Gamer

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This article is about people who play any type of game, especially video games. For gamblers, see Gambling. For other uses, see Gamer (disambiguation).

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A gamer is someone who plays interactive games, either video games, tabletop role-playing games, skill-based card games, or any combination thereof, and who often plays for extended periods of time. Originally a hobby, gaming has evolved into a profession for some, with some gamers routinely competing in games for money, prizes, or awards. In some countries, such as the US, UK, and Australia, the term "gaming" can refer to legalized gambling, which can take both traditional and digital forms, such as through online gambling. There are many different gamer communities around the world. Since the advent of the Internet, many communities take the form of Internet forums or YouTube or Twitch virtual communities, as well as in-person social clubs. In 2021, there were an estimated 3.24 billion gamers across the globe.[1][better source needed]

Etymology

The term gamer originally meant gambler, and has been in use since at least 1422, when the town laws of Walsall, England, referred to "any dice-player, carder, tennis player, or other unlawful gamer". However, this description has not been adopted in the United States, where it became associated with other pastimes. In the US, they made their appearance as wargames. Wargames were originally created as a military and strategy tool. When Dungeons & Dragons was released, it was originally marketed as a wargame, but later was described by its creators as a role-playing game. They called their players gamers and this is where the word changed definition from someone who gambles to someone who plays board games and/or video games.[2]

Categories

Further information: Video game § Demographics

In the United States as of 2018, 28% of gamers are under 18, 29% are 18–35, 20% are 36-49 and 23% are over 50.[3] In the UK as of 2014, 29% are under 18, 32% are 18-35 and 39% are over 36.[4] According to Pew Research Center, 49% of adults have played a video game at some point in their life and those who have are more likely to let their children or future children play. Those who play video games regularly are split roughly equally between male and female, but men are more likely to call themselves a gamer.[5] As of 2019, the average gamer is 33 years old.[6]

Female gamer/gamer girl

Main article: Women and video games

A female gamer, or gamer girl or girl gamer, is any female who regularly engages in playing video games. According to a study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association in 2009, 40% of the game playing population is female, and women 18 or older comprise 34% of all gamers. Also, the percentage of women playing online had risen to 43%, up 4% from 2004. The same study shows that 48% of game purchasers are female.[7][4] According to a 2015 Pew survey, 6% of women in the United States identify as gamers, compared to 15% of men, and 48% of women and 50% of men play video games.[8] Usage of the term "girl gamer" is controversial. Some critics have advocated use of the label as a reappropriated term, while others see it as non-descriptive or perpetuating the minority position of female gamers. Some critics of the term believe there is no singular definition of a female gamer and that they are as diverse as any other group. However it is generally understood that the term "girl gamer" implies that it is a girl who plays video games.[9]

Psychology

Main article: Learning curve § Difficulty curves in video games

Shigeru Miyamoto says that "I think that first a game needs a sense of accomplishment. And you have to have a sense that you have done something, so that you get that sense of satisfaction of completing something."[10] In April 2020, researchers found that top gamers shared the same mental toughness as Olympian athletes.[11][12] Escapism is a major factor in why individuals enjoy gaming. This idea of being in another world while gaming has become very common with gamers, these video games create a new world where these gamers feel they fit in and can control what is going on.[13] Gaming is a form of escapism,[14] Hideo Kojima states that "If the player isn't tricked into believing that the world is real, then there's no point in making the game."[15]

Types and demographics

Sexes

Dedication spectrum

It is common for games media, games industry analysts, and academics to divide gamers into broad behavioral categories. These categories are sometimes separated by level of dedication to gaming, sometimes by primary type of game played, and sometimes by a combination of those and other factors. There is no general consensus on the definitions or names of these categories, though many attempts have been made to formalize them. An overview of these attempts and their common elements follows.

  • Newbie: (commonly shortened to "noob", "n00b", or "newb") A slang term for a novice or newcomer to a certain game, or to gaming in general.[16][17]
  • Casual gamer: The term often used for gamers who primarily play casual games, but can also refer to gamers who play less frequently than other gamers.[18] Casual gamers may play games designed for ease of gameplay, or play more involved games in short sessions, or at a slower pace than hardcore gamers.[9] The types of game that casual gamers play vary, and they are less likely to own a dedicated video game console.[19][20] Notable examples of casual games include The Sims and Nintendogs.[21] Casual gamer demographics vary greatly from those of other video gamers, as the typical casual gamer is older and more predominantly female.[22] Fitness gamers, who play motion-based exercise games, are also seen as casual gamers.[23]
  • Core gamer: (also mid-core) A player with a wider range of interests than a casual gamer and is more likely to enthusiastically play different types of games,[24] but without the amount of time spent and sense of competition of a hardcore gamer. The mid-core gamer enjoys games but may not finish every game they buy and is a target consumer.[25][26] Former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated that they designed the Wii U to cater to core gamers who are in between the casual and hardcore categories.[27] A number of theories have been presented regarding the rise in popularity of mid-core games. James Hursthouse, the founder of Roadhouse Interactive, credits the evolution of devices towards tablets and touch-screen interfaces, whereas Jon Radoff of Disruptor Beam compares the emergence of mid-core games to similar increases in media sophistication that have occurred in media such as television.[28]
  • Hardcore gamer: Ernest Adams and Scott Kim have proposed classification metrics to distinguish "hardcore gamers" from casual gamers,[29] emphasizing action, competition, complexity, gaming communities, and staying abreast of developments in hardware and software. Others have attempted to draw the distinction based primarily on which platforms a gamer prefers,[30] or to decry the entire concept of delineating casual from hardcore as divisive and vague.[31]

