This is something that was brought up in another thread.  A few people were saying they believed that as hardcore gamers progress in life, get a career, get married, and have children, that a lot of gamers will become casual and play casual games.

   I personally disagree with this, but understand I truely don't know if this happens on the most part, or for a lot of people.  So I am curious.  I am 33 and have been married for almost 6 years.  I have a 2 year old son and a 3 month old daughter.  I've been gaming since I was 7.  I certainly have less time to play games now than I used to, but the type of games I play have not changed.  I feel I am a fairly well rounded gamer.  I love both more casual games and hardcore.  I love Mario games, Zelda games, Brain Age games, as well as Resident Evil, Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, and so forth.

   One person was saying the target hardcore age is 12-22.  And someone else mentioned that because people have less personal time as we get married and have children, then we play casual games.  Personally, neither applies to me.  Just because I'm into my 30's, I'm not any less into hardcore games.  And because I have less time, doesn't mean I'll play casual games any more than I have.  For one, jumping on to play a stage or a few rounds of Call of Duty 4, or Halo 3, doesn't take any more time than playing some Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.  And actually takes less time to play some CoD4 or Halo 3 than to play Mario Party.

   So, long story short.  I'm curious if the people that brought this up are right.  Fellow hardcore gamers that are now late 20's and up, and fellow hardcore gamers that have gotten married and had children, are you now becoming casual gamers?  Did you change from a Hardcore gamer to a casual gamer? 

I'm on this forum, so to a degree, I am still hardcore. Now, I don't buy every single magazine. I don't unlock everything in my games. I don't need to read every possible line of dialog. I don't think I'm the world's greatest gamer anymore. I'm far from casual, but I'm not the fanatic I used to be.

I don't think so. I'm 42 with 2 kids, lots of other real life obligations, etc. but I don't think my gaming has changed much and I suspect it would still be classed as 'hardcore' rather than 'casual'. Due to less time I do take time to chose games carefully now - anything remotely not worth the effort doesn't get a look in now.

I don't think age has anything to do with it, it's how busy your life is.

For me, 38, I really only want games that I can play in 5 minutes intervals, and that don't have a learning curve. I've a few games that I've bought, but never really played simply because I don't have the time to invest in learning how to (RTS) or I did, but then havn't had time to play for months and when I get back to it, I don't remember the controls and can't be bothered to learn them again.

However Unreal Tournament & Halo fits that perfectly as does SSBB so those are rather core games, but my play time is rather casual in nature as it's limited to 5 minutes here, an hour or two there and then nothing at all for days.

I think the easiest answer is:some of them do,some of them don´t....usually,as you get older,you´ll have less time for gaming...for some individuals,what also happens is they no longer really enjoy long,epic adventures.

I don't know my responsibilities seem to pile up and I just cut watching TV out and now I end up playing video games even more then I used to, I mean I go from school to work and the only day I truly have off is Wednesday and that day is usually spent sleeping to get my batteries charged back up and for homework.

I've been a gamer since my big bro put a controller in my hands at age of 2 we played Mario Brothers, I consider myself hardcore, I don't believe as you age you become casual I believe as you age people around you become more open to playing games for entertainment as we as the core group peak interest in non-gamers as wondering what "this whole video game business" is all about, plus the older generation now is more open to new things over past generations, so they usually get something cool, flashy, and usually easy to play to get into video games.

So yeah I don't believe hardcore turns casual just the mindsets of our peers don't see games as just for nerds anymore its accepted as mainstream now.

It's likely.

Sometimes I find myself forcing to play casual games in the company of others. Pains me to play for sure, but if it's 'fun' for others, I will try.

It's MUCH easier for hardcore gamer to try casual, than for casual gamer to try hardcore. (imagine getting your mom to play Bioshock? or Halo3? or even FFXIII?)

Frankly, I think through aging, most hardcore gamer simply give up gaming than becoming a casual gamer.

This is one of the main problems with using a term like "Casual" to imply so many things ...

"Casual" gamers (initially) comes from MMO games where the "Casual" gamer wanted not to be punished for lacking the free time that other gamers had. In this way most gamers become more casual as they age, and they will favour games that do not require the time investment that a youger gamer may crave; many older gamers I know (who loved online FPS games when they were 16 to 24) avoid any online first person shooters because they don't have the time to memorize all of the maps, and stay "in practice" ...

Since the Nintendo DS was released, everyone (who is an idiot) decided to label unconventional games as "Casual" games rather than use the more appropriate lable of "Unconventional" games ... As gamers age there may be some movement towards these games because you may enjoy puzzles more, you may see the value in learning a language (or something), or you may like the opportunity to play videogames with your younger child, but it is unlikely that you will devote all of your gameplay time towards these games.

I'm 26 and I hate casual games. I still play the same games I played when I was younger. I really only play my PS3, PSP and 360. So even though i'm not technically "old" yet, I am out of the 12-22 age range. I don't think I will ever like casual games, its not in my personality. I love a challenge and love maximizing my gameplay experience.

I think they may become casual in terms of time and effort but I don't think much else changes to a noticeable degree.