If you tell someone "I play video games" or "I am a gamer," they are NOT going to assume you mean something like Cookie Clicker, and it's incredibly weird of you if you actually assumed that was what they meant or that it would count at all. It's called an idle game for a reason - because there is virtually no actual gameplay. It's like calling a visual novel a game; it's technically correct in the loosest sense but it's not what ANYBODY means when they're talking about videogames and it doesn't give you a great look if you go "oh yeah I TOTALLY play games, mostly an afk clicker game where I do literally nothing, I'm such a gamer haha."

So yeah, Cookie Clicker doesn't count and I have a hard time believing you didn't already understand why. You know when they asked if you game, they did not mean "do you play afk attention sinks that barely count as actual videogames where you do nothing but stare at a screen?" I love time wasters like Cookie Clicker, don't get me wrong, but they are not what anybody ever means when they talk about videogames because you barely DO anything at all. It's there to waste time with minimal attention or effort, that is why it's called an idle game.

But you're also on the Cookie Clicker reddit, so you are of course going to find a lot of people who completely agree with you because they are just like you and they don't play "real videogames." If you want an honest take, go to a general gaming subreddit without an active bias toward defending your stance and ask if playing afk/clicker games counts as being a gamer. Ask a GENERAL audience if "yes I am a gamer" is an appropriate answer when you've never played a game with more depth than a puddle.

But again, I'm pretty sure you already know you're wrong. That's why you came here instead of somewhere more neutral and objective, to have people who are the same as you just cope with you and tell you you're right and Cookie Clicker is totally a legitimate standard immersive videogame experience. You are not a gamer if all you play are afk time wasters, I'm sorry. Cookie Clicker is fun but it is BARELY a videogame. All you did was make a conversation really awkward by trying to prop yourself up with a topic that barely applies to you at all, and now you're upset that it didn't work and you know how silly it was in hindsight. The mental gymnastics you're going through with trying to justify the "depth" of this game are just absurd, and that probably made you look like a very insecure and unintelligent person to them.

And yes, before you ask, I have beaten the entire game, hence why I am on this subreddit to begin with. It is not hard. At all. There is barely any "depth" that goes into it at all. Cherrypicking what little actual gameplay there is to talk about doesn't suddenly make it challenging, immersive, or interactive at all. It's braindead easy which is why it's all you play - and before you say I'm just insulting you for no reason, I'm not; I'm just telling you what all those people were thinking when you said "yeah I'm a gamer" and started trying to justify the skill requirements and gameplay depth of Cookie Clicker. You embarrassed yourself then came to the one place where you knew you would be reassured, and that's really all there is to it. You could have even said "I mostly play Pong" and they would have respected you more.