Geekscape’s Random Rants: Why Is Being a Gamer Bad?
We need to re-evaluate what it means to be a “Gamer”. I don’t know about you, but I have been asked countless times by different kinds of people (age, gender and race) if I was one of those, “Gamers”.
Why are we bundled into this category? Why is it such a bad thing? Why is being called a gamer by normal society a four-letter word? You don’t call someone who’s into sports “Sporter” or a music fan a “Musicer.” Film buffs and Metalheads maybe, but these are very specific stereotypes.
First, let’s see what makes a Gamer a Gamer, then we can deconstruct the different kinds of Gamers to see what needs to be changed.
For the outisder, anyone who plays any sort of video game is instantly a gamer. The kid who plays Elmo’s Word Hunt on the PC. The hardcore middle-schooler who rages over XBL when you snipe him in Halo. The hipster girl who plays Pokemon Blue on her original GameBoy. The hyper introvert who plays only WoW.
As geeks, we understand that these people are all vastly different, but they are all considered “Gamers.”
The way I see it, a gamer is someone who plays games for the sake of games. You will see them playing COD one minute, then Madden, then FF7 then at the end of the night finishing up a 2 day Warhammer 40k match. People like this exist, but chances are you aren’t one of them. I know I’m not.
So the next time your mother’s coworker sees you playing Zelda on the DS and she asks you, annoyingly “are you one of those gamers?” just say “No. I enjoy video games from time to time, but I am not a gamer”. As geeks we need to get this word out of our vocabulary as an insult. This is no longer a generic term for someone who plays video games.
Now, there will always be smaller groups of the larger hive-mind that ruin the image for everyone. The gamer community isn’t immune to this, either though. Follow me down into the dregs and we’ll see what else is wrong in this particular world.
Hardcore Single-Game Gamers
These guys and gals. They’re the ones we called HARDCORE. They play Halo all day everyday. They get the top slots in every multiplayer match they play on COD… and that’s it. Take a look at their gamer score, and it’s 800 points? WHAT?
These super hardcore gamers only have 2 games recorded. Ever. Now I don’t want to come across as a snob, but this particular breed of “gamers” are just Halo/COD/FPS of the week players. You put them in another game, say, drop them into Dragon Age, and they wouldn’t know what to do past the main menu.
“I’M A GIRL AND I PLAY GAMES TOO, LOL!” Gamers
I’m all for equality.
I could give a shit if you’re a girl and you play Gears. Whoopdie doo. Women have been to space so, if one bothers to learn her way around an Xbox, it doesn’t really astound me.
When I’m playing TF2 and I hear what I believe to be a girl, and ask “are you a girl?”… Now the 2 times I’ve done this I admit, they were attempts to troll what I’d believed to be a young boy who shouldn’t be playing an M rated game in the first place (always be weary of “girls” online… always.) What I hear back is the most miserable sound ever “WHAT IF I AM A GIRL? HUH? IM A GIRL AND I PLAY GAMES TOO, GUYS!”
Saying that to me, you automatically lose all credibility. I’m sorry. I know it’s 2011, but it’s still surprising to find “real” girl “gamers.” All girls are going to face the same prejudice they do online. It sucks, but it’s your own damn fault. It’s your fault for letting groups like “The Frag Dolls” exist. They ruined gaming for girls. Fine, you play games and you are a group. Awesome. So selling calendars, trading cards, thongs and glamour shots is what makes you a gamer? It’s titillation like this that makes guys online think you will send them pictures of your butt over XBL. If you want to be taken seriously, KILL THE FRAG DOLLS.
Doesn’t really work when it’s guys now does it? DOES IT?
(Editor;s note: For a similar take on girl gamers, from a girl gamer check out The Girl Gamer Blog)
Madden Players
This bunch is the worst. If you aren’t playing the most recent Madden release, YOU’RE GARBAGE. They are the most hateful of video game players. They call people that play video games NERDS and GEEKS (GASP!). They cannot grasp the fact they are also nerds for playing a video game. They’re geeks (sports geeks, but geeks none the less.)
A recent Skype call I was on with my friend proves this.
* Me: Hey man where you at? Whats all that noise?
* Him: I’m at Codys house. They’re playing Madden.
* Me: Oh geez. What do they think of you playing Minecraft?
* Him: They’re fine with it I guess…
* Bro1: WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING? DOOM?
* Bro2: Nah, he’s playing Minecraft.
* Bro1:……FUCKING GAY!
They then went on to play more Madden and continue to ridicule my friend’s game of choice.
Asian/JRPG Gamers
The most hipster of the lot. They can be seen playing strange imported games in a language they cannot read. They scoff at you when you haven’t heard of the latest edition of Satoshi Washi Smoshi Katenguro Hentai Extreme Kawaii. It’s cool you have a region free Playstation 2, but when you spend most of the time on static dialogue screens pretending to read Japanese it’s really just kind of a waste.
These are just a few of the stereotypes that really stick out to me. I’m sure you know of a couple of types of players out there, the ones that bring bad names to what you enjoy. Video games ARE art. They ARE expressions of emotions and of someone’s creativity. I want to be validated for enjoying something that is as powerful as any movie (or at least that can be.) Movie fans and music lovers get put on a pedestal for their passions. “SHIT! That guy knows his movies, he’s awesome.” “DAMN! That guy knows every rock band to come out in the 1970’s, what a badass.”
THE HELL? That guy has every gameboy game release date memorized? What A GEEEEK!
We need to get together and change what the dictionary term for gamer means. Make OUR passion just as acceptable as the dude who has every episode of the Joy of Painting on Laser Disc.
