By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Just one console generation is too short a timespan to put a label on anyone. Someone playing only Splatoon non-stop isn't anything special because that game is just a little over a year old. Someone playing only every year's iteration of FIFA isn't notable either because those people are still playing a new game.

What is special are people that play the same game for years, regardless of the current console generation or computer specs. Those that are playing something for generations, over a decade with little pause. I myself have been regularly playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 and SimCity 4 ever since they came out.

A friend of mine is the extreme of this. I actually play other stuff too and could have stretches of several months without playing those games, but he has been playing and only been playing Warcraft III Reign of Chaos ever since it released in 2002, pretty much non-stop. I doubt he went without it for any longer than a week at a time in all those years, and the only time he plays something else is when I get him to play an hour or two of Anno with me.

I would call those people pretty hardcore in what they do. Maybe not hardcore in a "broad" sense, but more hardcore at a single game than I'll ever be and I do admire the dedication some have to perfect their skill at a single game. Not to just be good, but be exceptional and spend years to get there.