The Friday Debate – This is Hardcore?

The term ‘hardcore gamer’ personally annoys the heck out of me. Just as the term ‘casual gamer’ does.

If I had to, I would say I’m ‘hardcore’. Though if you think ‘hardcore’ gamers are only interested in shooters then you are sorely mistaken. My personal genre of preference would be RPG, primarily JRPG, followed by Platformers, then Shmups (Shumps as in the normally 2D vertically/horizontally scrolling games such as Touhou, Gradius, or R-Type).

I don’t stick to a certain genre and play games from all across the board; sticking to a single genre and saying all other genre ‘suck’ is plainly idiotic. I can enjoy ‘hardcore’ games such as Touhou, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Metal Gear, etc., and ‘casual’ games such as Mario Kart Wii, Professor Layton, Singstar, Buzz, and Lord knows what else people consider ‘casual’ and ‘hardcore’ these days.

I’ve wrote in this comment box about 10 times, and each time deleted everything…
The hardcore/casual debate is rubbish. I love games, that’s all there is to it. I love games from almost every part of the spectrum. Some friends of mine hate nintendo just because of its childish image, does that make them less hardcore for dismissing an entire section of gaming? I’m sure they’d beg to differ, they’d probably call anything currently made on the wii ‘casual’.

@52 See, that’s the thing, some games really have universal appeal, and are dismissed as casual games.
If I was forced to, I wouldn’t say Professor Layton or Mario Kart were ‘casual’. ‘Hardcore Gamers’ are probably the people who love them more than anyone else.

To be honest, I think people who just play CoD are just as ‘casual’ as those who play farmville.

been hardcore since my atari lol

@47

Love It LOL

Hardcore for me. I don’t think it’s just about the type of games you play, or the number of games you have. It’s also about the hours spent playing per weeks, following gaming news, reading gaming blogs (like this one).

I doubt many casual gamers would read and respond to this blog… that would be too hardcore!

the question i want to ask is are people who rent games or gameshare in a seperate section lol as not buying your own games must put a little bit of a dent in some1s gaming coreness lol

Both terms are silly status symbols used by elitists who think that somehow their choices make them better than someone else.
A ‘gamer’ plays whatever they enjoy without caring what others think.
Trophies, achievements, your latest emblem or killstreak, your rank in some online game… they all mean nothing. True gamers will continue to ignore all of these new marketing gimmicks while the children of today fuss over their online image.

I’m such a hardcore gamer I play with myself all the time.

Also, I’m aware that my post is somewhat hypocritical in denouncing elitism and then turning around and proclaiming a certain type of person as superior, to those of you who genuinely enjoy trophy hunting purely for the perpose of personal achievement, I apologise.

Hardcore since the old NES…

Although sometimes is nice for a quickie casual game, like Robot Unicorn Attack. If Adult Swim release that as a mini, it would be awesome

I guess you could say “casual” gamers just want some fun interactive entertainment and leave it at that; “hardcore” players want that, too, but they also want a challenge.

So yeah, gimme the party games for when friends are over, but I want games that challenge me when I’m playing on my own.

Just a gamer,I love animal crossing as much as I’ll love GT5 with all assists off,people use the tags as some superiority thing.

Why does it matter if my mother doesn’t do a 2 hour session on the DS or last guy?she still enjoys video games,just because what she plays,she’d get labelled casual.If she put 60+ hours into a perceived casual game like nintendogs,would she then became hardcore? it’s total BS.
I think Nintendo have done wonders in truly broading the appeal,and destroying the perception of teens in their rooms playing games.something I think 3DS will take to whole new level with software verity and hardware penetration.

i started with an atari, moved to Super Nintendo, Sega Saturn, PSX, PS2 and now PS3.

i play around 2h-3h on weekdays (most of them), i read gaming news everyday, and some games still make me play from dinner till morning. if i didn’t need to have a job, i would play all day :]

however, i’m not an online intensive type; i go online for quick games, like a couple of SF4 battles, some racing on Burnout and some puzzles on Critter Cruch. But i mostly play offline. And mostly single player.

i like to collect trophies but i’m not crazy about’em.

what does that make me? core?

I would tend to grade ‘coreness’ on a scale of investment. That could be measured in time, money or just simple enthusiasm, it doesn’t really matter which. If you’re at the stage of checking gaming blogs or posting on forums, clearly you’re more than a social smoker, so to speak.

As for what the terms mean, they’ve been twisted into elitist labels. This is very simple to demonstrate: when was the last time you heard “casual” used in a positive manner? How about “hardcore” as a negative? Among certain circles the latter essentially equates to “good”, the former representing anything that is deemed a threat.

“Hardcore” reminds me of the Western appropriation of otaku as an honorific. In Japan it is generally considered a negative label, a mark of unhealthy obsession rather than simple appreciation. Now people rally under the banner of the hardcore as if it’s something to be proud of, which could be seen as a nice feat of reclamation if the people shouting the loudest didn’t happen to be the most damaging of stereotypes, abusive and disparaging in equal measure.

