ssh83

DEATH TO FANBOISM!!!!!

Love games for games and tech for tech...not because a logo or brand name adorns the outside of it's case.

Seiven

@rpatnode: Rene, good job on the article. Hope to see more of your writing on, or linked, here.

kelptocratic

and, for the record, I consider the original Zelda to be the best!

syr

rpatnode

fearing

Anyone can opt out - I've skateboarded but I'm not a skater - the last time was years ago. I ride a bike year-round all over the place, so I guess I'm a cyclist even if I'm not fully decked out in the cycle shorts/helmet/bottle look. Those who play video games more seriously can be called gamers because it's a significant thing they do; it's no different.

I too agree hardcore/casual shouldn't be taken seriously though. I can see it picking a target audience for a game, but self-identifying with either seems too limited for me.

fuchikoma

Athest

kelptocratic

The problem isn't with people who use a simple term like "gamer" to help them identify with people who share a common interest in gaming and the surrounding culture.

The problem is people who make vast generalizations and stereotypes(ie: emag up there making generalizations about people who use the term) about what it means to be a "gamer" beyond someone who simply plays games somewhat regularly and is into the gaming culture more than the average person. Someone can call themselves a gamer while still having a diverse range of other interests.

Some people also assign a lot of negative connotation and stereotypes to musicians and athletes. Yet someone would be mocked if they suggest "using the terms musician and athlete is hurting music and sports, they should only say I make music, or I play sports". Because anyway who thinks all musicians and athletes are the same would be morons, just like anyone who thinks all gamers are the same is a moron.

Abno

Wait... that kind of funny.
Nevermind!

StagnatedLives

Both. There's undeniably a slight stigma associated with playing video games, but it's nowhere near as serious as some people make it out to be. I think the stereotype is largely self-perpetuated by "gamers" who talk about "gamer pride" and generally make the fact that they have a common hobby with other people into some sort of huge deal. I think Wilson hit it on the head with the "tuber" analogy:

Imagine, for example, how ridiculous it would be if all television watchers identified as their own "Tubers" subculture. It's a humorous hypothetical precisely because a vast majority of first-world citizens watch television, from the romantics who tune in for soap operas and sports fans who catch game highlights over breakfast, to the sci-fi fans addicted to the latest Joss Whedon serial and insomniacs who watch old gameshow reruns.

The very notion of the "gamer" implies that games are a niche hobby, only for the sufficiently devoted. This exclusivity is exactly what impedes games from attracting a more diverse player base beyond the white adolescent male stereotype.

Babylonian

Your skill in Common Sense has increased by 1 point.

greatslack

j.howlett

@ratix240sx: And vice versa, of course. That's what makes the whole "gamer" tag so sad -- it's people who play "modern" gameplay-bereft garbage that most tenaciously cling to the "gamer" label.

emag

ratix240sx

It says "This is not a pipe."

Zero_Beat

Chaoticevl

I love ambiguity. It's what grad school is all about.

In other news, I have a bug up my ass about looking at people who ask me if I'm a gamer as if they asked me if I were a 'reader' or a 'tv watcher'. Yes. Obviously. Even if I worked at Starbucks and didn't own a TV, I would still watch moving pictures on a screen from time to time.

The dirty secret is that most people have been playing pictionary, Mah Jong, and poker in secret--in *hiding* for italic years.

deathbunny

Not a direct quote, but Confucius said something similar. Couldn't agree more.

MaxS

~RIP mitch!

but on topic, i like being a gamer, for every reason Patnode said. i like the community, i like the culture, and most importantly i like the games! in any subculture there are always going to be thoes who are immature and make the sub-culture look bad but that's not going to change if you get rid of the term "Gamer" i think we gamers are just easy to point to as being immature because we were some of the first to really adopt the internet as a way to get our ideas across. and unfortunately alot of our sub-culture are in the 12-20 year old demographic, and honestly when i was their age i did alot of the same stuff. the key for us older gamers is to try to teach these younger guys how to act appropriately even if they don't listen now, when they grow up a little they may remember your well articulated post about (insert subject here) and try to live up to that by posting something that is well thought out and well articulate. the anonymity of the internet allows some to act like fools, but that's not just in the gaming sub-culture. i've been on many different forums from Cars to Paintball, to games, to books and literature and trust me there's lots of people out there on those forums too spouting hate speech and homophobia, it's not just our little section of the internet.

viva la Gamer!

Godluvsugly

I tend to think of "gamers" as the more mature members of Kotaku: people who play video games, and who take video games seriously enough to put some thought into it, to think of what it really means to play a video game, what that action implies. I don't think of the homophobic turds on Xbox Live as "gamers"; those people do not deserve that title. They are giving real gamers a bad name.

We just need to take some personal responsibility when it comes to gaming. Is that so much to ask? For some people, unfortunately, it is.

peAr nectAr

BPMο

Incidently, I really don't care about 'clearing the name' of gamers in the eyes of the wider public. Let them think what they like. Are we really that insecure?

If anything, making games more mainstream just makes it easier for companies like EA and MS to push forward their exploitative policies due the ignorance of the common man.

Fuck 'em I say. By gamers for gamers is the best way forward.

ErskinPig

Pinhead

WalkOnWater

Athest

For what it's worth, this is one of my favorites: [image.www.rakuten.co.jp]

kelptocratic

ErskinPig

tnx3

NotPigeons

I think I'm going to have to agree with Wilson on this.

cybereality

Personally, I'm proud to be considered a gamer, and in no way do I see the term gamer needing to be dropped. I mean, what do we do? We play games. What does that make us? Gamers. Any other name wouldn't make sense.

Faint

Other than that, I really have to say I totally agree with him, its a matter of respect, and instilling that as a core value that is earned through good actions rather than bad ones.

DaiMacculate

If I may be so bold, does that sense of embarrassment stem from what you may perceive as a negative connotation applied by those who don't involve themselves in video games, or from your perception, as one who enjoys video games, of your gaming peers? Or both?

kelptocratic

GrimaceXL

Why are you on this site??

MikeA

InfernoT

From the middle of the article, a very, very cogent observation. Its like we have an anti-intellectual cloud forming in some places in the gamer-scape that hate any observations that don't work with their vision of reality, whether thats just platform fanboyism at its extreme or actual prejudice.

I'm in agreement that the term "gamer" is not inherently negative, we just need to drown out the voices of intolerance among us with good deeds. Like Penny Arcade has done, and continues to challenge us all to do with Child's Play.

I like this subculture, and I won't let a bunch of punks, young or old, drive me away from it with their idiocy.

DaiMacculate

brent_w

Babylonian

GrimaceXL

GrimaceXL

Babylonian

"I too long for a day when video gaming is not treated as an infantile pastime, and a change in the popular consciousness regarding gamers is only likely to occur if more and more gamers assert their identity as valid. It is rather unfortunate that those gamers most likely to assert themselves may be exactly those most prone to engaging in ad hominem arguments."

Very well put. Quite interesting, thanks Maggie.

Personally, I would posit that the "Hardcore" prefix needs to be abolished; there is nothing more absurd in my opinion than self-identifying as a "hardcore-gamer," let alone using it as some sort of badge.

kelptocratic

Raziel Dune

Scorpi

allow me to reiterate my love of people who waste an entire paragraph spouting bullshit merely to earn another star for their pretention trophy case. =)

i_lie_to_fit_in

brianewing

But i like this article more than the other one.

Cchrist