Is everyone a gamer?

[LostTrigger]

The dictionary defines being a gamer as someone who plays games but to alot of people(including gamers) it means being a gaming enthusiast. So yes were all technically "gamers". Yet when were talking about gamers we never refer to just anybody who plays games. We mean(ofcourse this isnt for everyone im generalizing) the people who stay up all night playing wow, or the people who grind for 10 hours in final fantasy etc. Im not trying to exclude anyone from being a gamer but alot of people want "gamer" to be a label for anyone who games(regardless of there age, what they play, or even if they identify as a gamer) when for alot of people being a gamer is an identity, its more than just playing games and they dont really want to be grouped in with the same people who dont share that much of an interest in the hobby. Im mostly fine with anyone being a gamer as long as we still stick with the terms casual and hardcore gamer to differentiate the two groups.

Opinion?

 

[LostTrigger]

I think it might be time to diverge gamer into groups, like one for online players, competitive players, RPG players and so on. By today, gaming is so varied people calling themselves gamer doesn't mean anything, it's like if every book reader will calls himself bibliophile even if they only stick with one genre.

i think generally people put the shooters, dance, and mobile/motion games under casual with everything else going under hardcore(rpg's strategy, etc)

 

[Dalek Caan]

i think generally people put the shooters, dance, and mobile/motion games under casual with everything else going under hardcore(rpg's strategy, etc)

Dance and Mobile games I get, but shooters? Halo, CoD, Battlefield, TF2 and Counter Strike are games I wouldn't group with the casual category. Maybe competitive.

With that said I think that if you play games regularly on whatever platform you can count yourself as a gamer no matter what anyone else says.

 

[LostTrigger]

i think generally people put the shooters, dance, and mobile/motion games under casual with everything else going under hardcore(rpg's strategy, etc)

Dance and Mobile games I get, but shooters? Halo, CoD, Battlefield, TF2 and Counter Strike are games I wouldn't group with the casual category. Maybe competitive.

With that said I think that if you play games regularly on whatever platform you can count yourself as a gamer no matter what anyone else says.

i forgot sports games but i think shooters tend to have the most casuals because its mainstream

 

[Dalek Caan]

I forgot sports games but I think shooters tend to have the most casuals because its mainstream

It might have a lot of people playing shooters casually but I would think the majority of people play it....hardcore? That's probably not the correct word to use.

RPG's are becoming a lot more mainstream recently but I wouldn't say that should be put into the casual group.

 

[tippy2k2]

Gaming has become mainstream enough that it has become a self imposed title (similar to Book Worm or Film Buff). Gamers are dead; long live gamers and whatnot.

Any attempt to force a bullet point criteria to determine who is and who is not an "official" gamer is going to leave people out that shouldn't be.

 

[aozgolo]

I always found the term absolutely useless as a classification, maybe in gaming's infancy it was notable to make the distinction but with gaming's thorough integration as a popular medium it's about as useful as saying "movie watcher" or "music listener". It really doesn't give any indication of what kinds of games you like, what your playstyle preferences are, or anything meaningful.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's a vague enough term that anybody can use it.

 

[Phasmal]

Not everybody, but anybody.

Often in threads like this we get a variation on this comment:
`If anyone who plays games is a gamer then that means my [insert female relative here] who plays [insert mobile game here] is a gamer! Hah!`.

And I'm kind of like.... okay?
I don't think we lose anything by being more inclusive with the term gamer. I use it to refer to anyone who plays games fairly regularly.
Sure, it's not a very useful term outside of that, but it doesn't really need to be.

I mean, I am definitely someone who has spent all night on WoW (too many times) and I don't mind being put in the same category as someone who is really into Candy Crush. Good for them, let's all play fun games.

 

[pookie101]

i used to say gamers are people who played games.. but since the "only people who play x are real gamers" came along ive given up on the term

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm not. I want no association with the term. It's never been a significant part of my identity and if the gatekeepers want it so bad, they can have it.

