Gamer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gamer is a term used to describe a person who plays games. Historically, a gamer was usually someone who played role-playing games or war games but more recently the term includes computer and video game players as well. While the term technically includes those who don't necessarily consider themselves to be gamers (i.e., casual gamers) it is commonly used to identify people who spend as much of their leisure time as possible playing or reading about games.
There are many communities of gamers around the world. Many of these exist in web rings, forums and other virtual communities, as well as college clubs. Stores specializing in games often serve as a meeting place to organize groups of players. Prior to the emergence of the Internet, many play-by-mail games developed communities similar to those that can be found among today's online games.
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Types of gamers
- Video gamer: A type of gamer who enjoys playing computer and video games.
- Tabletop gamer: A type of gamer who enjoys playing tabletop games as opposed to computer and video games. This term is often used for gamers who play miniature wargames like Warhammer 40,000 but it could also refer to players of board games, card games, or role-playing games.
Types of video gamers
Video and computer gamers are stereotypically adolescent males. However, research has shown that females comprise more than 40% of the video game market, and females are playing more games than they have in the past.[1]
- Casual gamer: A person who enjoys playing games with simple rules or which do not require large blocks of time to play. They might not even identify themselves as a gamer. Because even the most occasional game player qualifies for this category, it is likely the largest in size. Several of the all-time bestselling computer games (e.g., Myst, The Sims) targetted casual gamers.
- Hardcore gamer: A person who spends much of their leisure time playing games. There are many subtypes of hardcore gamers based on the style of game, gameplay preference, hardware platform, and other preferences.
- Competitive gamer: A hardcore gamer who primarily plays games for the enjoyment of competing with other players. Common competitions include number of opponents beaten, earned titles or other status symbols, or even simply bragging rights about almost anything. Game genres that are popular with competitive gamers include sports, action, Real-time strategy, and multiplayer online.
- Retrogamer: A hardcore gamer who enjoys playing or collecting vintage video games from earlier eras. Retrogamers 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).
- Import gamers: A hardcore gamer who enjoys playing or collecting video games produced internationally. The most common imports are from Japan, although some European 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 lockout protection on the software, though some prefer to purchase imported consoles. A number of Import Gamers import games that fall in to genres that are generally not releases outside of Japan, such as Dating Sims.
- Glitcher: A hardcore gamer who enjoys finding flaws in a game or finding ways to exploit unintentional features. An example of this is in the Halo 2 console video game where two players could use the energy sword to climb invisible walls and in effect climb to the top of a map.
- Cyber athlete: A professional gamer that plays games for money. Whether a cyber athlete is a subtype of the hardcore gamer largely depends on the degree to which a cyber athlete is financially dependent upon the income derived from gaming. Insofar as a cyber athlete is financially dependent upon gaming then the time spent playing is no longer "leisure" time.
Celebrity gamers
Some celebrities who are admitted gamers include Curt Schilling, Todd Pratt, Doug "Bingbong" Glanville, Eric Bloom, Vin Diesel (who outed himself and performed his half-orc voice on Late Night with Conan O'Brien), Lexa Doig, Robin Williams, Wil Wheaton, Elijah Wood, Dave Chappelle, Redman, Matt Palmer, Mike Myers (who named his SNL character, Lothar of the Hill People, after one of his Dungeons And Dragons characters), Dan Shipley, Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb (who are co-hosts of the popular television show dedicated to videogames, X-play), Henry Thomas, Ben Affleck (who appeared on X-Play), Terry Pratchett, Marilyn Manson, Trent Reznor (Lover of the Quake series, also created the soundtrack for the first game), Glenn Danzig, Asia Carrera (She is an avid player of Unreal Tournament and she has designed her own game skins, and was featured in the show Players on the G4 games cable channel, where she revealed that her screen name is "Megabitchgoddess." Asia hosted her own Unreal Tournament server that featured custom maps designed by fans that frequented her chatroom that she has hosted on her site since 1997), James Woods, Jon Stewart, and Utada Hikaru (An avid player of Tetris and singer of major songs for the Kingdom Hearts series).
See also
- Hardcore gamer
- Casual gamer
- Old school gamer
- Electronic sports
- List of gaming topics
- Role-playing game
- Girl gamer
- gaymer
References
- ^ Demographic data from the ESA
Categories: Gamers | Games | Computer and video game culture