Casual Gamer, Hardcore gamer and the third way

[Guernsey]

I do not consider myself to a core gamer who plays the game to get all the details, have a ton of games or grind but nevertheless I do play games more than the average gamer and even moreso than the casual but with miyamoto's new project that will have the game play itself, it may blur the line so to speak on the casual and hardcore gamer. I would personally find it disturbing of all of sudden, my father, cousin or grandparents would know all about Kingdom Hearts, Zelda or Gears or War but that is the fear of almost every gamer imaginable and that is my own personal fear as well. I don't know if this third way may blur the line between casual and hardcore gaming or have someone talk all about the games while at work in the same manner the talk of Lost or some other dumb show on television but this personally disturbs me and I don't know if I am ready for this. Is anyone here ready for that of it comes along?

[Kizer]

yea. I have been ready for that. This Hardcore vs casual crap is really stupid in my eyes. Some people like games more then others just like some people like sports more then others.

What about that guy who plays one particular game hard core, and another casually? Honestly there was no line. Also, I am sure some of your co-workers talk about games while at work. It's foolish to think no one does that with others that share said hobby.

[Js2756]

"Hardcore gamer" is one of the stupidest terms ever coined with regards to video games. I for one would be a much happier person if I never had to hear hardcore with regards to video games ever again.

[caddyalan]

My interests in video games don't fit into the convenient categories of "casual" or "hardcore." If they fit anywhere, it'd be weird little niches. Platform games and I go way back. I've been a fan of action adventure games and console RPGs for two decades, and I know what I like, even if it's unpopular. I enjoy a few strategy games. I like boy x girl(s) ren'ai games, whether they're text driven or simulations. And finally, I want to like girl x boy otome games... except there's so few in English.

So yeah, I don't like the idea of casual fans and hardcore fans being the only two relevant categories. (Especially since people on the extreme ends seem to distrust each other.) There's people out there in fandom who don't fit the stereotypes of "jaded male fan" and "kids and their parents."

[Jays]

Originally Posted by Guernsey

I would personally find it disturbing of all of sudden, my father, cousin or grandparents would know all about Kingdom Hearts, Zelda or Gears or War but that is the fear of almost every gamer imaginable and that is my own personal fear as well. I don't know if this third way may blur the line between casual and hardcore gaming or have someone talk all about the games while at work in the same manner the talk of Lost or some other dumb show on television but this personally disturbs me and I don't know if I am ready for this. Is anyone here ready for that of it comes along?

That's difficult to talk about because in essence, don't you mean your afraid of the gaming industry truly becoming mainstream? My grandfather who is in mid 70s goes to see many movies, and while I wouldn't consider him a movie enthuthiast, he very much so enjoys them, heck I remember having a good discussion with him about Quantom of Solace. While I agree that with our generation at least, one which video games have not recieved the level of attention that they perhaps deserve as a medium of entertainment, it would be difficult to fathom the generations going out seemingly understand what we like.

The reason why I interjected with the story about my grandfather is because I consider myself a gaming enthuthiast, and it's something that I very much enjoy. What will happen when I myself am a grandfather and playing video games? You know it's something that we don't think about, but as time passes I believe that the role of video games as a form of entertainment will eventually surpass that stereotype that they are for children, just like television was made by the devil and is bad for you that happened during the early inception of it. Give it time, I think we as a generation can "spread awareness" if you will and it wont be soo awkward for one day, grandkids to talking about games with their grandparents, and for them both to be enjoying them on the same level.

Originally Posted by Js2756

"Hardcore gamer" is one of the stupidest terms ever coined with regards to video games. I for one would be a much happier person if I never had to hear hardcore with regards to video games ever again.

While it really is a rough description of commited gamers, I believe there is some truth to it. You can't possibly say someone who is a Xbox Live fiend is on the same page as someone who owns a Wii with a bunch of games that they barely ever game - again I am generalizing, but there is a lot of truth in that. There are gaming enthuthiast and there are those who aren't, a game like Rainbow Six Vegas has a certain appeal that attracts a certain crowd of gamers over a game like WiiSports or what not. I'm not trying to bash on the Wii here, but it does serve a point, whether some people like it or not, there is something of a division between what gamers play and do.

