The Culture of Gamers

Video games are complex, online multiverses of nested objectives and goals. They require immense skill and can be social, competitive or exploratory. The gaming culture is large and complicated with each game spawning its own merch, inside jokes, language, characters, dances and internet communities. The term “gamer” is now a broad identifier of a culture, much like the word “musician” or “fashionista.”

Whether playing a multiplayer game with friends or alone, the thrill of completing a hard level or beating another player can be mesmerizing. It requires a great deal of concentration and focus and it’s no wonder that gaming is such a popular pastime worldwide.

While gaming has many benefits, there are also negatives to the activity including physical and mental health risks. For example, if a person becomes too preoccupied with playing video games, it may become difficult to focus on other areas of their life, such as school or work. There are also potential physical injuries that can occur, such as carpal tunnel, thumb and wrist sprains, eye strain and even obesity. These injuries can be prevented by incorporating gaming into a healthy lifestyle that includes plenty of exercise and good nutrition.

Gamers can also develop addictive habits. For example, if a gamer becomes dependent on their character’s progress or the sense of achievement they get from gaming, it can cause them to ignore other parts of their life and can lead to serious problems such as depression or anxiety. This addiction can be very difficult to break, but there are resources available to help.

The gaming community has a strong sense of identity and community that is a result of the fact that it is a relatively small group of people who share similar interests and have a lot in common with one another. This has helped gamers build a sense of belonging and community, both within their local gaming groups and across the world as they participate in online gaming communities.

For some gamers, overcoming the hardest challenges in their favourite games provides them with a sense of pride and accomplishment that is akin to acing a difficult exam. This is a particularly common phenomenon in games that feature hard, unforgiving levels such as the ‘Dark Souls’ series of video games.

Achievers are gamers who thrive on measurable success within their games and enjoy attaining high scores, awards and achievements. They are a particularly common type of gamer, especially amongst role-playing games with a strong focus on quest completion. Explorers are gamers who are driven by curiosity and enjoy uncovering secrets and mastering game mechanics and lore. Killers are gamers who love the competition of competing against other players and are often found in first-person shooter games and real-time strategy games. Completionists are combinations of the Achiever and Explorer types and play for the satisfaction of achieving all aspects of a game (main story, side quests, achievements). Understanding these different gaming motivations can help developers create games that appeal to all types of gamers.