I’m Hardcore…U Know The Score

The difference between a hardcore gamer and a casual gamer is the level of obsession. For further information consult your local shrink.

But seriously. Does it really matter so long as you enjoy the games (which I have done for over 30 years).

Be yourselves not a pidgeon hole title some marketing man wants to slap on your forehead.

im hardcore in the sense that i import games because the stuff i like (Ys, hatsune miku, persona 3 portable) are unlikely to see an eu release

I originated from First Person Shooters. I use to love them and spend hours on end playing them, then when I purchased my Playstation 3 I played a variety of FPS’s but noticed that there all the same (IMHO) and that they are really boring.

The Playstation 3 taught me a great deal about video games and that there is so many under-rated games that deserve credit and that there are so many video games out there that anyone will enjoy when they play them.

I looked at Yakuza 3′s launch trailer and though ‘pretty poor’. I played the demo and realised that it were something special and that it were a powerful video game with great combat and a great story.

After this I realised that there are so many video games out there that are great and deserve to be played by anyone.

So to sum that up…I use to be a hardcore gamer with 10 platinums but retired and started a new life playing new video games so I’m more of a err…no idea anyone want to help, What do you call someone that plays a variety of video games and hates video games?

Hates First Person Shooters Video Games*

If you turn your PS3 on 5 nights a week your hardcore.

in the middle

Hardcore. Been hardcore since the first time I picked up a PS1 controller.

Hardcore for sure

I work for SCEE as a games tester, I spend 11 hours a day 4 days a week playing games. I then come home and pick up a pad to play some more games. I play games on my PC, my 360, my wii, but mostly on my PS3. (Only really buy games for my other consoles if they are exclusives, as I find the PS to have the better version on multi-plat releases, we’ll forget about Bayonetta. Ahem.)

The games I play vary from FPS, RPG, Platformers, Puzzle, retro, MMO’s, action adventures… thinking about it this would have been easier to just say I don’t play football games, tho i do try new ones out. (Nothing since the amazing ISS64 on the N64 has held my attention )

Guess what im trying to say here is that a Hardcore gamer is someone who lives and breathes games and plays all types of games i.e. doesnt discriminate against a type of game because of it being stuck into a genre. I love a game of SingStar, Tekken, Modern Warfare… I love all games be it Flower to Dead Rising and anything inbetween, which is quite a fair bit!

Its always about how it is pulled off whatever that “it” is.

Games aren’t “Casual” or “Hardcore” the people playing them are

I am that I am; neither hardcore nor casual. I am a person that practices the art of playing video games, titles and or classifications beyond that core truth are irrelevant.

I’m neither hardcore or casual, I’m a medium gamer who plays a lot when there is spare time and not fussed when there isn’t, will play a game and try to finish it but won’t replay it unless there is an alternate gameplay element.

Example: GOW3, great game, finished it, but I won’t play the main game again.

DANNY3194, what we call you is normal.

Hardcore can mean many things but the general stereotype that most people fall into is a geek that has no job or social life, spends their life playing FPS and is deluded about their alleged awesomeness.

These people I prefer to refer to as idiots. People who will buy every FPS even though they are practically identical. People who buy COD and EA games that are 99% the same each year with just a different number on the title. That is hardcore stupidity.

3730 odd trophys and 49 platinums. yeah i’m gonna go ahead and call myself hardcore. lol

@The_Shuffle

Agreed 100% with you on First Person Shooters and that’s why I will never touch one again, it’s the same old shoot someone and go to an objective scenario.

I were a hardcore gamer who invested hours into obtaining platinum trophies, I gave up eventually and realised there’s more to video games then obtaining trophies/achievements.

So to sum up this whole scenario I’m a ‘Normal’ gamer.

I’d say from the responses given here that Casual/Hardcore is nothing but a marketing term that everyone takes in different ways. Odd isn’t it that most people’s personal definition of hardcore is one that includes them.

labels, labels. Is a person defined by their name or by their actions? I like actions, m’self, so don’t worry too much about these labels. If I were to start categorising things (treating gamers like entomologists treat insects), then I think two categories would be nowhere near enough.

However, the two categories that mean the most to me, are those people that game for fun and for friendship, and those that game to pwn, and be better than the people around them, to bolster their own (likely fragile) ego (which is basically giving in to very primitive emotional impulses, and in my view displays a relatively limited degree of emotional development – which isn’t such an issue for people in their early-mid teens, as they are still generally developing emotionally). Given the “pwnerers” often call themselves hardcore, it’s given this term a bit of a negative connotation (ie, “hardcore” gamers are young-to-mid teens or older folk with limited emotional development) amongst the older, more relaxed gaming community.

Can’t put a hardcore nor casual label on my gaming behavior. Because A) I don’t want to be labeled as such (just enjoying a game and if it is a good game I get back to it once in while) B) I want to play Zuma without having to worry OTHER pps find me too casual and stop talking to me.

