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"Real" or "True" Gamers

XxPhoenixFlamexX

Well-Known Member
Today I read an game review on Yahoo! for Destiny. In the comments people started saying if you don't consistently play a game for more than 5 hours straight you aren't a true gamer. That got me thinking about a couple things:

a.) Why do people care about being a "true" gamer?
b.) What is the qualification for a true gamer?

My two cents is that anybody who enjoys games is a real gamer. Just because you play for hours on end does not make you superior in that regard. Sure, you might be better at videogames, but does that really matter? Not all of us have the time to devote to 5-hour-straight sessions of gaming. Many of us have jobs and families, as well as other responsibilities and hobbies.

I look forward to seeing your opinions on this.
 
I agree with you fully there. Something that some (mainly) girls do is pretend to be gamers to be 'sexy'. >.> A lot of the time they're not 'real gamers' because a lot of the time they don't actually like video games.
But other than that, I think anyone who loves video games and spends at least some time playing them can be classified as a gamer. :p
 

Zazie

So 1991
If you definition of gamer is someone with no self-control, than yeah the 5 hours definition makes sense. BUt that's not something I would brag about.

And honestly I have never heard of a single person who lies about playing video games. I do have one friend who prefers watching over playing, but even she has hundreds of hours logged into steam.

And even if someone only enjoys watching games or has no interest in them, there is nothing wrong with that.
 

The Admiral

the star of the masquerade
I don't think the fact that I have, on more than one occasion, played a video game for more than 13 hours straight makes me a true gamer compared to somebody who plays for about half an hour a week. I do, however, think it makes me more of an idiot.
 

shadow wolf

The one and only!
The whole Casual vs. Hardcore divide is used for a sense of elitism and it's meant to de-credit anyone's opinion you don't feel fits into your arbitrary definition of what it means to be hardcore. It really is a horrible identifier. Pretty much hardcore or any substitute for that word falls under the No True Scotsman Fallacy.
 

LDSman

Well-Known Member
I agree with you fully there. Something that some (mainly) girls do is pretend to be gamers to be 'sexy'. >.> A lot of the time they're not 'real gamers' because a lot of the time they don't actually like video games.
But other than that, I think anyone who loves video games and spends at least some time playing them can be classified as a gamer. :p

Partly this. Before gaming became mainstream, a lot of gamers were considered geeks or nerds. So to make themselves feel better, they took pride in how much they gamed. Now that it's mainstream, they are still trying to look good against the "cool" people that used to make fun of them, abuse them or ignore them for being gamers.

Same thing with other areas. People who retreated into their comics and costumes and whatnot because their popular/jock type classmates hurt them in various ways over their geeky/nerdy/loser hobbies resent those same types of people now jumping into the hobby and proclaiming "See! I'm a geek/nerd/whatever too!!" Those hurt by these types of people see the influx as an attempt to take something they enjoy away from them. They fear that eventually the "cool" kids will drive them out for not being cool enough to belong any more.
 

Malfor

X and Y will be good
Today I read an game review on Yahoo! for Destiny. In the comments people started saying if you don't consistently play a game for more than 5 hours straight you aren't a true gamer. That got me thinking about a couple things:

a.) Why do people care about being a "true" gamer?
b.) What is the qualification for a true gamer?

My two cents is that anybody who enjoys games is a real gamer. Just because you play for hours on end does not make you superior in that regard. Sure, you might be better at videogames, but does that really matter? Not all of us have the time to devote to 5-hour-straight sessions of gaming. Many of us have jobs and families, as well as other responsibilities and hobbies.

I look forward to seeing your opinions on this.

Yeah. I find girls who pretend to be gamers to be highly unattractive.
"Yeah are you kidding? I love Pokémon!"
Which one is your favorite?
"Umm.... It's *thinks of an excuse* hard to choose"

But it's the exact opposite for girls who are actually gamers.
*been walking around for 30 minutes*
"Well who's your favorite second gen Pokémon?"
"Umbreon. He can attack good and he's cute"
"I have to say I like-"
Etc.
(Yes my girlfriend is a gamer, for all 0 who care)

For the other side, anyone who plays videogames avidly is a gamer in my mind.
 
There's no such thing as a "true" gamer. It's just 'gamer'.

Whether you play games for 20 hours or just 20 minutes, you're a gamer.
 

