The Definition of a “Gamer”

The general meaning of “gamer” usually means a person who spends most of his leisure time…well…playing games of course, be it video, board, card, etc. It’s funny, if you ask me, that of all the activities someone does in their free time, people that play games were dubbed with the name of the activity itself. I mean… no one refers to people who play sports – “sporters”, or people that read books – “bookers”, or watch T.V. – “televisioners”. Anyway, let me tell you a bit about gaming.

World of magic, mystery and adventure.

VS.

IRL

Many years ago, the term was used to describe “those guys” that gathered around the table, gathered a feast of junk food, set their board and took out their multi-sided dice – preparing for an epic adventure and quest for glory. Of course I’m talking about Board Games and making a reference to Dungeons and Dragons. So…yeah, it is supposed that around that time the term “gamer” originated. But considering I wasn’t born at that time and Board Games were never really popular in my country, I can’t tell you allot about it.

Epic Nostalgia

Going ahead in time to continue my little elaboration, I must mention that I myself, am a child of the 90s, and what glorious years those were. The popularization of the personal computer was picking up and I got the taste of my very first games ever played – Prince of Persia and the ever classic Bricks(don’t know how it was called exactly), and don’t forget the countless hours I spent playing on my Terminator console (a.k.a N.E.S.). Untill the end of the 90s, the gaming industry grew exponentially and playing games that were popular was the standard.

Ah, the good old days

Nowadays, the idea of the basement dwelling, pizza gorging, human reject, that was actually quite popular a couple of years ago, is almost non existent. Even more, in our modern, consumerism and commercialism filled world, playing games has been so much popularized, that gamers are classified not only by what games they prefer, but also to what extent they play. In my opinion, while years ago most of us were a bit skittish about saying out loud in public that they were gamers and that they enjoy playing “video games” to a great extent, now we should keep our heads high and be proud of being the metaphoric children of one of the fastest developing industries in the world. And I'm not talking only about video games, let no one say s**t about who you are and what you do, be you a fan of the consoles, the PC, board games or card games, or even LARP. Have fun and own n00bz.