What is a "gamer"? Do you consider yourself a "gamer"

CiDeRmAn

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Yup we're both in the same boat, maybe we're softcore gamers!

So, Man b00bs out when your playing SFIII?

SirLemonhead

No, I'd hate to label myself in with the "gamers" - It just always comes across as a label for a bunch of elitists. Especially those who say playing games on your mobile doesn't make you a "gamer". ugh.

o1s1n

Doctor DooM wrote: »

I love my retro buddies. Part of being an, ahem, older fighting game fan is an affection for the old arcade scene. I'll never forget the first time I showed up to one of the retro events and someone handed me a stick and I rotated it once and went "ah, semitsu parts" and people couldn't believe it

Yup we're both in the same boat, maybe we're softcore gamers!

Hah! I remember that. That was my Dreamcast stick modded with an LS-32. Some mighty fine identification

Sometimes while perusing my games library and sipping a brandy, I like to consider myself a 'videogame historian'. :pac:

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

So, Man b00bs out when your playing SFIII?

No nip slips please, think of the children.

johnny_ultimate

I dislike the label precisely because of the many ignorant individuals who wear it as a badge of honour. A self-proclaimed 'hardcore' (or even worse, as I've seen a few times recently, 'true') gamer is very often the sort who bickers and abuses over something as arbitrary as format choice. Who mocks people for playing certain games, while themselves pretty much dismissing out of hand anything that doesn't conform to their narrow and usually extremely conservative paradigm of a 'real' game. Who will vocally rage over issues like resolution, game length, no online mode and/or unnecessary online mode, the number at the end of a review etc... and yet be pretty much incapable of holding a sensible, intelligible conversation about a game.

And the thing is these people are no doubt a small minority, just a vocal one.

I play games and I like talking about them, point blank. I think the vast majority of people on this forum do too - for the occasional mind-numbing discussion here, this place is bordering on a safe haven compared to the wilds of the WWW! To me, the type of 'gamer' I want to associate with is open-minded, passionate about the medium, easy to talk too, unconcerned by all the bull**** you see in the darkest comment sections of the internet. Whether that's someone who predominantly plays mobile games (and I've played dozens of mobile games 100 times more progressive and interesting than 95% of major console / PC / handheld releases) or someone who has spent tens of thousand of hours with a particular fighting game, doesn't matter - indeed, it's always worth remembering for many games are simply a form of temporary entertainment, not a full on hobby, and there's nothing wrong with that (for every hobby any of us have, there are twenty we have little to no interest in). Who needs labels or descriptions? It's always nice to be proud and excited about any hobby, but no need for that to transform into elitism or obsession. The only thing I'd say about anyone who only plays a handful of games is that they're seriously missing out on the nearly boundless variety of games on offer!

Duggy747

I played Mario on the Nintendo before. Lol, I'm such a nerd!

stefanovich

aaronjumper wrote: »

I assume the actual dictionary defintion is different but I have slow internet at the moment, so I'm not going through the wait of googling it.

If your internet is that slow you have serious fecking problems.

Doctor DooM

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

So, Man b00bs out when your playing SFIII?

Ugh, no don't be disgusting.

I'd never play SF3

o1s1n wrote: »

Hah! I remember that. That was my Dreamcast stick modded with an LS-32. Some mighty fine identification

And a very nice stick it was too, to this day I'm considering getting one

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

. A self-proclaimed 'hardcore' (or even worse, as I've seen a few times recently, 'true') gamer is very often the sort who bickers and abuses over something as arbitrary as format choice. Who mocks people for playing certain games, while themselves pretty much dismissing out of hand anything that doesn't conform to their narrow and usually extremely conservative paradigm of a 'real' game.

This is what's known as a "no true scotsman" logical fallacy. An example from wiki:

Person A: "No Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge."
Person B: "I am Scottish, and I put sugar on my porridge."
Person A: "Well, no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge."

It's a terrible argument.

CiDeRmAn

I have to say Johnny U, while I understand the elitist trope you speak of, I think you get that in every pursuit but I don't think it's fair to malign those who identify themselves as games as being synonymous with this bunch of morons.
Film buffs have their fair share of those as well, and those who don't grasp the finer points of certain kinds of cinema are often only too quick to criticise an imagined elite who do, through some sort of insecurity.
So both sides of a hobby possess the ability to over generalise about the other, gamers being just one such group.
And, yes, the past time has become quite broad with a wide range of people enthusiastically playing and talking about an equally wide range of game types, and that's all cool.
So what's wrong with differentiating between someone like that and someone who plays a game of Fifa on a Friday or Farmville via his browser while at work?
Are we so hung up on avoiding all possible unintended insult that it's easier just to avoid the word altogether? That's a bit pathetic tbh

johnny_ultimate

I dislike generalisations too, but I've unfortunately encountered enough gaming elitism that I'd feel confident saying it's a major issue with the online gaming community - much more so than comparable hobbys or medium (maybe I simply encounter them more, although I know it's less pronounced when it comes to film).

