Gamer
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This article is about people who play any type of game, especially video games. For gamblers, see Gambling. For other uses, see Gamer (disambiguation).
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A gamer is a person who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning that they compete in some games for money. In some countries such as the UK and Australia, the term "gaming" can refer to legalized gambling, which can take both traditional and digital forms, through online gambling. There are many different gamer communities around the world. Since the advent of the Internet, many communities take the form of Internet forums or YouTube or Twitch virtual communities, as well as in-person social clubs. Originally a hobby, it has evolved into a profession for some. In April 2020, researchers found that top gamers shared the same mental toughness as olympian athletes.[1][2]


Contents
1 Origin of the term gamer
2 Categories
2.1 Female gamer/gamer girl
3 Psychology
4 Types and demographics
4.1 Sexes
4.2 Gaymer
4.3 Dedication spectrum
4.4 Professional gamer
4.5 Retrogamer
4.6 Classification in taxonomies
5 Avatar
6 Clans and guilds
7 Identity
7.1 Demographics
7.2 Casualization
8 See also
9 References
Origin of the term gamer
The term gamer originally meant gambler, and has been in use since at least 1422, when the town laws of Walsall, England, referred to "any dice-player, carder, tennis player, or other unlawful gamer". However, this description has not been adopted in the United States, where it became associated with other pastimes. In the US, they made their appearance as wargames. Wargames were originally created as a military and strategy tool. When Dungeons & Dragons was released, it was originally marketed as a wargame, but later was described by its creators as a role-playing game. They too called their players gamers and this is where the word changed definition from someone who gambles to someone who plays board games and/or video games.[3]

Categories
Further information: Video game § Demographics
In the United States as of 2018, 28% of gamers are under 18, 29% are 18–35, 20% are 36-49 and 23% are over 50.[4] In the UK as of 2014, 29% are under 18, 32% are 18-35 and 39% are over 36.[5] According to Pew Research Center, 49% of adults have played a video game at some point in their life and those who have are more likely to let their children or future children play. Those who play video games regularly are split roughly equally between male and female, but men are more likely to call themselves a 'Gamer.'[6] As of 2019, the average gamer is 33 years old.[7]

Female gamer/gamer girl
Main article: Women and video games

A woman playing Go Play One in 2010
A female gamer, or gamer girl or girl gamer, is any female who regularly engages in playing video games. According to a study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association in 2009, 40% of the game playing population is female, and women 18 or older comprise 34% of all gamers. Also, the percentage of women playing online had risen to 43%, up 4% from 2004. The same study shows that 48% of game purchasers are female.[8][5] According to a 2015 Pew survey, 6% of women in the United States identify as gamers, compared to 15% of men, and 48% of women and 50% of men play video games.[9] Usage of the term "girl gamer" is controversial. Some critics have advocated use of the label as a reappropriated term, while others see it as nondescriptive or perpetuating the minority position of female gamers. Some critics of the term believe there is no singular definition of a female gamer and that they are as diverse as any other group. However it is generally understood that the term "girl gamer" implies that it is a girl who plays video games.[10]

Psychology
Main article: Learning curve § Difficulty curves in video games
Shigeru Miyamoto says that "I think that first a game needs a sense of accomplishment. And you have to have a sense that you have done something, so that you get that sense of satisfaction of completing something."[11]

Gaming is a form of escapism.[12] Hideo Kojima states that "If the player isn't tricked into believing that the world is real, then there's no point in making the game."[13]

In April 2020, researchers found that top gamers shared the same mental toughness as olympian athletes.[1][2]

Types and demographics
Sexes

A young male playing a video game on the PlayStation 4 console
Although roughly the same number of men and women play games, the stereotype of a gamer is one that is predominantly male. A justification sometimes given for this is that while many women occasionally play games, they should not be considered "true" gamers because they tend to play games that are more casual and require less skill than men. This stereotype is perpetuated by the fact that at a professional level, most of the teams competing are composed of men, while female gamers of moderate skill are rendered invisible.[14]

Gaymer
Main article: Gaymer
A gaymer, or gay gamer, is a person within the group of people who identify themselves as LGBT (gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transgender) and have an active interest in video games.[15] This demographic has been the subject of two large surveys, one in 2006,[16] which noted the level of prejudice that gaymers endure,[17] and another in 2009, focusing on the content that gaymers expect in video games.[18][19] The gaymer community provides a "safe place" for LGBT gamers[20] apart from the isolation they feel from both the heteronormative gaming community and the gay community.[21] They[who?] also believe that as homosexuality in video games increase, there will be an increased normalization of homosexuality in general. "Gaymers are the future of video games" said Hamed Hosseini, who is married to Mahar Buar, in Valve's gaming convention.[21][22][23]

Dedication spectrum

Warren Moon and Marshall Faulk playing a video game
It is common for games media, games industry analysts, and academics to divide gamers into broad behavioral categories. These categories are sometimes separated by level of dedication to gaming, sometimes by primary type of game played, and sometimes by a combination of those and other factors. There is no general consensus on the definitions or names of these categories, though many attempts have been made to formalize them. An overview of these attempts and their common elements follows.

Newbie: (commonly shortened to "noob", "n00b", or "newb") A slang term for a novice or newcomer to a certain game, or to gaming in general.[24][25]
Casual gamer: The term is often used for gamers who primarily play casual games, but can also refer to gamers who play less frequently than other gamers.[26] Casual gamers may play games designed for ease of gameplay, or play more involved games in short sessions, or at a slower pace than hardcore gamers.[10] The types of game that casual gamers play vary, and they are less likely to own a dedicated video game console.[27][28] Notable examples of casual games include The Sims and Nintendogs.[29] Casual gamer demographics vary greatly from those of other video gamers, as the typical casual gamer is older and more predominantly female.[30] "Fitness gamer"s, who play motion-based exercise games, are also seen as casual gamers.[31]
Core gamer: (also mid-core) A player with a wider range of interests than a casual gamer and is more likely to enthusiastically play different types of games,[32] but without the amount of time spent and sense of competition of a hardcore gamer. The mid-core gamer enjoys games but may not finish every game they buy and is a target consumer.[33][34] Former Nintendo pre