Professional gamer

Retrogamer

Main article: Retrogaming

A retro gamer is a gamer who prefers to play, and enough collect, retro games—older video games and arcade games. They may also be called classic gamers or old-school gamers, which are terms that are more prevalent in the United States. The games can be played on the original hardware, on modern hardware via emulation, or on modern hardware via ports or compilations (though those 'in the hobby' tend toward original hardware and emulation).[32]

Classification in taxonomies

The Bartle taxonomy of player types classifies gamers according to their preferred activities within the game:

  • Achievers, who like to gain points and overall succeed within the game parameters, collecting all rewards and game badges.
  • Explorers, who like to discover all areas within the game, including hidden areas and glitches, and expose all game mechanics.
  • Socializers, who prefer to play games for the social aspect, rather than the actual game itself.
  • Beaters, who thrive on competition with other players.
  • Completionists, who are combinations of the Achiever and Explorer types. They complete every aspect of the game (main story, side quests, achievements) while finding every secret within it.

The MDA framework describes various aspects of the game regarding the basic rules and actions (Mechanics), how they build up during game to develop the gameplay (Dynamics), and what emotional response they convey to the player (Aesthetics). The described esthetics are further classified as Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression and Submission. Jesse Schell extends this classification with Anticipation, Schadenfreude, Gift giving, Humour, Possibility, Pride, Purification, Surprise, Thrill, Perseverance and Wonder, and proposes a number of generalizations of differences between how males and females play.[33]

Avatar

Main article: Avatar (computing)
See also: Player character

Creating an avatar can be one of the first interaction that a potential player makes to identify themselves among the gaming community.[34] An avatar, username, game name, alias, gamer tag, screen name, or handle is a name (usually a pseudonym) adopted by a video gamer, often used as a main preferred identification to the gaming community. Usage of user names is often most prevalent in games with online multiplayer support, or at electronic sport conventions. While some well-known gamers only go by their online handle, a number have adopted to using their handle within their real name typically presented as a middle name, such as Tyler "Ninja" Blevins or Jay "sinatraa" Won. Similarly, a clan tag is a prefix or suffix added to a name to identify that the gamer is in a clan. Clans are generally a group of gamers who play together as a team against other clans. They are most commonly found in online multi-player games in which one team can face off against another. Clans can also be formed to create loosely based affiliations perhaps by all being fans of the same game or merely gamers who have close personal ties to each other. A team tag is a prefix or suffix added to a name to identify that the gamer is in a team. Teams are generally sub-divisions within the same clan and are regarded within gaming circuits as being a purely competitive affiliation. These gamers are usually in an online league such as the Cyberathlete Amateur League (C.A.L.) and their parent company the Cyberathlete Professional League (C.P.L.) where all grouped players were labeled as teams and not clans.

Clans and guilds

A clan, squad or guild is a group of players that form, usually under an informal 'leader' or administrator. Clans are often formed by gamers with similar interests; many clans or guilds form to connect an 'offline' community that might otherwise be isolated due to geographic, cultural or physical barriers. Some clans are composed of professional gamers, who enter competitive tournaments for cash or other prizes; most, however, are simply groups of like-minded players that band together for a mutual purpose (for example, a gaming-related interest or social group).

