Wannabe... Gamers?

[Chu]

I'll never understand why these people exist. o.0 Don't be fooled by this thread - I'm definitely not a gamer. I can't even beat Super Mario World. ^^;

But somehow, it really bothers me when people call themselves gamers and you pursue the claim by asking what games they play, and they say something like "KH & FF! <3 sometimes pokemon too!" You're, uh... not a gamer? You're, uh... not even close to being a gamer? D:

And then, oh lord, there are the wannabe girl gamers. You know who I'm talking about. Girls that want guys to think of them like this:
http://turbo.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2010/03/mandy-guitar-heroii1.jpg
And brush it off by saying that people shouldn't judge them for being a girl gamer. XD


So, what's with this gamer fad? Maybe I'm hyper sensitive to it because I hate fads and such, but it still confuses me. I really never thought the day would come where being a gamer would suddenly be cool. XD


EDIT: Please be aware that I'm not trying to start any gamer hate or judge anyone for calling themselves a gamer. Honestly, I don't care about what you call yourself and why, even if you're one of the people I'm talking about. I just want to know why this fad suddenly came up and drastically changed how people view gamers. It's such a sudden change...

[Taruto]

I have much higher regard for games that involve skill and quick decision making. Aiming a gun, reacting quickly, coordination, teamwork, solving a puzzle... Also those that involve responding to chance and uncertainty.

This is why I like multiplayer FPS games (though I'm no way good nor consider myself a "gamer" of these XD) because even though you might play the same map over and over, people will always do something different. You are always facing people with different skill levels and tactics, and you almost always have to come up with different ways of getting around things.

"Games" like FF and KH I see more like "interactive stories". I mean you can't really say you're better or worse at such games...

Pokemon... Ugh. Well winning the single player game is basically an interactive story like FF. Winning in multiplayer is basically crunching out the right number stats to give to your party. Once one person has the perfect mathematics figured out, then what? Everyone else has the perfect mathematics, and then all you have to do is input commands. :/ Nothing is left to chance.

MMOs, again, once you have the perfect numbers figured out, all you have to do is hit the right keys... or write macros to roll out your perfect combo attacks in perfect timing.

[ecco]

....girl gamers?

Lara Croft. 'nuf said.

[Overlord Branny]

Well, I think if you play games on a normal basis, you're a gamer.
Doesn't matter what you play, as long as its a video game or maybe even a board game. lol

I play Kingdom Hearts, final fantasy and pokemon games, those are a few of the main series of games I enjoy playing.

If you go around calling yourself a gamer or a girl gamer, you're being kinda lame imo. If you enjoy playing games, even perhaps hardcore or professional (Which is the most retarded thing, you pay someone to sit around playing games?! WHY?!) then awesome, you like video games, but does the whole world need to know? Do you honestly have to wear shirts that make this claim? No, not really, you don't.

I've been playing video games since I was like...4. Hanging out at my older cousins house and playing his NES, maybe Mario or teenage ninja turles or the GOONIES!! <3
I had no idea how to play these games, but I tried and I enjoyed them. Would you call me a child gamer? xD

Even now as an adult I still play video games, though I suck horribly at all the games everyone seems to fap over, like call of duty, gears of war and the halo. I'm mainly a RPG and Action/Adventure player, I can't play a shooter to save my life. So because I can't play the main gamer games, am I not a gamer?

I've actually had someone say I wasn't, just because I couldn't play Halo..
SORRYYYYYYY! Ya know? I had never touched a Xbox controller before, which imo is the most complex and retarded controller I've ever seen. The fucking thing has like....6 billion different buttons and 45083083 analog sticks. lol. I just felt like I was holding something very unnatural in my hands. I had always been a Nintendo boy and then a Sony teen, so this thing wasn't to my liking.

ANYWAYS...the main reason why everyone started calling themselves a game is because gaming had become mainstream. In the past...maybe all of the 80's and most of the 90's, gaming was considered something kids played when they finished their homework and did over the weekend while hanging out with their friends. Then suddenly around 2001, with the release of the Xbox/PS2/Gamecube, gaming became very very popular to all walks of life. It wasn't something only children did, because those children had become adults. And with any fad that grows comes those that were there first, who see the need to defend their interests.

When you've spent your whole life doing something and being viewed as different or a outcast (ie nerdy) and gain a sense of inner pride to help coax with it and then everyone starts calling it cool and it becomes mainstream and commercialized. Suddenly you're considered just like everyone else and everything you built up around you to deal with the early hate is destroyed and you're considered a poser.

Fuck you mainstream media, for ruining the image of gamers. No longer are we the nerdy people who sat together and talked about D&D and how we defeated the final boss of some dungeon, no now we are the jocks who play Madden NFL and halo while getting drunk and screaming over xbox live.

<3

Also, Ecco my love..
I wouldn't use Lara Croft as a stable for girl gamers.
The only reason she became so popular is become male gamers enjoyed looking at her breasts and her body while playing. She has become a joke in my eyes. Plus, her games were always so hard to play I could never enjoy them.

I find her to be rather anti-feminist to some degree. Perhaps in some small form she helped female players become more comfortable playing video games but at the same time her bust became a main focus of marketing and yeah..

She kicks ass...but her boobs seem to become more and more of a focus. lol

[Keylaleigh]

What's even more bizarre is being considered "in" with the gamers, despite the fact that you rarely pick up a controller.

