I'm sure we have all asked ourselves this at one time or another. As i've watched the gaming industry through gaming magazines, TV, and the internet, i've seen the term grow to encompass a much larger crowd than I ever thought possible. I remember when gamer was like a secret handshake in school. Something that you didn't quite mention to just anybody. In some groups, you had to hide it. Anyone remember when the idea was you "grew" out of gaming? I do. Sadly, to some people, this idea still exists, but it is not as prevailant as it once was. As we age and mature, so does our fun little hobby, sometimes at a scary rate. As we all develop different ideas and goals, this one term connects us all.



Although it was a bit lonely to be the "only" Gamer around growing up, I wore the term like a badge of honor. It was almost like a secret club that I belonged to. I could do things no one else could. I can wear a cape and fly high into the sky. I was the worlds toughest fighter, living only to fight the good fight. I've single handly destroyed an entire alien army. I am an ace pilot. I saved the world from the plauge of Zeromus, from all consuming evil, even from fate itself. I've also destroyed the world, became that evil, twisted fate in my favor. The greatest thing about this though, is that more and more people have done this, too. They are part of my club. It's only recently that we have connected, have come together, to form a collective, to have a brand: Gamer. It is one of the best things to be known as nowadays.



However, I am a bit conflicted on how many people the term has come to describe. The secretary playing bejewled. Mom having fun with Wii Sports. The guy who plays nothing but Madden and Halo. All these people are technically Gamers, but they don't sample across the board, the entire spectrum of gaming. They probably wouldn't describe themselves as Gamers. I don't think they should be called as such. However, I am under the impression that we are only Gamers because we condsider ourselves to be. I belive anyone who enjoys playing and is into it enough to call themselves, Gamer, should be. I think anyone who can call themselves that has the willingness to grow and experience a wider variety of games. Who knows? Maybe your little sister enjoying her Wii might grow up to develop the next evolution in gaming. I know how a lot of us started out:



So let all these Casual Gamers grow to fill our shoes. If they want to be known as Gamers, let them.

So what is a Gamer? Is it what we play that defines us? Does how long we play raise or lower our status? Are Hardcore and Casual the only way to describe us? I think it is a conglomerate of all these things that make us who we are. But one thing we all have in common: our love of games. Now and hopefully forever.

Let's play.