"Gamer"
It sounds so condescending no matter the context.
It also has no actual meaning. What qualifies a gamer. At what level do you stop simply enjoying games and become a gamer?
"Gamer" i hate that term, for me it's a loaded term that not only includes someone who is a videogame enthusiast but all the Toxicity the gamer culture brings. But that's me.
That term, I feel, will slowly vanish as playing games becomes a more accepted and widespread activity. The pandemic normalized playing games a lot, even to the point that a lot of elderly people got into games.
In the future there probably will be a better term for describing game enthusiasts, since gamer has a lot of negative connotations. I really appreciate something like foodie or even movie buff, because you associate those 'titles' with true and sincere passion. 'Gamer' culture, on the other hand, considers completely normal and acceptable to trash entire genres and games without even knowing what they are about (see: Smash community). That's probably the reason why people who consider themselves 'game enthusiasts' feel disgusted and alienated by the term 'gamer'. The word simply has a trashy and ignorant energy which a lot of people don't want to associate with.
It also doesn't help a lot that the word has been excessively commercialized for almost a decade.
