So much of that falls short of our Community Code of Conduct, and behaviour like that simply isn't welcome here.

I don't rate that kind of attitude towards anyone in any space. It definitely used to be quite prevalent in gaming which made the whole culture very homogenous and unpleasant IMO. I'm under no illusions that it's still prevalent in some corners of gaming and the web as a whole but I've been heartened (or ignorant) to see it wain a lot in more recent years.

I think a lot of that sentiment stems from imposter syndrome. I've played in bands and played sports for many years, even representing my county and my country (very fleetingly) on occasion. I would still really struggle to call myself a musician or an athlete. The kind of exclusionary language in that post prevents a lot of people from getting involved in those things, especially gaming. People who could be exceptional assets to those communities.

On some level it's a linguistic issue. Not everyone can be an olympian but anyone who gets up and puts in the effort can be an athlete IMO. Sure, you'll occasionally get the odd poser who puts on a Metallica tee but has never heard a single track - but blocking almost everyone out from a community for the sake of the odd outlier is a sad state of affairs. And delineating between someone who's put in 100+ hours and someone who's put in 300+ is really petty in my eyes. If you enjoy playing video games, and you want to call yourself a gamer - have at it!

As Boomer said, this kind of exclusionary attitude is antithetical to everything we're trying to achieve with Just About.

Usual nonsense and attitudes you get on most platforms that mean people just don't bother taking part and leave the space for the extremes to argue with each other.

Oh man. Where to start?!

Suffice to say I couldn't disagree more and this is the antithesis of what JA stands for. I find the whole sentiment unpleasant. But even just the small details are problematic. Any time someone groups "ALL" of a hugely diverse group (say 50% of all humans) into one sweeping generalisation, I despair 😔

Also, how can Mario not be a real game 😂. It's practically the OG!

"These aren't real games. Put down the baby games."

Pick a lane, buddy. Are they games, or aren't they?

Gatekeeping, in any respect, sucks. Needing to know the title of every song to be a fan of a band; playing every single title in a series to be a fan games; watching the behind the scenes director's commentary on a trilogy to be considered a fan of movies... It's become a race to the bottom to see who can sink the most hours into something. Time is the single most precious resource or currency we have as people. Instead of judging and labelling others based on how they use theirs, we should just embrace and encourage.

Oh wow, you played Mario and enjoyed it? Fantastic, tell me about your experience, I want to hear more.

As everyone's said, gatekeeping is dumb. I see a lot of people online claim cozy games aren't "real games" and its a shame they take such a narrow view because the massive expansion of styles and types of game in recent years has helped the entire industry boom. Its amazing that we get to see so many more types of story now, more people can see themselves reflected in video games and explore broader, even painful themes thoughtfully.

I think this kind of attitude is why most of us are here... wanting to get away from it.

Seen similar content, especially about how "gamer girls" look like... (claiming there are no good looking gamer girls) I didn't know if I should laugh or get angry... like... have you had a look around Twitch dude? How many very attractive ladies are there, quite a few of them with exceptional skills in shooters for example? Is that gamer enough?

I bet this guy doesn't consider tabletop games "real games" either. And probably by saying that Mario is not a real game, he offended an entire generation...

I hope this kind of dirt will stay somewhere else, not here. As for this person, I'd suggest they visit Wikipedia to learn what the term 'game' means.

I dont agree with this at all. Being a "gamer" doesn't include a quota of hours logged, specific games and/or platforms. Just a toxic person that probably has this state of mind with other things aswel.

Im glad this community has a CoC, maybe other social media platforms should follow the example.

People like that are why this is the first social media I've had since 2010... and why I live alone on top of a mountain.