What defines the word “gamer”? A quick Google search brings up many definitions of the term such as; “those who spend much of their leisure time playing…different games.” or “One who plays a game, especially a role-playing or computer game.” Usually I won’t care about this connotation so much because I have been playing games since I was a little kid, but does that really mean I should be any more of a snob about it as say…someone who has been fishing all their life? There have been plenty of tipping points over the last couple of years as my gaming tastes have changed but, until recently, it’s crossed the border now.

Today the cover of Madden 10 was released with two athletes on it, Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald, who were both stars in the last Super Bowl. NCAA Football 10 was also released with my fellow Texas Tech Alum, Michael Crabtree, for the Xbox 360 version so this made me even more giddy. These games have never really bothered me with their releases annually since that’s how sports roll. What really bothers me are the legions of so-called “gamers” who say that these are garbage just because of, what they say are, minor graphical updates, roster updates and other negligible additions that shouldn’t warrant a full purchase. People: STFU! First of all, these games are done in record time, 10 months, in which entirely new contracts need to be made, animations redone, scouting reports and others that most development studios wouldn’t be able to do if they had years [take a look at Gran Turismo 5 for an example]. Also, these games are the very epitome of what a gaming is all about. You have patterns, multiple “endings”, competitive play, single play, lasting appeal, strategy and more that should be enough to keep other enthusiasts happy. Granted they do use plenty of canned animation and use most of last years engine, but that’s for practical use. Developing a game engine would just be outrageous and a resource hog if they did it every single year, for every single one of their yearly franchise.

With that defense, I’ll move into the real topic: being an asshole. Gamers are known for this because we don’t like noobs invading in our territory. It’s offensive to us to think that people who only play Diner Dash or Bejeweled are in the same circle [of Hell?] as Street Fighter 2 EPIC players. A notable example of being an asshole is this recent VGCats comic. Just because you don’t agree with another person’s gaming habits [even if they are Bejeweled] does not mean that you [who likes Excitebots] is any different than them. We’re all part of the social pecking order of gamers that play these things just to have fun. Most of us may have spent eternities trying to pull off a 300 hit combo in Marvel Vs Capcom 2 or figure out WTF was going on in E.T. for the Atari, but does that make us any different from those who try to get the highest score in Bejeweled by analyzing the surroundings to figure out the perfect pattern to chain our combos? I don’t think so. These games may be contrary to our tastes, but to them, Gears of War is just as ridiculous.

This may seem kind of like I’m being a hypocrite since I’ve been plenty outspoken against other people’s tastes, but I’m not saying they’re retarded for liking or not liking a game, I’m saying people should give the shit they rag on a try. Super Smash Bros.: Melee is an example of a family friendly game that has LOADS of hidden exploitation that quickly threw it into competitive gaming so who’s to say that Diner Dash or Peggle couldn’t have the same. These quick games are the natural successors to what we had as a kid with coin-operated games that were only to hold our attention for minutes at a time. Yet, like most douche bags out there, think these nostalgic games, such as Pac-Man, are the best things ever.

Just because we were here first does not make us any better than people who followed. At one point or another we’re all noobs and had to get good at our hobby in order to enjoy it so it should be courteous that these games that new gamers are enjoying should be applauded for bringing more people to our medium, even if those people tend to be douche bags, at least when they do graduate to “traditional games” we can fucking snipe their head off from 100 yards out while jumping off some stairs.