What is your definition of a Gamer?

[SckizoBoy]

I'm with PriestTroit here... tabletop games, CCG's, PnP, are as much 'games' as the 'video' variety as far as the 'gamer' designation is concerned to me.

Being part of a tabletop game community who may or not play video games, they launch themselves into their hobby with just as much passion as video gamers, and, to me, justifiably consider themselves gamers, suffer the same shit from publishers/developers (albeit to differing extents) and have the same range of views about the very game(s) they play as video gamers (running the gamut from balanced to broken AF), so limiting it to the single medium strikes me as a touch disingenuous... :/

[TheDorkyDane]

Yeah I also think it is worth acknowledging there are several different kind of gamers.

Casual gamers
Competitive gamers
Party Gamers
Hardcore gamers.

And that is not even going into the GENRE of games! That is something I wish people and journalists would pay more attention to, gaming itself is a PLATFORM, it has multiple genres, and different people playing games play different genres.

FPS players (Single player or competitive player. You can do both or either.)
RPG players
Puzzle players
Platform players
Adventure players.

I mean... these genres can cross over for who plays them, but usually a gamer has one or two genres they mainly play.

I admit it, I am mostly an RPG'er, or even J-RPG, my collection tends to mostly be J-RPG. I don't really play FPS's.

Which you know is funny because when a mainstream journalist says. "GAMES!" What they really mean is. "First person shooters." I don't think anyone is accusing Mario for school shootings. So yeah, they are trying to conflate all games with FPS's. And again... Games are so much more than that. So many other genres.

[MadMummy76]

I think a gamer is someone who spends the majority of their time with games. That said I don't consider myself a gamer. The same way as I wouldn't consider myself a tennis player just because I play tennis 3 hours a week. Or a musician because I played on an instrument occasionally.

[Turnikman228]

A guy or gal who not only plays games but has their own opinion about them. Who doesn't ride bandwagons or listen to fake news coming from lame-ass shill media.

[fenrif]

The definition of "gamer" is "someone who is dead." -Kotaku, Polygon, RPS, et al

[TelperionST]

Hobby enthusiast who consumes news, release schedules, reviews, online conversations (participation is not required) and actually plays the games they are interested in.

[ryvrdrgn14]

There's no real definition to it because it's a general term. I suppose you shouldn't let yourselves be locked into such a broad category because you will be bunched up with people that are not quite within your range of interests. A person who is playing Candy Crush all day can be considered a gamer, but that person is not like someone who enjoys doing Dark Souls speed runs/those who like clearing games on harder difficulties and those two are also different from someone who just likes to enjoy games with good stories.

We're all gamers, fine, but we are all different kinds of gamers. We're not some hive mind group of people that salivate over games like zombies. We do not have a core set of values that we all adhere to. We're people who like games, in whatever shape or form each individual prefers. Games are not what we are all about. They are just something we like in varying degrees. A smaller part of a whole.

I wouldn't want anyone to narrow themselves down to just one aspect of life. I'd rather people say "Jake likes fighting games" or my "My sister loves puzzle games" rather than just generalizing and calling them a gamer.

It's easy to catch on to a type of person that you might be defined as and it's certainly easier for the marketing heads of game companies to formulate their campaigns and messages ( And some people still think gamers = Mountain Dew + Doritos ), but I would much rather that people hang back from calling themselves just a gamer. I think that a person is always more than that. Things change, I guess, and the way people think also changes as they get older. I might not have minded being called a gamer at one point in time, but I've done a lot more than just play games so I'd feel bad if that was all people remember me by.

This site can be great to let your gamer side out, but I'm sure you have a whole lot more going on with you outside of games and I never want to forget that.

[JackofTears]

I mostly agree with this statement, though I don't think it has to be the only hobby you're passionate about. I am a gamer, by almost any definition, but I am also an avid reader, and hold a great passion for tabletop Gamemastering. I love games and stories more than anything shy of freedom and family, and video gaming is one powerful extension of that for me, but not the only way in which it manifests.

[The Chosen One]

JackofTears fair enough (Note: To clarify I don’t believe in all the slanderous nonsense)

[Lysander Nemoinis]

What makes a gamer is if they devote more mental energy and spend more time doing that and caring about it than other things they might do to enjoy their leisure time. People like all sorts of different stuff, but gaming is my main hobby, it's what I really enjoy doing when I'm not busy with the daily stresses of life. And I don't really think it's something you can just do to "kill time," hence why I find it hard to see people who play mobile games as gamers in the same sense. I mean, unless they exclusively play mobile games and follow the news about it and spend their time and energy on it to the extent we would on consoles or PC.

[JackofTears]

I proudly call myself a Gamer, the people who uncritically believe all the slanderous nonsense are not the people I want to spend time with anyway.

[Colenado]

My opinion on the subject is very close to yours. Although I heard a lot of other compelling arguments too!

[Colenado]

This was a really well thought out and articulate response! Thank you!

[Henry09376]

Back before consoles gamers we're the term we used to describe tabletop rp like dungeons and dragons. It has been adopted to mostly refer to Video-gamers now. Terms evolve and change over time.

[Ice-Flame]

For me a gamer is the same as a book worm or cinephile, but for games. Games make up their primary hobby as something they can both relax to and obsess over. They can often go on and on for hours telling you about their favorite game, and have accomplishments they are truly proud of.

At least, those are the criteria I judge myself and my close circle of friends on, but if anyone comes up to me and says "I'm a gamer" I'm not gonna start quizzing them or anything.