What is a PC Gamer?

I was browsing around the PC Gamer magazine site the other day and I came across a forum conversation concerning the definition of a PC gamer. That discussion can be found here if you're interested. I didn't take part in it because 1) I didn't feel I could really add to the discussion as it was evolving and 2) the whole post was more a continuation of an disagreement between two forum members. But I thought, as an exercise for myself, I might disclose my own feelings on the matter here.

Also I needed something to write about.

For someone who's not an enthusiast of the hobby it would be difficult to understand what the distinction is, if there is one, between being a "gamer" and being a "pc gamer." The lines between the two have become as blurred as the very definition of "gamer." What makes a gamer a gamer? What then makes him (or her) a pc gamer? Where is the line drawn?

This guy has crossed the line, clearly. And wtf is he doing with a knife???

For some, anyone who plays a game could be considered a gamer. One of the posters in that thread would probably agree with that sentiment. Play a game of Monopoly with your family and you're a gamer. Put a quarter into a slot machine and you're a gamer. Poker with your buddies? You're a gamer.

No, you're a player, not a gamer. A gamer, broadly, is someone who take's on gaming as a hobby, as a means to express their enthusiasm for a game. A player can be viewed in this regard as someone who participates in a game in an off-hand manner. Participating in a pick up game of basketball doesn't mean the individual is going to go out and buy a basketball hoop and ball. Similarly someone who plays the occasional game with their children isn't, and shouldn't, be considered a gamer.

For many, the identity of "gamer" is tied up with the genre of games known as video games, and thus "gamer" is short-hand for someone who plays video games frequently, habitually, or as a hobby. That identity is pretty close to my own personal definition of a "gamer", as it pertains to this discussion. (Mine includes anyone who plays games regularly as a hobby, and isn't limited to video games.)

With that out of the way it should be pretty easy to make the distinction between gamer and pc gamer, right? Well, here's where things start to get a little screwy. With the sheer mass of games available to play on the pc, determining where someone goes from player to gamer to pc gamer is difficult at best. A player might, for instance, give a test run to a Facebook game or try out a random flash game on a site they're browsing. For some, that would make you a pc gamer, playing a game on your pc.

Personally, I think casually playing a game on your pc doesn't make you a gamer, or particularly a pc gamer. Facebook games can be played on any system that can run a modern browser, lowering the minimum requirements for enjoying said games. Can a person who plays Facebook games exclusively be considered a gamer? Sure, if they're enthusiastic about their hobby. But I cringe at calling some of the entertainment apps on FB "games." (And yes, I openly acknowledge the elitism present in that statement, I just can't help myself.)

Specifically to pc gaming, I think the bare minimum to consider someone a pc gamer is for that person to play games regularly on their pc as a hobby, perhaps even going so far as to purchase upgrades to their rigs to enhance their games.

Though this might be a bit much!

In the end though, I think the label of "pc gamer" or "gamer" should be self-applied and not assigned by someone else. Doing so means that person lives up to their own standard of what a "gamer" is, and not one pre-selected by another either to enhance their own image ("Look how many PC gamers there are!") or used as a means of belittling someone else (You play FB games, you're not a real gamer!).


In the end one of the great things about the hobby of pc gaming is it's ability to reach a broad audience and introduce new players to such a great pasttime, and allow them to enjoy it in any way they please. So feel free to keep sending me those FB game/app invites, I'll just continue to ignore them and be on my way killing orcs or exploring some digitally rendered landscape somewhere.