Labels

What Makes a Gamer?

This blog sucks.

Well, I don’t mean that all of it sucks. In fact, some of it is quite well written, but this post might not be my best. I spent just a little bit too much time writing fiction this morning and now I need to move on to the rest of my day’s work.

You’re working on Memorial Day?

Yeah, freelancers, entrepreneurs, etc, work every day or the mortgage doesn’t get paid. Sometimes, even when you do work every day the mortgage doesn’t get paid, but I guess that’s a topic for a different post. And despite all that entrepreneurial huffing, I really won’t be tapping the keyboard all day, I’m going to take the afternoon off to watch the Indy 500.


But wasn’t that yesterday?

Yes, it was yesterday, but a spent a magnificent day with my family, picnicking at a lake in the southern end of Franklin county, and then driving to the northern end to celebrate a friend’s graduation from high school. I recorded the 500.

But today’s blog sucks, because I’m not going to write about anything. I’m not going to tell you about anything, I’m going to ask a question, and I want you to answer the question, below, in the comments.

What makes a gamer? Seriously.
  1. It’s not intelligence. I have average, to perhaps slightly below average, intelligence and I’m a gamer.
  2. It’s not social ineptitude. Yeah, we have all met the unwashed minority at game conventions who wear shorts, socks, sandals, and possess the social graces of Godzilla. On the other hand, I have many, many gamer friends who are interesting, well-rounded, vivacious people. And let’s don’t even talk about the hundreds of millions of adults I’ve met who are not gamers, and have the personality of a lump of coal. No, I DO NOT want to hear about your kids. No, I DO NOT want to talk about your church.
  3. It’s not age. Certainly, it’s not age. My college age daughters who are very hip and dangerously pretty are all gamers to varying degrees. On the other hand most of my gaming buddies are middle-aged.
  4. It’s not… well, I just don’t know what it’s not, but I do know we are a breed apart. What makes it so? Please tell me. Leave your comments below.
Mark H. Walker is the author of World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing. It's available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Just $3.99. Give it a try. What the hell?



Email Post
Labels:

Comments

brad said…
I guess it would depend on how a person perceives gaming. Is it a problem to be solved or a social experience or both? Is there an ego component to besting someone else in a game? If so, how do you account for solo gamers? Perhaps it's a learning experience if you're talking about gaming out certain historical scenarios? However, some people stick to playing out umpteen different versions of Waterloo throughout their whole gaming careers. Does the gamer perceive the game as narrative? That's certainly how I approach it and it keeps me coming back to it and certainly motivates me to buy certain games. I suppose it really just depends - but I know that's a cop out answer too.
May 26, 2014 at 6:39 AM
Mark H. Walker said…
No, that's a great answer Brad. I certainly do not want to play with folks that attach egos to gaming. In fact, I believe that's where the majority of bizarre rules questions are birthed. "I must beat this guy! My self-image depends on it! How can I bend this rule?" I know it's about the narrative with me, but of course that's why I game. The real question is "What makes a gamer?" Why do some folks love games and others veg out in front of a TV, prefer carving, or whatever.
May 26, 2014 at 6:44 AM
Unknown said…
In the past entertainment was generally oriented in one direction: from the entertainer (be it book, stage play, movie, music etc) to the entertained. Interactivity was not encouraged. BUT! Some people want control over what entertains them and how. Contemporary gaming provides that interactivity. No longer is one bound by the author of a novel to the conclusion the author wants - no - with interactive entertainment one can now direct the entertainment down paths the entertained prefer. The kind of people who want to direct their entertainment are Gamers.
June 3, 2014 at 12:57 PM
Mark H. Walker said…
Nice, Michael. I certainly think that is one of the definitions.
June 4, 2014 at 6:23 AM
brad said…
You know, I'm coming back to this one after a bit of a think. I have to say, I've been a "fake gamer" lately, which means that I haven't been playing many games lately (at least not nowhere near the daily basis I used to play them on). For a lot of reasons I won't really get into, I've been doing all the crap I used to shun like watching TV, vegging out, and just generally puttering around the house and annoying my wife. But you know what? I'm not an ex-gamer, I've just realized that instead of having a board in front of me, I'm still thinking like a gamer - rolling around game scenarios and moves and fond memories in my head as I get lost in that hopeless little screen in front of me. I guess that's it - a gamer is a person who enjoys thinking about problems in a very specific way and seeing how new ideas play out to their conclusion. I think it's similar to how a scientist's brain must work. I've been trying meditation lately and I've noticed my brain is attracted to problems set out in a certain way - moves, countermoves, probabilities, possible outcomes...and tanks, lots of tanks. Well, long weekend is coming up. Time to go back to being a real gamer.
October 10, 2014 at 7:11 AM
Mark H. Walker said…
Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate Google.. what I've typed four times is, basically. Yes.
October 13, 2014 at 5:32 AM
brad said…
haha Thanks Mark!
October 13, 2014 at 9:25 PM
ontheWAEtoWAR said…
I think the biggest thing that has not been said is love of the game. Different games attract gamers of different personality types some games are serious and require tactical and strategic thinking, others are beer and pretzals and are all about getting the laugh or being over the top silly. As a role player creativity is a huge part of being successful, as are negotiation and leadership skills, but board games don't always leverage those same skills.

My game friends are my best friends because we share love and enthusiasm for games which bind us together in our " war stories" a common history of tales we can rehash time and again of legendary heroism and epic failures. The emotion and caring about the games is what draws us together as gamers.
November 7, 2014 at 7:04 AM
Post a Comment

Popular Posts