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Forums → Games → We shouldn't use the term "Gamer"
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Ever since the 80's, the people who play games have been called "Gamers". It's been a title that many have taken with pride, but also a title that has followed the industry about like a "My Little Pony" backpack. The term "Gamer" refers to a time of old, when games were considered a fad, toys, something for children. Why call us "Gamers"? If you read books, are you called a "Reader"? If you watch movies, are you called a "Watcher", or "Filmer"? If you listen to music, are you a "Listener"?
Games aren't what they used to be, games can now do what movies and music can't. They invoke thought, make one craft relationships, and often, take a step back and just sit in awe at what the player has just accomplished.
So, what are your opinions? Do you think the term "Gamer" is an honor? An insult? A title we must get rid of if we are ever to transcend into an art form? (a movement fast-approaching)
-Chillz
- 59 Replies
i agree with that. i wouldnt say all lnew games are easy, but i can say that ii haavnt played one new game that is as difficult aas any old game ive playedd. maybe thee beset way to look at it is lookking at one game seeries. almost any game series i played became easier the more games came outt (lool crassh games). the new gaaes are just lonoger. i remember the time where had no savves and had to finishh a ggame in the saame day youo started (or if your luccky youu hadd to use paaswords)
(sorry, its the pirate keyboard )
But why would they absolutely need to just to be classified as "gamer"? Just like there's people that watch movies because they have explosions and stuff in them, there's people that like visually appealing games.
Yeah, but in my oppinion, then they're no gamers. They just play games.
Come on, when I watch movies, I'm not a big movie fan. I just like to watch some of them.
It's like a child learning the first rules of arithmetic and then saying: ''I'm a math teacher.''
It's like a child learning the first rules of arithmetic and then saying: ''I'm a math teacher.''
The difference is that math teacher is a profession while gaming is a hobby. If someone just plays a game every now and then without being very interested in it, then I can agree that they're no gamer, just like someone's not an artist just because he drew a stickman on a piece of paper a month ago. However, if someone is interested in video games, and likes to play them when he/she's got some time to spare, then I'd say he/she is a gamer, regardless of his/her skill.
Gamer is just a general term, making it completely neutral. I don't mind being called a gamer, mainly because at least I'm being recognized for what I do.
A gamer is always a hardcore gamer otherwise you aren't a gamer. If you play casually you aren't a gamer , simple , you don't have skill in the games .
Casual gamers are the main reason that the only title that was good and solid was Starcraft 2 : Wings of Liberty in the last 2 years, I don't remember any other great multiplayer video game that got released within 2 years that owned.
You are definitley misconstruing "casual" and "hardcore".
Casual doesn't mean you want the easy way through, it means you probably don't take games all that seriously in any way (except stuff like vanity / acheivements) and they're there for your free time / entertainment.
Hardcore is actually a larger span than casual, you can be a guy who loves a single genre, or you can be a professional on a single game - personally I find those who invest the time to be the best at a game is hardcore but those who try a large variety are equally hardcore because of their attempt at seeing everything it has to offer.
Would you like some games?
League of Legends? Competitive Scene.
HoN? Pretty sure it has an even bigger competitive scene.
And you just said one with an amazing multiplayer, truthfully I agree for the most part with you but please be a little more elaborate with "casual" and "hardcore" - maybe your definitions are different to me, but that's one of the problems with these words.
WoW : Casualism expansion , fcking same **** all over again , Rated battlegrounds where you can't even lose rating points in and get all the epic pro gear !
Wrath's only good side was the questing, everything went to a fast slope into hell.
They're not going to just say "Alright *insert people who can't do things on the skill-level required*, you had your expansion, go away now, we're going back to Vanilla". As much as I'd like it if they could, it makes sense to just slowly climb back up...
Maybe it was a business plan to get more "casual" gamers into the MMO - they're pretty difficult to get into at first, you know, after you put over 20 Gigabytes of info into your drive, make an account, pay for the game and three expansions, etc.
Battlefield 3 : Exclusive bonus to people who pre-order because EA says quantity > quality and only care about the money.
Whole-heartedly agree, it's why I took away the preorder on BF3 and don't plan on getting it.
The main problem is that nowdays the developers make games for losers !
It's obvious you watch Athene, it seems. :>
That reminds me, thanks for reminding me to check his channel :>
Him, and Totalbiscuit have for the most part the same views from what I've seen from both of them.
i think that being a "gamer" is a great honor! i believe that gaming is a form of skill, not just entertainment.
Games aren't necessarily a form of skill, but take it.
It's a form of art, if you ask me.
I've been gaming since i was four. i started out with simple Mario or Sonic. then at about age 6, i took up fps. i played violent games very early, and, in my opinion, made me a better person by learning to understand whats right and whats wrong.
That happened to me when I was playing Fable I, haha
Not necessarily the "violence" part, but the morals, the choices and the consequences I saw.
You may not be as great at gaming as some of the other peers out there, but skill should never matter in a game. Passion matters. If you have a passion, a liking for, video games, then you should by all means be considered a gamer.
