I don't think its the age.. I think its more the fact as you get older, you have more responsibilities and less time to play.

Also as you get older, its more likely you'll be in a long term relationship and we all know what usually happens then! (answer: you buy a Wii :p)


I still consider myself a hardcore player... I just have a lot less time for games.

I dunno...

My cousin and her husband are both 30 (I think) and he is a hardcore Xbox gamer and she is a ninty fangirl. They get along great lol

Well, you can't exactly set around and play Fire Emblem while a group of peole watch you "pwn" with Ike and Titania by getting 4 +1's on a level up or soft resetting, now can you?

The best game for you would be Smash Brothers, or Wii-wheel Mario Kart. Nintendo is trying to bridge this gap, and the games they're releasing are quite fantastic. 

I think there isn't any thing as a "Hardcore" game.

Just popular games and niche games.

I don't see how the guy who plays Mario and Sonic at the Olympics 5 hours a day is any less hardcore then a guy who plays COD4 5 hours a day or what makes one game more "Hardcore" then another.

Games like Halo, COD4 and GTA3 are actually VERY casual... otherwise they wouldn't sell as well as they would.

As for If do people like playing less violent games as they get older? I'd say some... a lot of people mature as they get older and find they like a lot of games like Mario Party and M&S at the olympics, other people don't mature, and other people just don't have fund with games like that.

As for playing? For the people who are REALLY into it, and just don't do it because they had nothing better to do, i don't think your interest wanes, you just don't always have as much time.

Me... i can't remember the last time I was at my house for a day that i haven't played a videoggame... if anything being older has made me more of a gamer because i can afford more games.

 I wouldn't consider "SSSBB" or MK, casual games. as you get your ASS handed to you if you never play it. What I mean by "casual" games is games that are extremely accessible to everyone, whether you played it before or not.

Games like Wiiplay, Wiisport or Carnival the game.
 

Or Brain Training....

Anywayz, it's not the age that makes you a casual gamer. I think the only thing that does change through the years is the free time you have. Unless you are unemployed, you will have not much free time. Work, social visits, kids etc.

You can still be a core gamer though. I have no intentions at all to play minigames or other casual games instead of games like Resident Evil 5 or Final Fantasy series. I will have less free time, but I will still play them.

by casual by playing brain age, no
casual by playing games less time than before, yes

If you played games like RE, GTA, and Zelda before then your likely to still play them as you get older but in a shorter time, you dont become casual, most casual games are for new gamers that never touch a game before.

Can't agree with you there.  MK is pretty accessible - Here's a wheel, drive.  Even SSBB is fairly easy to learn, but both MK & SSBB take time to master completely, but then so does WiiSports.   

The same goes for (PC versions) of Halo, Unreal and other games.   Easy to learn.   However, I think asking a non-gamer to pick up a PS3/360 controller and learn to aim with one analog stick and move with the other makes the console versions less accessible.   The Wiimote is a great bridge builder for this though.

For me as I've aged my taste hasn't changed at all I still play the same games. The only difference is now instead of being able to sit there for 3-4 hours like I did 10 years ago, I now hope to get maybe 30 minutes to an hour of play time in without being disturbed.

   I personally have different opinions of what 'Hardcore' and 'Casual' mean than what they seem to be used for all the time.  I worded my OP using what I think are the more commonly used meanings  Casual games being more family friendly games, and Hardcore meaning more adult oriented. 

   The thread this came up in, I think people were suggesting that gamers play more family oriented, lower budget, and party games as they get older and stop playing the more adult oriented games.  People were arguing that the casual gamer is taking over, and developers are going to shift spending to 'casual' games.  And a few people said that as gamers get older, they will become 'casual' gamers.

  I find it humorous so many people seem scared their 'Hardcore' games are going away because the 'Casual' Market is expanding.  And they don't seem to realize the same people, the same demand, that there has been for the 'Hardcore' games is not going anywhere or decreasing.  So why would 'Hardcore' games go away?

   But this explination that older gamers turn from Hardcore to Casual was a new arguement to me.  One I wasn't sure if it had any validity to or not.