There are not many articles on the web that give an interpretation of the word gamer. There are not many sensible articles, not just articles, but information that can help gamers classify themselves and other gamers in one way or another. I took this topic to write an article that will probably reveal if not too many revelations to many, but a few additional facts to ponder for sure.

The idea to write this article began with an analysis of the query “Who is a gamer?”, but to my great surprise I could not find anything sensible. Further followed a long analysis of all possible types of gamers and their definitions have not found anything useful on the net either. This all led me to one single true conclusion, the general layer of gamers is not that uneducated, but unwilling to declare itself as a separate subculture or side of the personality.

A gamer is a person who plays computer and video games. The term “gamer” usually refers to a gamer who loves games, but from the public’s perspective there is a perception that gamers are very often addicted to games. Gamers are also people who do not consider themselves to be full-fledged gamers, although this definition is more often applied to those who are passionate about games and spend a lot of time playing them. Gamers are divided into seven levels of passion for games, which we will talk about below.

Casual gamers

Casual gamers are the type of gamers who spend most of their time playing both free-to-play and paid games. The casual gamer is free to interrupt the game in the middle or at any point and switch to their work. Casuals often have a medium-sized computer and use their workstation as a gaming station. It happens that a casual plays a game he likes for a week or two and spends a lot of time playing it, but this is quite rare. Casuals prefer to relax not in front of the computer, but in the company of friends. Often this type of player feeds on pleasant memories of the game he played. But also the format of the game itself circumscribes this type of player, as if making him a lightweight gamer.

Community gamers

This type of gamer mostly has only gamers as friends, because of the difficulty in communicating with regular people. They often relieve stress with video games, but do not refuse to play other popular games in company, such as cards and other board games.

Advanced gamers

These gamers enjoy spending money on two or three new games a month. Also with a certain frequency they spend all night in front of their favorite console or computer with the passage of interesting to them games. Sometimes they think that an interesting novelty is lying at home, and they rush to hurry to get home. But the advanced gamer does not strive to keep up with all the events and news happening in the gaming industry.

Passionate gamers

The passionate gamer spends a lot of time playing games to the detriment of other matters. For example, he may not go to school, university or work because of the game, all in order to finish a new game. Most of the files on his hard drive are games, because he regularly uses additional maps and modifications. The cost of buying games, new graphics cards, joysticks, and gamepads often exceeds the cost of food and clothing and other entertainment.

Passionate gamers don’t miss a single issue of a magazine dedicated to the gaming industry, which also results in high cash expenditures.

Hardcore gamers

They are more accustomed to hearing their online nickname or game nickname. They often underline the dates of all of their significant cyber competitions and online parties on their calendar. A hardcore gamer may not show up for a meeting or a date because he has urgently left for the regional championship of a game. There are those who play certain games all the time and study them all the bugs and features. They are willing to go to any lengths to win a network game.

Old Gamers

They play old games for many reasons, one of which is the story. They do not pay much attention to graphics, which saves on upgrading your computer. They often complain that they are now releasing bad games, nothing compared to the old exciting games. Sometimes among the oldgamers are nostalgic players who love to play games of their childhood.

IRL

But the IRL includes many of the qualities of all of the above gamers. The very name IRL comes from the first letters of the expression “In Real Life,” which denotes a kind of strong personal connection with the real world. This is a typical gamer in our country can sit for days and nights playing a new game from the series GTA, NFS or Half-Life and as a result pass it in just a couple of days. Then a couple of weeks to go through “not the story” missions, and to find Easter eggs and secrets in the games, and just messing around, after which the game will abandon for an indefinite period. In the case of a local network, it will be a couple of months to rub with two – three as gamers, like himself (in the absence of, he will go on a pilgrimage to the nearest computer club). On the Internet he rarely plays, for on pirate much online do not play (does not apply to MMORPG). He often uses a computer fragile configuration, often bought by parents. In the championships or competitions do not participate, because in his city they simply do not exist. With the emergence of a job or girlfriend quickly begins to forget about the game.

Cybersportsman

This is probably one of the most specific class of players because of the direction of the hobby into the mainstream of commercialization. All he cares about is timely training and honing his various tactics in newfangled shooters or the discipline in which he performs. Usually such players rarely show outstanding results in other games, and it takes a long time to master them. On the one hand, such players stand on a higher evolutionary step among gamers, but in some aspects they lose by an order of magnitude to some other types.

As you have realized, the diversity of gamers is very large and is not limited to the types mentioned above. It is often the case that gamers are divided into additional types. This may depend on the way they play and their behavior. For example, campers and cheaters. Many players are also divided by the degree of attachment to the games and the state of psychological health. But I’ll write about this some other time.