Perception 2: Gamers

The term “gamer” was originally used to describe those who played tabletop and online role-playing and war games, especially those with fantasy settings.  Gaming became popular after the 1974 publication of the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons, which was a rudimentary fantasy role-playing game that saw huge success thanks to its imaginative setting and the controversy its use of magic created in conservative Christian communities. 



Since then, games have evolved and have become much more sophisticated and far more accessible, and the term “gamer” has been expanded to include all video game hobbyists, not just those who play tabletop or online role-playing and war games.

While gamers have created an expansive global community, the unflattering, single-note narrative the media has ascribed to them, especially in the United States, has remained generally unchanged for the past four decades.

In the media, gamers are almost always portrayed as white, teenage to middle age males who are friendless, socially inept, sexually frustrated, pseudo-intelligent, lazy, greasy, zit-faced, unkempt burdens-to-society living in their mothers’ basements. 

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They are also frequently depicted as people who are seeking to disconnect from reality or who are trying to blur the lines between reality with fantasy.

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This description may have been somewhat accurate back in the seventies when gaming was more of a niche hobby and marketed to those individuals described above; however, gaming, especially online gaming, has become increasingly more mainstream and is attracting people from all demographics.  One of the largest online role-playing franchises, The Sims, is currently dominated by female players, with its over 80 million female players making up about 65% of its playing population.  Online war games, like the call of Duty and Starcraft franchises, are played by people of all races, both in the US and globally, with a fairly even distribution, as are most sports games.  While members of that stereotypical demographic continue to game, they are no longer the gaming world's majority group, making the media’s single story on gamers outdated and in need of a few good expansion packs.