Comment by seekinggamer | Hacker News Reader

Comment by seekinggamer | Hacker News Reader

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There is always this disconnect when I read stuff like this

3 billion people is 30% or of 3 people. Ok, we go on OkCupid, we find the question "Do you enjoy playing video games" and we set that as a criteria for matches. Your matches will drop to > 1% of the population, at least as a male looking for female.

Checking another dating site that has things people like. The site claims 10 million users, only 200k have selected "like games" or 2%, vastly different than the article's claimed 30%

I get some of the reasons for the difference like not considering yourself a gamer yet plays Covet Fashion an hour a day.

Still, in daily life the number of people I meet who would claim to like games in any form doesn't match that 30% number.

Likely because they count mobile games in these figures but people don't count them when talking about gaming on a dating profile.

Virtually everyone you know probably tried Candy Crush, Pokemon Go, or flappy bird. Most of them probably have at least one game like that installed on their phone today that they play on the toilet or whatever. But they don't consider themselves gamers.

My 75 years old mother plays bubble shooters, dots & other games of that sort probably as much or more than I play any games - and I'm a game developer.

So out of curiosity, given the above discussion, would she consider herself a gamer? Would you consider her a gamer?

She wouldn't consider herself a gamer. I wouldn't in the sense that it's not an identity for her (I wouldn't say "gamer" = player just like a film buff isn't "someone that watches a lot of TV").

Like she wouldn't buy a "gaming chair" or any other gamer-branded/oriented merch nor are the games something she talks about much.

She is clearly a gamer if words have meaning.

Words only have meaning because of the way people use them. See how the meaning of "literally" has changed in the last decade for an example.

To most people the term gamer does not precisely mean "one who plays games." The type of games and immersion in gaming culture are factors that people consider when labeling themselves and others "gamers."

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