Standards of a Gamer

[BlindedHunter]

As someone who still self identifies as a gamer since I don't really think that doing otherwise keeps people from thinking people who play games are generally... well, we all know the stereotypes, I tend to put a bit of importance on the word.
Someone who plays Farmville, for example, is not a gamer. Someone who plays the latest Call of Duty games with his friends may not, by my standards, be a "true" gamer.
To me, there are certain things a gamer must have done, at the least. I accept differences, but to give a few examples along one type of requirement: I think it hard to call yourself a gamer without having played a Mario; without having experienced Pong, Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time), and without having played Portal.

These are my own standards, of course, and I don't really begrudge someone for calling themselves a gamer even if they haven't done these things, I just appreciate them more if they have.

So, out there on the interwebs, what other standards might you (yes, you) have relating to someone being a proper or true video game player? (Or game player in general, for that matter. I definitely think experience with D&D is a plus.)

EDIT: I hope I'm not being misunderstood. I don't really mean elitism. I don't think any worse of someone who plays on one console or another, of someone who enjoys Farmville, or of someone who hasn't played all the older games I have. It really isn't that serious an issue.
But I'm not going to conceal the fact that if someone comes to me with experience in some of the older games or evidence of special effort like in the post just below this that they are... more aptly described as a gamer. Someone who has a real history in gaming and who is willing to look at the greats of video games, that sort of thing.

 

[])rStrangelove]

If you've never used a screwdriver to make your datassette [http://c64-wiki.com/index.php/Datassette] load a C64 game without errors you're just a modern gamer. Modern gamers just doubleclick an icon and the game works.

Btw its meant as a joke, personally i hate elitsm. Who really cares about this stuff? If you're into games (on any computer or console, handheld or not) you're a gamer. If you're only into real tabletops you're an analog gamer lol

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

I honestly have no standards. If you play Farmville and whatever other crap Zynga churns out, you are a gamer by the most base definition.

I don't give people any special entitlement for having played Pong and Ocarina of Time. I have strongly against elitism, because it tends to breed self-important asses at some point. I dislike the notion of being a "true" gamer/fan, because it is the term that said self-important asses tend to use (not to say that the OP is one of those people). I do give respect to anyone who can appreciate a good game or the history of gaming itself though. High five!

 

[Shymer]

I don't feel that identifying a list of iconic games that act as a barrier to "proper" gamerhood is that useful given how fast the treadmill of development is going.

You may respect someone who is old enough to have played Pong, or Defender, or Dragon's Den (as you young whipper-snappers should!) but I have no more right to be consider a true video game player than my five year-old son. We both play games. I'm just more tolerant of bad graphics and slow gameplay.

The sole criterion must be that you play games in your spare time. You could sub-divide the tribe into categories of game - you mentioned rpgs - but also wargames, board games as well as the plethora of different video gamers (console, PC, arcade, handheld, social, casual). That's the starting point of the single gaming community riven by internecine rivalry about what games are more valid.

That's human nature for you - looking for a tribe to belong to filled with people just like you and denegrating outsiders (Farmville players in this case).

 

[JMeganSnow]

)rStrangelove]If you've never used a screwdriver to make your datassette [http://c64-wiki.com/index.php/Datassette] load a C64 game without errors you're just a modern gamer. Modern gamers just doubleclick an icon and the game works.

Indeed, although never having been a console gamer, I would say something along the lines of, if you've never rewritten your config.sys and autoexec.bat files in order to play a game, you're not a real gamer. Also, if you've never bought a game that contained more than five floppies. Bonus points if they were 5 1/4, and there were more than 10 of them.

Btw its meant as a joke, personally i hate elitsm. Who really cares about this stuff? If you're into games (on any computer or console, handheld or not) you're a gamer. If you're only into real tabletops you're an analog gamer lol

Don't forget card games. Card games are awesome. Personally I love Bohnanza because it makes my friends and I quite unconsciously talk with silly accents.

Also, Mario? Zelda? WTF is this junk. Where's the Carmen Sandiego and Quest for Glory and Planescape: Torment?

As far as I'm concerned, however, you're a "gamer" if you've played and loved and tried to get recognition for at least one obscure or semi-obscure game no one ever talks about.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

...Ocarina of Time? Seriously? Why Ocarina of Time when it was Link to the Past that established the plot-mechanic of grabbing the master sword after grabbing three shiny things, going into an alternate world and then grabbing 7 more things before fighting Ganon? Just pointing out there are a lot of trolls nastier than I who prefer other romps through Hyrule.

I'm a single player gamer personally. It doesn't matter to me what other people play, how often, how competitively or, on what platform. It doesn't effect me and it won't until I play with them and since the odds of that are incredibly low I have nothing to worry about from other players.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

For me, you're a gamer if you at all take part in the culture of gaming.. that can be anything from talking about games on the escapist, to playing any game pretty much outside of a november release (ie, the mainstream games that are marketed to everyone and their dogs)

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

You're a gamer if you identify yourself as one, if someone says theyre a gamer because they enjoy Farmville or CoD, then theyre a gamer. Certain people of our medium are too stuck in the old mindset of gaming being an "exclusive club" of sorts.