Originally Posted by caddyalan

So yeah, I don't like the idea of casual fans and hardcore fans being the only two relevant categories. (Especially since people on the extreme ends seem to distrust each other.) There's people out there in fandom who don't fit the stereotypes of "jaded male fan" and "kids and their parents."

Again I agree with the assesment that simply splitting gamers in half is a bad one, but there is some truth to it. A gaming enthuthiast who buys Call of Duty 4, might have gotten Assassin's Creed, and they also might have gotten Metal Gear Solid 4, all games which are totally different from each other; someone who isn't, well they might only get one of those. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just even if people hate those categories, they do hold some weight to them.

[Nosauz]

"hardcore" is almost synonymous with jerk or elitist because when you think of hardcore gamers the portrayal is of an over the top character like FPS Doug, and not a conesseuir of video games. To me its like the difference from a foodie and gourmet, gourmet and foodie are basically the same thing, a person who loves good food, and hard core and game enthusiast is the same thing, but hardcore carries the negative connotation because of portrayals from south park and other media. Anyway my point is, game enthusiats are open to games in general, they enjoy playing good games, and want to seek them out. Though some only seek good fps's, when they look at games they look at them beyond the visceral point and click and more about the engrossing feelings derived from the game.

[Jan-Poo]

I thought those definitions were popularized by MMORPGs where the difference between casual players (people that play 2 hours a day average or less) and hardcore players (people that can play up to 16 hours in a single day) becomes overwhelming apparent in term achievements, wealth, and items.

[CybEssen]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

I thought those definitions were popularized by MMORPGs where the difference between casual players (people that play 2 hours a day average or less) and hardcore players (people that can play up to 16 hours in a single day) becomes overwhelming apparent in term achievements, wealth, and items.

That's exactly what I thought. People that love doing repetitive things and would not mind spending their entire day doing said repetitive things. Terms get warped around pretty easily, depends on what genre they're talking about. But hardcore = elitist/jerk is pretty spot on no matter which genre you're playing. MMOs especially.

[Nosauz]

except elitist and jerk are not synonyms. Elitist in gaming is just one that cares about their skill versus others, which is fine because really no body wants to lose and nobody wants to be a dud. Everybody wants to be the clutch hero, and those that do pull it off feel they accomplish something. I mean would you call a Chess GM an elitist because he honed his craft? or a god master, kendo master? When in direct competition, showing your prowess is not considered elitism at least from my perspective.

[CybEssen]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

except elitist and jerk are not synonyms. Elitist in gaming is just one that cares about their skill versus others, which is fine because really no body wants to lose and nobody wants to be a dud. Everybody wants to be the clutch hero, and those that do pull it off feel they accomplish something. I mean would you call a Chess GM an elitist because he honed his craft? or a god master, kendo master? When in direct competition, showing your prowess is not considered elitism at least from my perspective.

They are not yes, but there are also immature "elitists" (large portion being in co-op online gaming) that have a superiority complex and go the extra mile and spew stuff like "l2play," "newb" and all that stuff. And, if said elitist plays "hardcore" they would know how to go about ridiculing the other "casual" person. Not everyone knows what sportsmanship is like what a "kendo master, or Chess GM" might display.

[MidnightViper88]

"Immature elitists" are just immature...I remember playing co-op terrorist hunt on Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 online, and joining on this one host's game...I had been a multi-level Elite by then, and the host hadn't even reached Warrant Officer...Yet the kid (He sounded like a kid, judged by his high-pitched squeaky voice) kept barking out throughout the game something like "If you don't kill *this many* terrorists, I'm going to kick you off"...Now sometimes I may not get the most kills in a game, but there are also times where I can keep myself alive longer than others...Yet this kid still thought he had some sort of superiority to me, and it just pissed me off...It wasn't any fun being threatened with getting kicked, so I told the kid what I thought of his stupid rules, and then I left the game...I should've cussed him out because he was being such a butthurt whiner...That may not sound like a good example coming from someone like me ranting against immaturity, but I don't kick people off my game or give them shit if they're getting more kills than me...

I don't know anything about "hardcore" gamers, casual gamers, whatever...A gamer's a gamer; The difference is whether someone's having fun or whether someone's taking gaming as SERIOUS BUSINESS...

