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[leadbelly]

Someone suggested an animal day anyway. We use pictures of our animals as avatars.

I have a dog, so it is easy to do.

 

[omgkitty]

This thread is getting way too creepy.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Someone suggested an animal day anyway. We use pictures of our animals as avatars.

I have a dog, so it is easy to do.

I feel like that would just be more painful than fun for me, so I wouldn't participate.

 

[Davedough]

Someone suggested an animal day anyway. We use pictures of our animals as avatars.

I have a dog, so it is easy to do.

I'd have to choose which animal to use.

 

[leadbelly]

I feel like that would just be more painful than fun for me, so I wouldn't participate.

Oh. A loss of an animal maybe?

 

[Silphonica]

I know it's poor form to comment on the appearance of a female GAFfer, but, my goodness.

I know mate, I know. Sometimes, this is why I hate the internet.

I liked this one a lot more;

http://i.imgur.com/39QDl.png[IMG][/URL]

[/QUOTE]

Might change soon since someone else said that one too. Too lazy ~_~

 

[GameplayWhore]

Someone suggested an animal day anyway. We use pictures of our animals as avatars.

I have a dog, so it is easy to do.

I ... had a dog. :'(

 

[Wallach]

My hat is a dog, so I am set either way.

 

[noah111]

All of you are on my hard drive. Some of you, multiple versions. Those who are not... will soon be.

Necessary steps are being taken to secure these into the tubes of the internet for the rest of time.

Expect it. Embrace it. Only good may come of this.

 

[omgkitty]

I'd have to choose which animal to use.

All of them! Also is it us with the animal, or is it just the animal itself?

 

[.la1n]

This thread is getting way too creepy.

Oh no it's been creepy for quite some time now, I like mid day RP because we can usually get civilized conversation going.

 

[marrec]

My hat is a dog, your argument is invalid.

Fixed that for ya.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Hey, hatters. What's up?

 

[Davedough]

All of you are on my hard drive. Some of you, multiple versions. Those who are not... will soon be.

Necessary steps are being taken to secure these into the tubes of the internet for the rest of time.

Expect it. Embrace it. Only good may come of this.

Of all the collages, minus the complete one of all Neogaf members, I've seen you skip my avatar every time. Is it because I'm half asian, half hispanic?

 

[NaughtyCalibur]

I rarely wear hats, so I totally forgot I had two other images laying around with me rocking a hat. It was either a choice between my current avatar, or

and I chose my current avatar as I doubt GAF would accept Menchi-hat into their world.

 

[noah111]

Oh no it's been creepy for quite some time now, I like mid day RP because we can usually get civilized conversation going.

Yeah, that's probably around the time i'm not here. I do enjoy reading them the next day though.

Is it because I'm half asian, half hispanic?

Probably. Not enough of your kind for me to trouble myself with.

Spoiler

lol, no really; what are your roots?

 

[Davedough]

Hey, hatters. What's up?

Your facial hair.... it has vanished.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Oh. A loss of an animal maybe?

Yeah, my cat Rock died last year.

 

[Davedough]

Probably. Not enough of your kind for me to trouble myself with.

Spoiler

lol, no really; what are your roots?

ha! I'm actually a mix. My father was Hungarian and my mother is Welsh.

 

[leadbelly]

Yeah, my cat Rock died last year.

Yeah. I'm dreading when my dog dies really. He still has a few years left in him, but he is 8 now so it feels like he is slowly moving closer to that day. They say a dog is for life, but it isn't really. It doesn't help that he is an incredibly intelligent dog that seems to understand a lot of what I am saying to him.

 

[Femmeworth]

I rarely wear hats, so I totally forgot I had two other images laying around with me rocking a hat. It was either a choice between my current avatar, or

and I chose my current avatar as I doubt GAF would accept Menchi-hat into their world.

If I was participating in this, I would totally be rocking my Menchi hat.

 

[leadbelly]

If I was participating in this, I would totally be rocking my Menchi hat.

