7 ms·

Why I can’t call myself a gamer anymore

23 points by edtechdev 13y ago

Millennium 13y ago
I'd prefer to take the term back than to give it up, personally. Gaming culture used to be better than this, and if we can kick the fratcore back to the fringes whence they came, it can be better again.
- aaronem 13y ago
  Consoles aren't going anywhere, though, and their low barrier to entry means they're going to have a larger share than PC gaming for as long as they're around.
  - lucian1900 13y ago
    Also, they're pretty nice. PC gaming does have disadvantages.
    - aaronem 13y ago
      I haven't had a console since the original Playstation, so I don't know the answer to this question: How so? Is it just the low barrier to entry, or is there something about the actual experience of playing a console game which outdoes anything a PC can accomplish? (I really tend to doubt it's the latter, given the much greater flexibility of the PC as a platform -- I can use an Xbox 360 or PS3 controller to play a game on my computer, but as far as I know, I can't use a keyboard and mouse to play a game on either of those consoles.)
      - lucian1900 13y ago
        I find the lower friction quite valuable: - I don't need to care much about updates, not at all about driver issues. There are only two DRM mechanism in use (disc and digital) and their behaviour is well defined. (I'd rather have none, but that is only an option for very few games sadly). - I can pick up my controller, sit on the couch, press a button and the console turns itself on in a few seconds. Then, using just the controller, I can use all of its functions. - I quite like split-screen multiplayer and PC games almost never provide it. It would require 2 PCs for most games and would be impractical on a couch. - The console was also much cheaper than a gaming PC and used games + PSN sales end up at similar cost to Steam games + Steam sales. I've played with a Steambox and it comes close, but without being able to play all PC games in history, much of its appeal is gone.
  - Millennium 13y ago
    I'm not so sure consoles are the problem. XBox Live gets a lot of heat, and deserves it, but most of the fratcore's market strongholds don't have their roots in consoles. FPS, MMO, and sandboxes all have famous PC roots, while technical fighters got their start in the arcades. Madden is really the only one the consoles can claim, and then only arguably: the first Madden wasn't released on consoles, but the consoles were where it really took off. That's why I'm reluctant to point the finger at consoles. The problematic franchises and strongholds have their roots elsewhere, and continue to start in these places, only coming to consoles later. If anything, consoles' low barrier to entry makes them more a part of the solution, not the problem: simply put, we need new blood, and lots of it.
    - aaronem 13y ago
      How does the fact, that console gamers on average consistently behave much worse in the manner under discussion than PC gamers do, implicate the origins of various franchises as the problem, and consoles as the solution?
      - thesnider 13y ago
        counter-example: EVE Online.
petercooper 13y ago
As Parkin points out, the term “gamer” is idiotic. We don’t call movie fans “moviers” or literature enthusiasts “bookers.” There are various terms for both. Bookworms, cinephiles, movie buffs, bibliophiles. Maybe if it's a "branding" problem, of sorts, using other words would work, like ludophile, but it doesn't avoid the fact there are cores of enthusiasts for most (all?) media.
- lmm 13y ago
  Ludophile I would think of as a (pretentious) board gamer rather than videogamer.
  - mscottmcbee 13y ago
    While it makes sense, "I'm a ludophile" is way too easy to mishear.
  - freehunter 13y ago
    Not knowing the root word, I would assume ludophile would be related to luddite.
  - petercooper 13y ago
    This ties into the "branding" thing. That's what the term could instantly make you think of, but really it has no specific connotation. (A bit like how to some it seems "gamer" gives off a certain vibe, when no such vibe is intrinsic to it.)
- wisty 13y ago
  I'm trying to see how changing the name will in any way change the culture. You can call gamers whatever you want. You might even be able to convince them to use a different word. But they'll still misuse the "crouch" command.
  - mattgreenrocks 13y ago
    Culture? You're way more kind than I am. It's all no-thought, meme-chanting-so-I-feel-like-I-fit-in middle-school behavior. It's the same groupthink of pop Internet culture (reddit/4chan).
knodi 13y ago
Does it matter if you call your self gamer or not?
gavanwoolery 13y ago
