Am I a Gamer?

Video games have been an important part of my life for a long time. From my obsessive need to check out computer games from my local public library as a little kid, to borrowing my dad’s PS2 to play games, to Nintendogs and Pokemon Diamond on my Nintendo DS Lite, to Animal Crossing: City Folk on the Wii. For as long as I can remember, I’ve spent my free time playing games like The Sims, Minecraft, and Portal. I’ve filled empty spaces of time with phone games like Shadowverse and Bang Dream.

Simply looking over the history of my blog posts here unveils a wealth of video game opinions and experiences I’ve had. Based on that information alone, you would think it would be easy to except the moniker of “gamer.”

Except… well, it’s just not that simple.

Recently, as my life has been filled with so many great games, I’ve continuously come back to the question of whether I consider myself a “gamer.” I spend a lot of my free time playing games. I watch a lot of video game-related content. It should be as simple as saying I’m a knitter because I knit, or a musician because I play trumpet, right?

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of baggage that goes along with the “gamer” label. The video game industry is well-known for issues with handling diversity, both among the creators of games themselves and among the fans. Plus, huge scandals like Gamergate show inherent hostility to anyone who doesn’t fit the normal “gamer” mold.

But, if I’m being honest, this isn’t a good enough reason to be the sole driving force as to why I have a hard time considering myself a gamer. After all, I’ve easily considered myself a member of fandoms that have had similar stories of mass harassment and terrible behavior. I mean, after all the annoying drama and targeted harassment in the Pokemon fandom after Sword and Shield, you’d think I’d have similar reservations toward calling myself a Pokemon fan.

So why, then?

Well, another reason that has historically stopped me from calling myself a “gamer” goes along with a similar discourse surrounding what constitutes a true “game.” As silly as it may seem to someone unfamiliar, there’s actually a pretty dedicated group of people whose definition of what makes a video game is a lot more narrow than just having interactivity.

Some people consider only traditional first-person shooters and adventure or action games as “real video games,” while more story-based games, creative games, or simulation games are “not real.”

Now I want to say that I find this line of reasoning usually goes hand-in-hand with ableist and misogynist ideals. It seems like those games that are deemed “not game enough” tend to be the ones that focus on creativity and less on dexterity and motor skills. Those games with less violence, less gore… you see where I’m going here? The games that aren’t “real games” are the ones also considered more “feminine.”

Plus, considering only games that test motor skills as “real games” excludes those players who have physical disabilities that make it more difficult or impossible to pull off maneuvers that able-bodied players can do without thought. Who’s to say these players testing their mental skills with puzzle games or their creativity and problem-solving skills with simulation games are less “gamer” than someone testing their reflexes in a first-person shooter?

So of course we can say that “what games you play” is not a great signifier for how much of a “gamer” you are.

Okay, then what makes a person a gamer?

If it’s not what games you play, is it how much you play games? I think that might have something to do with it. Actually, I think that goes into what actually is the biggest signifier of who a “gamer” is. Lifestyle.

Certainly how much time a person spends gaming goes into a person’s lifestyle choices, but I think what a gamer is also has a lot to do with the way a person chooses to present themselves. There are style choices, social media representations, hobbies, websites, and other choices that signify what a gamer is. And that means what a gamer is is largely driven by a person’s own choice. They make these lifestyle choices… and then they make the final choice to consider themselves a “gamer.” To represent themselves that way.

So knowing that, can I say I’m a gamer? Well, I am if I say so.

But do I say so?

Eh.

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