[General Discussion] What is a gamer, anyway?

A MISERABLE PILE OF SECRETS.

Gaming has definitely changed over the years and it's going to continually change until it becomes ridiculously mainstream. That's what they want, but it's the opposite of what I want.

I'm losing more and more interest in gaming as time is going by. I prefer 2D, older games from the 90's to early 2000's. This is why I seem to stick by my PS2 most of the time because there's a lot of games in 2D. Most of the fighters/shooters/mecha games are in japanese though, which is why I import like hell.

I don't mind this, but I don't have any interest in the 360 or PS3. I have too many games to complete and finish, to start worrying about the next generation and what it has to offer.

I'd consider myself a hardcore gamer, since I dedicate my time to a single game (re: shooters) and work at it. The same could be said of any game, but I don't aim for that with all of them.

If I genuinely enjoy a game I'll go the extra mile to obtain items relating to that game. This is where my gamer/collector side comes in and I start spending even more money on game related stuff.

It's also nice to talk about games, like right now, online. I'm a pretty good typistr and I could go on for page after page about games. This is why I enjoy coming here, to spend my time talking about my prime hobby; gaming as a whole.

I'm more of a solo gamer who likes to spend his time alone. The party games are neat, but they don't really grab me that much. Fighters are the only genre I'd rely on having someone to play with to enjoy more of. Also, 2 player shooting games aren't all that fun for me either. I find the second player distracting.

The Wii looks fun even for solo player, but I'm even more impressed by the use of the Freeloader. That's the only thing at the moment that's really caught my interest in the next generation.

My taste in games is fussy on an abysmal level. Even slight things can irk me into not playing a certain game (ESP Galuda is guilty of this) but it doesn't necessarily mean I won't play them at all.

I think the "talking of", the "being apart of", and "involving with" aspects of gaming is what makes it great. It isn't just gaming in itself that's made it more popular - it's through the media, the community in itself, and the whole branching out of obscurity it's done. Back in the 90's, gaming wasn't all that popular. Even less in the 80's. But now there's almost at least one console on every street.

It's perfectly fine for it to be mainstream, but games are appearing less and less original. We need less generic first person shooters, war simulators, sports titles, etc, and more quirky games that shed new light on unseen concepts.

Jam it back in, in the dark.