This is pretty much flamebait, but I'll chime in anyway. I'm all for every sexual orientation, but if someone makes a tame joke about transgenders, who the f * * k cares? We make jokes about straight people all the time. My friends who are gay make jokes about gay people. Stop treating everything like its holy ground, and learn to laugh at a joke, whether or not it targets your minority or majority class. Do you really want to live in a perfectly politically correct world where nobody can make a joke about anything because they might offend somebody? As George Carlin said: "I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately." That said, dissociating yourself with gamers because many of them have a juvenile sense of humor is kind of silly. It is like saying "I am going to stop calling myself a movie watcher because half of all movie watchers like straight male-oriented action movies." Edit: Uh oh, hit the beehive. To clarify, there is a very clear difference between hatred and joking, most people can make the distinction. I understand the trauma that a lot of orientations go through (I have watched my friend's parents disown him for being gay and read the countless stories of people being murdered for being whatever orientation). Nonetheless, I do not believe at all in censorship and I never will. I do believe in being polite and respecting others. Humor is a way of bridging gaps, hatred or making fun of somebody cruelly is a different beast.
- aaronem 13y ago
  Careful there, Citizen. You're courting accusations of reactionism with regressionist talk like that.
  - gavanwoolery 13y ago
    Heheh ;)
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- patdennis 13y ago
  > Stop treating everything like its holy ground, and learn to laugh at a joke, whether or not it targets your minority or majority class. The main reason people get upset about transphobic jokes isn't that they don't have a sense of humor. It's because trans people are disproportionately targeted by violence because of their orientation. People get beat up, people get killed. This is pretty serious, and a lot of people think part of the problem is a cultural sense that demeaning trans people is ok. You can call them "it", or a "thing". These people aren't going to be mad if you make a joke around your trans friends. But they see it as a problem when a whole generation of 12-13 year olds are being culturally conditioned to treat trans people as lesser, as an other, etc. Not to mention the effect this culture has on young trans kids. They already have a much much higher risk of suicide than the average person. Change has to start somewhere.
SDGT 13y ago
I blame consoles primarily, as it seemed the barrier for entry in the PC master race was always high enough to separate at least some of the wheat from the chaff. It could also be rose coloured glasses, given that my last serious gaming (before coding ate up 12+ hours a day) was 5 years of Diablo II and CS:S followed by 6 years of Guildwars. I got out of all of this before COD/ BF and LOL were huge games. I can say that I know far more brogamers rocking a PS/Xbox than PC's.
kerpal 13y ago
This is stupid. The article claims the term gamer itself isn't appropriate but the examples it provides are wrong. People who enjoy films may often be called film buffs or even more generically movie goers. People who enjoy reading may be referred to as book worms. Deciding to reject them doesn't really mean anything. The term gamer is not the problem. If this article was more about rejecting sexist and racist language and behavior in gaming I'd agree with it. However I think these problems are more a factor of age and maturity than anything else. Play in a gaming community where the average age is 20+ and you'll find a more tolerable environment.
A_COMPUTER 13y ago
I want to see someone write an article entitled "Why I can't call myself a journalist anymore" and then blame Salon for articles like this.
panzagl 13y ago
His examples aren't problems with gamer culture, they're problems with a mass media culture that stereotypes gamers as basement-dwelling neckbeards, and has decided the best way to market to them is T&A.
vezzy-fnord 13y ago
It's funny the author mentions "transphobia", given the existence of many postmodern feminists who are openly against transsexuals. But ignoring that, the problem is that this article adds baggage to the term "gamer" when there isn't any. A gamer is a person who has a passion for playing games (usually video games). That's it. Might as well stop calling ourselves programmers, because after all, programmer culture is horribly misogynistic and oppressive.
- ceejayoz 13y ago
  > It's funny the author mentions "transphobia", given the existence of many postmodern feminists who are openly against transsexuals. Also known as the "fuck you, I got mine" variant of feminism.
  - vezzy-fnord 13y ago
    One that is nonetheless relatively popular. For all intents and purposes, they aren't any different from the other postmodern feminists which pervade contemporary feminist discourse on the web, in all other aspects.
- scott_s 13y ago
  I don't see what your first sentence has to do with the essay. The author is uncomfortable with the treatment that transgender people get in the gaming community. How does the existence of those in a different community who also treat transgender people poorly relevant?
  - vezzy-fnord 13y ago
    Because they share the author's extreme social justice sentiments in every other way.