But you're a fictional character so it wouldn't be the same.

 

[marrec]

I realize this conversation is mostly over, but I wanted to point out that the hardcore/casual delineation is mostly segregationist to give people an inflated sense of superiority. My best stab at a reason is that these are likely people who were ostracized in life (made fun of for their hobby, weight, lack of social skills, etc.) that choose to do the same within their own special subculture because now they have the "advantage."

If I were to be selective in what I described as my most recent gaming sessions (say, only mentioning Mario Galaxy 2, Mario Kart 7, and some occasional Words with Friends), I might be labeled a casual gamer. But if I told you I played something like 400 games in 2011, regardless of quality or genre, people would say the opposite despite there effectively being no difference.

It's the gaming community's equivalent of "white trash," even though it's probably meant to be less insulting than that and more just generally demeaning.

I think having distinctions between different types of gamers is important to growing the community. Being able to say 'Casual Gamers (those who like X) are important members of the gaming community', we can be more inclusive of anyone and maybe even remove the last vestiges of negativity associated with the term 'Gamer'. Also because I like defining terms.

I still like my stab at definition earlier in the conversation.

Hardcore gamers are particularly interested in games that challenge their abilities but also allow them to succeed and improve. That is why games that have large multiplayer community can also be seen as 'hardcore' games, whereas games like Angry Birds, where there is a direct cap at how good you can get or the best score you can get, are considered casual.

Maybe.

 

[noah111]

ha! I'm actually a mix. My father was Hungarian and my mother is Welsh.

Ah, nice. Wasn't really sure of anything anymore due to how much you were throwing me off.

I think i'm done with demographic tile making. Nothing else I can come up with that would have enough people other than perhaps beard or glasses (not sunglasses)-GAF.

When this is all over i'm gonna throw it all up on DeviantART if that's fine with everyone, don't want to have it lost in the millions of pages in here.

 

[Davedough]

But you're a fictional character so it wouldn't be the same.

All non-RP GAF avatars are ficitonal until proven RP.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Your facial hair.... it has vanished.

It may return in spectacular fashion.

 

[leadbelly]

All non-RP GAF avatars are ficitonal until proven RP.

I agree. Let the court proceed!

 

[Zomba13]

Nah.... I think I have it more streamlined and optimized;

I'm equally enticed for Shirtless Saturday. :}

So... Am I in that girlGAF Folder?

 

[marrec]

So... Am I in that girlGAF Folder?

You're in all of them now.

 

[Davedough]

So... Am I in that girlGAF Folder?

"I'm in UR folderz. Surrounded by womenz"

 

[leadbelly]

So... Am I in that girlGAF Folder?

lol

You have now been moved to the '?' folder.

just kidding.

 

[Femmeworth]

I agree. Let the court proceed!

 

[leadbelly]

You seem to have one of those gifs for everything.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

You have now been moved to the '?' folder.

The best folder.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I think having distinctions between different types of gamers is important to growing the community. Being able to say 'Casual Gamers (those who like X) are important members of the gaming community', we can be more inclusive of anyone and maybe even remove the last vestiges of negativity associated with the term 'Gamer'. Also because I like defining terms.

I still like my stab at definition earlier in the conversation.

I agree that having distinctions help, but we ultimately use those distinctions to segregate ourselves from those we deem lower.

Maybe my perspective is just warped from posting on what is outwardly a "hardcore" gaming forum, but it seems like people don't use the casual/hardcore separation as a means to analyze audiences, rather, it's used to say "I don't like this/you/the games you are playing."

It's not a particularly new phenomenon, either. I remember the late 90s well, where some people were actually upset that Final Fantasy VII was bringing in people who weren't basement-dwelling, light-fearing moblins in to RPGs. I have my qualms with the impact of FFVII (that mostly come back to the way its presentational style affected the genre for the next ten years), but freaking out about how it expanded the audience seems positively silly right now.

