Opinion: Placing labels on others goes against the spirit of gaming

Call yourself a gamer if you like, but forcing that label - or any other label - on other video game fans does more harm than good.

[PixelGateUk]

Comparing Candy Crush (a free mobile game) to a Wii U (hardware that costs over £100, then add games on top of that) is a pretty weak point to be honest

[-Foxtrot]

Not really.

If I've been gaming all my life and not only play games but have a vast knowledge on the industry only to be compared by a "casual" gamer that we are both on the same level as "gamers" then I'd tell them where to go.

It's like if you were an artist, someone who has done art since high school. What about if you came along and quickly made something on a canvas only to finish it and proudly yourself an artist? How do you think the real artist is going to feel...so someone who paints a picture is somehow an artist "just like me", yeah I don't they would be happy. Same can be said about anything to be honest.

Just because you play a few games or just play the big blockbuster games doesn't mean you are automatically a gamer.

[Kreisen]

Congratulations, you just missed the whole point of this article. And did you seriously just compare playing videogames as a hobby to being a professional artist?

[-Foxtrot]

I didn't

My point is if you take someone who takes up art as a hobby they are still going to call themselves an artist.

If you actually have a real interest in something and someone only dabbles in it how are you and them the same? You're not.

There's nothing wrong with the causal gaming term or labels

Only time it's silly is when they use the term "Gaymers" or something

[Bimkoblerutso]

You have to understand that it's a matter of identity. I will make no excuses for the asshats out there that treat labels as a badge of honor (or dishonor), and consequently act in a condescending manner, but I see nothing wrong with establishing a differentiation between people that genuinely enjoy gaming as a hobby, and those that enjoy games that they can play in between text messages.

Not that there is anything wrong with those people, but social situations become ridiculously confusing and awkward when trying to relate to them simply because they like to refer to themselves in the same way that actual hobbyists do.

Again, not trying to say that industry doesn't suffer from it's fair share of elitism, but as Godmars290 suggests down there, it's a road that goes both ways. I don't think the actual act of labeling is the problem, it's the random negative connotations people like to affix to said labels that start mucking things up.

[Utalkin2me]

Wow just Wow.....Seems some people are more worried about others then themselves. Know what i say "Who Cares".

[-Foxtrot]

Not really...it's just annoying when you care about something and someone else doesn't but tries to make out you and them are on the same level.

[Utalkin2me]

Who cares guy seriously. Thats the problem with society as a whole today. If my neighbor plays candy crush once a week and wants to call himself a gamer then thats his business. I could care less what he refers to it as.

[Goldby]

^
i pulled a piece of glass out of my shin, does that make me a emergency surgeon?

the point is, that someone who games on the subway to work, for 5 minutes, on a free to play game isnt as commited as someone who spends 400$+ on a console and then games, and plays them every single night,

and before you say well someone plays more times on the way to and form work on subways and stuff, in that forty-five minutes total, their garrison building upgrades moved less than an inch.

Gamers, are people who enjoy gaming yes, but casual gamers are people who pass the time waiting by playing games.

im a gamer, and if someone who i know says they are a gamer and only plays candy crush or clash of clans. i put them in their place. i inform and educate them on the difference. they arent gamers just as i am not a hardcore gamer.

its respect in the end, and if we were all categorized as gamers... you may see free-to-play models start showing up in AAA games... like CoD or Destiny.. or MGSV

[Roccetarius]

Considering sites like these are trying to tell us, that we also have a 50/50 split in gender, it's hard to take them seriously when they also lump us in with wannabe gamer mobile users. They're always trying to cherry pick statistics, in order to prove a false reality.

They may dabble in it, but they sure as hell don't care about the big picture as a whole.

[Eonjay]

@-Foxtrot

I don't understand you. Could it be that you are taking the whole thing too seriously? To hell how the 'real artist' feels. If you are proud of your work thats all that matters.

'Just because you play a few games or just play the big blockbuster games doesn't mean you are automatically a gamer'

Yes the hell it does. Why would ANYONE let YOU tell them what they are.

[GamePeace]

There are no "real artists" only fake people who pretend to be "real artists" ...

[GamePeace]

You have a strange kind of thinking which manifests in your writing that seems kind of irrational and narrow-minded in my opinion.

Art itself is very abstract and subjective, there are no better artists, just different ones. Art depends on your personal taste or view of the world or things in general (there are no clear standards which defines an artist or what is art or not, everything is rather personal and subjective in this field). It's not like the mathematical field for example, where there are clear standards or a clear solution. That shows me that you have no clue in this field ...

Doing art "since high school" is not what makes you or anyone else an artist, because there are many people who visit art schools and are not even able to have an own style, because they simply copy other famous artists and still pretend to be "artists". Some people are born "artists", they don't do art "since high school", they do art since they can hold pencils (then again there are those who do art "since high school" or visit art schools and are not even able to produce something of their own or something which comes from their own imagination).

To the last point, just because you play some games that nobody knows (niche games from japan for example) or certain core games, doesn't mean that you are a gamer. It does neither depend on the time you spend playing games.

A "gamer" is everyone who engages himself in those kind of activities, it doesn't matter if you play Dark Souls or Candy Crush. Many think that being a "gamer" is some kind of respectable "title" you earn when you fulfill certain standards, but it's certainly not in my eyes, because each game can be played and conquered by everyone that has or takes the right amount of time and patience to finish it (it doesn't make you special or seperates you from the rest and it doesn't make you "automatically" a so-called "gamer" ...

