4 ms·

The whole gamer subculture is really rude and elitist. I love games and I spend a huge portion of my time on them, both professionally and personally, but I hes

The whole gamer subculture is really rude and elitist. I love games and I spend a huge portion of my time on them, both professionally and personally, but I hesitate to call myself a gamer because it has so many strange connotations I do not wish to be associated with.

noah_buddy 5y ago
> whole gamer subculture is really rude and elitist As with many things in life, you've not found the right people. I know some high level players (perhaps a level or two below the best) in a niche but well-known game community. They're very welcoming and are happy to play against me repeatedly despite the fact they all crushed me without a sweat. That said, I do think that the industry wide move towards skill based match making has made games far less endearing than they were in the past. It used to be that people could find the server that was right for them, be it competitive or casual, and do what they wanted. Now most big games don't give you the option to play against people outside of your skill range and you're constantly facing people about as good as you. To me, that's pretty boring long term.
- Agentlien 5y ago
  Don't get me wrong. I know a lot of wonderful people who are a lot of fun to play with. I met many of my best friends, including my wife, through online games. But there's unfortunately a loud enough unpleasant portion of the gamer community that describing myself as a gamer to people outside of my closest circle of friends and colleagues tends to invoke a picture of gamers screaming insults and rage quitting whenever they lose and insulting and laughing at people when they win.
  - Tijdreiziger 5y ago
    Aren't a lot of hobbies like this? Personally I just try to enjoy what I enjoy, without worrying too much about the subset of people who might consider me 'too casual' or whatever.
    - Agentlien 5y ago
      A lot of hobbies have purists, elitists, and hyper-competitive people in them who focus on gatekeeping. But I think for most communities this is something people learn when trying to get into it themselves. For gaming, it seems to me this to me this is more part of the public perception than for other hobbies. Or perhaps I'm just too far removed from an outside view of it.
      - ubercore 5y ago
        I feel like the same gatekeeping is in almost every hobby at some level, but gaming tends to have less social grace built around it -- it's a little more in your face.
    - Chris2048 5y ago
      It's maybe notable that a lot of games are related to combat in some form. I also notice how toxic some regular airsoft/paintball players can be, especially young men/teens.
pharmakom 5y ago
playing video games is a bizarre thing to center your identity around.
- Agentlien 5y ago
  Is it? A lot of people identify themselves strongly with their hobbies or vocations. Whether it be in sports, tech, or other entertainment such as movies or music. There's a huge lot of people who largely describe themselves as football fans, movie buffs and music aficionados. On the other hand I wouldn't say it's something I myself "center" my identiy around. If you ask me who I am my first response is usually that I'm a father of two. But if you ask me what I do, well.. I develop games for a living and I play games for fun. That covers a big part of how I spend my time.
- herbst 5y ago
  When I went to a computer school half of the class proclaimed they want into informatics because they love gaming. Pretty sure non of them got a career in gaming tho
Chris2048 5y ago
There are lots of games, and lots of gaming communities - Gamer is a blanket term for all of them. The most obnoxious are often the loudest & most visible. There are also lots of competitive communities with young (tweens, teens, early adulthood) participants which is a good recipe for bad behaviour. What experience do you have with the subculture i.e. via what portal. > gamer because it has so many strange connotations With gamergate, and "gamers are dead" anti-gamer PR from gaming/activist media outlets; members of the gaming culture have been associated a culture war. With so much propaganda on both sides it's hard to determine what is real.
- Agentlien 5y ago
  The latter part of your comment really emphasizes exactly the whole thing I don't want to partake in. As for my own experiences: I grew up playing games as did all the people I spent time with in my youth. I've played countless games online, starting somewhere in the late nineties, and joined a number of communities built around those games. I've found that most communities and public servers are quite loud, rude, and unpleasant. I usually have to put in some work to find a circle of like-minded people who just want to enjoy the game in a civilized manner. The absolutely worst I've come across was probably the Worms 2 online play. Nothing but kids thinking themselves cool by swearing and insulting each other. The best ones were the community some of my friends built in Dungeon Siege, role playing communities in Jedi Knight Academy, and some of the casual guilds in Elder Scrolls Online.
sisjohn 5y ago
Definitely, I can feel you on this one. There's a lot of negative connotations in regards to being associated as one.

