Video games have become loved by people of all ages, whether they are on the console (such as Xbox or Playstation), on the computer, or handheld. People who play video games are casually called gamers. The type of gamer you are will define who you are to other people who share your passion of video games.
To start with, gamers are defined by what genre of games they prefer to play. There are a few types of video games. There are video games that are strategic, setting things up then making the kill, such as Chessmaster. We then have role-playing games, where you guide your character through gaining experience to advance to the next level; an example is World of Warcraft or Star Wars Galaxies. The first person shooter games are very popular, they are the kind that you play your character and try to rack up kills in the process, and examples are Counterstrike, Star Wars Battlefront or Medal of Honor. Racing games are very popular to play whether you are home or at the arcade, as well as puzzle games, like Tetris.
We can also classify gamers as old school and new school. Old school gamers grew up with the games on Atari, Nintendo or Sega. They prefer vintage gaming to playing the newer games that have become available. As Nintendo says, they “know their roots” and stick to it too. New school gamers favor full 3-D graphics and lifelike physics. They have no clue what an 8 or 16 bit game is like.

Gamers can also be defined by how much they play. Someone who doesn’t play that much, or who doesn’t commit themselves to one game or another is considered to be a casual gamer. They may pick it up to pass some time or every once in awhile to have some fun. Most of the games they own are given as gifts to them and may only have one type of platform, such as Xbox. Next, we have the “gamer”, someone who plays a lot but doesn’t devote every second of their free time to the game. They may play an hour or two a night, and occasionally on weekends They may also own one or two consoles or types of games. The last is the hardcore gamer. These are the people that play video games constantly. They will have almost, if not every, platform of game that has ever been released. They may own action figures, posters, t-shirts, etc of any game they may have played.
Most people would never believe just how involved the video game world is. It has a long history and many types of games for all kinds of people. Gamers come in all shapes and sizes and from all over the world, as well as the games they play.

12/12/2006

Author's Note: I wrote this as a classification essay for English 101.

Posted on 12/12/2006
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