Gamer vs. Game player Part 1: The swagger

I'm drawing the line in the sand for all us actual real gamers.  I feel like now is the time because gaming is really popular at the moment and there are a lot of people out there who may not realize they sound silly or are annoying gamers by trying to be one of them.  Over the last year or so I've met too many "gamers" who's claim to game is stuff like Wii sports, Angry Birds and Just Dance.

Thanks to the Wii, IPhone, Ipad and facebook many people are under the impression that you are gamers.  Be real.  Being a "Gamer" is a badge of honor and courage that you earn through years of honing your skills and being informed about games themselves.

I give PC gamers a lot of trolling because its really like watching the hot girl from high school turn into a troll as she ages. But she doesn't own a mirror or been outside.  PC gamers are cute to me. They brag about how pretty their games are or how consoles wont get to enjoy games like Minecraft. *cough*  But as silly as I *think* PC is as a platform, their claim to game is legit.  A lot of the games I play either are multi platform with pc or even ported to/from it.  Even though I probably play a wider variety of games than a PC gamer Steam is changing that rapidly and bringing pc gaming back. Kudos.

But just cuz you lost your life playing WoW or Facebook Bejeweled you dont get to call yourself a gamer cuz its the fad right now.  You are a game player. Its the difference between being a soccer player and knowing how to play soccer.  In the gaming community the formal title is "Casual" gamer. Informally the ones marked as posers are referred to as lamers, llamas and noobs.

Gamers communicate through a lot of lingo a lot of game players just dont know. And you will not learn the lingo unless you become a gamer. Its like a rite of passage.  Its been a long time since I spent time in an MMORPG but can still tell you what buffed, nerfed, AoE, HP, MP, XP, EXP, DPS, DoT, hammering, toon, mule and other lingo means. I can probably tell you about most genres and explain in vivid detail the difference between a horror game and survival horror game.  Whats the difference between Western and JRPGs? If you can't even attempt to explain the difference you are probably not a gamer.

Gamers talk about games...not "a" game... Games. So if you can tell me everything about one game... Thats cool but if thats where your knowledge stops then you are still a softcore gamer.  Nothin wrong with that but dont think you can hang with gamers at a LAN if they arent playin your game of choice.

How would you feel if you spent literally most of your life being teased for being a nerd only to have some noob pick up the sticks (or mouse and keys for my pc gaming buds) play Bejeweled or some other gaming fad like kinect or wii and all of a sudden claim to be a gamer? It would get on your nerves too.  Thats the reality a lot of gamers are facing today.

To be continued...