What Is A Gamer?
November 7, 2006 by Ingrid Diaz
Filed under Gaming
As an addendum to my “male gamers are whiny bitches” post, let me first be clear that I meant that in sarcasm. I don’t actually believe that all gamers (male or female) are any one thing, which is why I was so annoyed by some of the comments I read in the Kotaku post (the Kotaku post wasn’t the object of my slights).
Saying things like “everyone knows that ALL female gamers are …” [insert your personal opinion here] is just ignorant. I dislike ignorance.
But I suppose the question that pops into my mind with all of these assertions about female gamers only playing certain kinds of games and therefore not being “real gamers” is: What is a gamer?
Can a girl who plays Paris Hilton games and also FPS games still be a gamer? Or does Paris Hilton cancel out the superior uberdom of the FPS genre?
Someone who only plays sports games – is that a gamer?
Someone who only plays MMOs – is that a gamer?
I see a lot of slights against “girlie” games like Second Life, and The Sims and what have you … but, why? What’s wrong with these games that people feel the need to tear them down?
What brings about this feeling of superiority where screaming “BOOM! HEADSHOT!” is somehow better than making sure your Sims family doesn’t starve to death. I think if both parties are having fun doing what they’re doing, it’s all good. What’s the issue?
And then I see a rush of girl gamers crying out like “But no! I don’t play girlie games! I play CS and Halo and F.E.A.R….. I AM a real gamer!” And it makes me wonder, where are all of these insecurities about what a gamer is and isn’t stemming from?
Why do girls feel the need to defend themselves? Why do people feel the need to stick to specific genres to justify their “gamer” status? What does it all get you in the end?
How do you define a gamer?
At the risk of repeating myself. I see a gamer as being competitive. He/she wants to beat the game, and other gamers. A casual gamer is someone who just plays for fun and does not try to achieve anything, beyond having a good time. To me, a “real” gamer, has a good time through achievement.
But what about an MMO where there’s no real way to “beat” the game. What constitutes achievement there? Getting to 60 before everyone else? Having more gold than everyone else? Getting beter gear than everyone else? Eventually, even the most casual player catches up one way or another.
*ponders*
I guess that’s an interesting way to define it. I’d actually be happy with that kind of definition, but I don’t think that’s how most gamers define it. There seems to be a sense of eliticism that I still don’t understand.
I think achievement depends on the person/gamer. Sometimes, it will be setting themselves goals and achieving them. Sometimes, accomplishment will take the form of raiding and beating bosses that are hard, because it takes planning and teamwork and who knows what else. for others it will be managing a group of players, creating a community through a guild.
And of course, the most obvious of them : the being better than others. Because they’ve played the game longer, know it better, reached a higher level, gotten better gear…
Ganking lower players or raiding low-level cities of the opposite faction, because you can, I’m sure is also highly satisfying for some people.
As for the sense of elitism, I think it’s directly linked to the feeling superior mentality. Other than it has a tendency to make me lose my cool, I think it’s mostly sad. but it’s definitely there.
Personally, a gamer is somebody who plays and loves a varity of games/systems/etc and has at least some understanding of gaming history and the culture that has spawned from it.
Karine was on to something when she said that hardcore gamers = competitive gamers.
Hardcore gamers are generally competitive people, who play competitive games. They want to be better then other players. This is true for the particular game/genre that they play. This is also true for the amount of money/time/energy/etc that they devote to gaming.
“You aren’t a hardcore gamer because you don’t spend as much time with games as I do. This makes me a more “real” gamer then you.”
This thought process feeds right into the competitive nature of the “hardcore” audience. They want to be better then other gamers, and this “hardcore” distinction gives them that ability.
Gamers = Those Who Game.
how to be a good gamer?
don’t answer that plz