What is a "gamer"?

Every few months, a similar study is posted onto Reddit's r/gaming forum. Every time, the denizens of Reddit are surprised at the results. The study, invariably, says that the average "gamer" is female and in her 30s-40s. In addition, women are much more likely to be "hardcore gamers" then men. This is, of course, very different from the common stereotype of a "gamer". Clearly, there is something clearly wrong with the image of an acne-covered white male sitting in his mother's basement trying to get the +15 Sword of Social Awkwardness in World of Warcraft, swearing into an XboX headset in a nasally voice (because, as everyone knows, WoW is a console game), and wondering what this mysterious creature called a "female" is.

I blame shows like The Big Bang Theory for depictions like this. Not every nerd is an MIT valedictorian who plays Klingon Boggle on the weekends and has no idea how to interact with normal people. But there seems to be something about the statement "I am a gamer" that brings all this baggage with it.

The main problem with this is a definition of the word "gamer" that is not only inaccurate, but is also inconsistent and self-contradictory. Despite this, however, everybody seems to know what a "gamer" is. But how do you strictly define this public perception?

Let's say that a "gamer" is somebody that plays more than a certain number of hours of video games per given time interval; say, 15 hours per week. This seems like a perfectly valid definition. Remember, at this point we aren't defining "hardcore gamer"; we're just defining a gamer. So this definition is simple, right? A gamer is somebody who plays more than 15 hours of video games per week.

But this is when it gets confusing. Video games doesn't just mean the stereotypical gamer games like Call of Duty. What about games like Tetris? Or The Sims, or Farmville? What about the many games for the iOS series, or the millions of Android games? Those are most certainly games. And if you count games like that, the definition of "gamer" suddenly encompasses a lot more than you'd expect. 

Not pictured: Actual gamers. Especially Alex Clemons.

What makes these games different from "gamer games" like those showcased at Dreamhack or Major League Gaming? These games are considered "casual"- but why? Its not that people put less time into these games than the average StarCraft player will put into laddering. (And if you use me as the "average starcraft player", you'll have no trouble finding someone who spends more time playing these games than I spend laddering.)

Of course, the distinction between the games I listed is clear. MLG showcases competitive games, and the "casual" games I listed are not competitive.

But that's not an accurate distinction either. World of Warcraft is certainly not competitive, but nobody would consider it "casual". The same applies for games like Grand Theft Auto and the Elder Scrolls series.

Pictured: A non-competitive, "casual" gamer.

Of course, some would argue that WoW, GTA, and Skyrim are casual games. But this is absurd. Maybe these games aren't as hardcore and competitive as your game of choice, but there is no way that something like World of Warcraft is a casual game, on the same level as something like, say, Angry Birds.

So let's continue to refine this definition. A "gamer" is somebody who plays games that require a large time investment. This would distinguish "gamers" from people who play games that do not require a large time investment, but choose to spend a lot of time on the game anyway. Suddenly, this definition includes games like World of Warcraft and Skyrim, but exclude games like Angry Birds, The Sims, and Farmville...

Except that it doesn't. Even some games that are clearly not "real games", such as Farmville, require a huge time investment. I'd say that the grandmother that harvests her strawberries every four hours is a hardcore gamer. The high school girl who spends hours at a time, living as her Sim, is definitely a hardcore gamer.

Besides, even if you take the narrowest definition of a "gamer game" (one that is fiercely competitive and requires a large time investment), there are still games that fit this definition, though their playerbase does not fit the standard "gamer" stereotype.

I played a German game called Travian for about three years in high school. Its basically a Civilization-style game played in your browser. You team up with a clan and try to build a "World Wonder" before another clan does, winning the server. The server would be wiped and everyone would restart a few weeks later.

At one point, my clan, the World Gaming Federation, actually managed to win.

The trick is that the game continues running even if you're offline; your cities continue producing resources and you are still vulnerable to attack.

This game consumes your life; you will always be thinking about your Travian villages and worried that they are being attacked. I would check my account during my lunch period and issue construction orders. Its not healthy; that's why I quit.

The large majority of my clan was female, and a good portion was over 30.

Trying to define a "gamer" is silly. Almost everybody plays some sort of game, so its meaningless to identify yourself as a "gamer". Do people self-identify as "sandwich-eaters"? Of course, some people don't eat sandwiches, but the majority do, and it makes it silly to identify as a "sandwich-eater". So why do people feel the need to identify as "gamers", when a large portion of the population plays some form of video game? Because you play a "real" game, and most people play "casual" games?

Its stupid to call out people for playing a different game from what you do. Broodwar players call StarCraft II players "casuals", the majority of the fighting game community seems to hate the Smash series, and Halo and CoD players have some sort of rivalry I don't quite understand. Does anyone feel compelled to call out other people for enjoying different kinds of sandwiches? Do you laugh at the person in front of you at Subway because they ordered rye bread instead of wheat? I will be the first to confess that I often switch to the Halo or CoD streams during MLG weekend when I want a break from StarCraft II.

The idea of identifying as a "gamer" is as silly as identifying as a "sandwich-eater" or a "movie-watcher". Doing this also allows the general media to paint video games as evil. How many times have you seen "gamer goes on shooting spree" in the news? Because the person who turned out to be a murderer turns out to play video games, much like the rest of the population. On the other hand, how often do you read "sandwich-eater goes on shooting spree"?

I dream of a world where the question "Are you a gamer?" will be answered by "Of course I am, what a silly question."