I'm definitely not maligning anyone who wants to use the word gamer, I'm sure I've probably used it as a shorthand myself over the years. As I was at odds to point out, I feel it's a minority that's the problem. Personally, though, I'm happy just stating 'I play video games', end of story. I find there are very few situations where I need to identify myself as a gamer, the same way I'm pretty sure I've never had to identify myself as a film buff. I'm not the biggest fan of labels generally, it's more that more often than not I see the word 'gamer' abused and personally tend to avoid using it for that reason. No problem with anyone using it if they so wish, as long as they don't act the maggot in the process Fair play, indeed, if you can proudly use the word gamer without worrying about how other people do so!

Gamer Bhoy 89

I would call myself a Gamer because I play a variety of games on various consoles every day and is my favourite pastime. To call someone a gamer is one thing but then you can always put them into sub-categories.

Casual Gamer
Hardcore Gamer
Retro Gamer
"Pro" Gamer

There are many variations of gamers out there. It all depends on how often you spend playing games, how much time you put into particular games, if it is something you enjoy thoroughly as a hobby day in day out then yes, I would consider yourself a gamer. Someone doesn't have to be good at the games to consider himself a gamer. I'm horrible at Call of Duty (my K/D ratio has never surpassed 1.00, ever) I play World of Warcraft yearly (one 3-month subscription a year. Don't ask, it just inadvertently happens that way :pac:) and I'm still learning so much about it.

I have loads of favourite franchises. I love Fallout, GTA, Battlefield - all the popular games. I also love Dynasty Warriors, and have played every instalment since DW1. I love Command and Conquer and the Dawn of War series. I play Medieval and Rome Total War to death. I have over 80K Gamerscore and 2 PSN accounts. I watch game reviews ALL THE TIME. I love watching game-related videos. I made my own amateur game-review show.

Everything I do in my spare time is somewhat gaming-related.

And if I may go off on a slight tangent; I wouldn't take any of the bullsh1t of "people who game haven't a social life". It's a load of crap. I'm in a training course and I have a girlfriend whom I visit every week up in Kilkenny, but I digress.

In short, if you play games all day, most days, since a long time ago, you'd be considered a gamer. Especially if you enjoy it.

I want to go home from work now and play something...... ><

o1s1n

Argh, not the 'retro gamer' can of worms! :pac:

I collect consoles and games from previous generations. Am I a 'retro gamer'? no. Why? Because it indicates I play older games because they're older games. Out of some kind of nostalgia for my youth.

I play these games because they were great games when they came out and they continue to be great games. I never stopped playing them.

It's the same as great film and books stand the test of time. I really don't understand why we need to differentiate between generations in gaming so much. Appreciate gaming a whole, not just on what's newest.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I divide gamers between has played stalker and has not player stalker

your piddling divisions and infighting mean nothing to me

nesf

o1s1n wrote: »

Argh, not the 'retro gamer' can of worms! :pac:

I died a bit inside when I saw the original Grand Theft Auto being referred to as Retro. Then I felt very very old. :P

K.O.Kiki

I'm a player of good games.

And bad, because you don't know what's "good" until you've experienced what's "bad".

nesf

Doctor DooM wrote: »

I went abroad to Cannes for a fighting game tournament a couple weeks back and spent most of the time partying with the other competitiors. I can confirm at no point during the weekend was I wearing gaming related clothing.

In fact, the winner of this large event was interviewed for a gaming site and when asked what his favourite part of the weekend was he said something along the lines of "winning, obviously, and hanging with the Irish guys".

Anyway the hardcore gamer tag is a bit silly. I know frame data for certain fighting games but I barely concern myself with new releases. I rarely play on PC and I dislike most FPSes intensely. I barely understand MOBAs. I do however enjoy mobile gaming.

So at the same time I am really casual and a huge "hardcore" gamer.

I've never understood the "hardcore" tag and it being applied to platforms. I could point any of ye at iOS wargames that are not lacking in grognard points and would befuddle most here. That they're on an iPad instead of a PC doesn't mean a dumbing down necessarily.