Meh, if there’s a label that would matter: I’m a completionist. And I’m also eager to try anything new. It’s hard to do both.

hardcore, but a bit casual

I personally don’t think there is a ‘Hardcore’ and ‘Casual’ gamer. You’re either into games or you are not, some people will only play shooters but maybe not for long periods of time so they would fall into this ‘Casual’ category but as it is a shooter would it mean they are ‘Hardcore’? I maybe wrong but I don’t see people that watch films be described ‘Hardcore’ and ‘Casual’ people just go watch films that appeal to them

The same I think applies to games, I’m sure there are plenty of ‘Hardcore’ gamers that enjoy Singstar etc just like there is probably numerous ‘Casual’ gamers who play Call of duty etc. It’s just a label people have invented which has created a mythical ‘Casual’ gamer stereotype which the industry believes will make their company millions of pounds.

I am a core gamer.

We all hardcore gamers.

By a number of people’s definitions, I wouldn’t be considered hardcore. But I look at the kind of investments I’ve made in video games – I have all the consoles and handhelds, games numbering nearly into the hundreds and I run my own website editorialising and analysing the video game industry. I understand market trends, video game production; I think it would be safe to say I understand most of the machinations of the video game industry.

Meanwhile I work 40-60 hour weeks so actually playing games doesn’t necessarily happen every day. However, when I get the time, I probably play game for 6 or 7 hour sittings (and in one case to fix my sleep pattern, I played Zelda: Majora’s Mask for 31 hours straight!). I don’t play COD (I don’t particularly enjoy FPS’… though I enjoyed MAG and Killzone 2) and I don’t trophy farm.

I play games because I enjoy everything they encompass. I see gaming as an art form and I play games with that notion in mind. Therefore, I appreciate story, graphics, music, gameplay, all that. I see myself as hardcore.

By the by James, if you need another topic, here’s a controversial one: Is gaming an art form?

I ought to clarify that: Are games an art form?

The Buzz pic looks like an advertisement for Ketamine!

a hardcore gamer is someone that actually cares about the games they play, the tech powering it, what games engine it’s running on, the tweaks to the gameplay, what resolution and refresh rate it’s runing, locked at 60hx or not, their ping rate, etc. etc. etc.

a casual gamer couldn’t give two jots for any of this and doesn’t mind at all how many trophies they have.

would a casual gamer log 200hrs+ playing Borderlands for instance and harvest Crawmerax for the chance of new weapons or build their own using Willow Tree? i doubt it.

HARDCORE SINCE 1982!

a hardcore gamer is someone that buys a 3DTV just for gaming on.

I’m just a ‘Gamer’. Have been since 1984 starting life on my Amstrad cpc464, working my way through all the nintendos, segas, (even atari’s) only ever missed out on Amiga’s and the Neo Geo, up to now owning all 3 of the major gaming platforms. Including the handhelds. When its impossible for me to game on our main TV, I’ll either hit WoW or the Handheld, or even get my wife some trophies or acheivements on HER ps3 or Xbox360 slim.

I generally finish games story modes, and often can b tempted to some online tomfoolery, but wouldnt say i’m hardcore, nor would I say i’m casual, I’m just a Gamer through and through. Have been for the last 26 years.

I don’t really label myself as a hardcore gamer or a casual I’m more in between. I play a lot of games but I don’t play every week or day. But i got to the blogs and keep myself update with all the gaming news.
To me makes me more of a hardcore gamer is someone that follows the these types of blogs or knows a lot about gaming in any form and keep up to it every day. So to me i feel that the fact some people may play only 3-5 hours a week but they still keep up to date in the gaming world that is a hardcore gamer. Oh the people that talk about games during there lunch or anywhere actually makes them less casual and more hardcore depending on the game though.

As far as I understand terms casual and hardcore games the difference is pretty simple.

Casual games are games with often very simple controls and simplified game-play. Games like sing star and buzz are both casual games because the control scheme is as simple as it gets. Yes they provide challenge in harder difficulties but that doesn’t make them hardcore games.

Hardcore games are usually games that go way deeper with game mechanics and controls. It often takes a while to get used to the controls and quirks of the game and in the first hours you play the game you are constantly finding and learning new things about the game.

Fps games are usually considered hardcore because of the controls and multi-player. Dual-analog stick movement takes a while to learn and the games often require a lot of learning on how to use certain weapons and equipment.

It really has nothing to do with the real difficulty, its more in the depth of controls, game mechanics, story and idea.

i play alot off online multiplayer i dnt really see the point of playing on my own anymore. SOCOM got me hooked frm ps2 i was 18 then im 28 now and i still love the SOCOM. Im not hardcore im just a OAP to the gaming world now !!!! find me on any online title the 1 im loving at mo tiger 11 now thats a game i never thought i would of liked.

The way the games played, and the way people can play them is being confused.

Let’s say, you play Killzone 2. A hardcore game. You’re pretty good at it, and play a whole lot – this makes you, hardcore, hardcore. A hardcore player, of a hardcore game.

If you play Buzz, you’re hardcore, casual. A hardcore player of a casual game. There’s still massive difference, separating the two, and it’s not a tolerable excuse for the production of shovelware.