The Friday Debate – This is Hardcore?

hardcore

Very Hardcore

HARDCORE TO THE MAX

Casually Hardcore

I’d say hardcore players put alot of time into their gaming and play competitively.

* Drops his work *

I’m a racing gamer. Driving games are my favorite, action/adventure is second.

And as for hardcore/casual I don’t know. I play a lot, but there are also a lot of people who play much more than me.

I think if I need to rate my addiction level it would be 7.5 out of 10. Maybe 7.75

I’m a hardcore-gamer… I mean – We are!!! Even if we like “casual-games”, too…

I would say its defined by the time someone spent on its consople/pc… per day or session…

and I can’t live on day without swithching my ps3 ON

Hardcore

Singstar can be pretty hardcore. There are some elitists who post tons of top notch videos online.

I think it depends of the extent and attitude that the game is played. Games like Call of Duty are easier to fall into the hardcore routine because of their large online userbase and competitiveness. Singstar and Buzz! only get pulled out at parties for a little bit of fun.

So, in my opinion, it all comes down to the gamer, not the game.

Casual.

(IMO!)A “hardcore gamer” is just someone who has a spare 12 hours a day to play video games, takes the game far too seriously & thinks their better then almost everyone else ( at playing games).

ooppps… you know what I mean… hmm?

Hardcore.

I’d say I’m a hardcore gamer. Couldn’t live without some kind of gaming in my life. But I’ll play any TYPE of game, from Buzz to Singstar to Killzone to Uncharted and so on. I think that’s what defines me as a hardcore gamer. I’m open to all and any types of games.

Surely only core gamers would post on a blog like this no?

Hardcore, meaning I don’t have interest in casual games, keep up to date with latest releases and anticipating the in-development, and play PS3 when I can.

I tag myself as a hardcore gamer and to me that means im hardcore.

I don’t play 1 or 2 hours a day.
Im a hardcore player, i play with all my spare time be it driving shooting flying fighting whatever.

what ever game im playing it doesn’t make a difference. When the casual Move type games come out i won’t be playing them casually, No. Ill be aiming for that platinum trophy cause im hardcore.

I finish work, come home, PS3 on.
Weekends, PS3 on.
No work, PS3 on.
Holidays, Playcation.

To me Hardcore gamer entails the way the games are played and not the games them selves.

http://www.RobGroove.com aka the PlayStation Junkie.

Yep got to be Hardcore

Hardcore is someone who want to know every little detail about games and gameing. Core is the person who play all blockbuster. Casual is a person whom play games when they are bored.
A hardcore looks at all coverage of games, play them on hard first time trough and then maybe plays multiplayer when they have some spare time.
A core gamer is the one whom mainly play big games (MW2, BF:BC2 and other games that’s the one with big advertisment budgets)
A casual is the person who buys a full retail game only once or twice every six months.Otherwise they play free games.

In my opinion it has more to do with how a gamer sees him/herself – I wouldn’t say I’m hardcore across the board, but give me a game I enjoy and I’ll play it and play it and play it until the disc disintegrates from overuse.
Some people call themselves hardcore because it makes them sound ‘cooler’ and as such gives them more perceived authority on the subject of gaming and some people call themselves casual to avoid the stigma of being pigeon-holed as ‘one of those’ gaming types (a lot of people, especially parents, are guilty of seeing gaming as an empty waste of time).

Then there’s the question of the other – some would argue that by definition a PS3 or Xbox360 owner is already much closer to hardcore than a Wii owner, even though Wii owners can be just as ‘hardcore’ as us lot. But even this is relative; I play an hour or more every day but my brother will come in from school and play all evening. Is he hardcore and am I casual? No. If anything in relative terms I’m hardcore for having played most consoles and handhelds since the Spectrum back in the day! He grew up on the Playstation 2.
So I’m not quite existentialist, but I think there’s a lot more to do with how we see ourselves and how members of the gaming community see each other and wish to be seen by each other.

