What are the differences between a hardcore and a casual gamer?

[Resident_Hazard]

I'm going to say what I generally always say when these threads appear:

There are more than two types of gamers. In simplest terms, there are at least three:

Hardcore
Pop
Casual


HARDCORE view gaming as more than "just a hobby," it's a borderline lifestyle. They're interested in collecting, in system wars, in industry news, in designers, and every facet of the industry. They aren't categorized by specifically what types of games they play, but by their dedication to the art. They are, however, more likely to play classic games, niche titles, and either unpopular, dead, or little-used genres. Shmups are (or were for a while) not really popular anymore, but these types still play the games. They may collect classic systems, and take pride in collections--hence--they are much less likely to trade in games at places like GameStop. These guys tend to view a wide variety of games as something they're interested in.

POP gamers play all the most popular games. Many people who may think they're hardcore are actually pop gamers. These types will almost never drop money on niche titles or "dead genres." These are the people who can be easily predicted to pick up the blockbuster titles almost exclusively. They'll play them until they're finished and then trade them in for the next big thing. Gaming to them is a passing hobby, not really a dedication. They aren't interested in amassing collections, and may be dedicated to specific genres almost exclusively, such as First Person Shooters. They may think they're hardcore gamers since they play the popular genre(s) and little else, but the fact that they only stick with the (few) currently popular genres is what makes them a Pop gamer. In a nutshell, their tastes aren't as broad as actual hardcore gamers, and their dedication to a game, genre, franchise is fleeting and may be based on popular tastes.


CASUAL gamers are the noobs, so far. They aren't really interested in "classic genres." They'll prefer sports games or multiplayer mini-game affairs over anything with a massive dramatic story or obtuse twisting plot. They like simple, straight-forward games and stuff that offers quick bursts of fun. Really, that's what video games did way back in the day prior to the 3rd Generation where large branching plots and dozens-hours adventures were finally born. Casual gamers like things that, basically, are different from what has become considered "the norm" in gaming: Complicated control mechanisms, huge storylines requiring hours upon hours of gameplay, and confusingly high levels of "tech."




Casuals can gradually become Pop and Pop can gradually evolve into hardcore gamers--and it can work in reverse as well, of course. These classifications have less to do with how often you play and what genres you play than they do with your dedication to the hobby and your level of interest in the industry as a whole. Note, I didn't list fanboys in the equation because they can exist at some level in all three segments.

My general definition of a (video game industry) fanboy is: Someone with nearly unwavering dedication. They complain little about their chosen hero company be it Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo--and are often all too accepting of moronic corporate responses to logical questions. For instance, anyone who still brushes off the storage issue with the Wii by basically quoting Nintendo's ridiculous sentiment of "you can delete and redownload, or copy to the SD card," is a risk of being a fanboy if they aren't one already. They are heavily focused on first-party wares (if referring to a console fanboy). Fanboys are not likely to own games or consoles from competitors.

I have no doubt that I'm a hardcore gamer since I still have almost every title I've ever purchased (going back nearly 20 years), and I own and play (fairly regularly) games from every generation having only yesterday finally managed to acquire a first-gen system with the Coleco Telstar (free from CraigsList!). In the last month or so, I've purchased games for the NES, DS, Wii, Genesis, Classic Game Boy, Atari2600, and the Telstar dedicated console--and I managed to find a battery in my home that brought the puny internal flash memory of my Saturn back to life. On top of which, I tend to be drawn to classic genres (shmups) and unpopular or niche titles (Eternal Darkness or Forgotten Worlds or Killer7). I have 13 systems and games from 15 and PC--I have Classic Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, but neither actual system. I consider myself a Nintendo fan, but well shy of being a fanboy--I complain regularly about the company, view many of their first-party offerings as rubbish (Pokemon, Mario Party, Wii Music, etc), scoff at their most asinine corporate rhetoric, and heavily support quality 3rd party offerings on their systems.