I think the anti-mobile thing comes from studies looking at "where the average gamer games" and they include people who play 15-20 minutes a week on their phone as gamers. Lumping these in with the 20 hours a week crowd doesn't make much sense. It's like throwing in the people who go for a short jog on Sundays with the people running 30+ km a week. So you get a backlash and the "No true gamer plays Farmville" kind of stuff.

landsleaving

I'm going to start calling myself a 'booker' when I'm reading. Or a 'kindler' which can also work while playing Dark Souls.

nesf

landsleaving wrote: »

I'm going to start calling myself a 'booker' when I'm reading. Or a 'kindler' which can also work while playing Dark Souls.

You're not a booker! That book has less than 500 pages!!!

landsleaving

nesf wrote: »

You're not a booker! That book has less than 500 pages!!!

WAR AND PEACE IS BETTER THAN ULYSSES BECAUSE TOLSTOY ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT HIS READERS AND THE FONT HAS A HIGHER RESOLUTION AND JOYCE FANS ARE JUST BUTTHURT ABOUT FINNEGAN'S WAKE.

nesf

landsleaving wrote: »

WAR AND PEACE IS BETTER THAN ULYSSES BECAUSE TOLSTOY ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT HIS READERS AND THE FONT HAS A HIGHER RESOLUTION AND JOYCE FANS ARE JUST BUTTHURT ABOUT FINNEGAN'S WAKE.

This forum needs a thanks x 2 button. :P

johnny_ultimate

nesf wrote: »

You're not a booker! That book has less than 500 pages!!!

landsleaving wrote: »

WAR AND PEACE IS BETTER THAN ULYSSES BECAUSE TOLSTOY ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT HIS READERS AND THE FONT HAS A HIGHER RESOLUTION AND JOYCE FANS ARE JUST BUTTHURT ABOUT FINNEGAN'S WAKE.

Typical Penguin Cla$$ic$ fanboys :rolleyes:

nesf

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Typical Penguin Cla$$ic$ fanboys :rolleyes:

Quiet you DoubleDay Douchebag!

CiDeRmAn

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I dislike generalisations too, but I've unfortunately encountered enough gaming elitism that I'd feel confident saying it's a major issue

Tell the truth, you're talking about Retr0 aren't you, the smug git!

Retr0gamer

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Tell the truth, you're talking about Retr0 aren't you, the smug git!

Wow what the hell did I do to deserve this. How dare you say I'm elitist. I'm not elitist I'm just an arsehole. Anyway everyone knows that you aren't real gamer unless you own a Neo Geo.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Wow what the hell did I do to deserve this. How dare you say I'm elitist. I'm not elitist I'm just an arsehole. Anyway everyone knows that you aren't real gamer unless you own a CDi .

Fixed it!

Radiosonde

landsleaving wrote: »

I'm going to start calling myself a 'booker' when I'm reading.

You mean a reader? You just take whatever you're doing and put er on the end, and that's what you are. Unless you're cooking.

irishmover

Radiosonde wrote: »

You mean a reader? You just take whatever you're doing and put er on the end, and that's what you are. Unless you're cooking.

So I'm a w*nker then?

landsleaving

Radiosonde wrote: »

You mean a reader? You just take whatever you're doing and put er on the end, and that's what you are. Unless you're cooking.

Hmm. I was taking 'game' as a noun, not a verb, I'd never really say I'm going to 'game'. I'll play a game. So I'd be a fooder.

But cooker is funnier so now I don't know where I stand.

zenno

I played the first game that ever came out, "pong" and crystal castle on atari and so on... till the ps1 came out with resident evil 1, I really got seriously hooked on that. But then came along tomb-raider and I was hard-core hooked. I will say that I was a hardcore tomb-raider fan, but not any more because they changed it to a 3rd person shooter like all the other games, IE. the new tomb-raider game.

The day's and night's glued into figuring out the puzzles of tomb-raider games was great, but as time went by when I finished every single tomb-raider game, I got into modern warfare 1 & 2 but that didn't do it for me because of the gameplay... kill this, blow this up etc... it just didn't give me satisfaction so I left gaming for a while.

Half-life 1 & 2 were excellent and I felt back in the feel of virtual gaming as it was for me, but as time went on, I noticed the same repetitive gameplay in most games and took a long break. I did play "the swapper" a few months ago, good puzzle game, but the way things are going these days with better graphics and crap gameplay that you can finish in 2/3 hours just doesn't cut it.

I used to be a serious passionate pc & console gamer back in the day, but not any more. Hopefully I can rekindle the lust for gaming again soon. Who knows, but all these war-games as in FPS's are just the same old shoot this kill this and blow this up, a bit repetitive I will say at this stage.

