Casuals? Hardcore?

[Valwin]

There no hardcore gamers and there no casuals i remember when the whole thing started it was dumb back them is dumb now

 

[alidsl]

http://gbatemp.net/uploads/gallery/album_308/gallery_180544_308_7116.jpg
Because this isn't the EOF I'll just post a link

anyway, yes the divide is silly but people on this forum wan a way to distinguish themselves from the FPS junkies and the mini-gamers

 

[Mirby]

Casual gamers: people who play games for fun, and care not about the continuity of the series or the hardcore details of a character's backstory.

Hardcore gamers: people who play games for fun, and DO care about the continuity of a series and maybe even the hardcore details of a character's backstory.

Problem solved.

So casual gamers play games casually, and hardcore gamers get so frustrated that controllers break in fear of their anger (or rather, as a result of it).

Actually, there's a problem inherent by using labels such as hardcore and casual. As with all labels, everyone has the potential to interpret, and thus define, each label differently. This causes discussions such as this when people define their definition of "hardcore gamer" and find it clashes heavily with that of another's. Personally, I just play the games. Yeah, I know a myriad of random facts based on a multitude of series, enough to fill a book, but I still find that my dislike of FPSes has me fall under the category of "casual" by the definition of other's, but under "hardcore" by my own.

This is what causes the inevitable flamefest that most of these "casual or hardcore" discussions tend to degenerate to after a period of time, and frankly there's no reason for it. It's ultimately pointless. Why should what genres we like and dislike, or what characters we love and loathe, determine what kind of gamer we are? Why should the varying levels of knowledge on subjects ranging from composers in RPGs to clip capacity and maximum range in Call of Duty determine whether or not I'm a gamer capable of handling certain games?

The reason for all these genres, all these games, is variety. If there was only one genre, then gaming would be pretty boring. In fact, a similar situation is what caused the near-downfall of gaming back in the early 1980s. Too many games that were just remakes of remakes of remakes ad infinitum, and consumers got sick of it. The result? A near-catastrophic slump in the industry that was only remedied by the creation of the Nintendo Entertainment System (the name and also the term Game Paks were used to separate it from the term "video games" which left a sour taste in people's mouths as a result of the crash). And this isn't a Nintendo fangirl speaking here (it's pretty much gaming history) so don't make claims of that.

How is that relevant to the discussion at hand, you ask? Simple. People here are separating gamers based on the genres they play, when it is the very variety of genres that make the gamer community so diverse. If it weren't for this variety, gaming as we know it would not exist. To all of you who claim that just because someone dislikes Call of Duty makes them unworthy to call themselves a "hardcore" gamer, you're wrong. We are just as entitled to that term as you. Just because our definitions differ does not mean that one is right and one is wrong; it's all up to personal preference, just as with the games we play. Hardcore and casual are terms of which the definitions are created by the people who use them. There is as of yet no common agreement on the exact definition of either term, and as such I fail to see the point of threads like these which, as stated previously, tend to degenerate into flamefests. That said, I define myself as hardcore, if only for the aforementioned large repository of random facts regarding video games locked within my mind.

 

[Rydian]

Related;

Spoiler

 

[chyyran]

"Hardcore" and "Casual" don't have much meaning at all.
Why can't we just be "Gamers", instead of "Hardcore" and "Casual" Gamers?


Problem solved.

 

[1234turtles]

super casuel gamer: doesn't play much but considers anyone that plays more than them no lifes


casuel gamer: plays games and does other stuff

hardcore gamer: plays games mostly with a little bit of other stuff here and there.

thats just how i see it

 

[KingVamp]

So many different views on what is casual or hardcore other than it doesn't exist. I can't believe this casual or hardcore thing got out of hand or blown up
when there no real centered answer.

Despite putting all fans of gaming on the spot(?), I think this fit well into this thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S77yZtonsZE

 

[Hells Malice]

So many different views on what is casual or hardcore other than it doesn't exist. I can't believe this casual or hardcore thing got out of hand or blown up
when there no real centered answer.

It's such a retardedly broad category that it's hard to tag down exactly.
They obviously exist, but yeah. There's so many things that encompass the terms that i'd be surprised if someone COULD summarize the two in a proper and timely manner.

 

[duel]

I'd guess you're only a hardcore gamer if either you define yourself or people define you as such. People use the term to flaunt their superiority over other people who play video games, and thus need a label to refer to themselves as. "Hardcore" could be replaced with anything; Uber, Epic, Awesome, etc. We're all just people playing video games. Some people who have the desire to be really good at gaming just so they can show off their gaming superiority will call themselves "Hardcore Gamers" because that's the popular term.

Is there really a need to search for/create definitions? Not in my opinion, but that's just me.

 

[Hadrian]

Hardcore gamer : a gamer who spend a lot of time on video games.
Casual gamer : a gamer who spend less time on video games.

That.

I have to add that there is no casual game, just games aimed at casual players. Some of these titles could eat away days of your life.

Also, I reckon if Angry Birds had come out on the Amiga rather than iOS/Android it would be considered a 'gamers game' like Lemmings.

Actually Commodore promoted Lemmings as a system seller for those who weren't into games. They ran advertisements showing that along with none games to get families to buy an Amiga.

 

[BlueStar]

And Nintendo marketed Link's Awakening to non-gamers, parents, women and businessmen. Over here, at least.