I mean, I am definitely someone who has spent all night on WoW (too many times) and I don't mind being put in the same category as someone who is really into Candy Crush. Good for them, let's all play fun games.

I mean, you say that now, but wait until the gamer gulags. Gaming is a finite resource and their fun comes at our expense. Mark my words. One day, when the gaming mines run dry, there will be war. And their overwhelming numbers will crush you like the candy the game is named after. And then you will be forced to work in the gaming mines, like all your kin!

...man, my brain goes to weird places when sleep deprived.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm not trying to exclude anyone from being a gamer but alot of people want "gamer" to be a label for anyone who games(regardless of there age, what they play, or even if they identify as a gamer) when for alot of people being a gamer is an identity, its more than just playing games and they dont really want to be grouped in with the same people who dont share that much of an interest in the hobby.

Opinion?

My opinion is that if you are not looking to exclude people than establishing the distinction becomes meaningless. I also question many of the arbitrary distinctions created with the intention of separating "true" gamers from "false". What if I grind for 5 hours instead of 10? Am I still a gamer? What if I grind for 30 hours? Am I more of a gamer than you? What metric are we employing to determine "gamerness"?

If your goal is simply to separate people who are "serious about the hobby" from those who are not for the purposes of befriending them, roughly a minute of conversation should be sufficient for the task. I have absolutely no conception whatsoever what the information could be useful for otherwise, if not to gate-keep the label.

Gamers are dead

Shots fired.

#Tippygate

 

[FalloutJack]

Opinion?

This is only acceptable so long as it's how PEOPLE define it. If they say it's anything like 'game-obseesed' or 'not in touch with reality' or other negative remarks, then it's not acceptable no matter WHAT is in the dictionary. So, mostly, I think it's all a matter of who's bitching about game players lately.

 

[FPLOON]

If everyone's a gamer, then no one's a gamer...

Other than that, not really because not everyone takes up the title in general, let alone know the definition(s) for said title...

 

[FoolKiller]

I really need to cut and paste this because it keeps coming up... but the definitions I have tend to be fair and equitable while eliminating what people usually refer to as the filthy casuals.

GAMER - a person who plays video games as a hobby

HARDCORE GAMER - a person who plays video games as their primary hobby

NON-GAMER - any person who doesn't fit the first two. This includes the people that use it to pass the time. It does not exclude any game or genre. Nor does hardcore gaming require a certain time commitment.

I for one am a hardcore gamer. It's my primary hobby. I also play things like Angry Birds because I like it. I've sat at my computer/tablet and played it because I wanted to play it. Someone who plays Angry Birds to pass the time on the bus is a non-gamer. This is because the point of playing the game is not because they want to play the game but because they want to alleviate boredom.

After thinking and reading more, I would add GAMING ENTHUSIAST to the list, but on the side. It doesn't fall on the spectrum. A gaming enthusiast is interested in talking/reading/thinking critically etc. about video games and the ways they are involved with our world. But this doesn't affect where a person falls on the spectrum of hardcore, regular, and non gamer.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Just like someone who has once in their life read a book but doesn't really read books isn't a "reader", even if they may read magazines and newspapers (those would be the phone games/cow clickers in this parallel) so is someone who doesn't really play games often not a gamer, even if they have, at one point, played super mario or pokemon for an hour or two.

 

[Something Amyss]

If everyone's a gamer, then no one's a gamer...

So if everyone's a human, then no-one is?

...actually, I can live with that!

If your goal is simply to separate people who are "serious about the hobby" from those who are not for the purposes of befriending them, roughly a minute of conversation should be sufficient for the task. I have absolutely no conception whatsoever what the information could be useful for otherwise, if not to gate-keep the label.

Just spinning off of that, the weird thing I've noticed is how close the things that seem to define "gamer" run with the negative stereotypes and connotations that exist around that. Sort of becomes confusing, since it's an image "gamers" are supposed to hate, but is fairly rigidly self-imposed.