What is the Japanese term for a gamer?

Question

As in "some one who plays video games". Could I just use ゲーマー?

And for game freaks/geeks/addicts ゲームオタク – Gerard Sexton Jul 21 '11 at 13:40 — Gerard Sexton, Jul 21 '11 at 13:40

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 24 '11 at 03:16

As rintaun says, ゲーマー is the most general term for "some one who plays video games".

In its narrower sense, when describing a person, it can mean a "hardcore gamer" as opposed to just ゲーム好き (げーむずき, casual gamer). For example, if someone wants to say she's just a casual gamer, she might say things like ゲーム好きだけど、ゲーマーじゃありません。

If you need to differentiate between different gamer types, there are terms that roughly corresponds to the english ones.

ライトゲーマー: casual gamer
ミドルゲーマー: mid-core gamer
ヘビーゲーマー: hardcore gamer
コアゲーマー: especially avid fans among mid-core gamers

(From Wikipedia articles: ゲーマー and Gamer)

I just wanted to further add that I bought the Gerard Butler film 'Gamer' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamer_%28film%29) on DVD and it also used the spelling ゲーマー on the box. — atheistwithrum, Jan 30 '14 at 22:55

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 21 '11 at 09:53

8

That's correct. ゲーマー is the word that is generally used.

answered Jul 21 '11 at 09:53

rintaun

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And for plural, add たち? – Amplify91 Jul 21 '11 at 17:50
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For multiple gamers, just ゲーマー will work. たち actually makes it refer to the/a group of gamers specifically. – rintaun Jul 21 '11 at 17:56
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For plural, you can try adding ズ (ゲーマーズ), but it'd turn into a merchandise shop instead! – syockit Jul 23 '11 at 10:34

What is the Japanese term for a gamer?

2 Answers2