What Is A "Hardcore Game"?

[hotrodx]

My take:

With "Hardcore gamer", the hardcore part is the behavior. Doing extraordinary lengths relating to gaming. Playing (and replaying) a game for a total of 1000 hours. Posting thousands of posts in gaming threads. Collecting all available action figures (all five series) from a favorite game. Doing speed runs. Etc. He doesn't have to do all these. The point is there's a certain degree of obsession in the behavior.

There's actually a lot of hardcore gamers in these forums than what people would admit. Unfortunately, some critics have given "Hardcore gamer" such a bad connotation. I've read some critics point out hardcore gamers are just teeners or jobless 30-year-olds who can't afford buying their own game so they ask their mommies to buy their games. The critics' reasoning? Well, if this "hardcore gamer" can spend hundreds of hours playing games, this person can't be working on a stable 5-day 8-hour work week.

These critics then praise the "Casual Gamers" at the expense the "Hardcore" ones. "Casual Gamers" have the money because they work, but they don't have enough time to play, hence their casual preference of game style.

Given these descriptions, who would you like to be associated with? A freeloader who spends his ass just playing games and passes the electric bill to his hardworking parents? Or a tax-paying, hardworking, office worker who wants some quick casual game when he comes home late from work?

...

But I say this reasoning is a lot of bull.

First of all, playtime is not the sole measurement of being a hardcore gamer (or at the inverse, a casual gamer). As I have mentioned, there must be some degree of obsessiveness thrown into it. There is dedication in what he does. A lot of passion. Almost a completist urge.

We have members here who have real work, bought all current-gen consoles because he wants to have a chance to play all the best games on their respective systems. We have members that doesn't have enough time to play, but have just enough time to buy all collectible game goodies, as well as time to scour the Internet for news and rumors for his favorite systems. And post messages like crazy.

These people are hardcore, and depending on their current console affiliation (if they don't own all of them) they may not realize it. Heck, internally they might be denying it-- association and disassociation come hand in hand.

Stop insulting the hardcore gamer.


I think I've run out of time for my take on "Hardcore games" (gotta sleep), but here's a couple of small thoughts:
1. Hardcore gamers don't necessarily play hardcore games.
2. Hardcore games aren't necessarily intended for hardcore gamers.