And we went through the same thing in the 2000s with Halo 2. I think the words used then were "mainstream" and "closed-minded."

People who, when using modern standards and terminology, we would have once described as "casual" in 1997, are those we would gladly describe as just regular-ass GAFers today. Not to point fingers, but I know there are GAF mods who started playing games with FFVII, and that's totally fine. It just illustrates how the distinction as a means to demean is ultimately foolish. In fifteen years, the people GAF bitches about for buying Nintendogs could be the hardest of hardcore gamers by our current definition.

tl;dr I agree that the distinction aids things, people are just assholes that have twisted it in to meaning something that directly benefits their ego.

 

[leadbelly]

The best folder.

It's the mystery folder.

 

[Count Dookkake]

If there is to be any Hat Tuesday artworks, I humbly suggest the slogan:

HATTERS GONNA HAT

 

[Zomba13]

"I'm in UR folderz. Surrounded by womenz"

I'm in ur collage, surronded by wiminz

 

[leadbelly]

If there is to be any Hat Tuesday artworks, I humbly suggest the slogan:

HATTERS GONNA HAT

But... but... that's just a bad pun.

I do wonder actually since being on these forums if puns are looked upon in the US with the same disdain as they are in the UK.

A comedian wouldn't say one seriously because it's just a bad pun. And even so it usually gets a groan from the audience.

 

[Davedough]

So while we're still kind of on the topic of Gamers and their many distinctions... how about generally?

Does anyone still feel a strange stigma or unsettling feeling if you're either mentioned as, or say you are a gamer? I still dont feel its a social norm of the masses to be an accepted thing. Although I've embraced my gamerness and will wear shirts and such proudly professing my hobby, you cant help but still feel a bit of ostracizing that happens if you speak about it openly to non-gamers.

 

[Emitan]

I'm in ur collage, surronded by wiminz

We need a glasses GAF one

 

[Zomba13]

But... but... that's just a bad pun.

I do wonder actually since being on these forums if puns are looked upon in the US with the same disdain as they are in the UK.

A comedian wouldn't say one seriously because it's just a bad pun. And even so it usually gets a groan from the audience.

Exactly, it's the best kind. I LOVE puns because they are so bad most (all) of the time.

So while we're still kind of on the topic of Gamers and their many distinctions... how about generally?

Does anyone still feel a strange stigma or unsettling feeling if you're either mentioned as, or say you are a gamer? I still dont feel its a social norm of the masses to be an accepted thing. Although I've embraced my gamerness and will wear shirts and such proudly professing my hobby, you cant help but still feel a bit of ostracizing that happens if you speak about it openly to non-gamers.

Around people my age, not at all. Around my friends parents/relatives then yeah, I feel a bit odd/weird.

 

[Davedough]

But... but... that's just a bad pun.

I do wonder actually since being on these forums if puns are looked upon in the US with the same disdain as they are in the UK.

A comedian wouldn't say one seriously because it's just a bad pun. And even so it usually gets a groan from the audience.

I think that particular pun is brilliant.

As far as this US citizen's outlook on puns... on a forum or in a conversation when thrown out there randomly, they can be hilarious. As a professional comedian, he'd better work on his game because it gets old very fast.

 

[leadbelly]

Exactly, it's the best kind. I LOVE puns because they are so bad most (all) of the time.

Yeah. I kind of understand that. Just like any bad joke. I always laugh at a really bad joke just because it is bad.

 

[leadbelly]

I think that particular pun is brilliant.

As far as this US citizen's outlook on puns... on a forum or in a conversation when thrown out there randomly, they can be hilarious. As a professional comedian, he'd better work on his game because it gets old very fast.

Yeah. Imagine sitting through a show that is basically an hour full of puns.

 

[Count Dookkake]

But... but... that's just a bad pun.

I do wonder actually since being on these forums if puns are looked upon in the US with the same disdain as they are in the UK.

A comedian wouldn't say one seriously because it's just a bad pun. And even so it usually gets a groan from the audience.

