From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Historically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. More recently, however, the term has grown to include players of video games, eventually becoming more associated with this group than the original, at least in mainstream culture . While the term nominally includes those who do not necessarily consider themselves to be gamers (i.e., casual gamers),[1] it is commonly used to identify those who spend much of their leisure time playing or learning about different games.
There are many gamer communities around the world. Many of these take the form of web rings, discussion forums and other virtual communities, as well as college or university social clubs. Stores specializing in games often serve as a meeting place to organize groups of players[citation needed]. Prior to the emergence of the Internet, many play-by-mail games developed communities resembling those surrounding today's online games[citation needed].
In October 2006, the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) was established as the first non-profit membership organization formed to represent American computer and video game consumers. The ECA was formed, in part, in response to the seemingly imbalanced representation of the games industry (e.g., the ESA, IGDA and others) in comparison to game consumers in the United States Congress.[1]
Types of gamers
Types of video gamers
In the United States, the average video game player is 35 and has been playing video games for over 12 years.[2] In the UK, the average video game player is over 23 years old, has played video games for over 10 years, and spends around 12.6 hours a week playing video games.[3] However, the term "video gamer" is composed of many other subgroups of gamers:
- Casual gamer: The casual gamer is a person who plays games designed for ease of game play (such as Tetris) and doesn't spend much time playing more involved games. The genres that casual gamers play vary, and they might not own a specific video game console to play their games. See Casual game.
- Hardcore gamer: The hardcore gamer plays more often than the casual gamer and tends to play more difficult games. They are also usually marked by participation in gaming culture. They tend to play games that require larger amounts of time to complete or master. There are many subtypes of hardcore gamers based on the style of game, gameplay preference, hardware platform, and other preferences.
- Retrogamer: A gamer who enjoys playing or collecting vintage video games from earlier eras. Retro-gamers are partly responsible for the popularity of console emulation. Some collect old video games and prototypes, or are in the business of refurbishing old games, particularly arcade cabinets. Some even make their own arcade cabinets (see MAME arcade). A notable retro-gamer is James Rolfe.
- Import gamer: A gamer who enjoys playing or collecting video games produced internationally. The most common imports are from Japan, although some European and Japanese gamers purchase games from North America. Depending on the gaming platform involved, these gamers may use devices such as modchips, boot disks, and/or Gamesharks to bypass regional lockout protection on the software, though some prefer to purchase imported consoles. A number of these gamers import games that fall into genres generally not released outside of Japan, such as dating sims or anime/manga-based licensed games.
- Cyberathlete: A Professional Gamer (often abbreviated "pro gamer") plays video games for money.[4] (The term electronic sports is used to describe the play of video games as a professional sport.) Whether a professional gamer is a subtype of the hardcore gamer largely depends on the degree to which a professional gamer is financially dependent upon the income derived from gaming. So far as a professional gamer is financially dependent upon gaming, the time spent playing is no longer "leisure" time. In countries of Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan, professional gamers are sponsored by large companies and can earn more than $100,000USD a year, in addition to the cult following that some obtain. [5]
- Newbie: This is gamer slang for a player who is new or inexperienced. Two derived terms are "newb", a beginner who is willing to learn; and "noob", a derogatory name.[6] The latter term was considered as the one-millionth English word by the Global Language Monitor.[7]
Avatar
An avatar, username, game name, alias, gamer tag, screen name, or handle is a name (usually a pseudonym) adopted by a video gamer, used as a main preferred identification to the gaming community. Usage of user names is most prevalent in games with online multiplayer support, or at electronic sport conventions.[citation needed]
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.
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