Casual Gaming the New Hardcore

The Guardian Gamesblog has a post up discussing the reality that the realm of the casual gamer now has its own element of the hardcore about it. From the article: "Traditional hardcore gamers need only pop along to [a] Game [store] to get their latest fix. Either that or they can head over to an importer like Lik-Sang and take their fill of Japanese 2D shooters. Casual gamers must trawl the web for reliable shareware sites or friendly communities of like-minded chess fans. There are very few magazines addressing their needs, no one is interested. Now that is hardcore."

Comments

But...

[atezun]

I thought the defination of a casual gamer was someone who played games merely for a few hours of enjoyment each week on any genre. A hardcore gamer whose speaciality lies in puzzle and logic games is nevertheless a hardcore gamer. since did one have to play an FPS to qualify as a gamer?

Re:But...

[Elranzer]

You don't have to use FPS or chess games, you can do thiseasily with RPG's as well...

If your first RPG was...

Final Fantasy VII: Not hardcore, but you think you are

Final Fantasy VIII: You bought into the FF7 hype and bought its sequel. Shame on you.

Final Fantasy IX: You exist?

Final Fantasy X or later: Definitely not hardcore

Chrono Trigger or FF6: Part of a dying breed, the last generation of hardcore

Final Fantasy IV: Hardcore, but you skipped the 8-bit era

Final Fantasy II, III or V: You are Japanese

Final Fantasy 1: Not really hardcore, just an avid Nintendo Power reader

Non-Square NES or SNES RPG: You are hardcore, and wonder what the fuss over Squaresoft was all about

Non-Square PSone RPG: Shame on you

Dragon Warrior: Ah, this is the definition of hardcore

Ultima: Well, you would be hardcore, if you didn't die of old age

Hardcore gamer.

[kc32]

Allow me to use my +2 keyboard of /. posting and my +1 optical mouse here...

casual gamers get their flash gaming links..

[gl4ss]

..from emails from friends.
or from flash banners.

you do realise that just going into a game store every now and then and picking up a game isn't all that hardcore at all? it's actually the casual way, if you just casually choose whatever game is on sale.

Re:casual gamers get their flash gaming links..

[superpulpsicle]

IMHO what separates hardcore and casual is not the game they play. Is how they play it. Some example:

Hardcore = People who play wolfenstein and study tactics and play the same map 40 times.

Casual = People who play wolfenstein, enjoy it, try a new game.

Re:casual gamers get their flash gaming links..

[Flyboy Connor]

It seems to me we need three categories:

Hardcore = People who play wolfenstein and study tactics and play the same map 40 times.

Casual Hardcore = People who play wolfenstein, enjoy it, try a new game, for at least 40 hours a week.

Casual = People who play a game when they have the time, which is usually not a lot, because they have a life.

Re:casual gamers get their flash gaming links..

[PeteDotNu]

I'm definitely in the casual gamer category.

I got about a quarter of the way through GTA:SA before life took over, and I haven't been back to it in a good few months.

Sometimes I wish that game developers would sell stripped down copies of the game for a reduced fee. For example, if they sold the first third of GTA:SA for under £10 instead of the £35 RRP, I'd be happy as a pig in the proverbial. I know that it would severly dent their bottom line, but it might end up with me buying games more frequently than once a year.

You may suggest renting as an option, but I want to be able to play that first third of GTA:SA over the course of six months, not over the course of a weekend.

Re:casual gamers get their flash gaming links..

[Jakeypants]

"or from flash banners"

That's where I do most of my gaming. If I punch the monkey, I get a free iPod! I still have yet to hit that fucking thing, though - it moves really fast.

Re:casual gamers get their flash gaming links..

[apoc06]

well, im sure that you have something similar to gamefly: http://www.gamefly.com/ over there in whereever you are. works like netflix, you rent it but keep it til you want to rent something else.

for the times youre feeling hardcore, you can rent the latest and greatest; and when youre feeling casual, you dont have to feel guilty that you have a life since there are no late fees.

Re:casual gamers get their flash gaming links..

[shrykk]

For example, if they sold the first third of GTA:SA for under £10 instead of the £35 RRP, I'd be happy as a pig in the proverbial.

