I’ve always considered a certain level of involvement to be a requirement for being “a gamer” and never thought of myself as someone who fit that bracket. I enjoy games, but I can’t begin to manage the controls on a game machine. I’m restricted to PC games. Even then, I’ve played a few but there are some I just couldn’t get the controls down for.

There have been times in my life where I would literally wake up on a day off, game all day, and that was my plan for days off work. Those weren’t very long times, though, and usually they happened because I was trying to avoid facing a messy situation in life. Yay avoidance gaming!

To me, a gamer is someone who dedicates time to research a particular fight or skill, who may be part of a raid team, who constantly seeks to improve their style of play.

Historically, that wasn’t me, just to be clear. I haven’t resisted the tag of “gamer” because I looked down on others, but because I didn’t do those things.

Well, now I’ve been cornered and have to admit, I am a gamer after all. Only with one game, though if this streamer I enjoy keeps playing World of Warcraft, it might be two someday… if I have time.

Despite that I only play a few hours a week, like a dirty casual, I spend a lot of time thinking about what skill to choose next, how to build a character, watching videos of fights I’m struggling with, researching what I need to beat a certain boss, and even using a third-party tool to play with my character design.

I also just broke down and bought an 8 button mouse. I’ve been using a track ball up until now. The fact that I played as well as I did with a track ball was astounding to most people who knew that I played any games at all. I didn’t understand why until I took my first little test adventure with the new mouse. The things I can do now! OMG! WOW!

My squealing about how great it was made everyone laugh… and a couple of people laugh and say “ready to accept that you’re a gamer?”

Well, hesitantly, and with no statement that I’m a GOOD gamer, I suppose I can accept it. I just hope no one torches me for being a casual player. I have so much to get done that I just don’t have time!!

If I did have time though…

Okay, I’ll buy it. I’m a gamer.