Shinehollow

Turning that frown all the way down
Well,to me,it depends on your take on it.If you believe you're a true gamer,then you are.To me,anyone who has played video games for at least a couple hours straight it a gamer.
 
first thing first, playing a video game doesn't make you a gamer. i caught a few fish, so i am a fisherman. think of it this way, many people say that they like japanese food. but most, when asked, only eat ramen and sushi. because that's all they really know about japanese cuisine. there is more to japanese cuisine than ramen and sushi. apply this to gaming. there is more to gaming than just one series. so playing call of duty for 10 hours straight doesn't make you a gamer.

being a gamer (like any passion really) is about expanding your horizons. there is so much to explore in the gaming world. it doesn't matter how long you play but how well you dive into the world of gaming. so ignore people who say you must play a game for 5 hours to be a "gamer". playing one popular title for hours straight doesn't make someone about passionate about gaming as a whole.

many people complain about "girl gamers" but i am going to be defending them somewhat in this.

while i believe that saying you are a girl gamer is just saying you are a gamer... you have to understand why girls feel the need to say that. to attach "girl" to "gamer". we live in a patriarchal society. while women aren't as institutionally oppressed as many other counties, my point still stands. i'm sure many of us as kids remember being told by our parents or by others "this is for girls, this is for boys". being a gamer is a male dominated passion. girls see video games are being for boys because misogyny is teaching them that this is what it is.

so to attach "girl" to a male dominated passion or field is actually their way of empowering themselves. it's a way of saying "i'm just as good as the boys" or "i can do anything a man can do". please think of it this way before you attack someone for calling themselves a "girl gamer".

also! you might see girls acting sexy while playing video games. but you also have to understand that this is what we as a society expect them to do. society as taught girls that their value is in their sexuality. hence people like bad*****nikki (whatever her name is) come along. instead of **** shaming people like this girl, we should empower them to not place emphases on sexuality. but we fail to do so.
 

Carcara

Well-Known Member
I don't think being a true gamer is about how much you play, but i also think that not everyone can be a gamer. I think it's about how much you enjoy video games. Your kill/death ratio in a FPS doesn't mean anything, but playing it with your friends, online or locally, makes you a gamer. Beating many games on Hard mode is only important if you have fun trying new strategies or using different items, but not bragging rights. That's my opinion. And about the gamer girls, i know there are a lot of "posers" out there, but there's also real gamer girls. I've only known 2 in person: one had a Pokemon Red copy(she even called me a noob once), and the other thinks i'm weird ,not because i'm a gamer, but because i collect shinies. Like,she know more about games than her boyfriend, who i also consider a gamer.
 

Jb

Tsun in the streets
I think it depends on the situation. If I needed an opinion of a "gamer" on game related things, I'd probably take the opinion of the guy that games a few hours a week over the guy plays flappy bird on his break and that it.

I don't think there's a limit you need to game to be a gamer but I wouldn't say the person that only plays farmvillie when messing around on facebook is as much as a gamer as someone who does it as a hobby.

I think that's the thing, hobby vs time waster.
 

Murder Doll

Button Presser
If playing video games is one of your chosen hobbies then you are a gamer. People are welcome to try and give their own meaning to the term but that won't make them any more right then a person who calls a dog a cat.
 

Psychic

Really and truly
This.

To Miss Ordinary, Malfor, and everyone else who genuinely believe in "fake girl gamers," how many "fake nerd" girls do you think actually exist? How many have you met? Be honest - we all know that "fake girl games" don't really exist. This is a myth that insecure nerds have told themselves over and over because they fear that the nerd culture has become so popular in mainstream culture that it no longer "belongs" to them. There have always been geek girls, but now there are more of them because geek culture has become more mainstream. That's the reality. More people like comic books and science fiction and video games than ever before, and yes, a lot of those people are women. They're not faking liking something. They may not have as much knowledge about a subject as you do, but that doesn't make them an inferior geek.

Also, be honest, dudes - why the hell do you think women would want to fake being a geek or gamer? Never mind that the cultural myth is that geeks and gamers are all fat, sweaty, socially inept dudes (which obviously doesn't attract women). Geek and gaming culture is an incredibly sexist environment. If you want proof, you don't even have to look at the way female game-developers are treated in the industry - just look at this very thread! In a topic about "fake nerds," a large amount of comments are about how women only pretend to be nerds! How many men are accused of being "fake nerds" compared to women? Pretty much zero - the conversation is almost always about women.

