I’ve always self-identified as a Gamer, but is that still true?

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What does it mean when someone says they are a gamer? Google defines a gamer as “a person who plays video games or participates in role-playing games.” If that is the case wouldn’t that definition cover close to 90% of Americans? I commute to work every day and notice that almost everyone is on their phone and most of them are playing a game be it Pacman or Candy Crush. However, if you ask those folks if they are gamers the most likely answer will be a resounding no!

I owe my career to gaming

My career today is due primarily to my love of videogames. I always wondered how games were made and that curiosity was enough to get me to study math and computer science. I also became super interested in computer graphics and even built a game for my thesis project. I have always played around with making games, but I became an applications programmer because I needed to be able to make a living :)

Do I still play games

I do still play semi regularly. I find that I play what my children like to play. I have a game room setup that is half retro, or what I grew up with or would have liked to own back in the day, and half newer stuff. I try to get my kids to play older stuff and that is how I judge if a game I enjoyed in the past still has staying power. Most of the time the cringe at playing older stuff, but when they finally play the really enjoy themselves.

Do I still buy games

Unfortunately, I buy way more games than I should. Sometimes I see a title that my younger self would have loved to play and I buy it and never play. One of my favorite genres to play as a kid was RPGs. The reason I really liked these games was the gamer really got a bang for their buck. For your 60 bucks you would get 60-80 hours I gameplay, but I cannot devout that time to a game now. Today I really appreciate 5-10 hour games like a Golf Story.

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Following the industry

I still do follow the industry. At times I feel as it is more fun to see the twists and turns of the industry more so than actually playing the games sometimes. Like Shenmue for example, when it was announced that was awesome. I was super excited and it was cool to be a part of that. I even kicked in $150 to the Kickstarter. That announcement and excitement might be even better than playing the game whenever it comes out.

Console wars

Console wars can be fun, but I feel really weary about it all these years. The blind allegiance some gamers have to their system of choice is ridiculous. I think it is crazy when people compare 900p versus 1080p and talk about how they can tell the difference between that or 1 to 5 extra frames. Gameplay is rarely discussed as differences because the game is the same on both platforms. Even the Switch, which is a slight downgrade from the other systems, still looks great and once you start playing the games it really isn’t noticeable. I feel as if growing up with the SNES vs Genesis was different because the games were actually different. The Genesis has a distinctive sound as the SNES. Many times you would have the same title that was vastly different on the other platform, such as Aladdin.

So, am I still a gamer

I feel like I’m still a gamer. Being a responsible adult changes my time for games from the 10-15 hours a week as a child to maybe 3-4 hours as an adult. Those hours are usually playing something I don’t want to play because of my kids, but I still love and support this industry and probably will for the rest of my life