Anyway, games consoles are toys, all of them. Same with gaming PCs. Let's not pretend it's such srs business. When people talk about "hardcore" games they usually mean games which are actually very accessable, usually quite teenager-focused action games. They're usually not talking about incredibly complex, demanding and in-depth games such as rougue-likes, realistic flight sims or nation building games.

 

[mori123]

Casual gamers Can play for short amounts of time @ random bursts and cannot commit to Lengthy Involved gameplay but still want to get the same experience as those who can put in 5 or 6 times the game time. So what game companys do to Make the games more accessible to Casual gamers is make them easier and less difficult, while still fun. One person earlier said wow if you know your rotation You win @ pvp.. Clearly they have never pvped. Rotations ONLY apply to PVE in pvp because your opponents are human and you have no clue what they will do its more a think on your feet situation, and is highly Skill based. Another indication of a Casual game vs a hardcore game is professional gaming leagues tourney games where you can actually make a Living playing the game. Companys Will even sponsor teams who are good enough Its Referred to as esports. Some examples, League of legends, Dota 2, Starcraft 1 and 2, Many many FPS , These have actual for real money tourneys with prizes in excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Angry birds however fun it is does not. So someways to assist in identifying these factors.

 

[KingVamp]

And Nintendo marketed Link's Awakening to non-gamers, parents, women and businessmen. Over here, at least.

How are they doing that?

 

[KingVamp]

Sorry, but I think this is need to been known.

Iwata:
First of all, we would like to keep pursuing “gaming population expansion" as our fundamental goal for the future because we believe that it is worth continuously aiming at and that it will grow the market, expand our business and improve our financial results, which could give our shareholders much return.

On the other hand, we do not think that developing video games for casual or light users is the only way to expand the gaming population. There was a misunderstanding that Nintendo was dedicated to such games at some stage of the lifespans of the Wii and the Nintendo DS. We have made efforts to develop video games that are in tune with various consumer tastes; however, we have not been able to gain adequate consumer understanding regarding our intentions, while in the common perception there are no or few core users playing Nintendo platforms, which is not the case.

To explain again about the consumer base we are trying to reach out to, our efforts for gaming population expansion are aimed at offering software that can be accepted by a wide variety of consumers, irrespective of age, gender or past gaming experience. As it is natural that Nintendo alone cannot provide every kind of software, we would like to achieve our goal in cooperation with various developers. A more important point we believe is, among other things, that a consumer's tastes are not permanent at all, and they will vary over time. Every avid game player was once a beginner, or in other words, there are no born advanced player. Unless we create a flow from beginner to expert by offering an entrance for beginners and the processes for a beginner to become an intermediate user and from an intermediate to an advanced player, the video game industry will gradually shrink. We must therefore consider how we can create such a flow. However, the symbolic stories of how “Wii Fit" and “Brain Training" made non-users start playing video games were overemphasized, and many other cases that such beginner players tried the “Dr. Mario" series next and eventually reached “New Super Mario Bros. Wii" attracted little attention. We hope to improve our efforts to explain that even though such titles initially triggered beginners’ interest to play video games, they will possibly try various kinds of games as their tastes change.

This issue is linked to the question on the utilization of social media, which I received from another person a short while ago. Since we are simply a developer and seller of products, some consumers are skeptical about our product recommendations no matter how much effort we make. In order to attract their attention to the new potential of our products and break down the barriers of gaming preferences or skill level among various video game players, a relationship among users where they can exchange information and learn from one another is vital. At the same time, we feel that such a relationship could be more easily established if we could improve the coordination between video game systems and social media. When we say “gaming population expansion," we bring a variety of consumers, or even everyone, into view. Our challenge is how to periodically produce software that can satisfy each one of them.

Like I been saying, they have always been and still is going for everyone.

No source?

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/111028qa/index.html

 

[prowler]

No source?

 

[BORTZ]

Ha. I've seen this before.

Ok the first problem I see are the people saying there is no such things as causal and hardcore gamers. My first objection is that causal games are an entire market of games. iPhone, android, mobile, low budget games for consoles and/or shovelware games.
Hardcore gamers cover a much broader portion of the spectrum. I imagine most of us are classified as hc gamers, considering we come to a gaming website and chat about games.

Also I think this should be viewed as a continua instead of the false casual/hardcore dichotomy we have here. Where does the first premise leave for bro gamers or handheld gamers or whatever? Nowhere.

 

[Necron]

For me, a casual gamer is someone who enjoys a game that can pick up anytime anywhere and don't need to follow a story or to learn how to really play well that game. Most people see this as "easy", but is still fun (my sister plays a LOT different kind of sims games, she stole my DS some months to play sims 2 and now spends most of her time on facebook playing sims social or whatever is called) So you can play a lot and still be casual.

For us, "hardcores", we like the games, try to complete them at 100%, be the masters of battle system or mechanics, play sequels and be inmerse in that world. To me, those are the most accurate definitions.

P.S: 500th post

 

[BlueStar]

And Nintendo marketed Link's Awakening to non-gamers, parents, women and businessmen. Over here, at least.

How are they doing that?

At a time when Sega was going all cheesy 90s extreme and aiming its adverts at the traditional gamer base of spotty male teenagers with its Pirate TV and Cyber Razor Cut adverts full of blue smoke and robot skulls, Nintendo seemed to be trying to tempt gamers parents with adverts in non-gaming mags and newspapers (which was pretty unheard of at the time) and TV spots like these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su3kMZ7sEm8&feature=youtube_gdata_player