    - scott_s 13y ago
      But why is that relevant to the article? I'm just lost as to what point you're trying to make. It seems like a non-sequitur to me.
ebbv 13y ago
I've been a gamer since I was a kid in the 80's. Being a "gamer" is not my identity, it's something I do. I'm also a home chef, a programmer and a husband. No one of these things identifies me entirely. There's a lot of teenage males who play video games and consider "gamer" the entirety of their identity. This is because they haven't developed an actual personality yet. These are usually the people who are constantly slinging racial/homophobic epithets and flipping out whenever they encounter a girl online. Their behavior does not affect how I view myself, or the hobbies I engage in. It has no bearing on whether I am a gamer or not. To say that it should or does is pretty stupid. It's like saying because Paula Deen is a racist I shouldn't identify myself as a home cook. There are douchey people out there who engage in all hobbies. The correct response is not to pretend you don't enjoy your hobby or to damage your enjoyment of it. The correct response is to let these people know what douches they are and call them out to their face. People like the author of this article are the problem as much as the immature, stupid kids are. Because when they encounter those kids acting awful online, they stay quiet and do nothing. You should stand up and call them out. When I run into racism in DotA 2 I tell the kids "Does being racist help cover up the fact that your parents are first cousins?" or when they engage in homophobic slurs I point out "The most homophobic people are usually the ones giving blow jobs in the airport bathroom." This usually shuts them up. Pretending you don't play games, or stopping a hobby you enjoy is doing nothing but damaging yourself.
RyanZAG 13y ago
> We didn’t even call video game players “gamers” until the fairly recent past. I certainly don’t remember hearing the word “gamer” in the mid-’90s Gamer originated in the 90s, in particular round-about 1996 with Quake, but well before that too with other games. A gamer was someone who packed up their big computer and lugged around a monitor in their car to a LAN party. There were plenty of girls around too, however they were mostly girlfriends and sisters. The strange rape-approving culture and other terms such as 'gg', came about because of two factors (I think, anyway). First, most people involved were generally high school or university students, and if you've been to a boys high school party then you shouldn't be surprised. Secondly, you generally sat around in a large hallway and the games let you use text chat. It was amusing at the time to talk congenially with your friend next to you and then send him a text message about raping because most of the people didn't even know what rape was. You generally saw complete shock if a younger player who was sending messages about rape was actually told what it was. It was probably the novelty of real time text communication. 1337 speak was also very popular around the time for the same reason - it helped to cement who was 'in the know' in the community. Gaming itself was very much a meritocracy. People at the top of the kill board were the popular ones and people listened to them, and these people would generally travel around to other lan parties and pick up the 'rape culture' from them, and then it would spread at more lan parties when these knowledgeable players talked about it. Standard social dynamics, I guess.
- mcv 13y ago
  > Gamer originated in the 90s, in particular round-about 1996 with Quake Gamer predates its use for video gamers. I was a gamer in the late '80s because I liked RPGs and wargames.
- ebbv 13y ago
  > Gamer originated in the 90s, in particular round-about 1996 with Quake This just isn't true at all. Kids who played Dungeons & Dragons and other games were "gamers" in the 80s, and probably before. The term only entered the mainstream in the 90s when DOOM and Quake made PC gaming a mainstream activity.
  - 13y ago
sigmar 13y ago
My biggest issue with this article is that he isn't talking about speaking up for the acceptance of transgendered individuals. He is just stepping away from the word "gamer" and declaring himself on a moral highground >Until then, not thinking of myself as a gamer is going to be a matter of conscious effort and avoidance of temptation, because it’s just so easy to do otherwise. This guy clearly thinks he is really brave, while not really doing much
Zikes 13y ago
Perhaps the author would also like to stop calling themselves a person. I mean, there's no reason to half-ass this sort of thing. Many evil deeds have been committed by people, each calling themselves a person. Failing that, perhaps the author would like to stop pigeon-holing the entirety of gaming for every single misstep committed by someone that happens to play games or that takes place in a gaming context.
ancarda 13y ago
