Finding a less poopy word for gamer

As true culture historians know, new medium come with negative perceptions. It was years before moviegoers aka film buffs broke away from the label moving picture ragamuffins. People on the street would spit at their feet and throw rocks, but after they found an endearing term for their obsession all was well.
So Jeff and them use "player", not to be confused with "playa". But it still makes me think of tee-ball. And anything with "game" in it makes me think of pogs and hungry hungry hippos. Which is fine cus they're fun, but it makes me think of someone who plays pogs 8 hours a day which is scarey.
So what less shitty term best suits gamers?
Game buffs is the obvious one. Not much verbage, not childish. Work it into your vocabs.
Maybe bring back the word "virtual" from the 80s and sinergize it with other words. Virtualean? Virtual Vagabond?
Its hard cus there's only like one synonym for virtual. Vee-ares? That's... actually way worse. Something think of something.

Let's call ourselves "Game Genies" from now on.

I have no problem with referring to myself as a gamer. People who play football are called footballers. People who play cricket are called cricketers. Gamer just means somebody who plays games, it has no negative connotations in my mind.

I play games. Thus, I am a gamer. And I am proud to call myself one.

Djame Djini  has a ring to it. I'm pretty sure we have magic powers.

We shall be called pwpg (people who play games) from now on

How is that phonetically? Pwapeg? Powpig? I like powpig, sounds like something you'd call the bad guy in an oldtimey war.

I don't like gamer because it feels like such a commercialized term. I associate gamer with those commercials on G4 with two guys tightening up the graphics on the game they're making. I never call myself a gamer, I just say I play games.

We are not gamers, we are people who play games.

"How is that phonetically? Pwapeg? Powpig? I like powpig, sounds like something you'd call the bad guy in an oldtimey war."

I don't like gamer because it feels like such a commercialized term. I associate gamer with those commercials on G4 with two guys tightening up the graphics on the game they're making.

I always use the term gamer, but that could just be out of habit.

Cyber Athlete?










lolololol Oh CAL...

"...we are people who play games."

"In other words, we're gamers."

"

I don't like gamer because it feels like such a commercialized term. I associate gamer with those commercials on G4 with two guys tightening up the graphics on the game they're making. I never call myself a gamer, I just say I play games.

We are not gamers, we are people who play games.

"

"theOSUman365 said:

"

I don't like gamer because it feels like such a commercialized term. I associate gamer with those commercials on G4 with two guys tightening up the graphics on the game they're making. I never call myself a gamer, I just say I play games.

We are not gamers, we are people who play games.

"

I believe in this. I just felt like cracking a joke about the Game Genie that no one found funny."

"wordsgohere said:

"In other words, we're gamers."

If you want to brand yourself, go ahead. It's quite an active hobby, sure, but I don't see reason to be labeled for it. Especially when it's exploited as such (G4). And it's in no means to keep myself from negative hate for playing games, but I'd rather not be identified as the same person who plays h4l0 on teh ecksbawks, or trys to tighten up those graphics on level 3.

"

I can't really think of anything.  I just hope we get to a point where we don't need a name for people who play games.  How often do you hear anyone refer to a group of people as tv watchers or music listeners?  It's because everyone does that stuff. There might be some people that take it more seriously than others, but everyone has heard a song before and everyone has watched a tv show.

"Let's call ourselves "Game Genies" from now on."

pixelante

We are "people"

I don't see a problem with gamer.....

I don't mind the term gamer. I know its a cliché and isn't the best use of the english language, but as a word that identifies people who play games I can't think of anything better, and I don't think anyone else can.

"I have no problem with referring to myself as a gamer. People who play football are called footballers. People who play cricket are called cricketers. Gamer just means somebody who plays games, it has no negative connotations in my mind.

I play games. Thus, I am a gamer. And I am proud to call myself one."

g4m3r pWn 1337neZZ

Yeah... I really don't see the issue with the term gamer. Even in the context of the Bombcast no matter what we call ourselves the negative perspective of the person who plays many video games still sticks, connotations to the word "gamer" are irrelevant in this regard.

Gamer is about as condensed and catchy of a word as there is going to be. Let's just take it back.

Hey, what's up, I'm a gamer. I bathe every day, and I even floss my teeth. I like to do stuff in real life, and I also don't assume I have anything in common with other gamers because there is no such thing as gaming "culture", unless you count a lot of stupid jokes about a cake as "culture".

This is what I say when asked 'Are you a gamer?': 'Sure, i'm a guy who plays games.' There doesn't really need to be a term, afterall, there isn't a real one for people who watch films and that's a huge market.

I'm a PC


wait what

"Let's call ourselves "Game Genies" from now on."

I really like the term "gamer", actually.  Imagine, the word  "game" in and of itself has become so pervasive that it has juxtaposed itself from a noun into a verb, which has been so readily accepted that the creation of a new noun was necessary to refer back to those who participate in the action referenced by the verbed word.  That's something to be proud of.

Imagine if we decided that we didn't like ending verbs with -er to indicate the person performing that action.  A baker would be a person who bakes.  A gardener would be a person who is the caretaker of a garden, except that you couldn't use caretaker either, so you would have to say he is a person who takes care of a garden.  A baserunner would be a ballplayer who is running the bases, except that you couldn't use ballplayer, so he would be a person who plays professional baseball and is currently run—never mind, he's already scored.

It's short.  It's eloquent.  It's perfectly descriptive.  What's not to love?

Any suitable replacement would have to be just one syllable and less than five characters in length.

I have nothing against the term gamer, and I'm proud to be one. But hey, if you really must have a different name, why not just call yourself a game player? That way you can effectively use the phrase, "don't hate game, hate the player!"

interaction users?
(sounds silly, but couldn't come up with anything less silly)

any term would be a generalization so changing it wouldn't help, gamer isn't a bad term its just someone who is enthusiastic about games, AKA us.

"This is what I say when asked 'Are you a gamer?': 'Sure, i'm a guy who plays games.' There doesn't really need to be a term, afterall, there isn't a real one for people who watch films and that's a huge market."

The only terms I hear for people who watch movies are "film enthusiasts" (as Ryan proposed for games as well) and "movie-goers".  Can you think of anything else?  Movies are as close to games as a medium as you can get.  So I simply say "game enthusiast", or "game-player" (shortened to just player, as Jeff had stated).

Although I don't see the term "gamer" as being bad, I simply don't use it.

I like game buff's lack of syllables. 3 or more syllables and its like you're purposefully avoiding an easier word because you don't want to be associated with the people who do what you do at the expense of their health and showering and social lives. Which I don't. So Im a game buff.