i consider core the oposite of casual.
casual is when you start playing from nothing. "im doing nothing, let me play".
core is then when you are compromissed with a cause."man, i have to pass that dungeon today, "

ok, any game can be both core or casual, it depends on player, but there are games that tends more for one of the sides.
sports, fighting, racing, multiplayer, most mobile games tends to be casual, is just go and play.
story driven games, games with lots of exploration, with level up, tends to be hardcore.

Core gamers are the majority of your fan base that you grow your console around. It's where the heart is.

Each console maker can have their own different types of cores. A Nintendo core can be family oriented. A Sony core can be RPG and niche. An M$ core can be bro-bro shooters.

Core gaming, or being a core gamer simply means you spend most of your free time... gaming. If a person's hobby of choice is gaming and keeping up with the gaming industry, they are a core gamer. Anything else is casual imo.

That's probably the best definition you're going to get.

Core gamers play COD. A game can't be "casual" but a person can. The reason COD is labeled as casual is because the majority of people who play it are casual players but there are millions of people out there who play that damn thing 8 hours a day and anyone who plays that many hours a day is a core gamer... period.

Core gamers play games regularly, does not matter the type of game. I am not talking about casuals who get addicted to a game like candy crush though or a gamer that plays one MMO and nothing else. These are gamers in a sense, but a core gamer is someone who takes gaming as a whole a hobby and plays a multitude of games base on what they like.

No you do not have to play EVERYTHING to be a core gamer, but someone who ONLY plays Mario and Zelda or someone that ONLY plays battlefield or CoD is not a core gamer.

This basically, a person that dedicates a great deal of her/ his time to gaming, wether it be home consoles, handheld, pc or smartphone/tablet.

To me, core gaming means that you have made gaming part of your lifestyle and you are willing to play many games from many genres. Really, anyone who is willing to spend a lot of time with this hobby.

Claiming that a guy who plays only CoD 4 times a week is a "casual" is ridiculous. I know a lot of these guys and they play mainly CoD, with some BF, Killzone or other shooter too. And they are damn good at shooters. It's beyond ridiculous to claim that a guy that makes 100k/20d on KZ is a casual. Most people claiming that would get their ass kicked on an online match by that same guy.

Core gaming is to me the large crowd of mainstream gaming. That includes the Big 3, indie games, PC games and SOME mobile games. Casual gaming is to me, gaming as ONLY a way to pass time and not being heavily invested, that means most (but not all) mobile games/browser games. Hardcore gaming is just a version of core gaming in which someone spends significant amounts of time.

I agree with this completely.