Board 8 > What are your thoughts on the term "gamer"?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've never been a fan of people referring to video game players as gamers. It's always carried some sort of stigma to me and I've never been one to refer to myself as that, even as the term has seemingly become more colloquial in recent years as video games have become a more accessible and popular medium of entertainment. I feel like it describes a stereotypical lifestyle as opposed to an interest in the hobby.

However, I feel like this could also strongly be a me thing. I have trouble admitting that video games are easily my top hobby when it comes telling strangers in a work or social setting my interests and activities, though when pressed I won't try to make up anything alternative. I just fear the assumptions that could be made about me, even though I can admit that the assumptions that run through my head are antiquated by this point in society and many people share this hobby in some form or another.

Does anybody else share my concerns, or is my borderline shame silly?
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I would say anyone who plays video games on a non-phone device is a gamer.
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I prefer the term videogamesmen
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gamers rise up!
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gamers rise up
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I'm pretty much with you on all that
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The term definitely has stigma in the "us gamers huh" sort of way, but realistically what else are you going to say? Anything else is just inconveniencing yourself to avoid some baggage and it really doesn't matter that much.
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Even as video games have become increasingly mainstream, I feel like the term "gamer" is still pretty loaded. /r/gamersriseup is Exhibit A - that shit spread like wildfire. I definitely avoid calling myself one for reasons similar to yours - I don't want to invite any stereotyping or negative assumptions.

That having been said, I don't judge people who call themselves gamers, and very few I've actually met fit the "WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY - BOTTOM TEXT" mold.
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hmm, a long time ago, i identified strongly as a gamer and it was something i was kinda proud of. kind of something i clung to as part of what made me who i was. nowadays, video games aren't my #1 hobby, so that point is rather moot

do understand your point about connotations, but "gamer" isn't something that's apparent like race is, so no one will know it until you say it - meaning that if you're otherwise well-adjusted, those negative connotations shouldn't follow you
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as a noun that conveys the meaning that a person plays video games

nothing worth identifying as or conversely to feel shame about
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I think you're right the term itself carries an idea of who you are as a person that you may find undesirable, but I'm also way too old to give a shit if people judge me over a hobby. I wouldn't say I'm a gamer as much as I'm into gaming, though; there's a subtle difference there.
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ZenOfThunder posted...

jesus christ this is the type of shit that makes me go full @Metal_DK
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A gamer is someone who likes games. Nothing to be proud or ashamed of.
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ZenOfThunder posted...

This pic didn't age well. 4 of 5 under New School need moved down to Old School. And the 5 in Old School need moved down to Ancient Gamer.
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ZenOfThunder posted...

My favorite part is Angry Birds randomly being thrown in, lmfao.
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Joke(r) fucking post. Ancient gamer is 2007 shit? Gaming fucking has been shit since 2007
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You dare ask this question, so close to after Gamer Christmas ended??
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It is true that gamers are the most oppressed minority out there.
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some of y'all need more snoicposting in your life
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davidponte posted...

It is true that gamers are the most oppressed minority out there.

that would be Cheatriots fans
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i dont care about the term gamer

I'm usually inclined to say "I like video games" or some variation over "I'm a gamer" but like if anyone asks me if I'm a gamer I'll tell them yes.

If they want to associate me with some negative stereotype or something because of it, that's more their problem than mine.
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Uhh

obviously it's fine

it's like calling someone who watches TV once a week a television viewer

literally zero meaning to it other than 'this person plays games'
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this is like when people used to be like 'uh i believe in equality but i wouldn't call myself a feminist' just to avoid negative association

except that gamers deserve to be oppressed, unlike women

I don't like gamers, they're fat and greasy with neckbeards and they're everywhere
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gamers fuck off
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The word had its problems before but GG solidified it as a gatekeeping term of identity, and that identity has little to do with actually playing or enjoying games
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Also if GG didn't kill it then this video sure as hell did (NSFL, if you haven't seen this before... seriously)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peOOTd22mi0" data-time="
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The term was in serious danger of losing its undeniable cool factor a while back, but luckily I saved it (in 1999).