Calhoun

So much negativity for the label gamer, sure you get elitest but I have eperienced people who you could label alcoholics looking down on me for gaming.

I am proud in a way to be a gamer, games open up new worlds to is or if you live on a bog in the middle of no where help it not seem so isolating. I nearly prefer them as a means of story telling to tv.

Pushtrak

I just feel it necessary to point out this thread is home to a surplus of win.

Reekwind

I don't call myself a gamer as that would imply that I've got something in common with console owners.

*Cough*

On a more serious note, I play computer games. Perhaps I even have enough interest in the field to warrant a label similar to cinephile or bibliophile/bookworm (the actual terms for 'movier' and 'booker', respectively). But I have absolutely no stake in the 'gamer' subculture, particularly the more aggressive/hardcore elements of it. It's akin to how I can appreciate foreign language cinema without growing a 'tache and calling myself a hipster.

So no, I don't use the term.

Tipsy McSwagger

A lot of posters getting confused with the definition of a gamer and people looking down on others who play video games.

Retr0gamer

zenno wrote: »

I played the first game that ever came out, "pong"

*puts on pedantic hat* Pong was no where near the first game ever made. It's more likely to be space war on a PDP-10 terminal (which was also released in arcade format before pong as well). There's also a case to be made for Tennis for Two which ran on an oscilloscope.*Takes off pedantic hat*

Taylor365

I am a gamer. I play games. I do not play casual games that require the input of a chimp.

My bro is not a gamer. He doesn't play games. He is a chimp.


Ergo, Chimps are not gamers.


:pac:

CiDeRmAn

Taylor365 wrote: »

I am a gamer. I play games. I do not play casual games that require the input of a chimp.

My bro is not a gamer. He doesn't play games. He is a chimp.


Ergo, Chimps are not gamers.


:pac:

There you go, proof of gamers and non gamers, it even has Latin in it!

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

*puts on pedantic hat* Pong was no where near the first game ever made. It's more likely to be space war on a PDP-10 terminal (which was also released in arcade format before pong as well). There's also a case to be made for Tennis for Two which ran on an oscilloscope.*Takes off pedantic hat*

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I give you a gamer!

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I give you a gamer!

But he doesn't own a Neo Geo AES, so by his own admission he's not :pac:

jenjenten

aisha tyler calls herself a gamer...........

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

But he doesn't own a Neo Geo AES, so by his own admission he's not :pac:

He may not be a gamer but he thinks he's a player, or is that playa?

Retr0gamer

o1s1n wrote: »

But he doesn't own a Neo Geo AES, so by his own admission he's not :pac:

I've a MVS Neo Geo. Arcade all the way baby!

zenno

Retr0gamer wrote: »

*puts on pedantic hat* Pong was no where near the first game ever made. It's more likely to be space war on a PDP-10 terminal (which was also released in arcade format before pong as well). There's also a case to be made for Tennis for Two which ran on an oscilloscope.*Takes off pedantic hat*

I didn't know that I actually thought pong was the first. For neo geo... I still play those games using an emulator.

CiDeRmAn

zenno wrote: »

I didn't know that I actually thought pong was the first. For neo geo... I still play those games using an emulator.

Original Hardware all the way baby!

zenno

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Original Hardware all the way baby!

Indeed.

I still can't beat ghosts and goblins to this day :mad:

CiDeRmAn

That's a tough one alright.
I prefer Super Ghouls'n Ghosts myself

MadYaker

The old men have taken over! I'm out :pac:

Retr0gamer

MadYaker wrote: »

The old men have taken over! I'm out :pac:

Whippersnapper. Back in my day you had one joystick and one button. None of your newfangled dual sticks and shoulder buttons.

CiDeRmAn

In the days of Robotron there were dual sticks and shoulder pads....

Unfortunate that the idea of liking a game or games that run on older hardware earns you the term "old man".

Come on people, liberate yourselves, love all the games, not just the one in the Gamestop window!

Tipsy McSwagger

jenjenten wrote: »

aisha tyler calls herself a gamer...........

and a comedian

nesf

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Whippersnapper. Back in my day you had one joystick and one button. None of your newfangled dual sticks and shoulder buttons.

You had a joystick? Lucky bastard, all I had was a pair of sucky paddles for an Apple II. I was so jealous of my friend's Atari.

nesf

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Unfortunate that the idea of liking a game or games that run on older hardware earns you the term "old man".

You (if I remember right!) have kids old enough to play games with you, there's no world where some of the kiddies on here don't call you old! :P