noah_buddy 5y ago

> whole gamer subculture is really rude and elitist As with many things in life, you've not found the right people. I know some high level players (perhaps a level or two below the best) in a niche but well-known game community. They're very welcoming and are happy to play against me repeatedly despite the fact they all crushed me without a sweat. That said, I do think that the industry wide move towards skill based match making has made games far less endearing than they were in the past. It used to be that people could find the server that was right for them, be it competitive or casual, and do what they wanted. Now most big games don't give you the option to play against people outside of your skill range and you're constantly facing people about as good as you. To me, that's pretty boring long term.

Agentlien 5y ago
Don't get me wrong. I know a lot of wonderful people who are a lot of fun to play with. I met many of my best friends, including my wife, through online games. But there's unfortunately a loud enough unpleasant portion of the gamer community that describing myself as a gamer to people outside of my closest circle of friends and colleagues tends to invoke a picture of gamers screaming insults and rage quitting whenever they lose and insulting and laughing at people when they win.
- Tijdreiziger 5y ago
  Aren't a lot of hobbies like this? Personally I just try to enjoy what I enjoy, without worrying too much about the subset of people who might consider me 'too casual' or whatever.
  - Agentlien 5y ago
    A lot of hobbies have purists, elitists, and hyper-competitive people in them who focus on gatekeeping. But I think for most communities this is something people learn when trying to get into it themselves. For gaming, it seems to me this to me this is more part of the public perception than for other hobbies. Or perhaps I'm just too far removed from an outside view of it.
    - ubercore 5y ago
      I feel like the same gatekeeping is in almost every hobby at some level, but gaming tends to have less social grace built around it -- it's a little more in your face.
  - Chris2048 5y ago
    It's maybe notable that a lot of games are related to combat in some form. I also notice how toxic some regular airsoft/paintball players can be, especially young men/teens.

pharmakom 5y ago

playing video games is a bizarre thing to center your identity around.

Agentlien 5y ago
Is it? A lot of people identify themselves strongly with their hobbies or vocations. Whether it be in sports, tech, or other entertainment such as movies or music. There's a huge lot of people who largely describe themselves as football fans, movie buffs and music aficionados. On the other hand I wouldn't say it's something I myself "center" my identiy around. If you ask me who I am my first response is usually that I'm a father of two. But if you ask me what I do, well.. I develop games for a living and I play games for fun. That covers a big part of how I spend my time.
herbst 5y ago
When I went to a computer school half of the class proclaimed they want into informatics because they love gaming. Pretty sure non of them got a career in gaming tho

Chris2048 5y ago

There are lots of games, and lots of gaming communities - Gamer is a blanket term for all of them. The most obnoxious are often the loudest & most visible. There are also lots of competitive communities with young (tweens, teens, early adulthood) participants which is a good recipe for bad behaviour. What experience do you have with the subculture i.e. via what portal. > gamer because it has so many strange connotations With gamergate, and "gamers are dead" anti-gamer PR from gaming/activist media outlets; members of the gaming culture have been associated a culture war. With so much propaganda on both sides it's hard to determine what is real.

Agentlien 5y ago
The latter part of your comment really emphasizes exactly the whole thing I don't want to partake in. As for my own experiences: I grew up playing games as did all the people I spent time with in my youth. I've played countless games online, starting somewhere in the late nineties, and joined a number of communities built around those games. I've found that most communities and public servers are quite loud, rude, and unpleasant. I usually have to put in some work to find a circle of like-minded people who just want to enjoy the game in a civilized manner. The absolutely worst I've come across was probably the Worms 2 online play. Nothing but kids thinking themselves cool by swearing and insulting each other. The best ones were the community some of my friends built in Dungeon Siege, role playing communities in Jedi Knight Academy, and some of the casual guilds in Elder Scrolls Online.

sisjohn 5y ago

Definitely, I can feel you on this one. There's a lot of negative connotations in regards to being associated as one.