What makes a true gamer?

[MoonlightHoundoom]

Hello there! So I wanted to bring this up because I've run into it so many times it's utterly ridiculous.

What makes someone a "true gamer"?

Because here's the thing. I personally don't specially tailor my team. I win with my favorites, becuase that is how I will most enjoy playing the game and I feel that loving every minute you play is what's important.

Karen, if you remember, once said: "Strong Pokemon, weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. A truly skilled trainer should try to win with their favorites."

Now there are people who spend hours upon hours perfecting their team, breeding the perfect move set, working to get every Pokemon, etc. That's wonderful, and I applaud it. But I've had many people tell me that only people who do that can call themselves a true gamer.

I don't think that's fair. Just because I DON'T do those things, doesn't mean I don't know how to. I know how to breed Pokemon for the benefit of special moves, how to restart your game until your starter has the perfect nature, etc.
I just don't do it. I don't want to. There are a lot of people who don't
Does that make them not a gamer? They care about Pokemon just as much. They just play it differently.

If you love the game, if you're passionate about it, that's all that should matter, and that should give you the right to call yourself a gamer. At least in my opinion.
What do you all think?

 

[Megan]

Maybe, gamer isn't the right word, because people like to associate it with someone, who plays a lot of games. That's not restricted to Pokemon games only, which is, what kinda confused me when I read your thread title.

If you're asking for a Pokemon player, then the answer is, imo, pretty obvious: someone who plays Pokemon. The games aren't meant to be played in only one way, even though a lot of people like to complain about how some people like to play the games. *cough* Smogon haters *cough*

I mean, there's people who play the games for completing the Pokedex, people who play the games for the story, people who play it for competitive, people who like to invent and play challenges that make every playstyle unique, people who just like to try out a ton of different Pokemon, people who speedrun the games and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Heck, even hacking something into the games can be considered a playstyle, otherwise people wouldn't spend their time creating ROM hacks.

Just do whateveryou want, I mean why spend your money to buy a game, if you have to play it the way some weirdo tells you to play it?

 

[LilBueno]

Well, there's a difference between a competitive gamer and gamer (could probably break down to more categories: casual, dedicated, etc.), at least in regards to Pokemon.
I think the issue is the competitive gamer category. However, I don't think that only those who breed competitively can be called a competitive gamer. There are different ways to be a competitive gamer.