Uncovering the Meaning: Exploring Semantic Differences in US Perceptions of “Gamer” and Game Players

Abstract

Gaming is an increasingly acceptable outlet for recreation, social engagement, and professional practice. Despite this acceptance, perceptions of “gamers” have been slower to evolve. The traditional stereotype associated with the “gamer” label has persisted in popular culture and acts to perpetuate and reinforce the negative elements associated with gaming. The stereotype’s persistence begs the question of whether current gamers see themselves as having stereotypical traits and whether non-gamers would attribute these traits to game players. This study uses an established model of social perception to explore differences in perceptions of the gamer stereotype and game players among both self-identified gamers and non-gamers in the United States. The results show differences in perceptions between the stereotype and game players, reflecting persistence of the stereotype and recognition that it is not universally applicable to players themselves. Self-identified gamers also perceived themselves as exhibiting more positive and less stereotypical traits than “gamer” implies.

Geek Cuisine: Extending the Narrative of a Junk Food Gamer

“…These gatherings epitomize gamers' immersion in their passion and celebration of their community. Yet, as these events do not reveal how gamers live their lives outside them, we need counternarratives to combat stereotypical storylines about gamers (Stone, 2021). In the current paper, we have scrutinized two contextual narratives of gamers as food consumers: Junk Food Gamer and Home Food Gamer.…”

“…If we portray gamers by their consumer food habits, we have to acknowledge that today's Junk Food Gamers could tomorrow follow the same diet as their family (i.e., Home Food Gamer) or, for example, a nutritional program that helps them to perform well in their other hobbies (e.g., sports). In this way, we need more plural and contextually-bound narratives to describe present-day gamers (also, Stone, 2021). We illustrate this multifaceted nature of gamer narratives with a Rubik's Cube (see Figure 3).…”

“…Third, based on our interpretive findings, we discover an alternative gamer narrative and utilize the idea of the Rubik's Cube to illustrate how more multifaceted gamer narratives can emerge. With these efforts, we extend the prevailing understanding of geek cuisine, which enables us to contribute to discussions that call for a more multidimensional view of gamer culture (e.g., Kallio et al, 2011;Stone, 2021).…”

“…Non-gamers indeed attach stereotypical beliefs to gamers—for example, they are seen as unpopular, unattractive, non-dominant, and socially inept (Kowert et al, 2012). Furthermore, Stone's (2021) recent findings show that the negative view of the gamer stereotype is prevailing and well-recognized by both non-gamers and gamers themselves.…”

“…Against this backdrop, we contend that it is pivotal to uncover the variety of gamers’ eating practices in order to redirect public narratives, increase awareness about the multiplicity of gamers’ culture and enhance gamer well-being. In this, we advocate and respond to the call by Stone (2021) to fight against the traditional gamer narrative by producing counternarratives. We base our research on the social constructionism paradigm, which ontologically relies on the idea that there is no single truth about representing “geek cuisine,” “gamer,” “gaming,” or even about “reality.” Instead, representations are continuously produced and reconstructed in the social interaction and talk between individuals (Gergen, 1996; Guba & Lincoln, 1994, p. 111).…”