Hmm, what is a hardcore gamer...
Well, many may dispute this, or deny it, but a hardcore gamer has to NOT have a life. I honestly do not mean this to be insulting, for I probably have less of a life than most anyone on here. My entire life is dedicated to gaming, it revolves around it. That's all there is. Without video games all I would do is sit around and watch re-runs on cartoon Network. I have such little of a life, I'm probably considered legally dead in some states, and I am proud of it!
Now that that is out of the way; a hardcore gamer must like every type of game, literally. They must like FPS, they must like strategy, turn based, RPGs, simple games, complex games, sports games (although maybe a bit more casual on the sports games). They may not necessarily have to like stupid fun games, like WarioWare, although honestly, the only reason anyone should not enjoy a game like WarioWare is simply due to pride, and if you let your pride get in the way of enjoying ANY video game, your not only NOT a hardcore gamer, but your a disgrace to gaming. (That's right, I said it)
A hardcore gamer should not base a game on graphics, but on gameplay, storyline, level design, game length, replay value a little bit, and yes, graphics should also be considered A LITTLE BIT PENDING, etc. A hardcore gamer SHOULD NOT factor in all those things for every game, he/she should be able to figure out what the game is trying to accomplish, and graphics is often times not one of those goals, and SHOULD ALWAYS be the least important goal of any game. The prime importance for any game for any hardcore gamer, is simply, how much fun/enjoyable the game is. Graphics should always be the last thing that’s thought about.
Hardcore gamers should have an urge to beat every game they start, unless the game just is simply horrible (although I tend to literally like most any game I play, extremely few exceptions). I have friends who start games and just lose interest, even in really good games, and never beat them. If your interest ever fades before beating at least the basic storyline of a game, you're not hardcore at all. But a hardcore gamer should go a step further than that, he/she should not only have a strong urge to beat the main basic storyline, but also any sub story lines and even MOST any extra things on the way to beating the game 100%.
A hardcore gamer should have no problem going hours on end playing a single game, pull all nighters without thinking twice about it, playing a single game, and literally never want to stop playing a great game or ever wanting it to end. (I'm still dreading the end of Zelda... I'm almost there...) Also, a hardcore gamer, when he/she has no current games he/she wants, should have many games they want to play again, as in start a new game. Once I beat a game and work on really beating it in depth (maybe no 100%, but much more than just main and sub storylines) I immediately move on, but there are always lots of games I keep in the back of my mind that I intend on playing through again once I get the chance. This should be typical for a hardcore gamer.
Last but not least, a gamer should want to own any game they like. I rent lots of games, and actually have yet to purchase Zelda due to financial issues. I'm currently playing a borrowed copy of Zelda, and will likely beat it before I get the money to buy it (in about a week). Zelda really doesn’t have the greatest replay value (unless you want to start over) but I'm going to buy it immediately anyway, because it’s a good game and therefore I must own it. That's what a hardcore gamers mentality should be like. Games should be a real hardcore gamer's life.
In my opinion, I just made a solid rubric for hardcore gamers, if you do not come extremely close to filling out the above description, then you are no hardcore gamer to me.
A delayed game is good someday, a bad game is bad forever.