>Parkin feels that the idea of the “gaming community,” and its endemic misogyny, transphobia and rape culture, all need to die, and by extension, anyone who has adopted an identity as a “gamer” needs to give it up. Everyone I know who plays games isn't a misogynist, transphobic or makes jokes about rape. >We don’t call movie fans “moviers” or literature enthusiasts “bookers.” No we call them "Movie buffs" or "Book worms". Besides, this point really highlights an issue; shaking the word "gamer" won't change the behavior of some people in the community.
RokStdy 13y ago
This really is idiotic to me. It seems increasingly popular for someone to take a minority position and then complain about how they are oppressed by the media, or game companies or whatever. The entire argument is pointless. It assumes that 'gamer culture' is somehow imposed by the industry, which is just utter bullshit. The video game industry, like virtually any other, exists to serve it's customers. The industry will do whatever it thinks it needs to do to appeal to it's customers. That's it.
thomaslangston 13y ago
I'm a gamer, that means I play games. I try not to be a jerk, but some people who play games do act like jerks. I am not going to give up my hobby or my identity because some people who have the share either act like jerks. There is a subset of the gamer population which encourages players to act like jerks. The correct response is to build environments (games, communication channels, and communities) which inhibit and discourage negative behavior, not to abandon the field.
Bognar 13y ago
> As Parkin points out, the term “gamer” is idiotic. We don’t call movie fans “moviers” or literature enthusiasts “bookers.” We call people who read "readers", we call people who go to movies "movie-goers". Game isn't just a noun, it's a verb, and adding an "-r" or "-er" to the end of a verb is a common English way of turning that verb into a word that means "person who [verb]s". To suggest otherwise is idiotic.
mattgreenrocks 13y ago
This piece is less about gamers and more about the failures of online 'communities.' The interesting thing about the Internet is how utterly unaccountable people want to be for what they say. Just try mentioning that people should be held responsible for things they say. Anytime you even suggest the state of online discourse is abysmal, there are five people who show up to tell you that it's perfectly fine, and the problem lies with you for noticing it. It's like there's a culture of acquiescing to perceived social norms (in this case, mediocrity), lest you speak up and be expelled.
- drzaiusapelord 13y ago
  > Just try mentioning that people should be held responsible for things they say. I have the right to free speech. If I say I think trans is a psychological condition treated by therapy instead of surgery or whatever politically incorrect thing might be the enemy of popular thought today, I shouldn't be put up in some discrimination court because someone was offended by my views. I also should have the right to publish my thoughts anonymously. Long story short, political correctness is just censorship. While I certainly don't like hateful on-line communities, I think your suggestion to make people "accountable" for speech is only something that can lead to real human rights violations instead of perceived slights from overly touchy people. Try criticizing Islam in the middle-east. There's accountable speech there. Why are westerners obsessed with bringing these horrific limitations on speech to the west? Free speech transcends being offended.
  - mattgreenrocks 13y ago
    This is less about free speech and more about setting zero tolerance for outright hate speech. Accountability here is being banned from games/discussions. This doesn't apply to society in the large.
deleted 13y ago
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yahesop 13y ago
This "article" is but a mere click/flamebait, the likes of Kotaku likes to post. Absolutely terrible. In fact, the whole Salon website is clickbaits and it's a shame to see this kind of stuff on the front page of HN. There is a recent wave of so called "social justice warriors" (SJW) invading video game journalism and writing articles such as this one under the guise of "feminism" and other fringe movements because the feelings of transgender people are not respected, because it promotes "misogyny, transphobia and rape culture". Excuse me? I don't really know what kind of agenda they're trying to push other than trying to fabricate controversies where there were previously none (apart from the "video games make you violent" crowd, which everyone already dismissed). What kind of bizarro world does the author live in - and from reading the article I assume he's a pretty casual gamer otherwise he wouldn't write such an unsavory article and call PAX the Woodstock of video games (an event that appeared in 2004) - that people call themselves gamers? No one I know calls himself a gamer and I've been playing video games since the 80's. Your identity is not driven by your hobby. Protip: Just because your feelings were hurt, it doesn't mean you are right.

