Gamers. Problems surrounding the term.

We talked a lot this week about what it means to be a gamer. The main idea we all seemed to be able to agree on is the notion of self-identification. And I totally agree with this. But, the media doesn't. Not mostly anyway. And neither do the general public. Daniel Floyd addresses the ideas surrounding the term 'gamer' in his series Extra Credits. He touches on a few things that I noticed we didn't mention, especially why, unlike other media enthusiasts, gamers are labeled. This instantly struck a chord with me, and I started to think about this as well. Why aren't people who watch a lot of films, read a lot of books, or listen to music labeled with this kind of term? Why are people who play games singled out?

Another thing that really stood out to me, was the idea of the stereotype surrounding the term gamer, something we also didn't really address. What do you think a gamer is? Though we did say it is mainly about self-identification, this doesn't stop people labeling others with this term. Other subcultures, also have these ingrained stereotypes that the mass media and the general public place on them. Are these stereotypes true, or are they simply created so that we can label people? It is something we all need to think about.

The link to the video can be found here

- Matt Metzler