Poll: Do you consider yourself a gamer?

[m7600]

Just a thread out of curiosity. I don't consider myself a gamer, even though I play games. In any case, we could discuss if playing games is enough for being a gamer or not. Personally, I don't think it is.

 

[JustKneller]

What do you think a gamer is? Is it not just one who plays games?

I definitely consider myself a gamer. I play games, I design games, I even analyze games just for fun. As I type this, I'm working on a spreadsheet that will let me build Icewind Dale characters using B/X character creation. Yeah, I'm totally a gamer, or at least an avid dork.

 

[m7600]

What do you think a gamer is? Is it not just one who plays games?

The way I see it, playing games is a necessary condition for being a gamer, but it's not a sufficient one, at least not by itself. Some (but not all) other identities work in a similar way. Here's a case in point: I listen to a lot of straight edge bands, but that by itself doesn't make me straight edge, because, among other things, I drink alcohol from time to time.

 

[Chronicler]

The term "Gamer" would describe me, but I just don't consider it a super useful label anymore.

It's like having a word for people who watch TV, or listen to music. Videogames have proliferated culture to the point that everybody plays them in one form or another. In my experience the people who get super worked up about being "Gamers" usually need to eliminate large swaths of the videogame medium as not being "real games" so that they can derive some sense of identity from this completely ubiquitous pass time and hobby.

As in "I'm a real gamer because I play Dark Souls. My grandma plays Candy Crush but that doesn't count, she's not a real gamer like me. My sister plays Stardew Valley, but that doesn't count either. The games I play are the games that make you a gamer"

 

[m7600]

It's like having a word for people who watch TV, or listen to music.

I see what you're getting at, but allow me to push back a bit. For TV, there is indeed such a thing as a couch potato, and for different genres of music there are descriptive terms: i.e, metalhead, punk rocker, goth, etc.

As in "I'm a real gamer because I play Dark Souls. My grandma plays Candy Crush but that doesn't count, she's not a real gamer like me. My sister plays Stardew Valley, but that doesn't count either. The games I play are the games that make you a gamer"

This is like people who say that Earth Crisis isn't a "real" straight edge band because they incorporate heavy metal elements into their music. But my point is not that there's such a thing as "real gamers" (or "real straight edge"), it's rather that some (though not all) identities have necessary and sufficient conditions. For straight edge, it's crystal clear what those are. For gamers, not so much. Hence this poll and discussion.

 

[Chronicler]

I see what you're getting at, but allow me to push back a bit. For TV, there is indeed such a thing as a couch potato, and for different genres of music there are descriptive terms: i.e, metalhead, punk rocker, goth, etc.

There is.

Everybody watches movies for example, but only some people are "Cinephiles" who are really passionately engaged with the medium.

I think a lot of common interests do have that tightrope. Some people get it into their heads that Star Wars was at some point in the past an incredibly unpopular interest that would lose you social status, but a simple look at the box office numbers says otherwise. How do you reconcile this? The kind of unpleasant truth is that there's a difference between somebody who likes Star Wars, and somebody who can't have a conversation without relating something back to wookies.

That being said, I've just never known "Gamer" to be a word that expresses that. The word is quite simple. It means one who games. Which meant something when it was a somewhat niche hobby. There was a time when only one family in my neighborhood owned a Personal Computer. Now there are refrigerators with more computing power than that thing had. We have, in my lifetime, moved from a world where most people do not game, to a word where everybody does.

"Gamer" is a word I used to use to describe myself and others who I viewed as somewhat of a clique. It's not something I've called myself in a long time.

You could make the argument though, if we are to use it as a label similar to "Cinephiles", that simply being in this forum would be somewhat of a litmus test. Everybody plays videogames, but the number of people who frequent videogame forums would be much smaller, and it does point to a desire to discuss your interest with others beyond what you're likely to find in casual conversation around the water cooler. It's quite likely that anybody on a gaming forum doesn't merely game, they are a gaming enthusiast.

