Fun fact: Over 164 million adults in the world play video games. That is a humongous amount of gamers in the world. There are several different types of video games, so it makes sense. That however makes it hard to identify a ‘gamer’. It sounds like a simple word, but because of how varied video games are, and how not playing one game makes you a gamer, it’s a bit more difficult than that. 

     The dictionary definition of a gamer is a person who plays video games or role playing games, and in North America it is a person who is consistently making a strong effort. These are great definitions but they don’t fully captivate what the word gamer means. Me and my friends frequently use the word gamer. We even use it as an adjective sometimes, like for example, an epic gamer moment, or that was a gamer move. But we mostly use it as a goal to strive for to be the best gamer we could be, which is what being a gamer is about. We do our best to be the best gamer we can be even when the going gets tough, improving after every step and only becoming more gamer. When it comes to how to be gamer then we can look back to the original definitions and expand on that further.

     First, gamers are known as people who play video games, which is obvious. Does it however need to be limited to just video games? The vast majority of people would consider that a dumb question. While role playing games are included in that definition, I believe sports are much more similar to most video games than role playing games, like dungeons and dragons. In dungeons and dragons, which I have played, you work with other players to complete a goal the dungeon master sets up. This is different from video games in the sense that you work with the dungeon master, but in video games it’s you trying to win and beat the final challenge. While there are many video games with some sort of cooperative element, beating the final challenge often takes priority over the bond building in games like dungeons and dragons. Competitive games are almost the same thing as sports, except the physical aspect, and they’re called esports right now. They both require strategy, practice, and bold plays to get wins, and the competitive scene for esports games has been on the rise lately. So in my opinion, the list should also include sports players and any other things that provide a competitive drive to improve and hone your skills and strategy.

     Next, and more simply, is the fact that gamers are constantly and consistently going the extra mile. There are top players around the world in competitive fighting games that people could easily point to and say they’re gamers. These people got really good at what they did through days of practice, hard work, and determination. There are more kinds of dedicated work you could put into video games however. There are games good for speed running like Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, games you can create beautiful art or their own game like animal crossing and Mario maker, and games for completionists like Celeste and LEGO Star Wars 2. The important part of the definition is the drive for improvement in whatever thing you try to accomplish. 

     Last, there is the question if you have to be good at the game to be able to be considered a gamer. The straight answer is no, nobody can be good at every game that ever existed. If you had to be good at the game, then the people who enjoyed the game but hadn’t played it a lot yet couldn’t be classified as gamers. They may be newbies, but everybody was new at some point, and they may be good at other types of games. The reason we play the game is because we have a passionate enjoyment of the game and want to improve and get better at it, that’s why we would want to improve at any hobby. If you do something for long enough you will find yourself doing much better at doing that one thing than you were when you started. This very mentality is why people play video games and why they enjoy winning and hate losing. Even though it may just be a game, the victory and improvement is the reason we started and continue to play these games, and to see all of the hard work and dedication fail can be devastating for some people. It’s the idea that we can get better at the game, and the desire to become better at the game that makes us gamers.

    At last, the best definition of a gamer would be a person who looks for improvement in a hobby they’re passionate about, typically video games. It is much harder to define gamer than I initially thought, although I did know it wasn’t as simple as many believed. You don’t have to be good at the game, you don’t always have to know how to improve, it doesn’t even need to be a video game, you just need to have to have the desire for improvement and to put in effort towards it to have the spirit of a true gamer.