the term 'hardcore' is a description of how one plays a game, rather than of the gamer or the game itself. I'll illustrate this with a real example. My Mum played Tetris on my GBC for on average 6 hours a week, across 9 years from 2000-2009 (when I got her Tetris DS), getting some unbelievably high scores. Many would simply dismiss my Mum as your typical 'casual' gamer, but I would argue that she was playing Tetris in a very 'hardcore' fashion. On the other hand, I'm what many would consider a 'hardcore' gamer, I love my JRPGs, Action-Adventure and Platformer games, I'm completed the Pokedex numerous times, I know certain games such as Zelda WW and Pokemon Blue inside out, I've memorised lots of 2d fighting game combos, I have gaming desktop wallpapers and posters and am a member of this forum; none of these can be said about my Mother. If one was to ask my Mum her prefered weapon to slay the barioth, she would most likely give you a strange look and say the middle-aged female eqivalent of lolwut?. Despite this, in the same time 9 years my Mum played Tetris on the GBC, I've probably only clocked about maybe 50 hours max, and I don't play regularly, and I'm not exactly good at the game. I play Tetris 'casually'.