23 points by edtechdev 13y ago

I'd prefer to take the term back than to give it up, personally. Gaming culture used to be better than this, and if we can kick the fratcore back to the fringes whence they came, it can be better again.

aaronem 13y ago
Consoles aren't going anywhere, though, and their low barrier to entry means they're going to have a larger share than PC gaming for as long as they're around.
- lucian1900 13y ago
  Also, they're pretty nice. PC gaming does have disadvantages.
  - aaronem 13y ago
    I haven't had a console since the original Playstation, so I don't know the answer to this question: How so? Is it just the low barrier to entry, or is there something about the actual experience of playing a console game which outdoes anything a PC can accomplish? (I really tend to doubt it's the latter, given the much greater flexibility of the PC as a platform -- I can use an Xbox 360 or PS3 controller to play a game on my computer, but as far as I know, I can't use a keyboard and mouse to play a game on either of those consoles.)
    - lucian1900 13y ago
      I find the lower friction quite valuable: - I don't need to care much about updates, not at all about driver issues. There are only two DRM mechanism in use (disc and digital) and their behaviour is well defined. (I'd rather have none, but that is only an option for very few games sadly). - I can pick up my controller, sit on the couch, press a button and the console turns itself on in a few seconds. Then, using just the controller, I can use all of its functions. - I quite like split-screen multiplayer and PC games almost never provide it. It would require 2 PCs for most games and would be impractical on a couch. - The console was also much cheaper than a gaming PC and used games + PSN sales end up at similar cost to Steam games + Steam sales. I've played with a Steambox and it comes close, but without being able to play all PC games in history, much of its appeal is gone.
- Millennium 13y ago
  I'm not so sure consoles are the problem. XBox Live gets a lot of heat, and deserves it, but most of the fratcore's market strongholds don't have their roots in consoles. FPS, MMO, and sandboxes all have famous PC roots, while technical fighters got their start in the arcades. Madden is really the only one the consoles can claim, and then only arguably: the first Madden wasn't released on consoles, but the consoles were where it really took off. That's why I'm reluctant to point the finger at consoles. The problematic franchises and strongholds have their roots elsewhere, and continue to start in these places, only coming to consoles later. If anything, consoles' low barrier to entry makes them more a part of the solution, not the problem: simply put, we need new blood, and lots of it.
  - aaronem 13y ago
    How does the fact, that console gamers on average consistently behave much worse in the manner under discussion than PC gamers do, implicate the origins of various franchises as the problem, and consoles as the solution?
    - thesnider 13y ago
      counter-example: EVE Online.

petercooper 13y ago

As Parkin points out, the term “gamer” is idiotic. We don’t call movie fans “moviers” or literature enthusiasts “bookers.” There are various terms for both. Bookworms, cinephiles, movie buffs, bibliophiles. Maybe if it's a "branding" problem, of sorts, using other words would work, like ludophile, but it doesn't avoid the fact there are cores of enthusiasts for most (all?) media.

lmm 13y ago
Ludophile I would think of as a (pretentious) board gamer rather than videogamer.
- mscottmcbee 13y ago
  While it makes sense, "I'm a ludophile" is way too easy to mishear.
- freehunter 13y ago
  Not knowing the root word, I would assume ludophile would be related to luddite.
- petercooper 13y ago
  This ties into the "branding" thing. That's what the term could instantly make you think of, but really it has no specific connotation. (A bit like how to some it seems "gamer" gives off a certain vibe, when no such vibe is intrinsic to it.)
wisty 13y ago
I'm trying to see how changing the name will in any way change the culture. You can call gamers whatever you want. You might even be able to convince them to use a different word. But they'll still misuse the "crouch" command.
- mattgreenrocks 13y ago
  Culture? You're way more kind than I am. It's all no-thought, meme-chanting-so-I-feel-like-I-fit-in middle-school behavior. It's the same groupthink of pop Internet culture (reddit/4chan).

knodi 13y ago

Does it matter if you call your self gamer or not?

