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What's your definition of "Gamer?"
Liger
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm doing some research for my final COM project (design and advertise a games expo) and I'm defining my target demographic. I figured I'd go straight to the source and ask you guys. 
So: How do you define "gamer" and how do you see yourself fitting into that category/definition?
SOMETHING MORE SPECIFIC THAN 'SOMEONE WHO PLAYS VIDEO GAMES," plzkthx.
So: How do you define "gamer" and how do you see yourself fitting into that category/definition?
SOMETHING MORE SPECIFIC THAN 'SOMEONE WHO PLAYS VIDEO GAMES," plzkthx.
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Is this a trick question?
EDIT: Essentially any type of game that's likely to get you weird looks from your coworkers or fellow students.
No, it doesn't. If you play videogames, you're a gamer. Period. If you played videogames once, you are not.
You could further qualify gamer by using casual or hardcore or weekend or sports or whatever but that's just further niggling.
Rapists of freshly slaughtered ham.
God damn gamers. Sick perverted creeps, all of them. I can't wait for the day Clinton becomes elected and bans that horrible fancy.
I would disagree. Board gamers, Warhammer folks and RPGer's tend to all have different terms for themselves.
Say "gamer" alone and most people would assume you're talking about videogames.
Nope. Disagree. My wife plays videogames occassionally, but there's no way I'd call her a "gamer". She's just a person who happens to play videogames. I'm a person that goes out of my way to play them.
6 year olds can play video games, but I'd hardly call them a "gamer". Being a gamer means not only do you play video games, but you know a lot about them.
Great, she's casual; you're hardcore or dedicated.
Still, both gamers.
Meh.
Really? Because I own at least 10 systems and I absolutely hate "gamer culture", so you'd say I'm not a "gamer"?
A gamer is a person that plays games. A gamer that thinks "you need to play certain games to be a gamer" is an elitist.
I ride my bike sometimes and I'm not a cyclist. People who play Wii bowling once a week are not gamers.
Only on PA. My experience has been that in high School, multiple college campuses, and the Real World, for anyone I've hung out with the term "gamer" meant someone who played nonconventional games (not sports, or family board games, or socially accepted card games) -- any type of nonconentional game -- not just video games. In fact, most of the gamers I spent time with didn't focus on any one form of gaming. They played them all.
See, this I can agree with. It extrapolates on the "commitment" language in my first post. You're not a gamer just because you happen to play a game occasionally.
P.S. I don't really care that much, I'm just taking a break from work and found something to argue about
So, back my school gym class we would do all kinds of exercises, play a few different sports, and run a mile each year. Does that make me an athlete? I'd say no. I'd also say that I'm not a chef, even if I cook my own food from scratch. In closing, I like RocketSauce's definition.
Yes you are. You're not professional or competitive, but you're still a cyclist.
I have a co-worker at work who owns a Wii. She plays a few games here and there. She knows nothing at all about any of the games she plays, or any games on any other system. I doubt she could even name another gaming system. My mom played Guitar Hero one time, and she's played Tetris and Bejewled. She is not a gamer.
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Casual gamers generally play a few games, but generally not ones that are terribly deep. They don't go out of their way to buy all the newest systems, to read all the latest news, and gametrailers.com generally isn't their stomping ground.
Hardcore gamers are the exact opposite. They play all different types of games. They play deep games. They play their games all the way through.
Collection gamers are gamers who aren't so different from Hardcore gamers. But they're a little deeper. They go through games to 100% complete them. They get all the achievement points. They level up all their characters to 100%. They defeat Ruby Weapon.
Information gamers are gamers that are halfway in between casual and hardcore gamers. They play a lot of games, but to some extent they'd almost rather be reading about the game industry than playing games. They play games to see new ideas and technology. They'd be more happy messing around with Spore than playing WWII shooter #5039. They're all about the news, not the games themself.
So she's not a nerd. She doesn't care enough about video games to refresh GameSpot every five seconds to see what new JRPG or whatever the hell is coming out.
Doesn't matter, she plays games and is a gamer.
Dude...really? Only in the broadest sense of the word. In common usage, saying that someone is a "cyclist" implies a greater level of commitment than the average person to ride a bike in whatever context. They take biking seriously. Now apply that to gaming.
Maybe at the moment when I'm riding the bike I'm a cyclist, but in general, in my life, describing me as a cyclist would be incredibly misleading though perhaps technically correct.
You hate gamer culture; posted to a forum on one of the major game culture hubs, under "games and technology"
Perhaps this makes sense in your anti-gamer anti-dimension.
See, you think the term has to accurately describe their entire being.
When I was younger, I rode a bike everywhere. I didn't "take biking seriously". I didn't care about different bicycle types or tires or crap. I was still a cyclist.
You're trying to find a label instead of a term.
Pretty sure that goes back to the whole elitist thing. I think a lot of the conflict in this thread would be resolved if people understood the definition of "er". Really, I don't know what the OP was hoping for, but I'm pretty sure he's going to end up disappointed.
"Everyone who is capable of logical thought should be able to see why you shouldn't sell lifetime subscriptions to an MMO. Cell phone companies and drug dealers don't offer lifetime subscriptions either, guess why?" - Mugaaz
I hate gamer culture, not video games. I enjoy playing video games, but I don't find it necessary to have a shirt that says "I killed the 8 robot masters" or whatever the hell so that maybe some random person will see it and think "hahaha i know what that means i play video games too"
it's a hobby, not a lifestyle.
Gaming is a sub-culture, and sub-cultures are defined by those who are in them and embrace them. If the gaming sub-culture ("Gamers") decide what it takes to be a "gamer", then they are correct. Just because a 10 year old who plays Mario Sunshine says he's a gamer, does not make him one. Just as anybody who plays a video game does not automatically get their intitiation card into the gamer subculture.
Little kids who ride their bikes around the neighborhood can call themselves cyclists, and you make think they are. But people who are in the cycling sub-culture are the ones who define what a "cyclist" is. And since you've already said you are anti-gaming sub-culture, I don't see how you're even qualified to be saying who is a gamer and who isn't.
The OP asked us to define what a Gamer, and as members of the sub-culture, that's exactly what we're doing.
I see it as how you prioritize your hobbies and free time. Though overall I prefer to avoid the term all together and if someone asks my hobbies I say I like to play Video games and leave it at that. I don't feel the need to apply a label to my hobby.
Edit: People like Rocketsauce are the exact reason I won't label myself as a gamer. It's not an exclusive club, I play games, I post about them on forums and even go to gaming conventions, but I don't feel the need to be accepted by some larger sub-culture.
It absolutely emplies elitism. That's what sub-cultures do. They see some kind of fringe activity, they make it their own, and they define it to give them a greater sense of purpose by excluding others. Hip-Hop and Rap used to be sub-cultures, but then became mainstream. The idiot white kid doing freestyle on his Xbox 360 mic is not a "rapper", but it's become so mainstream, some people actually WOULD think he was, himself included.
Gaming has become mainstream as well, so it's harder for people to figure out the line between the mainstream side, and the sub-culture side.
If some kid does pushups, pull-ups, and runs all day, and wears boots and fatigues, that doesn't make him a Marine. Being part of that culture requires more than just going through the motions.