What is a Gamer?

What is a gamer? Over the years, the term gamer has changed meanings and has covered different segments of the population. You need to get 10 definitions in on Urban Dictionary before you come across a definition that doesn't involve videogames.

The original term comes from the 1620's and refers to athletes. Right now, athleticism isn't usually associated with gamers. Before tabletop players appropriated the term, it referred to card game players, such as poker. Table top gamers appropriated the term and kept it for quite some time.

Then video games came along and exploded on the scene. In the mid-nineties, tabletops gamers began to reluctantly relinquish the term to PC gamers, since PCs were the premiere platform for videogames. As console technology began to progress, the PC fell from the high station of premiere to after-thought. So now Gamer typically refers to console gamers.

Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing? It is just a thing.

RPG gamers take offense to losing the term to video-gamers, especially the dreaded sports video-gamer, people who don't know what it means to be a gamer. They don't know about the dedication it takes, the hours of creating a character. They don't understand the social aspect of sitting around with your friends and playing.

Who cares? In a sense, it has come around full circle on a different level. Originally referring to athletes, the term has come back to athletes (just digital ones). At the core, everyone is playing a game they enjoy. Let people have their fun. If you feel the need to be more specific then tack on "tabletop-" or "sports-" or "card-" to "gamer". Enjoy what you're doing and let other people enjoy what they're doing.