Hardcore

Hardcore when I get the chance. Not a day goes past without my PS3 being turned on (and not JUST because I’ve got PlayTV)

Proper hardcore

I’d say hardcore gamers regularly follow gaming news, are more accepting of niche and unique games etc. I’d, if you watched any E3 conferences, you’re hardcore.

I am a Kevin Butler gamer. A gamer for all games. Both casual and hardcore. *Inspirational music* For I bow to NO gaming stereotype. I bow to them ALL!!

*SuperHero pose*

@18

Then i’m a core!

Hardcore and Casual tend to mean different things based on the context. If you said that someone was a “Hardcore Gamer” then I’d expect gaming to be their primary form of entertainment, with a focus on titles that require a good deal of time like shooters, rpgs, action games, racers etc. as well as having an interest in the less publicised, independent games from the likes of That Game Company, or the PixelJunk series and so forth.

A “Casual Gamer” would be someone who “also plays games”, this would be everything from Farmville to FIFA to CoD, but the important distinction is that they play Farmville while checking up on their facebook messages or play FIFA when they’ve got some mates over before or after watching a game.

That’s not to say that you can’t have “Hardcore Farmville” or FIFA players, but their focus is just on a single game, so they’re not “Hardcore Gamers” to my understanding.

A casual gamer TO ME, is somebody who mostly plays easily accessible games, without the need for complex gameplay/story/graphics. It’s a hobby amongst many others, for which a casual gamer doesn’t allot tons of hours every month.
Browser flash games, cell-phone games and the majority of Wii games fit into my category of casual software.
A casual gamer won’t sink his teeth into a game and end it by all means necessary, when he faces difficult situations. He won’t repeat a mean part in the game for 20x, he won’t play a game in hard mode, because he’d like to play through without too many hiccups.
And last but not least, a casual gamer won’t spend hours just to read up on new games, consoles, accessories and industry insider interviews.

Id say a Hardcore gamer is one that spends hours just trying to do one thing, and a casual gamer is someone who tries, doesn’t succeed and tries again later on.Hardcore gamers are dedicated gamers, the ones who will continue to attack the game until they’ve conquered all that can be conquered!
I for one am a hardcore gamer since i have a record of SixAxis controllers hitting the wall at well over 60mph

hardcore the only problem is sony is just becoming more casual and less hardcore

I am kind of in the middle. If i had the time i would be proper core but at the moment i am kind of a hybrid. I want to play as much as possible but i dont get the chance.

I can tell you the whole MGS saga, know the tech tree for Starcraft, have played DOTA for more than 500 hours now, have 4 platinums atm and love playing Plants vs Zombies, games on facebook and Kongregate, and don’t mind a spot of Wii bowling.

So… hardcore?

Im in the middle really while i love games like GTA IV BFBC2 KZ2 and AC II. I kinda have to take a break from the violence with casual games.i go on a non violent few weeks with FIFA and LBP and other more family friendly games.

@29, Sony becoming less hardcore? A little, I guess, but nowhere near compared to Microsoft of Ninty

I think it depends on how many games you finished. And after that how often you replay your finished games to improve in certain areas. I think I finish about 80% of my games. That would make a hardcore gamer.

@Zoibie

dude they can’t even give US claasic hardcore games unlike xbox that has a lot off old school games just like nintendo

Definately Hardcore, aka adicted. I play way to much, I have 3 platinum trophies, and i’m a ps3 fanboy.

My favourite genre would be action/adventre (Uncharted 2, Assassins Creed 2), second FPS (MW2, MAG, and Battlefield), and third is driving (Burnout Paradise, Midnight Club: LA, and GRAN TURISMO 5!!!)

I’d say core. I enjoy every genre and I have a stupid amount of games not just on PS3 but all consoles. So yeah.. XD

I do enjou the more casual experience though, I love minis, I like motion control, I like stuff like Loco Roco etc.

I think people who play JUST CoD and JUST EA Sports games are… casual gamers. They may play those games a lot but I doubt they could name 10 RPGs or even knew what RPG stood for (no, it’s not Rocket-propelled grenade! :p).