Buy second-hand. There are lots of great games that are a couple of years old, and most game shops now have buckets full of second-hand games, ridiculously cheap. I got 3 (decent) games for £10 *total* at my local video store the other day. Makes a lot more sense for those of us with other priorities than constant gaming. Why spend £80 on Devil May Cry 3 and GTA:SA, say, when you could have the original DMC and GTA: Vice City for £10.

Do they not get it?

[RM6f9]

As a casual gamer myself, I drift from game to game, site to site - it's not about being hard-core anything, it's not about finishing the latest FPS release faster than anybody, it's about passing an hour or two with some distracting entertainment.

Period.

The only thing remotely hard-core about it is a stubborn refusal to commit to anything more than finding a fun game and playing it for only as long as it remains interesting.

A really good (read:attempting to be objective) central reference site to sites/games worthy of trying out would probably be a worthwhile addition to the bookmark list.

Re:Do they not get it?

[bugbread]

Do they not get it?

The only thing remotely hard-core about it is a stubborn refusal to commit to anything more than finding a fun game and playing it for only as long as it remains interesting.

Yes, they get it. In fact, they wrote a whole article about just that. It's helpfully linked to at the top of your screen.

Re:Do they not get it?

[RM6f9]

So because I'm not some m4d l33t-5k1llzd sheeple slavishly buying and beating every cart for the console recommended by some self-styled critic gomer, I'm hard-core?

Somebody needs a dictionary, and I sincerely hope it isn't me.

Re:Do they not get it?

[Dr.Opveter]

I'm afraid it is you who needs a dictionary.
Words like m4d and l33t-5k1llzd don't seem to be spelled properly.


sorry for that... I do agree this new definition of hardcore doesn't make much sense.

Re:Do they not get it?

[RM6f9]

But, wait, see, it says right here in my handy Geek-bonics pocket edition....

Tell me about it....

[chjones]

I don't have the time (anymore) to read up on games or even go out to the store to pick up a copy of something that looks interesting. I don't have the inclination (anymore) to download pirated games. It wouldn't do much good if I did, as I'm most interested in playing games like the original Myst or Warcraft. Some open-source games (The Battle for Wesnoth comes to mind) temporarily satisfy my need.

I'm lucky to have an hour a week to play games, and there are precious few games that seem to interest me anymore. I tend to lurk on Freshmeat, waiting for something nice and new, or (as I did this afternoon), spend far too much time just looking for old demos to download (no luck finding Black & White, which looks interesting; only Myst III---we'll see how that is).

When more of my time is spent looking for a game than actually playing it, I think less of my money will end up going to the gaming companies. My guess, though, is that they don't really care, since one "hardcore" gamer will make up for the loss of about 20 people like me.

Re:Tell me about it....

[aneurysm36]

i feel the same way, but i think youre wrong about the last part. i would guess that a lot of people are moving to a more casual approach to gaming.

i used to be more hardcore... most of my free time was spent playing games. but, as with everything else these days, it became too expensive and time consuming to keep the gaming habit going.

there used to be about 4 video cards to choose from and they were only 200-300 bucks. there used to be only 2 processor choices. there used to be one choice for RAM.

there were only a handful of shooter games. a handful of strategery ;) games.

there were only a handful of gaming sites, and they were not so deep in bed with the game and hardware publishers.

end result... by the time im done sifting through articles to learn about chipsets, processors, and memory- by the time im done reading reviews and benchmarks and trying to filter out paid bias- by the time i find a game that might be worth playing.... yawn.

Gamers that read

[gamerdave]

"There are very few magazines addressing their needs, no one is interested."

I cover "casual" Web games from time to time, but, while hordes of people play them, relatively few have any desire to read about them. Once they've found Pogo or Yahoo Games, what do they need a magazine for? Are they going to follow the development of the next version of Bookworm the way MMORPG players followed the development of World of Warcraft? I don't think so. Are they going to read a review of Bookworm, or simply play it for themselves? It's not like it's going to cost them anything or even require a large download. I'm doubtful that a publication which concentrated exclusively on this sort of gaming would be very successful, unless maybe it was supported by a site like Pogo.

Re:Gamers that read

[ZephyrXero]

This is very true...the puzzle and parlor game crowd (which I feel is a more appropriate term) doesn't really care to much about the games they are playing. They are just looking for a little quick and simple fun... Perhaps having a site where people could submit games they've found and then everyone could rate them would be useful, but a magazine (or magazine like site) would be worthless. These people are not "hardcore" no matter how you spin it.

