Are we "gamers" or just people who play videogames?
In an interview with Forbes about his recent book How To Do Things with Videogames, well-known game academic Ian Bogost explained why the word “gamer” is a misnomer.
In some ways, the concept of the gamer is one of the worst ideas that proponents of games have advanced. It signals it as sort of a lifestyle that gaming is something that you do and you identify with primarily. We don’t do that with other mature media and we don’t do that with other activities. You don’t think of yourself as a “pubber” because you go to the tavern after work…
[Y]ou may think of yourself as a filmgoer, but it’s not your only demographic. I think the game industry and the gamers themselves have inadvertently worked themselves into that corner or into the basement, as you say, by continuing to repeat this sort of lifestyle identification. Rather than admit that this is not true even for them.
-Jason Johnson
