Yeah, self-labeling is fraught with risks.

It's less about self-labelling and more about having formalised definitions that actively describe the role of a given person within a team of people.

In the industry, the terminologies for 'Game Programmer' and 'Game Developer' (and 'X Engineer') are close to being synonymous at first glance, but actually carry a subtle but important implied differentiation.

• A 'Programmer' is concerned only with programming and implementation, as a result the programmer is not expected to design systems, but is expected to implement them -he or she is not an engineer, and is instead a skilled worker. A Programmer will probably work in a generalised software orientated role on various systems such as gameplay or tools. The actual design of those systems will for the most part be predetermined and dictated to them.
• An 'Engineer' is concerned with specifically with engineering tasks related to their more narrow specialisation. As such they will both design and implement systems corresponding to the game, usually specific technical challenges related to things like rendering or networking. The Engineer does have the ability to impact the creative side of a project, but their specific focus remains entirely technical. They often act as an enabler for creative workers.
• A 'Developer' is concered with both technical and creative challenges and have the least strict definition, but they are least likely to work with narrowly defined generalised systems and are given more freedom. Developers will often work both gameplay and technical systems, prototyping and introducing new features or tools. They may or may not be tied to an actual product and are usually involved more with issues of lateral thinking over logical.

@L. Spiro - Thanks for that

heh, funny, I was just updating my own website finally changing Game Programmer to Developer. Decided to make the switch after spearheading the development of my own game that got released two months ago.

So the more broad "developer" title just made more sense than the specific "programmer", agreeing with everyone above. Just depends on what you do for the project.

I have to make all the assets and do the coding and the marketing. Many days, I work on my games without thinking a single line of code.

I'm a developer.

I programmed some games, but the feeling that I'm above the mere mortals had long gone. Hacking and maths are not that of a unique skill, and according to my experience (I'm a mechanical engineer by profession) programming is the most forgiveable profession about hacking. You can get away with almost anything. And the way I see it on the forums, most people are just like me in that regard (okay, I haven't programmed big games, but you can judge it by yourself by looking at my signature).

Machine construction is a whole different thing. Even as a mechanical engineer, the more I work in that profession, the more unbelievable and wondrous machine design seems to be.

Hell, it's much harder for me to design Lego Technic models than to hack up a computer game from zero (even though programming takes much more time).

Back on topic: I like to be called by my name. For some reason, I never liked if people immediately see what I do, what I'm like, etc. Not really their business.

When I was a janitor, I preferred custodian. I was proud that I maintained the entire plant, However once my employer applied the title sanitation engineer, I was relegated to cleaning restrooms.

As my career degraded into the sewer, I picked up HL7/ICD-10, and adopted "coder" that almost got me stuck with Healthcare.gov data transformation.

Yikes!

I think I prefer just 'developer" and drop he game.

Game Developer, programming isn't all I do, textures, info, models etc.

Game Developer, programming isn't all I do, textures, info, models etc.

I wish that I could upvote that last one. LOL

I prefer to be called "Your Imperial Majesty"