Yeah, I agree that it's annoying when these kids come in playing Halo and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, talking about being gamers. I mean, how can you talk about shooters and not have played Doom or Half-Life? And talk about Fallout 3 (one of my favorite games, don't get me wrong) and not play rpg's like Final Fantasy (any will do, preferably the originals and the PS1 games). They don't know the roots, the passion that went into gaming back then. I remember when I first got into Final Fantasy. I first started with FFVII, but I went and played the originals also, and loved them. Plus, It wasn't like now, where quite a bit of games are so easy. We had to play for hours just to beat one level, or to get all the secrets, or whatnot. Not every game now is so easy, but there are some out there.
I remember the passion back then: wanting to get past this next level in Mega Man or Mario. Trying to get another level up or beat the next boss in Final Fantasy.
But it seems like now there has to be two labels: Casual, and Hardcore. Why can't there be middle ground? I just want kids to respect the roots of gaming and the heart and soul. I don't care if you're some 12 year old kid who can "pwn" me at Modern Warfare. How much passion do you have for it?
Sorry, didn't mean to get all emo on you. But yes, I consider myself a gamer. I love gaming. That's all there is to it. So just keep loving games, and you'll be a gamer.