"hardcore gamer"

[ZephyrXero]

The term hardcore seems to be in a phase of shift. Originally, when games weren't quite as popular, it was fairly easy to assume someone who spent lots of time and money playing video games was a "hardcore gamer". Now that the causal gamer market has exploded, this is no longer a valid metric. "Hardcore gamer" now tends to mean people who are conisours of gaming. People who play games because they are fun and of a high quality level rather than the latest marketing fad. The term "harcore gamer" is now more akin to the term "film buff".

Confusing User Base with Intensity

[SillyHatsOnly]

I would think it's an impossibility for a casual gamer to be hardcore since the term "Hardcore" is generally a measurement of intensity. You could have any number of people playing a game for any number of hours. There will always be someone who takes it one step further and that person in comparison to the others is hardcore.

Probably putting too much thought to this article, but it sounds like a PR spin for the game portals. Hey, all you Hardcore gamers...you're still hardcore if you play our flash games. Look, here's a bunch of link to try in order of how much they paid for the article...yeah...too much thought.

depends

[owlman17]

It depends on your definition of "hardcore" I suppose, but it definitely has nothing to do with the genre. I consider myself an RPG/RTS hardcore gamer. And at one point in time, a hardcore FPS gamer. In all those cases, its more got to do with the time I spent with them. I "casually" play StarCraft or AvP in skirmish mode once in a while, but I'd consider a Bejeweled or Solitaire junkie who plays several hours a night into the morning, even more "hardcore" than myself.

hardcore IDIOTS

[Allison Geode]

i had a debate with this one guy about what makes a hardcore player..

i was convinced i was a hardcore gamer because i have a collection that makes EB jealous, and my best friends try to convince me that i should be renting them out...

but this guy, he says, because he only plays.. i forget what mmo it was, but we'll just say 'everquest'.. because he only plays 'everquest' and nothing else and has reached the level cap several times, he claims he was more hardcore than me. and he'd never heard of games like Harvest Moon, or Everblue 2. he'd heard of katamari damacy, and was convinced that since i played that and lots of other games, that I wasn't hardcore, but casual.

its not something i debate with people anymore. i have a love of games. he, well. he had a love ONE game. he is a hardcore everquest player, but I am a hardcore gamer. the fact that he couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that someone who loves ALL TYPES OF GAMES is just as hardcore as someone who eats/sleeps/breaths only one game, well... i don't really know where i'm going with this, but i don't claim the hardcore label for myself anymore, because i don't want to look like as much of an asshole as he did.

Re:hardcore IDIOTS

[NicKakaWoodstocK]

"To be truly leet one must be leet at ALL games" (that dark jedi lookin guy in ep.4 of PurePwnage [PurePwnage.com]) I'm not always a good example of exception skill, but I do play about 3-4 different games in any one period. For example, the current list is: Need For Speed: Underground 2 Chronicles of Riddick Knights of the old Repulic: Sith Lords RTCW: Enemy Territory Not only does this mean I have a greater ability to shift focus and transfer skills, but it also keeps boredom at bay (you're not going to get bored with a game and stop playing it forever if you can put it down and play something else and come back to it.

Re:hardcore IDIOTS

[Allison Geode]

see, thats how I am. i usually have several things going on at once myself. if i stick to one game for too long, i get bored.. also, my taste varies WILDLY. somedays i feel like some KOTOR, others, i want katamari damacy.

in case you were wondering, my current playlist is: Warioware Twisted, Harvest Moon: Wonderful life (again...), Nightmare of Druaga, and halo2 ( Lanned)or Tekken 5 when my friends come over. i'll probably sneak in a little bit of pokemon emerald (and yes, my current guilty pleasure, NBA Ballers, shh, don't tell anyone!). I like to think that I'm a "well-rounded gamer," which just a minute ago is what i'll call myself instead of "hardcore," since i like a bit of everything.

Re:hardcore IDIOTS

[KDR_11k]

Pfft, I've got a huge collection of games as well but I'd never call myself hardcore. I'm just a regular gamer, to me hardcore means you're the kind that notices when a patch makes the AK47 do 2 damage points less in Counterstrike. When you plan out your detailled build order in Starcraft to shave off a few seconds here or there. Hell, to me you're already hardcore when you can block more than half of the attacks thrown at you and do combos on a regular basis in any fighting game. The difference is that I can't seriously compete with these people but compared to a casual gamer I put much more of my time (and money) towards gaming.

mmm grammerlicious

[Anonymous Coward]

Crazy laguage, and it's whole context thing.

