Poll: Gamer Stereotypes and why they are Obsolete.

[Stasisesque]

Have you ever been to a games convention? The stereotype is most definitely not obsolete.

 

[Popeman]

The closest I got was someone called me "from the Dark side." Not quit sure what that meant but I think it's due to me being jaded and antisocial.

 

[Phasmal]

Not sure what the stereotype for female gamers is.

Well, I wear glasses.
I have a boyfriend.
And I'm not fat.

Other gamers generally dont know I play unless I make it known, which can be funny, but also annoying.

 

[Jodah]

I'm somewhere in between gamer and redneck. I often describe myself as a "redneck computer geek" in fact.

 

[Vault101]

Not sure what the stereotype for female gamers is.

Well, I wear glasses.
I have a boyfriend.
And I'm not fat.

Other gamers generally dont know I play unless I make it known, which can be funny, but also annoying.

we don't exist...remember?

I dont think there really "is" a steryotype for female gamers...at least not as ingrained as the others

 

[BeerTent]

hmmmm.....I think youll fnd a fair share who are eather like that or very similar within the "core" gamer population

skinny, white person who playes games, not social, lives in a room covered with posters and action figures, and hates excercise

I fit the sterotype

Replace posters and action figures with electronics and motherboards nailed to the walls.
We're quite alike, you and I.

is that for decorating purposes? or some..practical purpose (like...ummm easy access?)

Oh, for practical purposes. I need full access to KVM and X-box for when I get work, and I've got a few hard-drives that need to be swapped around. I also hang my MP3 player so I don't forget it, but since I got the bike. It's been hanging.

As for the motherboards... They're just hangin'. If I get enough, They're going to cover the entire wall.

 

[Something Amyss]

I dress like I run some banana Republic. Where do the evil dictators go?

 

[JemothSkarii]

Not into the gamer ring specifically, but that kinda off-shoot ring for Otaku's, who drown themselves in JRPG's and watch anime. Yup...that's me.

But the gamer stereotype is not dead, I have a few friends who fits it like a glove...or it fits them like a glove...stupid early hours of the morning.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Well, I do weight lifting, Takes a lot of rest to recover and build muscle.

Guess what I do like to do in my "recovery time" play games, Adventure games, driving games, the occasional fighting game.

So yea, my two biggest hobbies are weight lifting and gaming, and they go perfectly hand in hand.

FUCK YOU STEREOTYPES

 

[Chemical Alia]

I'm pretty sure the stereotype is alive and well, if not for what I see every time I walk into a Gamestop. Of course, everyone is different, and not always what they seem. I'm a fashion-conscious female, former military intelligence, and a game developer. I would be upset if people could tell anything but the first thing about me just from looking at me. 0:

 

[DanielBrown]

I done reckon I look like a redneck.
<---

Had a gamer friend a few years ago though, and he was the walking stereotype.

 

[theheroofaction]

hmm.
-tall, check
-white, check
-antisocial, false
-hates exercise, false
-surrounded by gaming merch, Just a skyrim map, but that was free, so false

At least the stereotype got two out of 5 right, guess it has some basis in reality, not much, but some.

 

[HardkorSB]

I had a brain blast today and realized that none of my "gamer" friends meet the stereotype, which brings me to the point of this post. I can't speak for all gamers, so I want to know; is the forty year old man (who may or may not be living in his mother basement) and the pimple covered preteen no longer the mass of the gamer population? And if not, why is that still the stereotype?

The "gamer" stereotype was created a few decades ago (in the 80's, i think), when gaming wasn't what it is today. Gaming was (at least compared to today's standard) in it's childhood years.
You wouldn't judge a 40 year old person by the same standards you judged the same person when he was 10, would you?

 

[Ghonesis]

I... guess I would fit the girly man stereotype most.
These are adult stereotypes, and I'm still a teenager. I would be stereotyped as emo nerd, probably.

 

[Lilani]

Where do otaku go?

If the stereotypes are correct, they haven't gone anywhere ;-)

And to the OP, I really don't think the stereotype you mentioned was ever real in the first place. Or at least real for a significant enough portion of the gamer community to have held water in the first place. It was just a boogeyman made up at some point for ridicule and comedy, maybe based on a real case or situation but vastly caricatured beyond any grounding in reality. There may be a few people actually like this, I have no doubt there is more than one human who could sink to that level, but again it is not and never has been any sort of majority.

Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps the origin of the 40 year old man-child game player came from the assumption of some people that games are only a thing for children. Like it's something you should grow out of when you become an adult. So then they made the assumption that if a middle-aged person still plays games, they obviously haven't matured since they were that age. To them, giving up games is a step to adulthood, just like moving out or getting a job. So if you don't give up games, you can't become a fully-functioning adult.

My God. What a sad way to look at games.

 

[wooty]

I'm a general mix of allsorts to be honest, dont fit any particular stereotype. Yes I own and play a lot of games, I own a PS3, a Wii, a smashed-in 360, a PC, PSP, DSi...could go on but cant be arsed.

Movie freak, own over 300 dvds. Anime freak, own lots of series' and a fair few models. Sports freak, will play almost any sport and near religiously follow the Premier League and the NE Patriots. Travel freak, love going abroad (any excuse to leave britain is a good excuse).

I'm just........me.

 

[ChaoticKraus]

I... i'm not sure actually. I was at one of those japan/overall nerd conventions this weekend and got labeled "the most masculine nerd around".

I guess if you made some kind of frankenstein of a wigger, nerd, and one of those self-destructive party jokers. Due to my obsessive need to socialize and kind of muscular build people rarely suspect me of being a nerd unless i meet others and go off on a talking spree about skyrim or something.