 

[Mordreich]

IMO, if one has turned on thier machine and played any game from start to finish legitimately and of thier own will. That person counts as a gamer.

 

[Zhukov]

Whelp, apparently I am not a gamer.

Oh woe is me.

 

[ChupathingyX]

By your definition I'm not a gamer...oh well.

If you play games and you enjoy them, you're a gamer.

Simple as that.

 

[Erttheking]

A gamer is...someone who plays games regularly...that's about it.

 

[Vegosiux]

With drooling sarcasm: You're not a gamer if you never got into an argument about which option is better to take in any given game as if it was a matter of life and death.

 

[kingcom]

A gamer is...someone who plays games regularly...that's about it.

This is it. Preferrably someone who then discusses their experiences be it with other people or over the internet such that gaming is a communal activity.

Also, find it very funny that outside of portal, I dont like any of the game the OP mentioned...though I do find it interesting they talk about tabletop gaming...

 

[VeneratedWulfen93]

"Giving up job, school, even the touch of a woman to master the art of gaming"
This is a "pure" gamer, a gamer whose entire purpose is to play games and excel at them.
I'm not saying I am one (i'm close) but my standards are similair. To be a gamer in its base sense is to play at least 6 games for over 30 hours each (CoD doesn't count)

E.g. A person who has played every CoD since 4 and got to 10th prestige is still not a gamer as they have not experienced a wide amount of the quality within the industry. To put it simply play alot of differant games alot and to me your a gamer.

 

[Korten12]

"Giving up job, school, even the touch of a woman to master the art of gaming"
This is a "pure" gamer, a gamer whose entire purpose is to play games and excel at them.
I'm not saying I am one (i'm close) but my standards are similair. To be a gamer in its base sense is to play at least 6 games for over 30 hours each (CoD doesn't count)

E.g. A person who has played every CoD since 4 and got to 10th prestige is still not a gamer as they have not experienced a wide amount of the quality within the industry. To put it simply play alot of differant games alot and to me your a gamer.

You know, there are people who have done that but probably played other games...

Setrotyping on the escapist, at it's finest. If a player plays COD, then they don't count...

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

Someone who plays games regularly, or when they have time. I've gone a year without playing much of any video game before, because I was broke and busy as hell with work, but I still considered myself a gamer, because I love games and they've been important to me most of my life.

"Apps" don't count as games. Browser games only count if the player also plays real PC or console games.

Well, those are my standards, not saying they won't change if a decent Facebook or iphone app gets released. I just don't see those platforms as part of gaming culture at the moment. There's overlap but I would wager the majority of "app" users don't play full games.

 

[Mafoobula]

I admit, it's hard for me to take a lot of (air-quote) modern (air-quote) gamers seriously. I'm well aware that I have my biases, and a vague, slightly aloof disdain for the douchebag gamer. You know the type I'm talking about. "Oh, you have a 360 and play nothing but Madden and Call of Duty? That's nice, now kindly find a fire and roast your genitals in it." And sure, they might have as many as a half-dozen other games, but that doesn't quite excuse their seeming narrow-mindedness.
Eesh, I could feel my bully-victim's self-righteousness kicking in at the end there.

As for the young'ns who just never had a chance to play the old-school good stuff, well, that's what the Virtual Console and DS are for.
I'm sure there are a hundred websites where you can just download old PC games (remember, the ones that came on 3.5" floppy disks?), though I honestly can't blame the younger crowd if they're just not interested. I had fun with Jazz Jackrabbit and Goblins and Hocus Pocus, and now I'm having fun with Starcraft 2, Oblivion, World of Warcraft, and the rest.

That reminds me: PC superiority. I have just a hint of that. I'll always come crawling back to consoles for my Nintendo, Final Fantasy and God of War fixes, but mostly I'm tethered to my PC. I poured a small fortune into my laptop and peripherals, probably altogether enough to buy a (very cheap) used car. I'm not kidding, I'm that much into PC gaming.

And yet, for all this, I really don't think of myself as an (air-quote again) elitist (air-quote YET again) gamer. You wanna play nothing but CoD and Madden? Again, that's fine, but it'll take some convincing to get me in on it. Cheap little Facebook and app games? Fair enough, I'll be over here with my DS, and don't you even try to compare the two.
And I'm not exactly hardcore, certainly not compared to some. I'll do nothing but eat, sleep and play Oblivion for a whole weekend, but I do other things, naturally. I'll sometimes go whole days without playing a game, for any number of reasons.

Okay, I just re-read OP's post, it seems I missed the point entirely. To be a gamer in my eyes, you have to enjoy video games. It's as simple as that. I'll take you more seriously if you play many different games from different platforms, but I'll not begrudge someone who just doesn't have the time or money to get a sweet gaming PC and play Elder Scrolls until their eyes bleed. Fruit Ninja is fun, I can't argue that, and pwning your friends is always therapeutic, be it in Starcraft 2, Madden, Call of Duty, or Super Smash Brothers.

 

[Something Amyss]

You know, it has never, ever bothered me enough to make up a set of definitions.