Nah, they're the folks who think only they can define what is a game and what isn't, or who is a gamer and who isn't. They tend to have a lot of overlap with the group you listed, but it's not a requirement.

i play this game every day for hours. if that isn't hardcore then idk what is

Animal Crossing is not a hardcore game. He is for a large public. In fact, Nintendo hardly do hardcore games. F zero GX was an hardcore game. But there are very few.

Almost all the games who are selling well are not hardcore. GTA is very casual and absolutely not hardcore. All the HD FPSs are not hardcore , they are popular game easy to play to sell the more to the largest public.

Hardcore games are very very rare. They are game as Ghosts'n Goblins, with an hard difficulty and not make to please to the largest public. So, Animal crossing is not an hardcore game , but all the HD FPS games are absolutely not hardcore by any means.

Cos of all the blood and toys