 

[O_Bruce]

Well, videogames are a significant part of my life, for better or for worse. I don't consider "gamer" as a label particularly useful, especially nowadays, but there are at least several games I can swear I have played more than 1000 hours over the years. Given the time commitment, I think I can consider myself a gamer

 

[m7600]

You could make the argument though, if we are to use it as a label similar to "Cinephiles", that simply being in this forum would be somewhat of a litmus test.

Perhaps. But this forum is primarily about RPGs. And even though that genre is very dear to me, it's basically just that genre that holds sway over me. For example, my knowledge of first-person shooters, as well as my interest in them, is next to zero. I know a little bit more about platformers, since I like Super Metroid and Demon's Crest, and a few others. But that's basically it. I don't keep up with recent trends in the platforming genre, nor does it interest me in any particular way. Similar considerations apply to other genres. Every once in a while there will be a game that really catches my interest, the most recent example being Subnautica. But that doesn't mean that I'm invested or interested in survival games in general, I just like that particular game rather than the genre that it belongs to. RPGs are the only kind of games in which I'm genuinely invested in the genre. I would hesitate to call myself a roleplayer or an "RPGer" (assuming that's even a word), but I would be much more comfortable with that term than with "gamer".

 

[Chronicler]

With books they'll sometimes talk about an "Omnivorous Reader". Someone who reads from a bunch of different genres.

There was a time when I read a lot but I pretty much always just picked from the fantasy shelf. Occasionally Sci-Fi.

I also mostly play RPG's. I'm a creature of habit. I find one item I like at a restaurant and then I just order that every time I'm there.

 

[shmity72]

I hopped off my MMO to come here. I DID do self care today. that's important for all gamers to incorporate.

 

[Antimatter]

Sure thing, I do. I started playing PC games when I was 11. This hobby stayed with me throughout all subsequent years, and it's not long until I reach 40. Yes, I'm a gamer, and I'm proud of it. To me, this is one of the best forms of entertainment, definitely more involving than watching cinema or, say, being a football fan.

 

[JustKneller]

I hopped off my MMO to come here. I DID do self care today. that's important for all gamers to incorporate.

"Remember that while your character doesn't have to eat, YOU do. We don't want to lose any dedicated players."

 

[Nimran]

Nah, these days I find my interest in games to be waning. I’ll still play a good sandbox, but most of the stories in modern games are not very good, or have elements that I’m not fond of.

Take BG3 for instance. It has a good story, and great writing, but it heavily features mind flayers, and I hate mind flayers, so I don’t play the game. Most other RPGs’ stories have been done before, and done better. And then there are the remakes, which are usually made worse than the original because some wacko creative director or developer wanted to fit his ‘creative genius’ into it somehow.

 

[mlnevese]

"Remember that while your character doesn't have to eat, YOU do. We don't want to lose any dedicated players."

This makes me remember of the sign someone posted from a comics convention, I believe, that basically asked people to take a bath before going there

 

[O_Bruce]

I believe it's this one

 

[m7600]

@mlnevese can I ask why you don't consider yourself a gamer?

 

[mlnevese]

@mlnevese can I ask why you don't consider yourself a gamer?

Since I had kids I play only when I have time if I have time. Nowadays I play maybe once or twice a week and it's getting more and more common to buy games and never even get to play them. So at best I'm a casual player.

 

[m7600]

Thank you for your answer.

 

[Skatan]

I am not a gamer, at least I wouldn't ever call myself that. But this is true for most epitaphs, others might call me that but I rarely, if ever, use it to describe myself. It's too two-dimensional and I do not think I have anything in common with others just because we like to play games, thus the term "gamer" doesn't describe me more than "breather" would describe me as a person who enjoys breathing air.

So no, I'm not a gamer, but I do enjoy to play games, eat food, travel, be alone, be with others, like my job, hate my job, music from a hundred different genres and breathing.

 

[m7600]

I do not think I have anything in common with others just because we like to play games,

Good point. I feel the same way, for the most part.