To me it seems the word "Casual Game" is a game that the so called gamers look at and think that game is gay or stupid why would anyone want to play that.

Nintendogs ect.

i have no idea on hardcore gamer/casual gamer talk. You instantly classify a gamer who plays these so called casual games (games you just think are stupid) a casual gamer. Yet the person could be putting more hours into nintendogs/animal crossing/sims ect than you put into any of your games. So isn't that person instead the hardcore gamer. Which in turn makes their games hardcore.

Its just a stupid term thrown around for I have no idea. Or is being considered a "hardcore gamer" really cool. Your friends want to be like you, you get all the ladies, loooks good on application, ect.

I've been saying this for (many) months ... A gamer is defined by the kinds of games they enjoy and by how important gaming is to their lifestyle.

My sister's focus on gaming is close to what I would expect is typical of most gamers in that she buys games on a semi-regular basis (a game every couple of months) and she completes a decent portion of the games she buys. For years (up until the release of the Wii) her interest in home console and PC games has been very limited to the extent that she only really plays games like the Mario Sports and Monkey Ball, and most of her gaming has been focused on the Nintendo's Handhelds. The Wii has come along actually increased her dedication to gaming (to the extent that she probably buys and completes more games than "Hard-Core" gamers) and yet her preference in games mean that people here would define her as a "Casual" gamer.

@kira hibiki: Your first description was going around "retard".
Now your second description... Isn't actually a lot better. Since your mom has apparently potential, how do you know she wants to play only when she doesn't have anything better to do? If she doesn't play more than she does ATM because you don't have a game she likes to play?

So, if "casual" plays games that the "hardcore" dislikes, how do you define "hardcore"? You just come back to where you started. How do you know you're not the "casual" one and your mother the "hardcore"?

"casual" gamers are not dumb. If they want to sacrifice their time, they can play "hard" games too.

Well you got to find a way to differentiate the hardcore gamer that buys 50+ games a year and plays 30 hours a week from the more 'casual' person that will buy 2-3 games a year and in average play 2-3 hours a week....

Addicted gamer - Non addicted gamer

There r not casual or hardcores...how can u defined that?? theres only people that play a lot, people that play regularly, people that play less, or people that dont even play.

Casual??? Hardcore??? F**k that!!!

So how do you differentiate the Wii crowd from the PS360 crowd?

Self Destruct in 3....2......1.

I agree with Happy Squrriel, hardcore in other things like saying I'm a hardcore smoker or a hardcore swimmer means your life is devoted to that one activity much more then other activities.

I saw on G4 some movie about a few guys who are playing donkey kong to get the highest score for years and they are so into it, now donkey kong is such a simple game but I was like "wow, these guys are f'ing hardcore".

Now saying casual for people is ok, because people can play games and not be devoted for it that much but saying casual games seems wrong. Pokemon may be thought of a casual game but I spent 100's of hours across all pokemon games, maybe like 400 hours+, now I devoted lots of my life to Pokemon so now I'm not a hardcore gamer then because its Pokemon o.o