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I'm known as a gamer among the normie social circles I walk in, including family, friends, and coworkers. My nerd credibility is well established.
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CoolCly posted...

I'm known as a gamer among the normie social circles I walk in, including family, friends, and coworkers. My nerd credibility is well established.

is that how you got the nickname 'cool cly'

Sounds f***ing stupid and pretentious but it is what it is just like Soulsborne and Metroidvania.

I feel like gamer used to be more of a descriptive word way back and now its more of a buzzword meant to feel more inclusive.
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I guess I don't like it.

But I probably don't like being called anything.
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The Mana Sword posted...

gamers rise up!

NFUN posted...

gamers rise up

red13n posted...

I feel like gamer used to be more of a descriptive word way back and now its more of a buzzword meant to feel more inclusive.

This, I just say I like video games.
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ZenOfThunder posted...

So like, that would make me Permian period gamer then?

It has been intentionally demonized/expanded/made meaningless by woke activists who hate its primary demographic (young white introverted males)
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Call me naive, but I wasn't even fully aware of communities like /r/gamersriseup and that weird and cringeworthy joker stuff. I was also consuming little to no video game related media around the time the awfully named gamergate business was happening.

I think an alternative that could be used, at least in a contextual matter like press conferences, could simply be players. I acknowledge that players can't be used as a blanket description, however.

Why are humans so terrible?
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I wasn't aware it was some sorta loaded term
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SmartMuffin posted...

its primary demographic (middle aged women)

fixed
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SmartMuffin posted...

It has been intentionally demonized/expanded/made meaningless by woke activists who hate its primary demographic (young white introverted males)

Do you think it should HAVE meaning besides someone who plays games?

The idea that being a gamer is something you should make part of your identity (or even your whole identity) to the point that you need to protect what it means is absurd
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Why can't I make it part of my identity? If you care about something enough, shouldn't it be part of your identity? The issue here is gatekeeping and looking down on others rather than appreciating whatever you can find in common.
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They targeted gamers.

Gamers.

We're a group of people who will sit for hours, days, even weeks on end performing some of the hardest, most mentally demanding tasks. Over, and over, and over all for nothing more than a little digital token saying we did.

We'll punish our selfs doing things others would consider torture, because we think it's fun.

We'll spend most if not all of our free time min maxing the stats of a fictional character all to draw out a single extra point of damage per second.

Many of us have made careers out of doing just these things: slogging through the grind, all day, the same quests over and over, hundreds of times to the point where we know evety little detail such that some have attained such gamer nirvana that they can literally play these games blindfolded.

Do these people have any idea how many controllers have been smashed, systems over heated, disks and carts destroyed 8n frustration? All to latter be referred to as bragging rights?

These people honestly think this is a battle they can win? They take our media? We're already building a new one without them. They take our devs? Gamers aren't shy about throwing their money else where, or even making the games our selves. They think calling us racist, mysoginistic, rape apologists is going to change us? We've been called worse things by prepubescent 10 year olds with a shitty head set. They picked a fight against a group that's already grown desensitized to their strategies and methods. Who enjoy the battle of attrition they've threatened us with. Who take it as a challange when they tell us we no longer matter. Our obsession with proving we can after being told we can't is so deeply ingrained from years of dealing with big brothers/sisters and friends laughing at how pathetic we used to be that proving you people wrong has become a very real need; a honed reflex.

Gamers are competative, hard core, by nature. We love a challange. The worst thing you did in all of this was to challange us. You're not special, you're not original, you're not the first; this is just another boss fight.

What exactly is the point of this topic?

You either label yourself as a gamer or not.

There's no grey area. Either one or the other. End of story.

@ZaziGuado

What you really got ask yourself OP is why are you reading crap on Reddit?

Jakyl25 posted...

Do you think it should HAVE meaning besides someone who plays games?

Advertisers spent a shit ton of money in the early 90s and 2000s changing the definition of gamer from "anyone who likes entertainment" to "young white male", so it would be a total waste to go back to the original definition. We need to respect the realities that advertisers manufacture for us, or else society will crumble.
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PButterAndJelly posted...

There's no grey area. Either one or the other. End of story.

What about TRUE Gamers?
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