Identity

The identity of being a gamer is partly self-determination and partly performativity of characteristics society expects a gamer to embody.[35] These expectations include not only a high level of dedication to playing games, but also preferences for certain types of games, as well as an interest in game-related paraphernalia like clothing and comic books.[35] According to Graeme Kirkpatrick, the "true gamer" is concerned first and foremost with gameplay.[36] The Escapist founder Alexander Macris says a gamer is an enthusiast with greater dedication to games than just playing them, similar in connotation to "cinemaphile".[37] People who play may not identify as gamers because they feel they do not play "enough" to qualify.[35] Social stigma against games has influenced some women and minorities to distance themselves from the term "gamer", even though they may play regularly.[35][38]

Demographics

Games are stereotypically associated with young males, but the diversity of the audience has been steadily increasing over time.[39] This stereotype exists even among a majority of women who play video games regularly.[40] Among players using the same category of device (e.g., console or phone), patterns of play are largely the same between men and women. Diversity is driven in part by new hardware platforms.[39] Expansion of the audience was catalyzed by Nintendo's efforts to reach new demographics.[21] Market penetration of smartphones with gaming capabilities further expanded the audience,[21] since in contrast to consoles or high-end PCs, mobile phone gaming requires only devices that non-gamers are likely to already own.[39] While 48% of women in the United States report having played a video game, only 6% identify as gamers, compared to 15% of men who identify as gamers.[41] This rises to 9% among women aged 18–29, compared to 33% of men in that age group. Half of female PC gamers in the U.S. consider themselves to be core or hardcore gamers.[42][43] Connotations of "gamer" with sexism on the fringe of gaming culture has caused women to be less willing to adopt the label.[44] Racial minorities responding to Pew Research were more likely to describe themselves as gamers, with 19% of Hispanics identifying as gamers, compared to 11% of African-Americans and 7% of whites.[41] The competitive fighting game scene is noted as particularly racially diverse and tolerant.[45] This is attributed to its origin in arcades, where competitors met face to face and the barrier to entry was merely a quarter.[45] Only 4% of those aged 50 and over identified as gamers.[41]