gavanwoolery 13y ago

This is pretty much flamebait, but I'll chime in anyway. I'm all for every sexual orientation, but if someone makes a tame joke about transgenders, who the f * * k cares? We make jokes about straight people all the time. My friends who are gay make jokes about gay people. Stop treating everything like its holy ground, and learn to laugh at a joke, whether or not it targets your minority or majority class. Do you really want to live in a perfectly politically correct world where nobody can make a joke about anything because they might offend somebody? As George Carlin said: "I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately." That said, dissociating yourself with gamers because many of them have a juvenile sense of humor is kind of silly. It is like saying "I am going to stop calling myself a movie watcher because half of all movie watchers like straight male-oriented action movies." Edit: Uh oh, hit the beehive. To clarify, there is a very clear difference between hatred and joking, most people can make the distinction. I understand the trauma that a lot of orientations go through (I have watched my friend's parents disown him for being gay and read the countless stories of people being murdered for being whatever orientation). Nonetheless, I do not believe at all in censorship and I never will. I do believe in being polite and respecting others. Humor is a way of bridging gaps, hatred or making fun of somebody cruelly is a different beast.

aaronem 13y ago
Careful there, Citizen. You're courting accusations of reactionism with regressionist talk like that.
- gavanwoolery 13y ago
  Heheh ;)
deleted 13y ago
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patdennis 13y ago
> Stop treating everything like its holy ground, and learn to laugh at a joke, whether or not it targets your minority or majority class. The main reason people get upset about transphobic jokes isn't that they don't have a sense of humor. It's because trans people are disproportionately targeted by violence because of their orientation. People get beat up, people get killed. This is pretty serious, and a lot of people think part of the problem is a cultural sense that demeaning trans people is ok. You can call them "it", or a "thing". These people aren't going to be mad if you make a joke around your trans friends. But they see it as a problem when a whole generation of 12-13 year olds are being culturally conditioned to treat trans people as lesser, as an other, etc. Not to mention the effect this culture has on young trans kids. They already have a much much higher risk of suicide than the average person. Change has to start somewhere.

SDGT 13y ago

I blame consoles primarily, as it seemed the barrier for entry in the PC master race was always high enough to separate at least some of the wheat from the chaff. It could also be rose coloured glasses, given that my last serious gaming (before coding ate up 12+ hours a day) was 5 years of Diablo II and CS:S followed by 6 years of Guildwars. I got out of all of this before COD/ BF and LOL were huge games. I can say that I know far more brogamers rocking a PS/Xbox than PC's.

kerpal 13y ago

This is stupid. The article claims the term gamer itself isn't appropriate but the examples it provides are wrong. People who enjoy films may often be called film buffs or even more generically movie goers. People who enjoy reading may be referred to as book worms. Deciding to reject them doesn't really mean anything. The term gamer is not the problem. If this article was more about rejecting sexist and racist language and behavior in gaming I'd agree with it. However I think these problems are more a factor of age and maturity than anything else. Play in a gaming community where the average age is 20+ and you'll find a more tolerable environment.

A_COMPUTER 13y ago

I want to see someone write an article entitled "Why I can't call myself a journalist anymore" and then blame Salon for articles like this.

panzagl 13y ago

His examples aren't problems with gamer culture, they're problems with a mass media culture that stereotypes gamers as basement-dwelling neckbeards, and has decided the best way to market to them is T&A.

vezzy-fnord 13y ago

It's funny the author mentions "transphobia", given the existence of many postmodern feminists who are openly against transsexuals. But ignoring that, the problem is that this article adds baggage to the term "gamer" when there isn't any. A gamer is a person who has a passion for playing games (usually video games). That's it. Might as well stop calling ourselves programmers, because after all, programmer culture is horribly misogynistic and oppressive.

ceejayoz 13y ago
> It's funny the author mentions "transphobia", given the existence of many postmodern feminists who are openly against transsexuals. Also known as the "fuck you, I got mine" variant of feminism.
- vezzy-fnord 13y ago
  One that is nonetheless relatively popular. For all intents and purposes, they aren't any different from the other postmodern feminists which pervade contemporary feminist discourse on the web, in all other aspects.
scott_s 13y ago
I don't see what your first sentence has to do with the essay. The author is uncomfortable with the treatment that transgender people get in the gaming community. How does the existence of those in a different community who also treat transgender people poorly relevant?
- vezzy-fnord 13y ago
  Because they share the author's extreme social justice sentiments in every other way.
  - scott_s 13y ago
    But why is that relevant to the article? I'm just lost as to what point you're trying to make. It seems like a non-sequitur to me.

