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Honest question: Is "gamer" a very useful category? I never enjoyed board games, and I grew up before electronic games existed, so I'm clearly not one. I have
by mirimir 6y ago
Honest question: Is "gamer" a very useful category?
I never enjoyed board games, and I grew up before electronic games existed, so I'm clearly not one. I have relatives who are, however. And they play games that are so different that it seems irrelevant to getting who they are.
In other words, doesn't it matter more what sorts of games people like?
- Mindwipe 6y agoI expect "gamer" here is used as shorthand for "Twitch's existing audience."
- ausbah 6y agoas someone in this thread mentioned, being a "gamer" has a very strong group identity despite varying wildly across different genres and platforms however despite the label being so shallow that literally anyone who touches a game every now and then can adopt the label, there still exist gamer "subgroups" who hold vitriolic ideas on what a "real gamer" is. I believe this exclusionary version of the label normally takes the form of men ages 15-35 lashing out at any game that veers too far from what is "acceptable" on race, gender, sex, etc. deeming them to be the byproduct of "SJWs who want to ruin our games"
- mirimir 6y agoThat's what I was thinking, more or less. And I just found this survey: https://www.polygon.com/2017/1/20/14337282/games-for-women-and-girls https://www.polygon.com/2017/1/20/14337282/games-for-women-a... I'm guessing that "real gamers" play games that are most popular among male players. But maybe "gamer" is simply shorthand for "people who play games". Edit: So am I a "gamer", because I pose online as various fictional personas? Or because, in meatspace, I pose as an unremarkable person?