How do you define a gamer?

[Zelk]

Someone who plays video games at least once a week

[Deleted]

If you play on anything besides your phone and tablet imo.

[Dezerte]

I'm not saying he's not a gamer because of what he plays. I'm saying he's not a gamer because he does such petty things as judge a book by its cover and misses out on good games because of it. I'd think if you read my post you would understand that.

Maybe he's just a shallow gamer.

[Witchblade77]

calling yourself a gamer puts yourself in the same boat as calling yourself a nerd

youre appropriating a negative stereotype only because its hipster trendy in order to make yourself look cute

so feel free, but its not something you should do if you want respect

I call myself a gamer and a nerd becasue I am one, not becasue its a hipster thing to do. I called myself that (and was that) before it became in vogue and I'm going to continue to do so after it inevitably gives way to yet another trend.

I happen to have a trendy hairstyle right now. it wasn't trendy when I first got it, but I'm not going to change it just becasue its stylish now, and I'm not going to change it when it goes out of style. I'm only going to change it IF I get bored with it and feel like a change.

sneering at trends IMO for the sake of sneering at trends is just as bad as mindlessly following trends.

do what you like whether its popular or not - do it BECAUSE you like it.

anyways, as far as OP - IMO a gamer is someone who enjoys games enough to consider them a personal hobby. how hardcore they get about aforementioned hobby? is absolutely of no consequence. and yes, someone who plays a pickup game of football every sunday in a park? is a football player. they are just not a professional and/or competitive one, but they are STILL a player.

edited to add. OP, your roommate is a jerk. gamers can be jerks, cause gamers are people. doesn't make them non gamers just they find some games unappealing.

(like personally, I would never buy that game you mentioned buying and playing. not my thing. hell, I'm still trying to figure out what's so amazing about dragonfin soup - tried it thanks to PS plus having it as free game and... just not my thing. doesn't make me non gamer given my Steam and GoG library not to mention a budding Ps4 collection that will tripple if they ever do end up going with that PS2 backwards compatibility I saw mentioned in passing)

[jellmoo]

A gamer is anyone that enjoys playing games and wants to label themselves as such. It doesn't matter if the game is WoW, Call of Duty, Madden, Candy Crush Saga, Barbie Horse Adventures, Championship Manager, Frogger, WWE 2K16, Infinity Blade, Super Hexagon, Neopets, Diablo, or Donkey Kong JR. It doesn't matter if they like to game on their PC, Mobile Phone, Console, Tablet, Emulator, handheld, or gaming toaster. If they like playing a game (or games) and they feel like a calling themselves a gamer, then that's what they are.

Anything else is simply elitist bullshit. There is no requirement to play X number of games, X number of hours per week, or to include/exclude games of the so called gamer experts. Using the term "Gamer" as an exclusive label to exclude people that don't meet your wondrous credentials is crass and unbecoming.

[Drekker17]

I would say someone who plays video games and gets passionate about it. If you get even a tiny bit annoyed at someone suggesting you aren't a gamer, then you are

[derpkitteh]

someone who plays games regularly, and not shitty facebook or phone games.

[Gourmandise]

Maybe he's just a shallow gamer.

lol. ok, maybe.

[Simulacrum]

Someone whose primary hobby is gaming and who would self-identify as one.

Beyond that, there are degrees of "gamer", from as casual as they come to the guys who spent every waking hour either engaging in their hobby or working to support it.

[kail]

When video games are one of their primary forms of entertainment, then the person is a gamer. Hours and types of games played have little to do with it. When you start wanting to go home from work in order to play some games, congrats you're a gamer.

[deadman1]

It is a word for someone who collects and plays games as a hobby, not just someone who has played a game once, or someone who has played "angry birds like every day."

[Morbownz]

Someone that plays competitively on any level.

[Tastyfish]

huniepop hates SJW moral panics so clearly they are the superior gamer. It's that simple.

Or you can measure it based on passion and not what is played.

[Mystrome]

To me, a gamer is someone who spends a lot, if not all of their free time on playing videogames and is either:

1) enjoying playing a lot of different games and is usally pretty quick at learning how to play a new game and gets decent quite fast, while building a collection of games,

or

2) someone who's playing only one or a couple of games for a long period of time and is either (or both) very knowledgable about them (veteran) or highly competetive (min-maxer).

However, those aren't set-in-stone' descriptions, there's a bit of a grey area between all catagories as well as people moving from one catagory to another.

Personally, I'd call anyone not in the above 2 catagories a casual gamer (which isn't a bad thing) and most of them are leaning towards either 1) or 2). I myself would probably be classified best as a casual gamer in the grey area attached to 2).

[Aurimas]

But here's the kicker; he glances at my screen for less than a second and proceeds to tear this game a new one based off of the fraction of a second he's seen of it. I try to explain to him what it's about but in his massive willful ignorance he spouts tripe like "it looks like shit" and laughs. I went to my room, mind-boggled by how stupid he can be sometimes and thought to myself what defines a gamer, because he sure as hell ain't a real gamer.

So guys, what defines a gamer to you? Is it simple someone who plays games, or something more?

Someone who plays games.

Followed shortly by miserable little pricks who constantly pop off at the mouth about how everything and everyone else is shite. On forums... to eachother... in reviews... on gaming sites... in your story... etc.

I'm sure it happened a minimum 10 more times by now (post 76), but for those very reasons I have a hard time even reading posts any more, so I have no desire to go back and count.

[Lotus Victoria]

Gamers are those who are invested in the gaming industry, doesn't matter how.

I'm a gamer - I read news everyday, I follow gaming forums (like this one), I play games, and I look forward to working in the area someday.

[pateuvasiliu]

Gamers are those who are invested in the gaming industry, doesn't matter how.

So my friend that reads Gamespot's page and plays a game of League once a week is a gamer? No.

[vindicatorx]

If they play games regularly then they qualify as a gamer.

[Simulacrum]

Followed shortly by miserable little pricks who constantly pop off at the mouth about how everything and everyone else is shite. On forums... to eachother... in reviews... on gaming sites... in your story... etc.

I'm sure it happened a minimum 10 more times by now (post 76), but for those very reasons I have a hard time even reading posts any more, so I have no desire to go back and count.

The iron of your post, of course, is no doubt lost on you. Presumably because you didn't read it either.