ebbv 13y ago

I've been a gamer since I was a kid in the 80's. Being a "gamer" is not my identity, it's something I do. I'm also a home chef, a programmer and a husband. No one of these things identifies me entirely. There's a lot of teenage males who play video games and consider "gamer" the entirety of their identity. This is because they haven't developed an actual personality yet. These are usually the people who are constantly slinging racial/homophobic epithets and flipping out whenever they encounter a girl online. Their behavior does not affect how I view myself, or the hobbies I engage in. It has no bearing on whether I am a gamer or not. To say that it should or does is pretty stupid. It's like saying because Paula Deen is a racist I shouldn't identify myself as a home cook. There are douchey people out there who engage in all hobbies. The correct response is not to pretend you don't enjoy your hobby or to damage your enjoyment of it. The correct response is to let these people know what douches they are and call them out to their face. People like the author of this article are the problem as much as the immature, stupid kids are. Because when they encounter those kids acting awful online, they stay quiet and do nothing. You should stand up and call them out. When I run into racism in DotA 2 I tell the kids "Does being racist help cover up the fact that your parents are first cousins?" or when they engage in homophobic slurs I point out "The most homophobic people are usually the ones giving blow jobs in the airport bathroom." This usually shuts them up. Pretending you don't play games, or stopping a hobby you enjoy is doing nothing but damaging yourself.

RyanZAG 13y ago

> We didn’t even call video game players “gamers” until the fairly recent past. I certainly don’t remember hearing the word “gamer” in the mid-’90s Gamer originated in the 90s, in particular round-about 1996 with Quake, but well before that too with other games. A gamer was someone who packed up their big computer and lugged around a monitor in their car to a LAN party. There were plenty of girls around too, however they were mostly girlfriends and sisters. The strange rape-approving culture and other terms such as 'gg', came about because of two factors (I think, anyway). First, most people involved were generally high school or university students, and if you've been to a boys high school party then you shouldn't be surprised. Secondly, you generally sat around in a large hallway and the games let you use text chat. It was amusing at the time to talk congenially with your friend next to you and then send him a text message about raping because most of the people didn't even know what rape was. You generally saw complete shock if a younger player who was sending messages about rape was actually told what it was. It was probably the novelty of real time text communication. 1337 speak was also very popular around the time for the same reason - it helped to cement who was 'in the know' in the community. Gaming itself was very much a meritocracy. People at the top of the kill board were the popular ones and people listened to them, and these people would generally travel around to other lan parties and pick up the 'rape culture' from them, and then it would spread at more lan parties when these knowledgeable players talked about it. Standard social dynamics, I guess.

mcv 13y ago
> Gamer originated in the 90s, in particular round-about 1996 with Quake Gamer predates its use for video gamers. I was a gamer in the late '80s because I liked RPGs and wargames.
ebbv 13y ago
> Gamer originated in the 90s, in particular round-about 1996 with Quake This just isn't true at all. Kids who played Dungeons & Dragons and other games were "gamers" in the 80s, and probably before. The term only entered the mainstream in the 90s when DOOM and Quake made PC gaming a mainstream activity.
- 13y ago

sigmar 13y ago

My biggest issue with this article is that he isn't talking about speaking up for the acceptance of transgendered individuals. He is just stepping away from the word "gamer" and declaring himself on a moral highground >Until then, not thinking of myself as a gamer is going to be a matter of conscious effort and avoidance of temptation, because it’s just so easy to do otherwise. This guy clearly thinks he is really brave, while not really doing much

Zikes 13y ago

Perhaps the author would also like to stop calling themselves a person. I mean, there's no reason to half-ass this sort of thing. Many evil deeds have been committed by people, each calling themselves a person. Failing that, perhaps the author would like to stop pigeon-holing the entirety of gaming for every single misstep committed by someone that happens to play games or that takes place in a gaming context.

ancarda 13y ago

>Parkin feels that the idea of the “gaming community,” and its endemic misogyny, transphobia and rape culture, all need to die, and by extension, anyone who has adopted an identity as a “gamer” needs to give it up. Everyone I know who plays games isn't a misogynist, transphobic or makes jokes about rape. >We don’t call movie fans “moviers” or literature enthusiasts “bookers.” No we call them "Movie buffs" or "Book worms". Besides, this point really highlights an issue; shaking the word "gamer" won't change the behavior of some people in the community.

