I get a lot of my news, as many people probably do, from the Internet at large. Every so often, I will run across something that I think is particularly pertinent or thought-provoking, and there’s a really good chance I’ll want to share and talk about them here.

Here’s the most recent: http://dangolding.tumblr.com/post/95985875943/the-end-of-gamers

These introductory segments are meant to be a brief look at the kinds of things I’m likely to talk about (and why I use the tags that I do), but I really want to talk about this specific article rather than simply talking about talking about articles.

I have a really strange relationship with the “gamer” identity as it relates to myself. I’ve spent a lot of time wearing it like a cloak, especially growing up, because in many ways the thing that set me apart, that made me unique, was my undying love for video games. Being a “gamer” has netted me friends, helped people relate to me, and even sparked a couple serious, intimate relationships.

As I’ve transitioned from playing games to making them, though, I’ve found the “gamer” label has been less and less applicable to me. It increasingly misleads people as far as informing them about how to best interact with me, and the main concept it communicates — “I play games” — has become so common as to be meaningless. When I was growing up and self-identifying as a gamer, I wanted everyone to play games. Now, everyone does play games, and I’ve found I no longer really need the label. I can’t say exactly when I stopped using it, but it’s been a few years now.

Dan Golding’s piece on the “end of gamers” really resonates with me. I am not a gamer, I’m a player, like a billion other people in the world.