Identity 

It's not really a new thing in my thought patterns, but reading an Escapist Magazine article (yeah, the current issue is 138, I'm catching up) got me a bit refreshed on the topic. I love computer games. I have a Logitech G15, because I've always needed more buttons on my keyboards, and my G15 has 18x3+ of them, and I'm miffed that the new version has only six (a nod to, as a friend said, Ritalin-munching console users who get confused by 'too complicated' things). I have a 'gaming' mousepad, but only because it seems to be the choice between that and those useless disposable things everyone seems to be giving away instead of (or with) pens. I have a laptop that's capable of running more than Solitaire, but is also small enough to carry on one's back the whole day. My home machine lives in a case that glows blue, but it's a decent case, and I can't be bothered to pull the damned diodes out. Oh, yeah, I also wear Eve Online t-shirts - but, you know, even my artsy, totally not-interested-in-computers-unless-it's-for-work architect co-worker thinks this is a cool t-shirt. So, while I do buy 'gaming' stuff, I don't do so just because I feel compelled to define myself through that. I am actually more likely not to buy stuff just because some advertising creep thinks I should buy them because I, well, play computer games. But unlike Jonathan McCalmont, I refuse to stop calling myself a gamer just because the advertising creeps have twisted the word to mean a consumerist 'lifestyle'.

I'm a gamer. I also write with fountain pens whenever I can. So screw you, advertisers. You can't classify me.