Video game player

A gamer is someone who plays interactive games, usually video games, although games can also come in other forms, such as tabletop and plays for long periods of time. Or physical games (in some countries, such as the United Kingdom, the term "gaming" can also refer to legalized gambling, which can take both traditional—i.e. tabletop—and digital forms—akin to video games). There are many gamer communities around the world. Many of these take the form of Internet forums and other virtual communities, as well as in-person social clubs.

In the United States, the average video game player is 30 years old and has been playing video games for over 12 years. In the UK as of 2007, the average video game player was over 23 years old, had played video games for over 10 years, and spent around 11 hours a week playing video games. According to Pew Research Center, 49% percent of adults have played a video game at some point in their life. Those who play video games regularly are split roughly equal between male and female, but men are more likely to call themselves a 'Gamer.'

A female gamer/gamer girl is any female who regularly engages in playing video games. According to a study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association in 2009, 40% of the game playing population is female, and women 18 or older now comprise 34% of all gamers. Also, the percentage of women playing online had risen to 43%, up 4% from 2004. The same study shows that 48% of game purchasers are female. Usage of the term "girl gamer" is controversial. Some critics have advocated use of the label as a reappropriated term, while others see it as nondescriptive or perpetuating the minority position of female gamers. Some critics of the term believe there is no singular definition of a female gamer and that they are as diverse as any other group.

Gaymer, or gay gamer, is a term used to refer to the group of people who identify themselves as LGBT (gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transgender) and have an active interest in video games. This demographic has been the subject of two large surveys, one in 2006, who noted the level of prejudice that gaymers endure, and another in 2009, focusing on the content that gaymers expect in videogames. The gaymers community provides a "safe place" for LGBT gamers apart from the isolation they feel from both the heteronormative gaming community and the gay community. They also believe that as homosexuality in video games increase, there will be an increased normalization of homosexuality in general. "Gaymers are the future of video games" said Hamed Hosseini, who's married to Mahar Buar, in Valve's gaming convention.

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