[chikorita157]

I do play alot of video games... only on my free time, but I'm not a casual gamer... I'm pretty much in between because I don't have the time during college to play alot of games or it would impact my grades, which isn't a good thing.

And also, I rarely play online... because I don't really want to anyways...

[Nosauz]

I find that kind of offense, I play games to enjoy them, and what do I enjoy? Defeating all my enemies, showing that I have the most versatile skill set in said game. Ones perception of fun can be different, and mine is being good/the best at what I do. Its my competitive nature, when I played football I wanted to push my body to the max, to be the best linebacker I could be, to make the clutch plays, its just about your personality and when someone "sucks" they maybe having a good time so so be it. Whats wrong with being good and enjoying being good. I mean my friends are CPL in CS doesn't make them jackasses, it just means they enjoy high level CS.

I'm in college too, and I have a shit ton of free time, 3-4 hrs between classes, 3-4hrs of class a day, it boils down to a lot of free time, and even though I workout, go out and party with the crew, doesn't mean I don't have time to go play some competitive tf2.

[MidnightViper88]

I like playing online, but it's really hit or miss with who you get to play with; Playing online co-op Terrorist Hunt on Vegas 2, I met some really cool guys that were fun to play with one game, and then I jump in on another game and I get assholes that ruin the mood with their attitude...

[Nosauz]

Well see thats why console online sucks... you have no control over the server you play on, I play on pc so whenever I find people to be too obnoxious I just hop to a different server, and most good servers offer great ping, map rotation, to entice people to play and make them popular so most of the time the gaming experience is almost on the level of a scrim, but then again pubs will be pubs.

[MidnightViper88]

Umm...I don't know about with other games, since Vegas 2 is the only game I've bothered to play online, but I know with that game, you can choose a server (Rather, a game set up by a host) based on search criteria; Come and go as you will...Of course, when searching for a game match, the only quantitative thing you know is the user handle of the host, and that doesn't tell you anything about what the person's like...If it's a room full of people just playing, then it's a room full of gamers; If it's a room full of people with their mics on, then it's a room full of people...It's when you jump in the game containing the latter do things differentiate from the good and the bad...

...just like real life...

[yezhanquan]

When gameplay becomes Serious Business, I think we need to take a break and chill.

[kujoe]

The terms "hardcore" and "casual" gamers aren't necessarily about the time spent on gaming. A so-called casual gamer can just as easily spend a lot of time with a so-called casual game if he or she chooses.

These terms are usually thrown out there simply to describe a demographic gap among gamers. People often make the mistake of comparing the two as one being "better" than the other, but there is indeed a difference between the kinds of games these two groups enjoy.

Looking at this outside the typical fanboy arguments of "us vs. them, hardcore vs. casual", the fact of the matter is: gamers are a diverse lot. Nintendo has learned to diversify this market and reach out to it, hence their current success. At the same time, this is also the reason why they're being criticized at the same time.


And why would the idea of my father or my cousins learning about games be disturbing anyway? (Heck, my cousins are bigger gamers than I am, but whatever.) It makes no sense. If the labels "casual" and "hardcore" aren't really a big deal, then this shouldn't matter at all. Personally, I would welcome the idea of friends and family having the same interests as I. Not to mention, it may also expand the horizons of others who have such a narrow (and at times prejudiced) view of games.

[yezhanquan]

Yes, marketing strategy does play a part in this distinction. At the end of the day, a studio survives by shifting copies of their games to consumers, who then pay for it. Don't get your sales? You're out.

[Nosauz]

If you don't want to take a game serious that fine, but some people enjoy high skilled competition, just check the guarena, and dota, if you want to just mess around u just pub it, but if you want people who know all the builds laning theories and character stats you go to gaurena, the same goes for CS, if the damn server is called CPL practice match and you go in expecting people to play around then you are sorely mistaken. For many of "us" we enjoy the competition and thats what makes games interesting, does it mean I don't play casual games? Hell No, I play geom wars, world of goo and whole slew of other "casual" games, and hell for most rts I'm pretty casual, its just some aspects of MP such as the competitive nature is whats interesting. Same goes for Unreal Live, its basically a leaderboard where everybody is nuts with the rocket luancher and everybody bunny hops like their some god at the game, does it make the game any less fun? No because for me that environment really gets my blood bumping and the adrenaline/dopamine really flowing to my brain.