Editing Gamer (section)

==Identity==
The identity of being a gamer is partly self-determination and partly [[performativity]] of characteristics society expects a gamer to embody.<ref name="adaNotGamers"/> These expectations include not only a high level of dedication to playing games, but also preferences for certain types of games, as well as an interest in game-related paraphernalia like clothing and comic books.<ref name="adaNotGamers"/> According to [[Graeme Kirkpatrick]], the "true gamer" is concerned first and foremost with [[gameplay]].<ref name="overlandClueless"/> ''[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]'' founder Alexander Macris says a gamer is an enthusiast with greater dedication to games than just playing them, similar in connotation to "[[cinemaphile]]".<ref name="escapistPublisherNote">{{cite web|url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/12223-The-Escapist-Publisher-Issues-Public-Statement-on-Gamergate|last=Macris|first=Alexander|work=The Escapist|title=Publisher's Note: The State of Gaming|access-date=2015-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117150925/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/12223-The-Escapist-Publisher-Issues-Public-Statement-on-Gamergate|archive-date=2016-01-17|url-status=live}}</ref> People who play may not identify as gamers because they feel they do not play "enough" to qualify.<ref name="adaNotGamers"/> Social stigma against games has influenced some women and minorities to distance themselves from the term "gamer", even though they may play regularly.<ref name="adaNotGamers">{{cite journal|url=http://adanewmedia.org/2013/06/issue2-shaw/|last=Shaw|first=Adrienne|title=On Not Becoming Gamers: Moving Beyond the Constructed Audience|journal=Ada|issue=2|date=October 2014|doi=10.7264/N33N21B3 |doi-broken-date=November 2, 2024 |access-date=2015-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123185112/http://adanewmedia.org/2013/06/issue2-shaw/|archive-date=2015-11-23|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="newmediaDoYou">{{cite journal|url=http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/06/15/1461444811410394|last=Shaw|first=Adrienne|title=Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity|date=June 16, 2011|journal=New Media & Society|volume=14|pages=28–44|doi=10.1177/1461444811410394|s2cid=206727217|access-date=2015-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611090659/http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/06/15/1461444811410394|archive-date=2016-06-11|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Demographics===
Games are stereotypically associated with young males, but the diversity of the audience has been steadily increasing over time.<ref name="bizNotGender">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-10-30-platform-not-gender-drives-gamer-differences-eedar|last=Nofziger|first=Heather|title=Platform, not gender, drives gamer differences|date=October 30, 2014 |access-date=2015-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222140357/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-10-30-platform-not-gender-drives-gamer-differences-eedar|archive-date=2015-12-22|url-status=live}}</ref> This stereotype exists even among a majority of women who play video games regularly.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/public-debates-about-gaming-and-gamers/|title=2. Public debates about gaming and gamers|last=Duggan|first=Maeve|date=2015-12-15|website=Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech|access-date=2016-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703000939/http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/public-debates-about-gaming-and-gamers/|archive-date=2016-07-03|url-status=live}}</ref> Among players using the same category of device (e.g., console or phone), patterns of play are largely the same between men and women. Diversity is driven in part by new hardware platforms.<ref name="bizNotGender"/> Expansion of the audience was catalyzed by [[Nintendo marketing#Demographic shifts|Nintendo's efforts to reach new demographics]].<ref name="inaCasualization"/> Market penetration of [[smartphones]] with gaming capabilities further expanded the audience,<ref name="inaCasualization"/> since in contrast to consoles or high-end PCs, mobile phone gaming requires only devices that non-gamers are likely to already own.<ref name="bizNotGender"/>

While 48% of women in the United States report having played a video game, only 6% identify as gamers, compared to 15% of men who identify as gamers.<ref name="pewGamer2015">{{cite web|url=http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/attitudes-about-video-games/|last=Duggan|first=Maeve|publisher=Pew Research Center|title=Gaming and Gamers|date=2015-12-15|access-date=2015-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219073925/http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/attitudes-about-video-games/|archive-date=2015-12-19|url-status=live}}</ref> This rises to 9% among women aged 18–29, compared to 33% of men in that age group. Half of female [[Pc game|PC gamers]] in the U.S. consider themselves to be core or hardcore gamers.<ref name="pcgamerFemale">{{cite web|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/researchers-find-that-female-pc-gamers-outnumber-males/|title=Researchers find that female PC gamers outnumber males|newspaper=PC Gamer|date=2014-10-29|access-date=2015-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218143012/http://www.pcgamer.com/researchers-find-that-female-pc-gamers-outnumber-males/|archive-date=2015-12-18|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="superdataWhyAll">{{cite web|url=https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/why-all-gamers-matter/|title=Why ALL gamers matter – my view as a female games analyst|date=October 28, 2014|access-date=2015-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224230547/https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/why-all-gamers-matter/|archive-date=2015-12-24|url-status=live}}</ref> Connotations of "gamer" with sexism on the fringe of gaming culture has caused women to be less willing to adopt the label.<ref name="nytimesShunLabel">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/technology/personaltech/women-who-play-games-shun-gamer-label.html|last=McPhate|first=Mike|work=The New York Times|title=Women Who Play Games Shun 'Gamer' Label|date=2015-12-16|access-date=2017-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708010149/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/technology/personaltech/women-who-play-games-shun-gamer-label.html|archive-date=2017-07-08|url-status=live}}</ref>

