably does not apply to the gamer sect so much as those who are depicted as having no life beyond study, and having supreme intelligence.
What is a gamer really like?
Anyone and everyone you meet. They personally might not be a gamer, but someone out there in the world like them will be. They could be that guy who sits quietly at the back of class, or the most popular and attractive girl at school that everyone wants to go out with. So long as the criteria remains only that they must play some form of videogames, they all fit in. Thanks to games on phones, Ipods, Ipads and Facebook, odds are most people are gamers these days.
In saying that though, it is generally expected of a gamer, at least within heavily gaming communities, to not game casually on a Phone/Ipad/Ipod, just playing Angry Birds all day. Whilst technically it classifies as a gamer, dependent on how open that certain part of the community is criteria might be raised higher - such as you must play games on a major console or PC to be considered a gamer, or dedicated gaming portable device like a DS or PSP. Some parts of the community will want you to play only a certain type of game to be considered a gamer, or play games in a certain way in an attempt to exclude the masses that play games such as CoD, running 'round and screaming into mics from being classified as gamers.
All in all, depends on where, when, who and what for this. Different communities will have different views.
Oh, and Welcome to the Escapist.