-I just don't get what it is you think you're protecting by trying to make this distinction.
I'm not 'protecting' anything. Should I be? I'm criticizing flawed logic, nothing more.
-Some people believe if you play video games, you are a gamer. I don't see why someone should be considered "fucking stupid" for saying so.
Those people are incorrect, and should be considered 'fucking stupid' for the reasons I detailed above. What I'm talking about here is the difference between a verb and a noun. I'd think an English teacher would understand the differences between the two, and how their use determines meaning.
-Put another way: There is virtually no harm done in using the term "gamer" to encompass all those who play video games that I can think of. It doesn't hurt the industry, it doesn't hurt the games, and it doesn't hurt the gamers themselves. What is there to be gained by insisting the term "gamer" not be used to describe "casuals" besides looking like an elitist snob?
Straw man that is totally irrelevant to the conversation at hand. Nobody is making this argument. You are using your own perceived moral superiority to deflect the conversation to where you want it to be.
-I don't know where you got this upper case/lower case distinction from, but since my early teens my friends and I used "hardcore gamer" to describe people like us who didn't just play games, we CARED about games. We followed the industry and would immerse ourselves wholeheartedly in deep, satisfying games for hours and hours. The fact that we would use the term "hardcore" implied there was such thing as gamers who were NOT "hardcore", and this was years and years before mobile gaming and Facebook brought gaming to the masses. Before the Wii, even. So I just don't see the value in not just disagreeing with someone who thinks people who play games are gamers, but calling their opinion "garbage" and insulting them as "fucking stupid". If anything, that kind of reinforces the point the author made about some gamers feeling threatened by the evolving definition of the word, even though the fact that there are so many more gamers today
than there used to be has been nothing but fantastic for the industry as a whole and for ALL gamers, regardless of where on the spectrum of "core" they fall.
The terms 'hardcore' and 'casual' do not, and never have, referred to level of engagement or enthusiasm with regards to gaming or gaming culture. They have always referred to amount of time devoted to the hobby itself. In some cases the terms 'hardcore' and 'casual' are equated to player skill. Again, irrelevant to enthusiast engagement.