ABSTRACT
The term gamer has been applied in various, often simplistic ways to anyone who plays video games as a preferred leisure activity. Being heavily value-laden both socially and culturally, the term has spawned fiery debates on a variety of issues ranging from the perpetuation of stereotypes to gender inequality. The first part of this chapter seeks to understand the gamer tag by charting and critically analyzing the gaming journeys of three video game players in an everyday context.
The second part of the chapter argues the need for the concept of gamerworthiness and lays the foundations for the framework for building a means to understand the same. To study gamerworthiness, participants’ responses to various questions that critically examined what ludic acts, abilities and characteristics a player must possess so that he or she can be deemed a “gamer” by the larger community were analyzed.