I'm what most hardcore gamers call a "backseat gamer". I don't play often, and when I do, I admit it's Turn-Based RPGs like Pokemon and Baten Kaitos. I do, however, watch people play all sorts of games. I watch them to the point where I know where all of the secrets are and the best strategies for beating bosses. I led a friend all the way through Dodongo's Cavern as a human walkthrough. All because I watched my little brother play through the level years ago. I also have TONS of bizarre video game info. And yeah, I don't play much. I just know that I love watching people play.

For example: Lara Croft is female because the designers wanted something interesting/attractive to look at while they played the game. Sure, she's a badass female, but she was made that way to be eye candy.

[Overlord Branny]

I'm a backseat gamer when it comes to shooters and horror games..
I enjoy watching Let's Plays of all the games I know I can't play or beat..lol

And yeah, that's pretty much Lara's original purpose...its sad.
I played WoW for awhile and alot of the guys I played with used female characters..usually Blood elves...and I would be like "Dude...wtf...why are you a chick man!?" and they would reply with something like "Dude if I'm gonna spend hours looking at this character it might as well be something hot."

GAH!!!
It's a fucking game character!! Are we that perverted as a race where we need EVERYTHING to be sexual...I mean...the main purpose of that character is to run at things and kill it....why does it have to be sexy while doing it!?

[Keylaleigh]

I've actually been told- "If you ever start WoW/SL, play as a dude. You won't be harrassed by dudes that way."

I have decided to take their advice. I'll play as a guy, and then listen to their shocked reactions when they realize I'm a chick. It's happened on anonymous chatsites, so why not on an MMO?

And no, I don't want a hot guy to look at. I just hate being hit on.

[ecco]

Branny; yea i meant more tha latter part of what you said XD games feature so heavily around male characters that it can be difficult for girls to really get into it, i think lara croft was the turning point in terms of gender.

also, its noted that Tomb Raider was one of the first games that made gaming "cool" as opposed to what the nerdy kids did and everyone else ignored XD

[Chu]

Hah, I guess that you could describe me as a backseat gamer too. Sometimes I pick up a controller and play too but the only commendable game that I'm good at is L4D, surprisingly.

When I go to Raz's house, most of the time he ends up playing a game and I end up watching. XD I have fun though.

[ecco]

haha i do that too, Chu. if a games pretty or exciting i cant help but just watch. the only shooter im any good at is resident evil 5. XD i often used to get better accuracy scores than Toby when we played it together, and he uses rifles whereas i used the machine guns! hahaha~

[Overlord Branny]

OOOH yeah...When I played WoW, we would all be in a raid (That's about 10-25) and we would also been in vent (voice chat) and we would suddenly have a female player and she would talk and all the guys would be like "OMG A GIRL!! YOU SOUND SO HOT HUR HUR" retards.

Straight men ruin everything for me...EVERYTHING
Usually I would befriend the girl and make fun of them in in game IM's. lol

[Chu]

What's worse is that some of the girls like the attention so much that they go out of their way for it. Worship is stupid and creepy in the first place, but when the worshiped enjoys it to that extent, it just becomes that much more creepy and stupid. D:

[Overlord Branny]

Yeah, I knew one girl that did that. She would always go on and be like "HEY FELLA'S I'M HERE!!" and all the guys would be like omg yes she's here ahhhh sexy....it was like...you guys are fucking stupid...

[Athilea Majiri]

I was a gamer before it was cool. -grumbles-

I play table top games, and video games, and mmos, and everything I can get my hands on. My husband is a gamer to. I don't know why it's become a fad. I have my preferred Genra, and a few games outside of that which really are just awesome. Mostly I like Fantasy based games like Fable, Oblivion and the like. However, Red Dead Redemption is fantastic, as is Mass Effect 1 and 2, and the KOTOR games are awesome. I also liked Jade Empire on the original x-box. That being said, I'm a loser. I loved the Viva Piniata game. It was so cute and fun. I don't know. I'm girly that way I guess.

Then there are the Sims games, those are a lot of fun, but I prefer The Sims 2 to The Sims 3.

Table top wise I play any roleplaying game I can get my hand on, and Warmachine/Hordes. It's a table top strategy game. I play The Legion of Everblight. ((They are Elves that were corrupted by the Dragons in the game, which are Gods.))

MMO wise, I have played World of Warcraft, Aion, LOTRO, Warhammer, EQ2. That's pretty much it I think.

[Tsemara]

*Sneaks in* Sorry if this makes little sense. I've got a headache.

>Ahem< I play different kinds of games, Guild Wars, Diablo II, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Left 4 Dead, and a bunch of other games. I might play for hours on end, if given the chance. However, I've never considered myself a gamer. I'm not obsessed to the point of going angry German kid when I can't play. I've used cheats to give my characters an advantage.

I like hiding my gender mostly because it confuses people. That, and it bugs the bajeebus out of me when other gamers suddenly have an attitude adjustment because I didn't turn out to be what they were expecting. As for character genders, I play with both, depending on the game.

And this is kind of off the wall, but I am reminded of one of the many comics I read. I felt it was appropriate to the conversation. VG Cats #282 Be forewarned, it's not for people to take offense to swearing. At the very least, the F-bomb was dropped.