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I've been thinking for a while - and I'm not clear on this - but that the demographic of "gamer" is kind of a cipher.
I suppose there was a time when it sort of made sense, much like any other demographic largely characterized by a media obsession that was *also* obscure. Today, though, almost everyone is at least familiar with video games, and it's not unusual to play *some* video games. The younger you are, the more you're likely to play one or two games a year.
This isn't really a whole lot different from reading! There are 'bibliophiles' or people who characterize themselves as readers, and I think you'll notice that this doesn't really described what kind of books one would be reading. But although we can refer to audiophile, cinephiles, bibliophiles - lovers of media - we don't tend to group them as a semi-political demographic, and *if* we do, it's very likely subordinate to preferred genre which is circularly looped to their political preferences in the first place.
So, "gamer," unlike other media lover categories, singularly separates itself by gender with men as the default. (Sexism is still rampant in every category, but there are gamers and 'girl gamers' which feels different to me than 'woman readers,' which is never, by the way, as far as I have seen, 'girl readers.') "Gamers" are categorized by escapism as a way of being, as opposed to an occasional useful tendency, and politically, there is an assumption of marginalization even though categorically this isn't the case.
Where does the demographic come from, then? How is it they feel as though they can construct a coherent demographic group on the merits of a leisure activity that's inherently somewhat privileged? (In that there is some income and time required to devote to an activity/demographic rooted in conspicuous consumption.) Where does their sense of marginalization come from?
I suspect that it comes from a demographic (largely white, self-imposed male) that, due to the economic decline, has a difficult time (like everyone) in finding dignified work and becoming financially independent, and so spend a large amount of time online, connecting with others who self-identify in nearly identical ways. The collapse of the middle class, a class they felt they were promised and entitled to (whether or not this is fair or true is a different conversation), and that they felt they were inherently better disposed to than systemically marginalized groups (growing up on white supremacist propaganda, in many cases, from various channels) makes them resentful.
Their demographic isn't, then, oriented around their identity or media consumption IN TRUTH, but the way in which they communicate and form their social circle. Gaming platform voice chats, writing channels, fora, and conventions create environments where people in similar situations, coping in similar ways, communicate. They only identify as gamers because the media allows quick reference visual cues. That's why they're so resistant to minority groups and women "infringing" on their spaces - it's not about games, it's about keeping their communication channels demographically "pure."
I suppose there was a time when it sort of made sense, much like any other demographic largely characterized by a media obsession that was *also* obscure. Today, though, almost everyone is at least familiar with video games, and it's not unusual to play *some* video games. The younger you are, the more you're likely to play one or two games a year.
This isn't really a whole lot different from reading! There are 'bibliophiles' or people who characterize themselves as readers, and I think you'll notice that this doesn't really described what kind of books one would be reading. But although we can refer to audiophile, cinephiles, bibliophiles - lovers of media - we don't tend to group them as a semi-political demographic, and *if* we do, it's very likely subordinate to preferred genre which is circularly looped to their political preferences in the first place.
So, "gamer," unlike other media lover categories, singularly separates itself by gender with men as the default. (Sexism is still rampant in every category, but there are gamers and 'girl gamers' which feels different to me than 'woman readers,' which is never, by the way, as far as I have seen, 'girl readers.') "Gamers" are categorized by escapism as a way of being, as opposed to an occasional useful tendency, and politically, there is an assumption of marginalization even though categorically this isn't the case.
Where does the demographic come from, then? How is it they feel as though they can construct a coherent demographic group on the merits of a leisure activity that's inherently somewhat privileged? (In that there is some income and time required to devote to an activity/demographic rooted in conspicuous consumption.) Where does their sense of marginalization come from?
I suspect that it comes from a demographic (largely white, self-imposed male) that, due to the economic decline, has a difficult time (like everyone) in finding dignified work and becoming financially independent, and so spend a large amount of time online, connecting with others who self-identify in nearly identical ways. The collapse of the middle class, a class they felt they were promised and entitled to (whether or not this is fair or true is a different conversation), and that they felt they were inherently better disposed to than systemically marginalized groups (growing up on white supremacist propaganda, in many cases, from various channels) makes them resentful.
Their demographic isn't, then, oriented around their identity or media consumption IN TRUTH, but the way in which they communicate and form their social circle. Gaming platform voice chats, writing channels, fora, and conventions create environments where people in similar situations, coping in similar ways, communicate. They only identify as gamers because the media allows quick reference visual cues. That's why they're so resistant to minority groups and women "infringing" on their spaces - it's not about games, it's about keeping their communication channels demographically "pure."
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So, I've seen them change the benchmark of what a real 'game' is, or create a threshold to be crossed on frequency or amount or type. Then you need a kind of attitude - towards games, towards a certain kind of exploitation, towards a certain type of allowance towards objectification. All things I know you already know, but stuff I'm just trying to articulate in order to get it straight in my own head.
Also ironic, then, that no matter how much of their criteria are gaming related, very little of their identity is cohesive in anything besides a desire to feel marginalized. This is the 'dark side' of identity politics, though. Once these guys have managed to un-stick the identity of white and male as not permanently a social default, but identities that experience privilege, they become invested in simultaneously retaining systemic privilege and denying they have it.
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If it's not Gamers who're persecuted, they'd have to look at themselves.