[cyber_daemonx]

Interesting but ultimately pointless article, especially on here lol.

[Godmars290]

Isn't that how all the SJW/#GG BS got started? By game journalist labeling their audience gamers, instantly dump a number of negative stereotypes onto said label, then saying that they were no longer going to cater to anyone so labeled and that up and coming game makers, current ones, shouldn't cater to them as well?

I feel that this goes from pointing a finger at itself to pointing a finger at itself.

[00]

SJW can't think and a bunch of casuals who barely play games shouldn't be surprised when the people who have much more investment and money put in don't like it when said casual try to weasel their way in.

[ginganinja]

Those articles -in particular the Leigh Alexander one- were actually directed to developers/publishers/gaming press and telling them that their audience isn't, and never was, limited to those negative stereotypes and they should reflect that in the way they address them.

Sheesh, you've had a year and a half to actually read the thing.

[GrimDragon]

Wow for a guy that supposedly played video games for 35 yrs he sure appears to be ignorant to the fact that when your a true "gamer" this is not just some past time to you it's something you take pride in you've been in the industry long enough to bother knowing major companies and even devs by name. You know every genre, you play games to finish them, and some are even completionist. You get the dlc that matters, you look to collect classic console and games, you buy your favorite character figurines and tshirts etc you subscribe to magazines or websites like this and stay on top of everything that relates to the hobby you love. You don't complain about not having time to game you make time. You camp out or preorder the latest game or console. You get pissed when a game is delayed. My point is if a gamer or hardcore gamer wants to address another as a casual gamer and the facts make that person one than that person just has to deal with it. Because casual gamers don't feed or keep this industry running hardcore gamers do. We are the ones with custom controllers, and consoles we are the ones plopping down 50-65 dollars a pop for games casuals would never see the value in because games are just a fun past time they are the ones playing candy crush and splurging on micros that mobile developers now think they can syphon console gamer money the same way. The need for greedy developers to get paid beyond mobile gaming is becoming a console cancer. If anything casuals annoy me, and are dangerous to the people who have made gaming mainstream. From the sjw to the greed of developers to cater to all even those who never had an interest in gaming is slowly encroaching on the joys boys and men enjoyed in this hobby as now we have girls and women and certain men and boys who are easily offended by game content all issues today that were never one in the early 80's and 90's even when mortal kombat was an issues there was a choice you either went with saga for blood or Nintendo for green blood. These days the games we want are butchered or just don't come out here so we have to import. So why is it like this? Because of guys like the one who wrote this article and people who want to mainstream something that looks financially viable to them. Years ago girls had no interest in games most didn't even know what it was or made fun of guys who did it. Years ago you went to you friends house who invited other friends to do what guys do play football and video games. It was a guy thing it was ours it was like a secret we knew was awesome and glad people who could ruin it just didn't know about it. It was like an underground scene. Going mainstream has its benefits but at the same time opened the flood gates to change we don't all care for. One of those changes is the constant need to only bring out games that are acceptable to most even if it means censoring . (Yeah looking at you capcom) or flat out not releasing it ( yeah looking at you tecmo) so screw this guy crying about being called a casual gamer after the garbage I just read that's just what you are and you only proved even after 35 yrs of gaming you know squat about why this matters to real gamers out there we are the last bastion of what real gamers and gaming is all about. Unlike the author who's intentions are to clearly decimate what's left to differentiate those of us who want our hobby untainted by casuals and the casuals who want in without earning it.

[Eonjay]

You comment looks like someone summoned a brick wall... of text

[Godmars290]

Perfectly legitimate internetz spell, "Summon Wall".

[GrimDragon]

Lmao I know right...dam iam lazy.

[Eonjay]

My mom is a gamer. I mean she is no hardcore gamer but she can appreciate a 'hardcore' game because she like a challenge. She is the only person I know to beat ever hunt in Final Fantasy 12. She loves tactical shooters and RPGs.... and she is almost 60. So eff anyone who tells you that you need to be qualified as a gamers by standards they set. Eff em. If you play on a mobile, you are a gamer. Period. If you play COD, you are a gamer. Period. People like titles like casual and hardcore because they think it means they are better at something than someone.

[OB1Biker]

Ha man many 'gamers' on Internet have too big an ego. Iv seen what looked like kids arguments like 'if you r a 'true' gamer you own all consoles' or you don't play this game blah blah
When I started gaming regularly it wasn t a passion people bragged about
I'll tell you what a gamer is
A few week ago there was an article about a disabled kid who could finally play games and said 'Now I'm a gamer'
That exactly what a gamer is : someone who is passionate about gaming and happy to play games

[GamePeace]

Right.
I would say a false ego, but that's how the web works. The same kind of thinking applies in other fields too, from sports to art (especially on the internet, where everyone can be Jesus and feel superior to his fellow man). I'm wondering why they talk about "community" when such egoistical and narcisstic behaviour is displayed regularly on the web (every god damn day to be precise).

I have to laugh my ass off, the ridiculousness of it has gained cosmic proportions and beyond to the point where it stops to be bearable ... but that's how it works I guess ...

Has to do with what they call "human nature", people need to feel superior to others in order to live, without that superiority complex there's no acceptable life.

Why not enjoy the actual game?

[madjedi]

Funny society and more recently bloggers have had no issue placing labels on gamers, since the nes if not earlier. And most of them were less than positive to put it mildly.

No gamers are holding a gun to another's head or a knife to the other persons throat forcing them to proclaim themselves a gamer. And if they are they need to be locked up.