'Casual' is not an insult. But casual games are!

 So that means the level of difficulty is the difference between a casual game and a hardcore game?

there should be no "casual" gamers. No hierarchy is necessary

I make a pretty good living, but I have friends who don't have it quite as good as I do. Would you believe they call me "Rich Boy" as an insult? I've even dated girls who have fractured a law, or two. Some of them think I'm a square (I am a cop, though). Even though I know it's better to be rich, and I know it's better to live honestly, I still get offended!

It's our nature to want to fit in with the majority. With hardcore gamers, I am SO hardcore. With casual/non gamers, I don't know the difference between a Gamecube and an XBOX. Whether being hardcore or casual offends depends on the context and the crowd.

casual gamer isn't an insult, even if it's intended as such, as it implies you have a life outside of video games. Hardcore is really more of an insult

I am very much a casual gamer. I would be a bit offended if people (who I knew in real life rather than the internet) thought of me as hardcore.

I honestly would be insulted if they thought of me as a stereotypical PC gamer, which I don't play at all, the sort who plays online for hours and plays WoW.

its not bad but clearly it fits some people. Like when people only know games like halo, or commercials they see.........theyve never heard of okami or shadow of the collossus etc. I think this gen people began taking it as insulting when we described the wii. But it makes no sense, clearly the wii is a VERY casual special system. For gods sake, i hear nurses at work talk about their parent bowling with it, its a VERY casual system, casual means less time o rmoney is needed to invest in said product to enjoy it. Its a good thing in a business sense, since its much more mass market.

The only people that find it offensive are people who take this shit way too seriously and cant just discuss these things as adults.

 Well put! I agree completely.

I don't think that "casual" or "hardcore" are implicitly hierarchical or insulting ... but there are a LOT of people that use "casual" as an insult. A lot of those people only play Halo.

So "casual" is kind of like "liberal" in the USA in that it's not an insult but lots of people use it as an insult, to the point that a lot of casuals avoid the word even if they have no problem with what it describes.

 I thought Halo was the FPS for casuals?