This article strikes me as a bit of a post-modern style wank, it's hardcore to not be hard core, you're a hardcore casual, casual to the core.

A hard core gamer is someone who games hard core, if you game casually and do it hard core then you're a hard core gamer. If you game a single game and game it hard core then you're a hard core gamer. If you game all games like they've never been gamed before you're a hard core gamer.

Why do people always assume everything is mutually exclusive. This is a non deterministic world people, there's overlap.

As an aside, this anti script image is getting difficult, I'm having trouble as a human figuring out what letters there are... Perhaps I should write some software to do it for me

Sites for the casual gamer:

[word_virus]

A big list of them updated regularly, with ratings and short, pithy reviews are available from the good people at Little Fluffy Industries (littlefluffy.com). This site completely killed my at-work productivity for nearly three months.

Re:Sites for the casual gamer:

[kisrael]

Yeah, I was going to suggest that site.

And, IMO, the ulitmate casual gamer game:

isketch -- Pictionary as played by 10 people in a chatroom and refereed by a computer...ADDICTIVE STUFF.

Re:Sites for the casual gamer:

[duncangough]

Little Fluffy is the best, especially now that they're back.

If it's 15 minute web games you want though - you can't beat Playaholics though. Free to play and/or join, scoreboards, stats, decent forums. Oh yeh, shameless plug but who cares about a little thing like that eh?

capatcha baby!

There's a reason why there are no mags

[LKM]

There are very few magazines addressing their needs

Maybe that's because these people won't buy magazines. They aren't really that dedicated to their games, and I guess surfing the net and looking for new games is part of the challenge.

I'd say there are no mags for casual gamers because only hardcore gamers care enough to buy these mags.

Confessions of a casual gamer

[mwvdlee]

It seems to me, these hardcore people just don't get the casual gamer (just like us casual gamers mostly don't get the hardcore people).

The writer of the article actually seems to believe casual gamers go scour the internet for new casual games, this is in fact completely opposite of the truth. An average casual gamers does not have the same need for new games that a hardcore gamer has.

A casual gamer will just play a particular game until in bores him, if in the meantime he hasn't stumbled upon new games by accident, he just goes to do something non-game instead.

The average casual gamer does not go looking for the latest game thrill, simply because the concept of "the latest game thrill" holds no value to him.

Luckily enough, most succesful casual game developers know this, so they publish freely playable webgames making it possible for friends to mail/msn each other "hey, let's play this game I heard about from a friend". Word of mouth is their primary marketing channel, since these casual gamers just don't look at the common gaming marketing channels.

Metacritic.com

[Intellectual Elitist]

The best review aggregator that I've run across (for video games, at least): www.metacritic.com

Shareware (casual?) game market

[Prophet of Nixon]

I would love to see a publication start covering the shareware market.

In the last three years or so (growing broadband?) it seems to me that the shareware market has been experiencing a renaissance, and is releasing many exceptional games now. A few of the better releases lately have been Air Strike 3D 2, Alien Shooter, Demonstar (Secret Missions 1 & 2), Jets n' Guns, Mount and Blade, Starscape, and Ultra Assault. There have also been some excellent freeware games, such as Nexuiz or any of Kenta Cho's shooters.

While there are a few sites which cover these titles and review them (diygames comes to mind), there is no well known or published site which tracks their releases and reviews them in a timely manner (think Gamespot, but for shareware/freeware).

And I'd just like to point out..

[duncangough]

That the Guardian Gamesblog really has a vested interest in making such outlandish claims. Ending up on games.slashdot.org really is its' own reward. There's been a large explosion in these games blogs lately, hence the surprising 'explosion' in 'hardcode gamers' when, in reality, it speaks much more of a dejected and bored workforce too embarrased to go into GAME to pick up a copy of The Sims.

If there really was such a huge explosion in casual gaming then why isn't the *print* version of The Guardian full to the brim of game reviews, website reviews and developer interviews?

Lighting Break - Online pool

capatcha baby!