I've been thinking about this a lot since I got back into gaming more regularly and I've realized that I have my own catagories of the types of gamers that are out there. Granted, I've based these gamer types mostly on the kind of people I come across while playing WoW; however, when I was thinking about it, these are pretty much fitting for the type of gamers that exist in any game you can play (mostly online since you interact with other players).
I've broken the list down to the 4 types of gamers and here they are:
~ The Know-It-All Gamers (aka Elitists): These are those gamers that you come across that pretty much tell everyone what to do, what not to know, how to do everything, and pretty much try to lead the group of people regardless of whether or not the game consists of an actual group/raid leader. These are the people that will try to run the show and be the best of the best even when it's a group effort and everyone has the ability to shine. They are the ones that insist on doing things their way or not at all. I find many of these people are probably bringing this pushy playing style into the gaming world to make up for a lack of control in the real world. I also refer to these gamer types as "Elitists" because they have to have everything go 100% perfect, otherwise they have a fit, start swearing up a storm, or leave everyone else in the group high and dry because they can't deal with imperfection. Regardless of what makes these players the way they are, they are often the people that everyone else in the group hates.
~ The Dumb Shit Gamers: These are the people that regardless of how long they've been playing a particular game, they still continue to ask a thousand questions that are either self explanatoy or are learned so early on into the game that there's no reason they shouldn't know this by now. The other people that fall under this catagory are those people that ruin the fun of gaming for everyone else because they either screw the whole group over and cause deaths/wipes or they do stupid things "for fun" when it's not something that's fun for anyone other than themselves. These are the people that I find often get kicked from groups because of the lack of patience everyone else in the group has for them. If the game doesn't allow a kicking from group ability, these are the people that cause the other gamers to step out of the group in order to keep their own sanity. These are also the gamers that almost everyone else in the group hates.
~ The Just-For-Fun Gamers (aka Casual Gamers): These are those laid back gamers that often could care less whether they win or lose as long as they are having fun doing it. They are the people that try to be the median between the other gamer types. They try to make sure everyone is just enjoying themselves and not fighting or ruining the game for others. Although these guys are fun to play with because they won't yell at you when perfection isn't achieved, they can sometimes be annoying when that competitive streak kicks in and you lose because they are brutally laid back. I'm not saying games are only fun when you win, but they aren't fun when you always lose. So, it's nice to be able to have at least a hair of competitive nature. Overall though, these are fun people to play with because at least you know everything will be civil.
~ The Cry Baby Gamers: These gamer types are different from the Elitist gamers to an extent, but also have some similar qualities. Like the Elitists, they want perfection, but the difference is that instead of being assholes when they don't get what they want, the get pissy and whiny when things don't work out in their favor. So, they don't they don't want perfection for the group, they only want perfection for themselves. They bitch and moan until they get their way. If a piece of armor drops that they want and they aren't the ones that win it or their overall DPS (Damage Per Second) isn't where they want it to be, they will make a scene until they either get what they way or things work in their favor. Often they are removed from group due to everyone being sick of the childish behavior. These are often children...literally. They act like kids because far too often they are children. They bring their temper tantrums into the gaming world when things aren't the way they want it to be. I can speak from experience, but I HATE gaming with kids. Sometimes you have no control over it because you don't always get to choose your groups in many games. Some groups are just randomly thrown together via an online grouping system (such as in WoW and many online XBox Live games). How do you know they are children? Well, either people ask and they answer honestly or you can verbally hear them over Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, the XBox Live chat feature, etc. You can hear that they're balls haven't dropped yet. Gaming with kids or cry baby gamers is a nightmare! It's like the gaming version of birth control.
Personally, I find myself falling under the "Just For Fun" gamer type, but I can honestly say that I have been known to be a bit more competitive than I describe these type of gamers to be, so there may be a streak of the "Elitist" gamer in me too. Overall though, I think I'm more in the "Just For Fun" since more often than not, I'm happy with just playing for fun than achieving an overall goal with the hope for as close to perfection as possible. It's called a game because it's meant to be played for the purpose of fun. Why some people take these games so seriously is beyond me. Regardless of why these people are they way they are, I thought it would be fun for me to throw together my own little list of gamer types based on the usual gaming styles I've come across. Hope you enjoyed my list! =)
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