### Hi everyone!
Today, I'm gonna be answering a question- namely, whether or not I'm a gamer. I was asked this question by my English prof a couple days ago, and did some thinking. So... Am I a gamer?

No.

...

I'm assuming I'll actually have to explain myself, won't I...

I don't think I am a gamer. On the one hand, it is true that I spend a fair amount of time on the computer, and I have written a number of blogs about video games. On the other hand, I'm nowhere near where a lot of other people are, in terms of how much time I spend playing games. I only have around 60 in my steam library (some people I know have hundreds), and as I mentioned earlier, I don't have more than 600 hours in any one game (as far as Steam is concerned at least). It is entirely possible that Powder Toy is in the thousands of hours- but that's not really a much of a game, it's more of a sandbox/simulator. 

That said, I spend a lot of my free time watching people play games. Most days of the week, I watch a livestream, and there are several YouTube channels I watch on a daily basis too. I've always been this way, since I was a kid- we only had one computer in the house, so in the mornings I would watch my brother play Runescape, and it was rare for me to actually play it myself. This continued right up until he moved- even when we had our own computers, I would often watch him play things rather than play them myself. 

I don't know why I'm this way- it might be due to having only once computer, as I said, or it may be coincidence. I've just always thought it's more fun to spend time with someone than to sit alone and play a game, and since I'm not great at a lot of games, it takes the struggle out of them. I personally would never be able to beat, say, Dark Souls (not that I'm much of a fan of the game, but that's beside the point), but if I watch a streamer play it, I still get to see all of the content. 

This mindset applies to a lot of things, really. If there's a group of people wanting to do something, but we can't all do it (for instance, a game of Civilisations with more people than we can get in the game), I will happily volunteer to sit out and spectate. Even in conversations, if the group is too large, I tend to sit quietly on the side and listen, and laugh at the jokes, rather than actively talking. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's definitely something that I've noticed about myself. 

I realise this has gotten a little off topic, so no, I am not a gamer. I am a fan of games, and there are games I like, but I don't spend enough time playing them to justify the label. It's like calling myself an artist because I draw sometimes, or a musician because I play bass sometimes. Those two are things I aspire to be, but neither is particularly accurate as it is.

Anyways, hopefully you've enjoyed today's ~~ramble~~ blog! If you're the same way with games, let me know- I'd be interested to hear if other people are the same way.