Gamer Like Me

What exactly is a gamer? Jennifer Buckendorf explores this vaguely defined term with comparisons to her own gaming habits. Is she a gamer?

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An excellent read and I will look forward to more.

I felt guilty as I read this becuase when you described the idea of a "gamer" I pretty much fit the description, even the Dreamcast thing.

But even though I do proudly call myself a gamer I dont think you need to fit any sort of criteria to be an "official" gamer I guess. If you like games, you are a gamer; whether you started on an old Acorn PC or the Playstation, I dont really draw a line.

"I'm describing the kinds of enthusiasts who can talk about Beyond Good and Evil with as much passion as a film-school grad discussing Truffaut." - My hand shot up.
I never thought of myself as a 'gamer' until a few years ago, when I started hanging around with people who do call themselves 'gamers'. It's odd, I suppose, I played PC games in high school, even had a MegaDrive(still love those little platformers) and yet, despite the depth of imersion I had in the medium, it only occured in hindsight that I was a gamer. But then perhaps my perception of 'gamer' was the guy with '12 year old syndrome' at lan places screaming in one thousand, threehundred and thirty seven-speak, and NOT being that sort of person, I didn't associate myself as a 'gamer'. Thankfully I never became that guy, but of course, I suffered the social retardation that still seems to come hand in hand with 'gaming' even if I never considered myself 'hardcore'.
Image seems to be the problem. Whether it's relevant or not probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, public perception will always be wrong, or at least erroneous. But I agree that finding the glove that fits is probably a waste of time, as long as you're not a jerk, like most of the people who inhabit the uncivilized jungle of internetland.

ive never understood why people must have played a certain game or type of game or console ect to be classed as a gamer.

ive been playing games for 28 years & have played many differant types of games & played on many differant formats over those years but that doesnt make me a gamer, what makes me a gamer is the fact that playing games is my "thing", its what i love to do.

it doesnt matter what type of games you play or what system, certainly doesnt matter if you can build a PC, you can even have other interests. if games are something you enjoy spending time playing then your a gamer.