What's a good "gamer" symbol?

Asked by Thammuz (9277

) November 26th, 2010

I’ve been thinking for a while of getting a tattoo, but i was always very undecided about what i wanted to permanently brand myself with. Recently I’ve realized that the only constant in my whole life has been video games. I’ve inherited this passion from my parents when i was three, and I’ve been cultivating it ever since. So i decided it was pretty much impossible to settle on anything other than something that shows this.

And therein lies the hard part. I’m not a fanboy, and I’ve never been or will be one, because i don’t evaluate any product starting from what company produces it. I hate Windows but i own an Xbox 360. I hate Apple computers because they’re overpriced toys that nobody, except movie makers and photographers, really needs, but i own an iPod, and so forth.

So, when picking a symbol, i found myself stumped. There simply are not many gaming related symbols that also are non-partisan.

Either you go way back to some dead franchise (Like space invaders, which i never really liked) or you’ll end up choosing something like a controller, which has no “generic” form, a mouse and keyboard, which doesn’t necessarily relate to gaming, and so forth.

Otherwise you’ll have to go for something like the Super Mushroom, the Triforce, the PlayStation symbol (the old one because the new one is rubbish), the “X” for Xbox, or some other readily identifiable symbol that also marks the person as a raving fanboy, a category which i personally loathe.

I thought about picking a symbol that, while partisan, meant something more to me personally, too. I thought of a super Nintendo controller, being the SNES my first console, but that would leave out at least 7 – 8 years of avid PC gaming, i thought about picking the logo from my favorite game of all times but i never was good at making favorites and what i consider my favorite game of all time changes as often as i change socks between about five to ten old games. None of which is famous enough to have a symbol that is readily recognizable.

It’s just so unfair. Bookworms can use pen and paper or a generic book, movie buffs a film reel or a projector, music lovers and musicians can pick their favorite instrument or headphones or whatever without being immediately identified as a “sax lover” or a “bass snob” or shit like that, what do we gamers get?

I’ve been scratching ideas right after thinking them up lately, because none of them were completely satisfactory and, being this something permanent, i don’t want to compromise in the slightest in order not to regret the choice later, but I’m also running out of ideas so I’d like some external input.

So, fire away, any suggestion will be appreciated, including those which I’ll ultimately not pick.

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13 Answers

Do you have a name you pretty much always use? For instance, my husband is “Nom”, pretty much everywhere. All his characters are named Nom, or some variation thereof. If he got a tattoo, it would definitely be either the word “Nom” or a visual representation of his original inspiration, which came from a book.

augustlan (47745

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@augustlan No, i generally slap in the first name that comes to mind. There are some that i use more often, namely Thammuz, but only on the Internet and never in games.

I rarely care about naming my character in dubbed games because nobody is ever going to call you by name in those, and i generally don’t look at subtitles unless i missed something in the dialog, so I use the default one. Those games that aren’t dubbed are generally JRPGs so i use Shinji Mimura, a character i really liked from Battle Royale, mainly because 6 letters for name and, sometimes, 6 for surname seems to be the average when they let you pick.

But even tattooing the Japanese name “Shinji” would leave out quite a sizable chunk of my love for videogames in general, because it’s the one i only use in JRPGs.

Thammuz (9277

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Wouldn’t a symbol that encompasses “everything with videogames” sort of water down the personality of the tattoo.

I mean fanboys are annoying, but atleast their tattoos say something about them: “I F*ing love commodore 64”.. “I love videogames” isn’t actaully a personal statement at all, but more like something you would say at the beginning of a support group meeting, “Hi, I’m John and i like video games”..

I can relate to your dilemma, i do lot’s of math and computer stuff and would love to get a tattoo, but i can’t find a symbol that is permanent enough that i would want to brand myself with it. What i don’t want is something like a “pi” symbol because “duuh i like math herp-derp”, it’s just too watered down to be of any meaning.

I would recommend waiting with the tattoo until you stumble on something you immediately recognize as “wow, i WANT this.” or you will probably end up regretting it. A tattoo is such a personal statement that i doubt that we will be able to help you find something that says something about you, perhaps you can ask some RL friends who know you intimately. Or you could get drunk and go browse the tattooers portfolio and end up getting a skull with a knife in it’s teeth riding a Koifish.. whichever..

Edit: I got it now, you need to get a couch tattoo! That will represent where you have played all your video games.

nisse (1986

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@nisse Wouldn’t a symbol that encompasses “everything with videogames” sort of water down the personality of the tattoo.

Probably, yes, but I’ve always liked “brandless” options better. Jokes aside, thought, it’s just that picking any one symbol that doesn’t encompass videgames as a whole feels to me like i’m leaving something out.

A tattoo is such a personal statement that i doubt that we will be able to help you find something that says something about you

Maybe, but suggestions are food for thought, they might not hit the spot themselves but they also might lead me in a new direction i have yet to think of.

I got it now, you need to get a couch tattoo! That will represent where you have played all your video games.

I never had a couch in front of my PC, though. And an office chair is a really sad idea considering i’m probably going to end up with an office job (Studying somputer engineering does that, on average)...

Thammuz (9277

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I take it a joystick is out of the question?

ANef_is_Enuf (26839

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@TheOnlyNeffie Actually, that’s a pretty good idea. Joysticks are exclusively gaming related tools, and have been so widespread that they can’t honestly be linked to a particular system unless you use its particular design, design that either is as general as it gets or is so specific it’s unmistakable. You might be on to something.

If only the name wasn’t so misrepresentable…

Thammuz (9277

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