Puns are looked down on in the US.

I am not a comedian.

In all honesty, I think most of them suck, too, but they are a fun exercise for the brain.

 

[Red]

I agree that having distinctions help, but we ultimately use those distinctions to segregate ourselves from those we deem lower.

Maybe my perspective is just warped from posting on what is outwardly a "hardcore" gaming forum, but it seems like people don't use the casual/hardcore separation as a means to analyze audiences, rather, it's used to say "I don't like this/you/the games you are playing."

It's not a particularly new phenomenon, either. I remember the late 90s well, where some people were actually upset that Final Fantasy VII was bringing in people who weren't basement-dwelling, light-fearing moblins in to RPGs. I have my qualms with the impact of FFVII (that mostly come back to the way its presentational style affected the genre for the next ten years), but freaking out about how it expanded the audience seems positively silly right now.

And we went through the same thing in the 2000s with Halo 2. I think the words used then were "mainstream" and "closed-minded."

People who, when using modern standards and terminology, we would have once described as "casual" in 1997, are those we would gladly describe as just regular-ass GAFers today. Not to point fingers, but I know there are GAF mods who started playing games with FFVII, and that's totally fine. It just illustrates how the distinction as a means to demean is ultimately foolish. In fifteen years, the people GAF bitches about for buying Nintendogs could be the hardest of hardcore gamers by our current definition.

tl;dr I agree that the distinction aids things, people are just assholes that have twisted it in to meaning something that directly benefits their ego.

How did you get past the 160 character limit #RPGAF

 

[leadbelly]

Puns are looked down on in the US.

I am not a comedian.

In all honesty, I think most of them suck, too, but they are a fun exercise for the brain.

Yeah. I was just curious that's all. It's just that it seems to be a tradition now on internet forums to think of the best pun.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

So while we're still kind of on the topic of Gamers and their many distinctions... how about generally?

Does anyone still feel a strange stigma or unsettling feeling if you're either mentioned as, or say you are a gamer? I still dont feel its a social norm of the masses to be an accepted thing. Although I've embraced my gamerness and will wear shirts and such proudly professing my hobby, you cant help but still feel a bit of ostracizing that happens if you speak about it openly to non-gamers.

I'll admit that I do not call myself a gamer in non-gamer circles.

There's simply too much baggage associated with the label. If I tell a potential significant other that I'm a gamer, it conjures images of people who refuse to leave the chair to stop playing WoW or, at best, dudes high-fiving each other on the couch playing Modern Warfare.

It is a significantly harder hobby to legitimize to people than you would think, despite the fact that so many people play games in some form or another these days. I think the societal stigma is just going to take time to wash away and the industry itself has to mature a bit.

 

[marrec]

tl;dr I agree that the distinction aids things, people are just assholes that have twisted it in to meaning something that directly benefits their ego.

(I read the whole thing, but will quote the TLDR to conserve space)

Like Gerstmann has said in the past, there are people who would say that the best game ever is Halo. That's not necessarily wrong for them because Halo, at that point in time for those people, represented a huge shift in what they played as gamers. Up to that point, FPS were relegated strictly to the realm of the Hardcore. When Halo helped it to go mainstream it didn't diminish the quality of the FPS genre or change the definition of what Hardcore was, it just expanded the audience to include those who were not Hardcore in the past.

When this happened, if you said 'Halo is a shit FPS because it only lets me have 2 guns', then you can consider yourself a-okay for the name game. If, however, you said 'Halo is a shit FPS because all these damn newbs are playing mah FPS's now!', then you're an asshole who uses nomenclature as a direct expression of their ego. What we need now is for a 'Casual' game to expand beyond the casual gaming roots and widen the audience to include 'Hardcore' gamers.

Every time a game comes out that blurs the lines between what Hardcore gamers play and what Casual gamers play, it will strengthen our community and help solidify Gaming as an artistic medium. There's just a certain pushback recently against Casual gaming for the reasons you mentioned above.