Racial minorities responding to Pew Research were more likely to describe themselves as gamers, with 19% of [[Hispanics]] identifying as gamers, compared to 11% of [[African-Americans]] and 7% of [[whites]].<ref name="pewGamer2015"/> The competitive [[fighting game]] scene is noted as particularly racially diverse and tolerant.<ref name="polygonFightingGame">{{cite web|url=http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/2/6/5361004/fighting-game-diversity|last=Bowman|first=Rich|work=Polygon|title=Why the Fighting Game Community is Color Blind|date=2014-02-06|access-date=2015-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222112413/http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/2/6/5361004/fighting-game-diversity|archive-date=2015-12-22|url-status=live}}</ref> This is attributed to its origin in arcades, where competitors met face to face and the barrier to entry was merely a [[Quarter (United States coin)|quarter]].<ref name="polygonFightingGame"/> Only 4% of those aged 50 and over identified as gamers.<ref name="pewGamer2015"/>

===Casualization===
Casualization is a trend in video games towards simpler games appealing to larger audiences, especially women or the elderly.<ref name="inaCasualization">{{cite web|last=Sarrazin|first=Vincent|date=October 7, 2011|url=http://www.inaglobal.fr/en/video-games/article/casualisation-video-games|title=The Casualisation of Video Games|work=ina global|publisher=[[Institut national de l'audiovisuel]]|access-date=June 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906195110/http://www.inaglobal.fr/en/video-games/article/casualisation-video-games|archive-date=2017-09-06|url-status=live}}</ref> Some developers, hoping to attract a broader audience, simplify or remove aspects of [[gameplay]] in established genres and franchises.<ref name="gamasutraDumbingDown"/> Compared to seminal titles like ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|DOOM]]'', more recent mass-market action games like the [[Call of Duty]] series are less sensitive to player choice or skill, approaching the status of [[interactive movie]]s.<ref name="eurogamerDoom">{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-07-06-22-years-on-doom-retains-the-ability-to-shock|last=Stewart|first=Keith|work=The Guardian|title=22 years on, Doom retains the ability to shock|date=2015-07-07|access-date=2015-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222081803/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-07-06-22-years-on-doom-retains-the-ability-to-shock|archive-date=2015-12-22|url-status=live}}</ref>

The trend towards casual games is decried by some self-identified gamers who emphasize gameplay, meaning the activities that one undertakes in a game.<ref name="overlandClueless">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamestudies.org/1201/articles/kirkpatrick|title=Constitutive tensions of gaming's field: UK gaming magazines and the formation of gaming culture|last=Kirkpatrick|first=Graeme|work=Gamestudies.org|access-date=2016-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623063357/http://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/kirkpatrick|archive-date=2016-06-23|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Brendan Keogh, these are inherently masculine activities such as fighting and exerting dominance. He further says that games women prefer are more passive experiences, and male gamers deride the lack of interactivity in these games because of this association with femininity.<ref name="overlandClueless"/> Belying these trends, games including ''[[The Sims]]'' or ''[[Minecraft]]'' have some of the largest audiences in the industry while also being very complex.<ref name="gamasutraDumbingDown">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JohnathonSwift/20140110/208440/quotDumbing_downquot.php|last=Swift|first=Johnathon|work=Gamasutra|title=Dumbing down|date=January 10, 2014|access-date=2015-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222164844/http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JohnathonSwift/20140110/208440/quotDumbing_downquot.php|archive-date=2015-12-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to Joost van Dreunen of SuperData Research, girls who play ''Minecraft'' are "just as 'hardcore' as the next guy over who plays ''[[Counter-Strike]]''".<ref name="washpoMoreWomen">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/10/17/more-women-play-video-games-than-boys-and-other-surprising-facts-lost-in-the-mess-of-gamergate/|last=Harwell|first=Drew|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=More women play video games than boys, and other surprising facts lost in the mess of Gamergate|access-date=2015-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223202854/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/10/17/more-women-play-video-games-than-boys-and-other-surprising-facts-lost-in-the-mess-of-gamergate/|archive-date=2015-12-23|url-status=live}}</ref> Dreunen says being in control of a game's environment appeals equally to boys and girls.<ref name="washpoMoreWomen"/> [[Leigh Alexander (journalist)|Leigh Alexander]] argued that appealing to women does not necessarily entail reduced difficulty or complexity.<ref name="edgeDumbingDown">{{cite web|url=http://www.edge-online.com/features/too-many-gamers-think-diversity-means-dumbing-down-its-time-to-forget-that-outmoded-view/ |last=Alexander |first=Leigh |work=Edge |title=Too many gamers think diversity means dumbing down – it's time to forget that outmoded view |date=August 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713174818/http://www.edge-online.com/features/too-many-gamers-think-diversity-means-dumbing-down-its-time-to-forget-that-outmoded-view/ |archive-date=July 13, 2014 }}</ref>