Guadalupe Vasquez
Lea Clarkson
English 1301
3 April 2013
Gameboy
I’ve been a gamer all my life. -Tiger Woods The term gamer refers to a person that has spent amount of time playing video games or purchasing anything related to video games. One does not have to play video games every second of every your, just have a passion for the games. There are different levels of gamers. Similar to the military, gamers are categorized by rank. The better you are the higher you are in rank. Rank is determined by experience, knowledge, and attitude. There are many gamer ranks, but I will use three of my favorite; the Noob, Pro, and Specialist. Let’s begin at the bottom of the totem pole. The Noob, also known as the rookie, is often picked on because lack of skills and knowledge. He is always the first one to die, or the reason the team loses. He does not have much experience due to the lack of gameplay and hand eye coordination. Most Noobs will spend countless hours a week playing and continuously losing. His collection of games and video game accessories are very limited. Most Noobs will only have one gaming console, typically the latest and greatest. The Noob will only buy the most popular game on the market and once it loses its popularity, off to GameStop he goes. He will trade it in for the next big thing. This is one of the many reasons he will never get any better, he does not put in the time to learn a game; rookie mistake. The knowledge of a Noob is very close to none. He does not know the history of gaming. Very little time is spent learning about characters, consoles, and games. He will often make simple assumption such as referring to Zelda as the guy on the cover of the game. Simple questions higher ranked gamers know off the top of their head. Eventually with time and enough practice the Noob will learn from his mistake and move up the ranks. Although this is not always the case, but within a year most Noobs should be able to advance to Pro gamer. The Pro Gamer, also known as a mid-core gamer, will destroy the Noob when battling against each other. He will spend roughly thirty hours a week honing his skills. The Pro gamer will act as a mentor to the Noob, assisting him to the next lever. Unlike the Noob, Pro gamer has a wide collection of games; this is due to having multiple consoles. Not just the new consoles but retro ones as well such as the Super Nintendo and GameCube. Usually he will have at least sixty games in his collection. Not to mention a vast assortment of action figures, clothing, and, posters accumulated of the years of gaming. Through extensive research the Pro gamer is well aware of when all the new games are being released as well as which ones are actually worth playing. He will read as many gamer reviews as possible. Unlike the Noob it is very difficult for the Pro gamer to advance up the ladder. The specialist makes up a very small portion of the gamers. Many will spend their entire life trying to make it to this rank but few will succeed. Playing against the Specialist is like playing blind folded with your hands tied behind your back. It does not matter how much time he spends playing a game; he will master it in a matter of days. The Specialist turns playing games into a living. He is often sponsored to play in tournament and demo games that have not even been released yet. The Specialist has almost if not all the console made. His collection of video games is extremely massive. Consisting of at least two hundred games; most of them given to him free of charge. Also give to him, countless articles of clothing, action figures, rare collectibles accumulated over the years. The specialist has the most knowledge of the group. He has a vast knowledge of many consoles and video games. Unlike the Pro gamer, the Specialist does not read gamer reviews he writes them. Through extensive hours of gameplay he knows where all the glitch and secrets are in the game, thus giving him an advantage against many other gamers. Many will try to reach this level but very few people will make it due the amount of time and dedication needed to make it. I have yet to meet a single person that has not played some sort of video games. Yet, have some kind of toy related to video games. Now that you know a few types of gamers, take a look at yourself and determine what kind of gamer you are.