Can you be considered a gamer when you only play phone or tablet games?

A friend of mine asked me, “Are you a gamer if you only play with your phone or tablet?” I quickly replied with a “No way…?” Yes, with a question mark. And then I asked this question too, and thought about it for a while.

Hardcore gamers tend to look down on someone who merely plays games casually (games like Angry Birds, Flappy Bird, or Farmville). I know I once did back in the day, but that was when I thought hardcore gaming was the only type of gaming that I would consider to be a gamer. 

Are autoplay games a disgrace to gaming?

Most Android or IOS games nowadays have this autoplay feature, or timed feature. For true gamers, this is a disgrace to gaming. Why would you be considered a gamer when you are not playing at all and you just let your game play the game for you. I personally dislike these type of games. When I play a game, I want to be the one controlling my character. However, personal dislike for these types of games does not mean a person playing these games cannot be considered a gamer.

To some people, Clash of Kings or  any other autoplay games on the phone and tablet are like Dota or Warcraft to them.

Autoplay features and timed games are more prominent in Android and IOS, and true gamers tend to brand gaming on those devices shameful and simply view the people liking those games as non-gamers. Playing those games may be a huge let down for true gamers, but they are still playing video games and by definition, that makes them gamers. Maybe not “true gamers,” but still gamers or to be specific, they can be classified as casual gamers.

But then again, I see people who play games like Clash of Kings or Game of War, who really spend countless hours staring at their devices and doing something in those games. This baffled me at first because just by making your troops march in these games will sometimes require a few minutes before reaching an objective.

I used to think that these games are “on-the-go” type of games where you send troops to a location only to check your phone minutes later for the result. I was wrong. I’m telling you, these guys are serious and they mean business when playing these games. It’s like Dota or Warcraft to them.

Games that make me wait hours or even days are just insane.

To be honest, I don’t understand why people are so addicted to games like Clash of Clans or Clash of Kings, or all these clash games. I tried playing these games and I personally did not enjoy any of it. Maybe because I’m used to real time strategy gaming like Starcraft, Warcraft, and Command and Conquer. These are the games I grew up with and this is probably why these are the games I’m used to playing. Playing a game that makes me wait hours or even days just so I can upgrade a building seems insane.

I used to think that this is a disgrace to gaming, but I moved on because I realized that it’s all just a matter of preference.

Those are games and people play it and even get addicted to it that they spend hours playing those games.

From Urban Dictionary, Sega Slayer wrote, a gamer can be classified into three: Casual gamers, hardcore gamers, and true gamers.

 To quote what he said,

Casual gamers are the people who mostly own console systems and buy mostly sports and racing games. They don’t like fantasy games and only enjoy sci-fi games based on movies they may have seen. This group, unfortunately, makes up the bulk of the gaming community and the current popularity of shitty games on shitty console systems is evidence of this. Casual Gamers think that having a “life” consists entirely of getting laid and drunk on a regular basis and have very little interest in games outside of a way to pass the time without spending a lot of money.

The group of people who call themselves Hardcore gamers aren’t often quite as “hardcore” about gaming as they would like to think. These are the people you see complaining that games now come in fancy modes like “3D” and debating the finer points of why Final Fantasy 6 was better than Final Fantasy 7. The only people who might actually be hardcore are the people who sit an camp the firegiant hideout in evercamp for 72 hours at a time just to get some item that will help them camp better. I wouldn’t rate either side of this coin as being a very pretty sight.

Finally there are the true gamers who actually treat gaming as a real HOBBY and not just a way to pass time or something to try and collect hundred upon thousands of. True Gamers just try to find an enjoy the best games out there and don’t like getting ripped off because Casual gamers are pushing the industry towards a point where the only games that will be profitable are Madden and GTA. True Gamers often own high quality PC’s and play PC games most often. Despite what most people might think a PC isn’t hard to operate and doesn’t cost too much. The people who say PC’s are too expensive are often spending hundreds of dollars on console systems that can’t do even half as many things as a PC can do and to make matters worse they own more than one of these stone age devices.

Perhaps the real question should be, “Can you be considered a gamer when you only play autoplay games?”

Take out the ability to control your character live turns the game into a simulation game.

The real question here should not be, “Can one be considered a gamer with only phone or tablet gaming?” and instead be, “Can you be considered a gamer when you only play autoplay games?”

Okay, so this, too, I think, can be considered gaming even though I am against it. I can compare these type of games to simulation games.

A game like Diablo 3 that lets you control and play your character, level up, collect items, craft items, and destroy hordes of demons can be considered to be an action role playing game. Take out the ability to control your character live turns the game into a simulation game. It’s like sending your character on a mission and a few minutes later return with a report on how many monsters were killed, experience gained, and items looted. Does this not sound like a simulation game? It sure does! That’s why it’s called simulation. And a simulation game is a genre in the gaming industry and the people that play it can be called a gamer.

Let us also not forget that there are hidden gems in a pile of garbage in Android and IOS games like Skyforce or Dungeon Quest that really let you play the game. And if we add the ports from a PC or games like Final Fantasy VI to the mix, your phone or tablet can compare to 3DS or PSVita, or to some, maybe even better at times.

A gamer is a person who plays games or regularly plays computer or video games

By definition, a gamer is a person who plays games; especially: a person who regularly plays computer or video games. So by this definition alone, yes, one can be called a gamer even if he/she only plays games like Angry Birds, Farmville, or games with autoplay on smart phones or tablets. Personal dislike of these games or being a ‘hardcore’ gamer does not make people who play these games non-gamers.