As people get older, some may reprioritize things in their life. For me, during college, I go to class, go back to apartment, cram homework only when needed and spend the rest of my time to play games or watch anime. Now, I come home after 11 hours of work on certain days, check my emails, watch a movie, and on other days, go to class. There's just not as much time. And probably by the time I marry, there will be even less time. It all depends on the people. But one thing for sure...most likely as people age, they don't go from casual gamers to hardcore but they may go from hardcore to casual. Not saying they can't, but most likely it's a one way road.

 What different between Hardcore game and causal game is the depth. Yes, MK and SSBB are easy to get into, Although you will get your ass handed to you every single time. The characters are cute enough for some people to overlook failure (of losing), that's a credit to Nintendo.

 Casual games won't have the depth, you will only be as good as you are about half hours in. Why? because people most likely won't play more than half hour each time anyway. That's why you see so many mini-games there.

I have only become more hardcore as I have grown older and my knowledge of gaming has increased. :)

Hehe, see this is where my personal views on what is casual and hardcore differ.

I consider a casual game, one that is easy to pick up and play immediately and has a wide appeal. I consider a hard core game something that has a learning curve, takes a considerable investment of time, is not able to be played in 5 minutes spurts, and you may have to designate some brain capacity to keeping a bunch of game info fresh in your memory. What I mean by that, is like in some older RPGs, that if you take a break for a few months from the game, then when you get back to it, you are all "Oh hell. What was the next thing I'm supposed to do? Where did I collect this type of item? Which Merchant sold this specific item? Where in the entire game world was I supposed to meet this character on this side quest?". Newer RPGs are great about quest logs and such, so I don't think thats such an issue anymore 8).

And I think a casual and hardcore gamer are completely different definitions from casual or hardcore games. I think a casual gamer is one that doesn't keep up with game news at all, doesn't spend a good amount on games, doesn't have a varied taste of game genre's, and spends a small portion of time on playing games. I think a hardcore gamer is someone with a wide variety of tastes, spends a fairly good amount of time on games, keeps up with gaming news, and may try to achieve every goal that may be set for a game.

I very much consider SSBB and MK as casual games. I also consider Halo and Call of Duty casual games. But of course, in these casual games, a casual gamer, or someone new to the game, is going to get their ASS handed to them by someone who's a hardcore gamer, or has spent plenty of time on the game.

Well, judging by the average ages of console and PC gamers, I think not.
I know a few people 40+ (including my mother) who play games and love it, and my dad and his friends love to play Gran Turismo and similar games!

I don't think asking people on here is going to provide you with a satisfactory answer. By definition, the older members of this site have to be pretty committed to gaming to be here. Those who've turned casual won't be frequenting this site.

So by your defination Tetris and Pac-man (and just about any game) are hardcore because someone who plays them  a lot will always smoke someone who doesn't?  Nonsense.

I agree with Hawk.  The difference is the learning curve.  A RTS is more hardcore because you have to invest hours just to learn the game and then remain playing it regularly else you'll forget.  RPGs are generally hardcore.  Action games can be either way depending on the complexity of moves and combos (and if you actually even need them).   FPS are largely casual but again, if their squad based and there's a significant learning curve to learn the game then it's more hardcore.

Guitar Hero and it's ilk are very casual, but again, a hardcore player will smoke a casual player anyday.

Well, I would say its time, as many stated above. I really am gone most of the week, so I cannot play. On weekends I have other stuff to do like sleep and meet friends and hang wit the GF. So The amount of time left for playing games is really small.

Concerning being informed about games and my game selection though, I think I am the same as ever, meaning quite hardcore.

I would have to say at a certain age they would get more casual.

I don't think hardcore Halo 3 gamers will be as intense when they're 30 as when they were 18.

I think they'll still play "hardcore" type games, but won't take it as seriously.