Curlypaul wrote:So maybe we only see those labels as scornful because its a reflection on what we think?
Well, yeah. Black people can call eachother the "n" word all day long and they don't find it offensive until a white person says it. Sorry for such a bold example, but it's pretty much exactly the same idea.
Yeah I've never understood that at all. Nobody here uses the word at all except for old school racists, so everybody knows where they stand, but its different in the US.
Is it that they don't like white people using the word full stop, or it is when a white person uses it as an insult?
dunpeal2064 wrote:Where I live, people of all color call each other the N word.
dsheinem wrote:Another reason I hate the term is because it also creates an unwarranted hierarchy in game genres, placing some genres as "more sophisticated" or "smarter" than others - which is certainly not true. I sometimes think people use the term to discount those genres which stress a lot of online competition because they don't enjoy that kind of experience, so it is easier to deride those games and those who play them than to recognize that accomplishing a nice kill/death ratio or winning a league is, perhaps, just as significant and challenging as reaching a level cap or finding all the hidden stars.
This ^ is why it bothers me too. I love beautiful games like flower and Journey. Or awesome adventures like Shadow of the Collosus or Ico. But I also love just zoning out and playing some Battlefield 3 online with some buddies and I feel like there is some real value there and I think the above attitude that was outlined devalues it unnecessarily.
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Curlypaul wrote:You really think that its got worse? I remember plenty convos in my early days that had strong overtones of eilitism, using reasons such as the number of years a person has been gaming and the type of games that they like to play.
Elitism is definitely not new to retro gaming. I can remember that when I first started out years ago there were plenty of people who claimed that if you didn't grow up with the NES, you could never be truly a retro gamer. And there were people who said the same about the 2600, although I haven't seen that in years.
prfsnl_gmr wrote:There is nothing feigned about it. What I wrote is a display of actual moral superiority.
Zing wrote:It's just another stereotype used as a mental shortcut. If I say "dudebro game", you know exactly what type of game I mean. If I say "emo kid", again you know exactly what I mean.
"Dudebro" may be offensive to some people, but that doesn't make it incorrect or inefficient as a communicative term. The word can be used in a non-derogatory manner as well as inflammatory. I can understand being against the usage of the term in the context of elitism, but banning or avoiding the word itself won't eliminate the sentiment.
I basically agree with this. Though I would add that it's a bit absurd to find terms like dudebro "offensive"; white guys who play video games are not an oppressed class.
We've hit a crossroads in the last decade or so where we do need to differentiate between different types of people who play video games. It was more black and white during the 8/16 bit eras: where you either played games or didn't. Simply calling oneself a "gamer" today is all but meaningless. It's like saying "I like music."
What do people propose we call folks who play Call of Duty/Halo/Madden exclusively? I suppose I'd be fine with casual gamer if that wasn't already taken by the Farmville/Angry Birds folks.