Casualization

Casualization is a trend in video games towards simpler games appealing to larger audiences, especially women or the elderly.[21] Some developers, hoping to attract a broader audience, simplify or remove aspects of gameplay in established genres and franchises.[46] Compared to seminal titles like DOOM, more recent mass-market action games like the Call of Duty series are less sensitive to player choice or skill, approaching the status of interactive movies.[47] The trend towards casual games is decried by some self-identified gamers who emphasize gameplay, meaning the activities that one undertakes in a game.[36] According to Brendan Keogh, these are inherently masculine activities such as fighting and exerting dominance. He further says that games women prefer are more passive experiences, and male gamers deride the lack of interactivity in these games because of this association with femininity.[36] Belying these trends, games including The Sims or Minecraft have some of the largest audiences in the industry while also being very complex.[46] According to Joost van Dreunen of SuperData Research, girls who play Minecraft are "just as 'hardcore' as the next guy over who plays Counter-Strike".[48] Dreunen says being in control of a game's environment appeals equally to boys and girls.[48] Leigh Alexander argued that appealing to women does not necessarily entail reduced difficulty or complexity.[49]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Number of gamers worldwide". Statista. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  2. ↑ Willaert, Kate (April 24, 2019). "The Origin Of The Term "Gamer"". ACriticalHit. Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  3. ↑ "U.S. average age of video gamers 2018 | Statistic". Statista. Archived from the original on June 16, 2019. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Facts and Figures". Askaboutgames. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  5. ↑ Duggan, Maeve (December 15, 2015). "Gaming and Gamers". Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  6. ↑ "2019 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry". Entertainment Software Association. May 2, 2019. Archived from the original on January 20, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  7. ↑ "The Entertainment Software Association – Industry Facts". Theesa.com. Archived from the original on November 28, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  8. ↑ Duggan, Maeve (December 15, 2015). "Who plays video games and identifies as a "gamer"". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on September 14, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Heather Barefoot (October 30, 2013). "In Defense of the Casual Gamer". Escapist magazine. Archived from the original on March 7, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  10. ↑ How the inventor of Mario designs a game – Vox
  11. ↑ "Elite gamers share mental toughness with top athletes, study finds – The influence of mental toughness in elite esports". EurekAlert!. Queensland University of Technology. June 11, 2020. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  12. ↑ Poulus, Dylan; et al. (April 23, 2020). "Stress and Coping in Esports and the Influence of Mental Toughness". Frontiers in Psychology. 11: 628. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00628. PMC 7191198. PMID 32390900.
  13. ↑ Giardina, Alessandro; Starcevic, Vladan; King, Daniel L.; Schimmenti, Adriano; Di Blasi, Maria; Billieux, Joël (September 23, 2021). "Research Directions in the Study of Gaming-Related Escapism: a Commentary to Melodia, Canale, and Griffiths (2020)". International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. 21 (2): 1075–1081. doi:10.1007/s11469-021-00642-8. hdl:10447/520312. ISSN 1557-1874. S2CID 237611120.
  14. ↑ Muriel, Daniel; Crawford, Garry (2018). Video Games as Culture: Considering the Role and Importance of Video Games in Contemporary Society. Taylor & Francis. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-317-22392-4. Archived from the original on January 25, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  15. ↑ Holmes, Dylan (2012). A Mind Forever Voyaging: A History of Storytelling in Video Games. Dylan Holmes. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4800-0575-4. Archived from the original on January 25, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Masonry on the Internet". Web.mit.edu. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  17. ↑ Anna Vander Broek (April 23, 2009). "Gamer Speak for Newbs". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 9, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Core and Casual: What's the difference?". April 30, 2011. Archived from the original on July 26, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  19. ↑ Magrino, Tom, GameStop: Casual gamers spurring hardcore holiday sales Archived July 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot, September 11, 2007, Accessed May 3, 2008
  20. ↑ Boyes, Emma, GDC '08: Are casual games the future? Archived July 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot, February 18, 2008, Accessed May 3, 2008
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Sarrazin, Vincent (October 7, 2011). "The Casualisation of Video Games". ina global. Institut national de l'audiovisuel. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  22. ↑ Wolverton, Troy (August 23, 2007). "Women driving 'casual game' boom". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved October 13, 2007.
  23. ↑ "Plethora of Fitness Titles Lined Up For PlayStation Move#". PlayStation LifeStyle. April 19, 2010. Archived from the original on April 22, 2010. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
  24. ↑ "Iwata Asks: E3 2011 Special Edition". Nintendo. p. 7. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2011. Iwata: the definition of a core gamer is much wider, namely, someone who has a much wider range of interests, someone who enthusiastically plays many types of games that challenges different creative directions.
  25. ↑ Scott Jon Siegel. "Are you a mid-core gamer?". joystiq.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  26. ↑ Campbell, Colin (October 10, 2005). "GameStop". Edge. Future. Archived from the original on December 3, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2008.
  27. ↑ "Iwata Asks: E3 2011 Special Edition". Nintendo. p. 7. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2011. Iwata: On the other hand, I certainly do not think that Wii was able to cater to every gamer's needs, so that's also something I wanted to resolve. [...] The keyword for our presentation at this year's E3 is "Deeper and Wider". With Wii U, I would like to offer this proposal with that concept.
  28. ↑ "Core gamers, mobile games and the origins of the midcore audience". Polygon. August 9, 2013. Archived from the original on August 12, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  29. ↑ Adams, Ernest (June 5, 2002). "From Casual to Core: A Statistical Mechanism for Studying Gamer Dedication". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  30. ↑ "The problems of defining a hardcore gamer". Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  31. ↑ Tassi, Paul. "'Call of Duty' Demonstrates The Completely Fictitious Line Between Hardcore And Casual Gaming". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  32. ↑ "NES Classics: retro gaming, at a price: Page 1". arstechnica.com. July 14, 2004. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
  33. ↑ Schell, Jesse (September 15, 2015). The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Second Edition. CRC Press. ISBN 9781498759564.
  34. ↑ "26 Important Steps To Become A Pro Gamer". TheGamer. August 13, 2018. Archived from the original on January 19, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 Shaw, Adrienne (October 2014). "On Not Becoming Gamers: Moving Beyond the Constructed Audience". Ada (2). doi:10.7264/N33N21B3 (inactive November 2, 2024). Archived from the original on November 23, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Kirkpatrick, Graeme. "Constitutive tensions of gaming's field: UK gaming magazines and the formation of gaming culture". Gamestudies.org. Archived from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  37. ↑ Macris, Alexander. "Publisher's Note: The State of Gaming". The Escapist. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  38. ↑ Shaw, Adrienne (June 16, 2011). "Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity". New Media & Society. 14: 28–44. doi:10.1177/1461444811410394. S2CID 206727217. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 Nofziger, Heather (October 30, 2014). "Platform, not gender, drives gamer differences". Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  40. ↑ Duggan, Maeve (December 15, 2015). "2. Public debates about gaming and gamers". Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 Duggan, Maeve (December 15, 2015). "Gaming and Gamers". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on December 19, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  42. ↑ "Researchers find that female PC gamers outnumber males". PC Gamer. October 29, 2014. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  43. ↑ "Why ALL gamers matter – my view as a female games analyst". October 28, 2014. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  44. ↑ McPhate, Mike (December 16, 2015). "Women Who Play Games Shun 'Gamer' Label". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Bowman, Rich (February 6, 2014). "Why the Fighting Game Community is Color Blind". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Swift, Johnathon (January 10, 2014). "Dumbing down". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  47. ↑ Stewart, Keith (July 7, 2015). "22 years on, Doom retains the ability to shock". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Harwell, Drew. "More women play video games than boys, and other surprising facts lost in the mess of Gamergate". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  49. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (August 16, 2013). "Too many gamers think diversity means dumbing down – it's time to forget that outmoded view". Edge. Archived from the original on July 13, 2014.

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