What makes a great gamer?

[Dhaka]

heh now that i think about it, a little hand eye coordination wouldnt be too bad to have either for many games =P

[Neumie]

A good gamer. Well certainly dont use cheats walkthroughs etc. I dont think that you need to be very good at games to be a good gamer (it took me an hour to beet one boss on MP2. And this wasn't just getting killed and trying again oh no, i was locking horns with a huge moth for an hour before it fell so im not good at metroid) but you should definately enjoy playing them. Be good to your fellow gamers online and off. Don't insult neubies and things like that. Also a good gamer should know what is coming and when before any of the masses are aware of it.

[chuddy_2001uk]

Woah! Hey Dhaka! LONG TIME NO SEE? Anyway, what makes a good gamer is someone who can play ANY type of game, good, and at anytime of the day. Multi-skilled in other words, whereas im suckage at sports games but kick ass at well everything else :D

[Dhaka]

yea... i basically sold my sould to everquest 2 =P but its all good though. Going with what newmie said... and expecially with MMORPGs, u can never be mean or assholes to the nwebies.... cause u never know when they may be the person ull be asking for help later. Believe me... ive seen it happen. Marketing wise, i dont think thats true neumie. If u dont know when a game comes out its ok... its not like u have to play certain games to be considered a good gamer. Any game is ok as long as one day ur able to beat it. Look at me... all i play is EQ2 and DDR (dance dance revolution for u peoeple who still dont know what it is =P) Yet, a lot of people consider me a good gamer. Oh.. and i do play my DS in school too... but thats only to pass time. Im still waiting for the actually good games to come out for teh DS (mario kart...mario kart..... and mario kart...)

[ShadowMarth]

There's only one cure for everquest 2.....

/PIZZA!!!

[Dhaka]

lol dont even bring that up... that has to be the dumbest marketing crap i have ever seen....

[P4NC4K3Z]

whats wrong with it...???

[Pilot_51]

I agree, be nice to the newbies and learn quick in new games. Those 1337 people think they're gamers but most of them insult newbies ALL the time and they don't get much better than me unless they cheat or hack, and they think a good K/D ratio is better than teamwork and sometimes even the team winning, not to mention a lot of them insult the losing team or players rather than giving them a nice "gg". Don't feel bad about losing, let it make you stronger and try keeping up the spirit of all the players.
I don't really think a gamer really needs to like every genre, but they should be able to learn games of every genre quicker than the average non-gamer. Also don't be focused on a single genre, have a somewhat broad range of genres you're interested in, but of coarse you can't be without a favorite genre (mine being FPS). Knowing all the games that come out isn't necessary, just let them come to you as you browse or talk, and if you must, just focus on the ones in your range of interest.
Hand-eye coordination helps a lot, but it isn't nearly the core of what makes a good gamer as many think, simply put it's the thought that counts and the urge to improve on it.
Addictions are ok, I'm addicted to about 5 games at once, but heavy addictions that make you forget things like hunger (real life hunger I should say) and other important things in real life, is bad. I've heard of a few that died from hunger because of MMORPG addiction or hated their addiction so much that they committed suicide. So let it be a warning that controlling addiction is another key to being a good gamer.
Digging into the games themselves (FPS being the focus here), you should know the levels and areas to the point where you could walk backwards without getting stuck or running into walls. That's part of the learning process and it helps you keep shooting the enemy or watch your back without looking like a drunk n00b. Another part of the learning process is to try getting the hang of the default controls and only change the ones that you find are an annoyance after several days of playing it, one example is the parachute in BF1942 (default key: 9) I have set to the left Alt key (where my thumb is) so I can act quick when I bail low, just about everything else is at the default.
Then you can plunge into the hardware, which is a given... Basically, get fast and reliable hardware made to play games, and be sure to look for a good hardware site with cheap yet reliable service and get reviews (http://newegg.com is my favorite).
I think I'm done for now...