[General Discussion] Respect In Terms Of Your Own and Other People's Video Game Interests

Since the majority of us are gamers. There is something that I've been noticing quite a lot since the term gamer has become more mainstream and it is now more widely accepted being a gamer now compared to maybe 10 to 20 years ago.

The thing is I've been hearing a lot of people recently say things such as you should be ashamed to refer to yourself as a gamer if you have not played this game or that game. Especially to more popular titles. I just find it weird that even your most casual gamer considers himself/herself such an gaming expert, he/she feels that they have the right to ram their gaming interests right down your throat if for some apparent reason your not into the types of games that these people play.

I have played a lot of games from a lot of different genres, and you know throughout all the games I've played. There are certain genres that I prefer over others but that doesn't necessarily make me a video game expert over anybody else and I have enough respect toward other gamers. I might offer a suggestion or an opinion over one of the genres I like, but I don't feel like I'm better than any gamer because of my interests.

I do believe especially when it comes to games, you can't really make a valid opinion on a game unless you've taken the time to play it. I'll probably be insulted for it, but some of the games I'm not a big fan of just because they're not the types of games I enjoy is a lot of the first person shooters. I don't doubt that games such as bioshock, gears of war, and many others are great games. Even games like super smash bros I don't enjoy. I do enjoy playing mario party and wario ware. Its just I don't enjoy playing them and I get sick of tired of people giving me a hard time and saying you should be ashamed to call yourself a gamer.

It use to bother me, but I just let it roll off my back since I hear it so much.

There are a lot of questions I would like to pose in this forum.

1.) How do you feel when people try to push their gaming interests down your throat?

2.) Have other gamers ever given you a hard time because of the types of games you play?

3.) How do you feel about individual respect as a gamer yourself and towards other gamers in genral?

I truly do not want to turn this discussion into a flame war. The greatest respect comes from realizing that your no better or worse than anybody else.

Jam it back in, in the dark.