In that case, I'm a fairly small gamer in comparison to philosophy, martial arts and etc - I'm nowhere near the best at martial arts but I respect it more than games in terms of usefulness.
@Freakenstein - sadly the players do make a difference. On a business standpoint, you want to cater to as many as possible, the philosophy of being a great game designer doesn't mean so much to a lot of people, and sadly they take the easy road.
Technological advances aren't to blame - it's how we bloody use them. Because there's an obvious ability to abuse peoples lack of morality / care for the game industry of the franchise itself the developers / publishers will do what they can to siphon as much money as possible.
Gaming as an Art form?Err... Care to elaborate?
The same movies / drawings are. Games are a much better way of expression through these means though - you interact, you have THE CHOICES, you have the audio, you have the genres the atmosphere the immersion the inability to look away the possibility to keep going forever.
Lack of punctuation so that it looks like I'm rumbling on about all the possibilities.
The competitive scene in Starcraft II
The immersion present in Amnesia: The Dark Descent
The laughter in Magicka
The adrenline-rushing action of Crysis 2
The finesse and calmness in Battlefield: Bad Company 2
The rage when that Troll guy in the Troll Starting Zone dies.
The sadness when the Chieftan's wife is killed and a school is blown up.
The ability to work out so many things from simple numbers, making something great (in terms of games) come out of it.
The possibility of being endlessly creative (Minecraft).
The amount of combinations through these different things you can have!
You mean the expansion that completely changed the old landscape? Riiiiight nothing new at all. From what I could tell, it sparked new interest in the game for those that stopped playing it, because it changed everything about the land.
Plus the raiding / instance difficulty was a large step up from Wrath, something constantly asked for by self-claimed "veterans" of WoW.
How can you possibly make gaming attractive to a non-gamer if they see business practices like this?
Rhetorical question, obviously, but I have to say that yeah - it seemed before games were a labour of love, now a great deal of it is being twisted into money schemes etc.
Actually I'd go even further and say you don't even need passion, just as long as you have fun playing games. I mean one can like movies without being passionate about them, right?
Umm. Define "assion", I have a passion for games for what they could be as a whole, I have a passion for movies for what they can be used for, I have a passion for computers for everything they can do - my definition and reasons are very different to that of other people I'd imagine.
But people, that are playing since everyone does, are not gamers!
So the kids that play football with their friends are not footballers on any level?
A friend of mine said, when we met the first time, that he's a gamer, too. LOL!!! I've finished my first game before he was born. And his first console was the PS 3.
This is one of the things that I hate - people who may or may not represent the same points I would like to make but with horrendously dull arguments.
If the Wii came out when you was 32 and you started playing Super Mario Galaxy with your 8 year old daughter and 11 year old son, occassionally with your wife, you still are a gamer.
Either you play games, or you don't. Any other distinction just feels like pointless elitism.
In the case of this thread, 100% true.
How you play the game, what intention you have, etc do matter though, not for determining "casual" or "hardcore" but simply for seeing how much you care for the game. I look at builds in Starcraft II, I do tiny bits of theorycraft and overall I rarely play it - I'm stupid like that but I enjoy the game when I play!
I'm not a guy who likes to be inefficient in games unless of course I have every need to be or just would like to be dumb (Hi Magicka). I don't make every effort ever to be the best but I certainly do the more "sophisticated" methods.
- H
This is one of the things - would someone just say they're a reader?
Not really, they'd elaborate a fair detail "Usually I like *insert genre here* but the books from *insert author here* are very good, even though I usually don't like *insert another genre here*".
People may not like fantasy but they love Lord of the Rings, people may not like history but they love 300, people may DESPISE Sci-fi but love Battlestar Galactica.
- H
So what if people who watch movies aren't called watchers. I don't take it for an insult or with honor. This is just a term used to talk about a person who plays games. don't understand how people can take it as either of those two. It's like being mad or proud to be called a swimmer.
If you are proud to be a swimmer or a gamer is another thing. But the word has no specific impact on me.
i think that gamer is more like a tag not a title and you can be proud or not about it
I Think gamer is just a soft version of comp nerd.
What about those who play board games.
Gamers.
What about those who play board games.
Gamers.
But isn't this a good reason why we don't necessarily need the term "gamer"? After all, playing games is not something that is so unusual that it needs its own term.
But isn't this a good reason why we don't necessarily need the term "gamer"? After all, playing games is not something that is so unusual that it needs its own term
I guess i totally didn't make a point with that :|.
I don't think it's unnecessary, i just think it shouldn't hold such a stereotype.
My friends all think "gamers" are nerdy teenage boys/40 year old virigins. I game, and i'm a 20 year old female. Kids below six play games. Hell, i know a 60 year old who plays the wii for hours after church.
i think the term, "gamer" isnt that big of a deal... were i live its just a name for a person who is really into playing video games alot its not ment to mean there obsessed? its a commen term ppl use to descrbe me
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