RokStdy 13y ago

This really is idiotic to me. It seems increasingly popular for someone to take a minority position and then complain about how they are oppressed by the media, or game companies or whatever. The entire argument is pointless. It assumes that 'gamer culture' is somehow imposed by the industry, which is just utter bullshit. The video game industry, like virtually any other, exists to serve it's customers. The industry will do whatever it thinks it needs to do to appeal to it's customers. That's it.

thomaslangston 13y ago

I'm a gamer, that means I play games. I try not to be a jerk, but some people who play games do act like jerks. I am not going to give up my hobby or my identity because some people who have the share either act like jerks. There is a subset of the gamer population which encourages players to act like jerks. The correct response is to build environments (games, communication channels, and communities) which inhibit and discourage negative behavior, not to abandon the field.

Bognar 13y ago

> As Parkin points out, the term “gamer” is idiotic. We don’t call movie fans “moviers” or literature enthusiasts “bookers.” We call people who read "readers", we call people who go to movies "movie-goers". Game isn't just a noun, it's a verb, and adding an "-r" or "-er" to the end of a verb is a common English way of turning that verb into a word that means "person who [verb]s". To suggest otherwise is idiotic.

mattgreenrocks 13y ago

This piece is less about gamers and more about the failures of online 'communities.' The interesting thing about the Internet is how utterly unaccountable people want to be for what they say. Just try mentioning that people should be held responsible for things they say. Anytime you even suggest the state of online discourse is abysmal, there are five people who show up to tell you that it's perfectly fine, and the problem lies with you for noticing it. It's like there's a culture of acquiescing to perceived social norms (in this case, mediocrity), lest you speak up and be expelled.

drzaiusapelord 13y ago
> Just try mentioning that people should be held responsible for things they say. I have the right to free speech. If I say I think trans is a psychological condition treated by therapy instead of surgery or whatever politically incorrect thing might be the enemy of popular thought today, I shouldn't be put up in some discrimination court because someone was offended by my views. I also should have the right to publish my thoughts anonymously. Long story short, political correctness is just censorship. While I certainly don't like hateful on-line communities, I think your suggestion to make people "accountable" for speech is only something that can lead to real human rights violations instead of perceived slights from overly touchy people. Try criticizing Islam in the middle-east. There's accountable speech there. Why are westerners obsessed with bringing these horrific limitations on speech to the west? Free speech transcends being offended.
- mattgreenrocks 13y ago
  This is less about free speech and more about setting zero tolerance for outright hate speech. Accountability here is being banned from games/discussions. This doesn't apply to society in the large.

deleted 13y ago

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yahesop 13y ago

This "article" is but a mere click/flamebait, the likes of Kotaku likes to post. Absolutely terrible. In fact, the whole Salon website is clickbaits and it's a shame to see this kind of stuff on the front page of HN. There is a recent wave of so called "social justice warriors" (SJW) invading video game journalism and writing articles such as this one under the guise of "feminism" and other fringe movements because the feelings of transgender people are not respected, because it promotes "misogyny, transphobia and rape culture". Excuse me? I don't really know what kind of agenda they're trying to push other than trying to fabricate controversies where there were previously none (apart from the "video games make you violent" crowd, which everyone already dismissed). What kind of bizarro world does the author live in - and from reading the article I assume he's a pretty casual gamer otherwise he wouldn't write such an unsavory article and call PAX the Woodstock of video games (an event that appeared in 2004) - that people call themselves gamers? No one I know calls himself a gamer and I've been playing video games since the 80's. Your identity is not driven by your hobby. Protip: Just because your feelings were hurt, it doesn't mean you are right.