• 19Dec 11

  Being a Gamer

  Hi there people!

  This is my first and, probably, only post, as I usually blog about games on my personal brazilian blog. But I think this is a good post I'm about to publish there, and I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to share it with you. If you like it, I could even translate other posts.

  Anyway, I based this post on another one from my friend, which was about "Being a Gamer", a real gamer, not just a videogame player.

  I'd like to start out by talking about what is NOT a gamer. People who play:

  1. Soccer gamer. They're casual players, who enjoy videogaming with friends. NOT GAMER

  2. First-Person Shooters online. More hardcore than the previous one, these ones are usually very competitive, and enjoy being the best of the match. NOT GAMER

  3. Tablets and smartphones games. Extremely casuals. Most of these games aren't capable of providing a unique experience (for now). NOT GAMER

  I'm not saying gamers don't play these games. We do. In fact, I bet most of us fits at least one of the above categories, but we never limit ourselves to them.

  Giving some special attention to the first two categories: being competitive is NOT part of the gamer spirit. Again, of COURSE there are competitive gamers, but I don't consider as gamers those who play videogames JUST to compete.

  In cases like this, one uses videogames as a mean to fulfill ones wish for competition. A gamer doesn't play videogame as a mean to an end, but as the end itself. We play videogames in order to play videogames. Deal with it.

  Purely casual players are pretty much in the same situation. They play videogame as a mean, not as an end. They play videogames to spend time while they wait for something, or when they're bored. Just for a temporary fun.

  A gamer doesn't see a game only as fun. We're often frustrated by the games we play (Demon's Souls, I'm looking at ya!). In fact, we hardly see a videogame as a "game". Much more than that. For me, being a gamer is treating videogames as experiences.

  Finishing the game is, actually, our last priority. The important is what happens before that. The challenges, the story, the adventure... everything mixed up. Maybe, some more than the others, it depends on the gamer. But we always look for this filling, and the end of the game is but a consequence, sometimes sad, of our desire to experience games.

  As the IGN crew (I can talk 'bout them right?) pointed out in a music video:

  "At the end of it all, gamers play what we play not for game over, but rather for what we take away!"

  • Posted Dec 19, 2011 11:49 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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