I don’t really consider myself a “gamer” because I only play a few games. But then again, maybe the definition of a gamer is someone who can just pop in a game and start playing it, because I could definitely do that. And I am not talking about Wii bowling. I’m talking about first person shooters, role-playing games… wait. Does knowing the difference between types of games make me a gamer? I have to look this up.
According to Wikipedia: Historically, the term “gamer” usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. More recently, however, the term has grown to include players of video games, eventually becoming more associated with this group than the original, at least in mainstream culture . While the term nominally includes those who do not necessarily consider themselves to be gamers (i.e., casual gamers),[1] it is commonly used to identify those who spend much of their leisure time playing or learning about different games.
Okay… so according to wikipedia and the nerds who wrote that article, I am a gamer… but then the article goes on to describe TYPES of gamers.
- Casual gamer: The casual gamer is a person who plays games designed for ease of game play (such as Tetris) and doesn’t spend much time playing more involved games. The genres that casual gamers play vary, and they might not own a specific video game console to play their games. See Casual game. (So basically everyone? This is so vague, I went to the article about casual gamers… I think they are best described as the type of people who play Farmville on Facebook.)
- Hardcore gamer: The hardcore gamer plays more often than the casual gamer and tends to play more difficult games. They are also usually marked by participation in gaming culture. They tend to play games that require larger amounts of time to complete or master. There are many subtypes of hardcore gamers based on the style of game, gameplay preference, hardware platform, and other preferences. (Again, really vague but I guess I fit in here… somewhere… wow. Really? A hardcore gamer?)
- Retrogamer: A gamer who enjoys playing or collecting vintage video games from earlier eras. Retro-gamers are partly responsible for the popularity of console emulation. Some collect old video games and prototypes, or are in the business of refurbishing old games, particularly arcade cabinets. Some even make their own arcade cabinets (see MAME arcade). A notable retro-gamer is James Rolfe. (AKA hipsters with their too-cool-for-school nintendos)
- Import gamer: A gamer who enjoys playing or collecting video games produced internationally. The most common imports are from Japan, although some European and Japanese gamers purchase games from North America. Depending on the gaming platform involved, these gamers may use devices such as modchips, boot disks, and/or Gamesharks to bypass regional lockoutdating sims or anime/manga-based licensed games. (So… pervy guys into Anime. Yeah, I assume any guy into anime is a pervert. I’ve been right 100% of the time so far.)
- Pro gamer: A Professional Gamer (often abbreviated “pro gamer”) plays video games for money.[4] (The term electronic sports is used to describe the play of video games as a professional sport.) Whether a professional gamer is a subtype of the hardcore gamer largely depends on the degree to which a professional gamer is financially dependent upon the income derived from gaming. So far as a professional gamer is financially dependent upon gaming, the time spent playing is no longer “leisure” time. In countries of Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan, professional gamers are sponsored by large companies and can earn more than $100,000USD a year, in addition to the cult following that some obtain. (The type of gamer so many pretend to be or what all 15 year old boys want as their future career.)
- Newbie: This is gamer slang for a player who is new or inexperienced. Two derived terms are “newb”, a beginner who is willing to learn; and “noob”, a derogatory name.[6] The latter term was considered as the one-millionth English word by the Global Language Monitor.(Haha, fucking noobs.)
Okay… hardcore gamer. Let’s see how they narrow this down… and by “they” I mean the dorks with no lives who wrote this article… I mean, they must be experts, right?
“There is often confusion about what a hardcore gamer is. The term is often used to differentiate between types of hardcore gamers by such things as the amounts of time invested playing, the amount of money spent on gaming, how competitive the player is, preference for player versus player or player versus environment, game style or gameplay preference, or even the type of computer or console equipment used.
Of hardcore gamers, Nintendo’s Charlie Scibetta said “They’re usually the early adopters that want to get the latest version of something, and they’ll be the ones that put it through its paces the hardest and give us all kind of feedback and tell us what they like and don’t like.”[1]
Sometimes the term depends on a player’s skill level as opposed to time invested in the game. This makes the definition a bit hazy, as some players are really good at certain games despite only intermittently playing them, whereas some players invest a lot of time into games but struggle to master them. Some hardcore gamers often refer to themselves as a Video Game Enthusiasts, for which their Hobbies and/or interests are revolved around Video Games, such as; Collecting rare games and consoles, figurines, and video game apparel.”
So even these geeks can’t figure out what a hardcore gamer is. I am really reluctant to call myself that, even though I am pretty good at some games and spend hours playing.
Back to the reason I brought this us….. all sites for female gamers suck.
That’s all.