That is called sexism, and that is why nerd culture repels women. So what the hell makes you think that so many women are pretending to be geeks so they can be with elitist snobs who assume they're faking? *drops mic*


Partly this. Before gaming became mainstream, a lot of gamers were considered geeks or nerds. So to make themselves feel better, they took pride in how much they gamed. Now that it's mainstream, they are still trying to look good against the "cool" people that used to make fun of them, abuse them or ignore them for being gamers.

Same thing with other areas. People who retreated into their comics and costumes and whatnot because their popular/jock type classmates hurt them in various ways over their geeky/nerdy/loser hobbies resent those same types of people now jumping into the hobby and proclaiming "See! I'm a geek/nerd/whatever too!!" Those hurt by these types of people see the influx as an attempt to take something they enjoy away from them. They fear that eventually the "cool" kids will drive them out for not being cool enough to belong any more.
This also. But this is also a general elitism thing. "I liked Green Day before they became mainstream." "I liked Chris Pratt before Guardians of the Galaxy." "I liked comic books back before liking them was socially acceptable."


tl;dr, there is no such thing as a "real gamer" - there are only people who like the same thing to different extends and have different amounts of knowledge about it. The idea of being a "real x" is elitist and stupid, but in this case it is also incredibly sexist.

~Psychic
 
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UltimatePokemonExpert

Experienced Trainer
In truth, I don't think there is such a thing as a 'true gamer' despite our judgements of certain people's game choices or habits involving games. If you enjoy video games and regularly play them, or try to at least, then you are a gamer. Are there different degrees of being a gamer? In my opinion yes, but not everyone will agree in the end.
 

bobjr

You ask too many questions
Staff member
Moderator
There are girls who stream with low cut tops or in their underwear, but they don't like the games, they just like the money and attention. They are a very small minority of women gamers though, but that's what most people tend to think of.
 

Blazekickblaziken

Snarktastic Ditz
There are girls who stream with low cut tops or in their underwear, but they don't like the games, they just like the money and attention. They are a very small minority of women gamers though, but that's what most people tend to think of.

Which to be fair, if they do this and succeed at getting what they want, they're just being savvy businesswomen as far as I'm concerned.
 

Tiffany

Staff member
Super Mod
This.

To Miss Ordinary, Malfor, and everyone else who genuinely believe in "fake girl gamers," how many "fake nerd" girls do you think actually exist? How many have you met? Be honest - we all know that "fake girl games" don't really exist. This is a myth that insecure nerds have told themselves over and over because they fear that the nerd culture has become so popular in mainstream culture that it no longer "belongs" to them. There have always been geek girls, but now there are more of them because geek culture has become more mainstream. That's the reality. More people like comic books and science fiction and video games than ever before, and yes, a lot of those people are women. They're not faking liking something. They may not have as much knowledge about a subject as you do, but that doesn't make them an inferior geek.

Also, be honest, dudes - why the hell do you think women would want to fake being a geek or gamer? Never mind that the cultural myth is that geeks and gamers are all fat, sweaty, socially inept dudes (which obviously doesn't attract women). Geek and gaming culture is an incredibly sexist environment. If you want proof, you don't even have to look at the way female game-developers are treated in the industry - just look at this very thread! In a topic about "fake nerds," a large amount of comments are about how women only pretend to be nerds! How many men are accused of being "fake nerds" compared to women? Pretty much zero - the conversation is almost always about women.

That is called sexism, and that is why nerd culture repels women. So what the hell makes you think that so many women are pretending to be geeks so they can be with elitist snobs who assume they're faking? *drops mic*



This also. But this is also a general elitism thing. "I liked Green Day before they became mainstream." "I liked Chris Pratt before Guardians of the Galaxy." "I liked comic books back before liking them was socially acceptable."


tl;dr, there is no such thing as a "real gamer" - there are only people who like the same thing to different extends and have different amounts of knowledge about it. The idea of being a "real x" is elitist and stupid, but in this case it is also incredibly sexist.

~Psychic


I love you so much, Psychic. <3 You basically said everything I wanted to say in such a much more eloquent way.
 
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