When i think hardcore i automatically think about these MLG pros.

The simple answer is look at trophy level (Lol)

These days anything above Lv15 is Core

Yet saying that ive seen a few Gamers with Lv18 yet have no platinum trophies because dont have the patience to finish the game whole so to be fair it all depends on the person.

I got 31 Platinums and see my self as a pretty decent gamer so i’ll probaby have a good enough chance to win a 3D TV come next sunday…*hint-hint* Lol

There’s not a casual bone in my body.

@KAP

dude that can’t be hardcore cause most ppl have kiddy games just because it has a easy platinum so that would mean even casual is hardcore

i dont think i fit any of those. More hardcore than most i know. But i don’t have time or inclination to compete with people i would consider true hardcore. Despite owning mostly social/casual games, i try to prove im not casual by playing thing like bayonetta on hard+. I wouldnt consider mw2 hardcore due to its accesability and popularity.

I’m such a hardcore gamer I don’t have a job.

Can I have yours?

It’s a silly divide in my opinion, but an inevitable one. The shift in the games market caused by the Wii has left many of the older generation gamers unhappy with the direction being taken, and the ‘casuals’ are taking the heat because of it.

I don’t believe there are casual or hardcore games necessarily. As you say, Buzz can be played in a casual or hardcore way, as can shooters like Killzone 2 or racers like Gran Turismo 5.

More interesting is that hardcore gamers consider themselves ‘true gamers’ (or at least I believe they do). That said, these gamers are willing to shun ‘casual’ experiences because they believe themselves to be too hardcore for them.

In my opinion a true gamer is open to many experiences, otherwise we wouldn’t enjoy some of the top games of the industry, such as LittleBigPlanet, or classics like Shadow of the Colossus.

Speaking of LBP…. or LBP2 rather, I noticed the post on the US blog about the release date and CE. Any chance you could chase up when we’ll get a post on that please? They are from the UK afterall.

Great post James.

Hardcore gamers are those that don’t use the glitches when competing online.

They are the ones that keep the games after completion for replay after replay after replay.

They are the ones that sit at work and wish they could be at home playing games… or better at work playing games for £££ or designing the next big thing

Hardcore gamers have been playing since the 80′s and don’t intend to stop any time soon.

I don’t think that complete trophy lists from very few games are a measure of how hardcore you are… thats like saying you are a hardcore metal fan with only Ozzy Osborne on your shelf. Hardcore gamers grab up games and digest them piece by piece, coming back to “Plat” it on a wet weekend.

I guess what I’m saying is… The above is me and I se myself as pretty hardcore. I can take being Pwned and bested – as I can give as good as I get… thats hardcore. I can’t STAND those that throw their boards away in skate 2 to glitch a Hall of Meat!

I would class myself as a hardcore gamer but I don’t really like the term. I think it’s a term that is used more nowadays as a contrast to the Wii’s family-friendly ‘casual’ games. But even the term casual has been corrupted by the likes of the Wii, as ‘casual’ can be seen as a derogatory term meaning low-quality shovelware.

Hardcore and Casual are really terms that should be used to describe the person rather than the games they play – i.e. a casual gamer would play a few hours a week generally preferring pick-up-and-play games on an easy setting and won’t care about things like trophies (and in some cases the production values of the game!), whereas a hardcore gamer would play a few hours a night generally preferring more challenging games and online competitive games and would try for the Platinum etc – these terms apply regardless of the game, it could even be the same game they are playing!

James,

You’ve puzzled yourself.

The mistake you made is that you’ve been listening to the gibberish that the people in sales and marketing feel that they have to keep coming up with to justify their massive salaries.

Go and spend a few weeks with the boys in engineering and product development to get yourself grounded back into the real world

I swing both ways Can be hardcore but sometimes casual.

I do like my racing and football games. I also really enjoy adventure games. I don’t really like FPS games to be honest.

James, are you hardcore or casual?

Elite Hardcore

i dont think its about hours spent per week. Some weeks i only manage 2-3 hours, but would stil say i play at every oportunity.