Cowabungaa said:
That's the thing with language; jerks can take entirely normal and unladen words and make them sound douche-y as fuck. Blame that guy then, not "avid" as such. It fits the bill for gaming enthusiasts just fine.
The guy wasn't claiming to be an 'avid' gamer, though. It was an entirely different topic.
But regardless, 'serious' doesn't carry any more pretense of 'pretentiousness' than 'avid' does. At least, not to my view. I try not to add my own pretense to certain words and rather choose to view their usage by their literal definition, until the person using the word adds their own context.
So if someone says, "I'm a serious reader", I don't inherently take it as a proclamation of superiority unless the person seems intent on it meaning so.
For me, context is everything, especially in today's world. Without context, things can get muddled, especially when factoring in our own biases. That's why I try to take things at face value until I have a better understanding of the context under which it was stated.