Poll of the Day > Do you consider yourself a gamer?

(+) Yeah! (+)

this question is partly philosophical lol

No. I've never really considered myself a gamer, even when I was a kid. Video games were a way to fill the void and a means of socialization, but not something I was ever really passionate about.

Yes, because I mainly define "gamer" as someone who bases at least a significant aspect of their personality, worldview, and/or sense of self-identity around the fact that they play games.

You don't necessarily have to be great at playing games, but you need to be immersed in "game culture".

If you're not a g*mer you're not allowed to use that word

Unfortunately

I dont consider it part of my identity. But I do play games sometimes.

Not anymore.

Certainly. "But you don't game much anymore so you're not really one now!" I'm sorry to differ with you, sir, but I am a gamer. I've always been a gamer. I should know, sir. I've always been here.

I go through long stretches of not playing anything. When I met my gf I didn't call myself a gamer but she found it really odd that I had a bunch of historical knowledge about SEGA.
Lately though, I have been gamin'

I honestly find the "craft" of video games more interesting than actual games themselves these days. I think I've put more hours this year into playing ROMhacks, researching old games/hardware and learning how to make games/hacks myself than actually playing commercially-released games.

So it's hard to say I'm not a "gamer" since it's still a big interest of mine, but I said "unfortunately" because I think it carries a kind of loser connotation. The people who are loudest about self-identifying as "gamers" seem to be the type to play as many hours as humanly possible, and excuse a lack of hygiene/social skills/etc. as just part of the identity.

Sashanan posted...

Certainly. "But you don't game much anymore so you're not really one now!" I'm sorry to differ with you, sir, but I am a gamer. I've always been a gamer. I should know, sir. I've always been here.

It's like the inverse of being Straight Edge. Their motto is "If you're not now, you never were."

But for gamers, it's more like "If you were once, you are forever. Because you ain't never washing that stank off."



bachewychomp posted...

I honestly find the "craft" of video games more interesting than actual games themselves these days. I think I've put more hours this year into playing ROMhacks, researching old games/hardware and learning how to make games/hacks myself than actually playing commercially-released games.

So it's hard to say I'm not a "gamer" since it's still a big interest of mine, but I said "unfortunately" because I think it carries a kind of loser connotation. The people who are loudest about self-identifying as "gamers" seem to be the type to play as many hours as humanly possible, and excuse a lack of hygiene/social skills/etc. as just part of the identity.

I think the problem is that the term carries different connotations to different people. Because it's basically a self-applied "title", there's no real official definition of what it means, and no licensing board that gets to determine precisely what is and isn't "gamer".

Personally, I've always seen it less about whether you play games, and more about how immersed you are in "gamer culture". Do you own game posters or T-shirts? Do you own any mini-figs of game characters? Do you listen to game music? Do you know all the latest video game jokes and memes? Do you watch other people play games on YouTube or Twitch? Do you keep up with what games are currently in development, or are on the cusp of being released? Do you, oh, I don't know, hang out on a message board specifically devoted to video games?

For me, all of that sort of behavior makes you more of a gamer than just playing games. Because there is a difference between someone who "plays games", and someone who is defined by games.

I consider someone who plays games maybe 1 hour a month at best but still engages with gamer culture on a regular basis to be far more of a "gamer" than someone who spends 2 hours every day playing a random Bejeweled rip-off mobile game, but who never pays attention to anything outside of that.


In your specific case, even purely from the "plays games" side of things, I'd say playing ROMhacks makes you waaay more of a gamer than most people, because the average casual has no idea what those are, let alone how to find them, let alone wanting to. Beyond that, if you're so into games that you're immersing yourself in their history, and even attempting to make your own games, you're pretty clearly a gamer.

Plus, again, you're here. Most of us here either are or were gamers at some point, regardless of whether or not we ever saw ourselves that way, or wanted to be.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

But for gamers, it's more like "If you were once, you are forever. Because you ain't never washing that stank off."

I for one was a gamer before it was cool. I was bullied for this. I won't let youngsters now take that title away because I don't have a video card that costs in the 4 digits, the first of which is not a 1.

Sure, if not only by the virtue that someone who performs action X is an "X-er"

I don't see how you can be here and vote 'no' unless you're in denial.

I get why some might be mortified by being united under the same label as some of the absurdly imbecilic buffoons that also call themselves gamers, but trying to run away from that is an exercise in futility; humanity is rife with grotesquely embarrassing walking piles of garbage, past and present. No matter what you refuse to call yourself, it's not going to change the fact that you're as human as any of them. The only escape from that, save for death, is to try and pull the line in a more positive direction, so you can be just a little bit prouder of what you are.

If you play games in any form then you're a gamer.

Yeah. I mean while I do play video games I keep up with gaming news, post here, watch people talk about video game stuff and listen to some video game music. I guess I'm slightly more invested than the average person who just plays video games.

Revelation34 posted...

If you play games in any form then you're a gamer.

Not sure I'd call some mum who just plays candy crush a gamer.....

Sashanan posted...

I for one was a gamer before it was cool. I was bullied for this. I won't let youngsters now take that title away because I don't have a video card that costs in the 4 digits, the first of which is not a 1.

I was never bullied for it, per se, but it was definitely more something you did with yourself and kept to yourself, rather than talking about it on the playground.

I honestly can't even remember what the first game I ever played was. It might have been on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i6S1J_GJxY

(And if so, it was almost certainly "Tennis Champ" - aka 'definitely not Pong, please don't sue us')



If it wasn't that, it was probably either this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lTh3gKv4vo

...or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9WwdVb-_A



I do know for a fact what the first PC game I ever played was though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCbvyPbhRfA



And I'm pretty sure this was my first arcade game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq1acgtAKZg

Videogaming is a hobby of mine, so yes; I do.

wwinterj25 posted...

Not sure I'd call some mum who just plays candy crush a gamer.....

What about the pop that plays Tetris?

I play videogames, have done all my life, but it's a hobby and I tend not to make my hobbies the focal point of my existence.

My first games were assuredly on my dad's Commodore 64, quite a few games (all of which cracked copies, but I only learned later in life that those games didn't just come with the system). Some of these memories are quite early, being at most 5, and as such I can't put them in the right order and say for sure which game was first. But here's a candidate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPjqwIjDLhk&ab_channel=MontyMole1976

If our version was unauthorized - unsure, for all I know this was in fact freeware - so was the game itself. Its creator Cees Kramer was a Dutch IT student then and assuredly not in possession of a copyright on Peanuts. :P

AltOmega2 posted...

What about the pop that plays Tetris?

Same thing.

wwinterj25 posted...

Same thing.

Damn...

4 day weekend and video games are nowhere on my list of priorities. I might play something, but only out of boredom.

It is my primary hobby so i suppose yes. I would never verbally call myself a gamer though.

Yes, I play regularly every night and grew up playing as a kid. Never been competitive though, I prefer to get engaged in a good single player game, almost like delving into a book. I am trying to tune out when I game

I consider gaming to be a significant hobby for me, so yes. That's really the only relevant criterion, in my books.

Yeah, but not a very good one.
I have a few consoles, dozens of games for each console, a dedicated TV for them, etc.
I stick to old school as well.

Honestly not since middle school. I started HS in 2008 and kinda stopped gaming regularly

Yeah.