What has surprised you the most about gamers since becoming one?

[StaceyPowers]

If you didn’t grow up an avid gamer, are there things about gamers that have surprised you since you became one? For example, I was surprised to find out how many gamers are both very busy and fairly poor (I'm both) , given how pricey games are and how many hours they take to finish.

Edited January 9, 2021 by StaceyPowers

[Shole]

How much hatred you get from everyone. I mean yeah everything has their bad apples, but not all of us are racist, homophobic, sexist people...Gee the hate I got on twitter for joining gamergate, and I am a minority in my own country... It's just the gamer stigma of us being lazy and not athletic..I am a gamer and former professional basketball player so dunno what people are talking about. I think this stereotype comes mainly from USA and it has spread over other countries through the internet, because most gamers I know are nor lazy nor hating anyone.

[Patrik]

I never considered myself as a gamer till i started playing online games in 2015 ( i was playing only singleplayer as it was and still lot of fun for me), things i always thought about gamers : fat, virgin and wear glasses.

Here i am fat, will be wearing glasses but not virgin ( i don't know how this is going to improve your daily life, but here you know it xD) but gaming has nothing to do with that

[The Blackangel]

There are more assholes with zero knowledge about something that will insist on educating you about it when you are actually knowledgeable about it already. For example someone here who was born in the 2000’s and has never encountered a NES in their life in any way whatsoever, then trying to educate me about the system. There’s too many arrogant pieces of shit like that in gaming. It’s why I game alone, and a part of why I can’t stand online gaming.

[Reality vs Adventure]

I have to say the number of games people have, which is hard to play them all. But I understand because I have a collection of items I've easily gotten carried away getting and I find myself evolving more into games. They sure do start stacking up. But I actually have more joy in games than I do with things in a display case. Not to say I don't love and respect the other items I've collected. Games I actually use. And it's interesting being in a new environment where people respect, are eager to learn, and collect what they love as I have. And you may not see all your games as a collection, but it is! 

[Empire]

Been gaming since I first got hold a PC back 15 years or so ago. But gamers and then there are gamers. Me! Not all games that I'm good at and at times there are bad and good days with most things. But me I'm stuck into simulators mostly. USed to be into roleplay and in the blue moon to release power and energy is FPS gaming. But we all have so big libraries that we all can't and won't have the time to play them all. I think most of us stick to the same games that we always play.

[m76]

That most are whiny little loosers, whodon't have their own opinions and only echo the word from the ministry of truth "influencers"

Edited January 11, 2021 by m76

[Withywarlock]

Tempted as I am to give a negative answer I'm going to challenge myself to say something positive. So the thing that hasn't so much shocked me as surprised me is how many people have been able to enjoy as many genres they have, and form groups for discussion and become friends over their findings. When I was growing up gaming mostly formed cliques, but now it's so much easier to talk to people and recommend games outside of our comfort zones to others looking for something worth playing.

[Kane99]

I wouldn't say it was a surprise, but how toxic gamers can be. Back in the day before I had online play for games, I argued with my friends. And to this day, I still do that. But with an online chat room for a game, it's a chaotic mess of yelling, annoying 12 year olds, and your momma jokes. 

My surprise is how hateful some people can be just because of video games. It's as if, some people take them way too seriously, and it's how we get problems. Just look at comment sections on popular games these days. 

[staticradio725]

I didn't get into video games until I was in college, and what surprised me was how there are different types of gamers for different types of games. The types of people you find playing Magic: The Gathering are not the same types of people you find playing Overwatch are not the same types of people you find playing Animal Crossing. (Speaking generally, of course.) The stereotype, to me in those days, was always male overweight incels living in their mother's basements. You can imagine my surprise when I started playing Bioware games and discovered that half the fanbase was straight women squeeing over Thane Krios' bare chest.

[killamch89]

The amount of narcissistic douchebags present in online PVP games especially when they spend thousands of dollars in a single game and you're still whopping them, they think they have every right to win. I absolutely love picking fights with these people and whooping them over and over until they rage quit.

[Heatman]

I'm actually a very big fan of football and can spend hours watching football all day before I picked up the art of gaming and ever since then, I'm surprised with the number of hours I can invest in a game playing.