I don't know if there's already a thread on this subject, but given the latest news, commentary and all the crap they always throw to us Nintendo Fans, I would like to try and define this two kind of gamers.

 For a start, casual gamers was always define as that gamer that only played the games for fashion, never really went through all the depth of any game, and ironic enough is the life that nowadays we Nintendo fans are called like that, when the iconic figure for making games where you have to had 10,00000 requisites in order to watch the proper end and to have all extra bonuses has always been Nintendo. Or do I have to remember the 100+ stars in Mario, or the 10,0000 Jigsaw pieces in Banjo Kazooie, and don't start me on Zelda games.

And a Hardcore gamers are those willing to waste countless hours discovering any little detail in the games as far as they can, at least under the last revision this was my definition. 

Now, there come some people pseudo hardocore gamers that says a 8 hour long title( Gears of Wars) is for real hard core gamers. I know this will rise anger and all kind of comments, but is the true, the really devoted people that where willing to be in front of a screen discovering new things of a game were always the Nintendo people, admit it, playing 200000000 hours online isn't really discovering anything really new on the game, nor unveiling any new adventure, of course is fun, but then again that's what the casual gamer is looking don't he, only fun.

 I've played videogames for 18 years now, I've saw the Nintendo-Sega War, I saw the game boy beating the crap out of the Game Gear, wich by the way was far superior in graphics than the game boy. SO please don't tell me a good made is because of the graphics or that the Wii is not going to have a long life because of this, as far as I can recall the game boy were in the market long enough without any graphics update. It's idiotic to say that a hardcore gamer is that who play games that have good graphs.

 Well, I wait for you comments, heat responses and death threats.

You didn't look very hard at all did you? (and I'm pretty sure you could find more than that if you bothered to use the search function).

Anyways,

The correct definitions are as follows:

Hardcore gamer: people with sophisticated, refined tastes in video games. They are the elite.

Casual gamer: uncouth, slackjawed and fatuous, the opinions of these low and feeble masses are instantly void.

As examples, I am a hardcore gamer. Anyone who disagrees with my preferences in games and systems is a casual gamer.

Well, before players start to fight about the casual/hardcore definition, I'll say that these names are coming from a marketing approach, a way to break apart different kind of behavior.

IMO, the base criteria is money : how much do you spend each month on video games. Hardcore spend a lot. Casual spend less.


The thing is, from this, you can start to develop the profil :

- Spending much means playing a lot BUT, you have to remember that playing a lot do not always means spending much (ie : ppl that only play to one game or one MMO) AND do not bring knowledge of the whole VG culture.

- Playing a lot means you're more likely to like (or are not afraid by) complex games that may requiere a lot of time to finish. But, it doesn't mean you can not like short, fun and easy game.


As you can see, trying to develop an elaborate profil is just messy, so I stick with the "How much money do you spend".

It's might seems strange because that would mean that ppl spending 5 hours a day on WoW and only playing that game (so 10 bucks/month) are not hardcore. But that's what I think because, IMO hardcore is also about having a wide VG experience, so playing various games is essential, and that imply... spending money.

Interesting breakdown : http://www.gamespot.com/news/6173525.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;1

I think the real issue I have with this isn't the 5-hours-a-day WoW player, but the professional Counter Strike/Star Craft player. By your definition, they also aren't hardcore gamers. You can believe that -- as you noted, there is no official definition -- but personally I think that's a bit silly. 

It might seems silly, but that's because, as I said at the beginning, it's a matter of interpretation.

In one hand, you have the original breakdown of these categories, the Marketing one, where roughtly, casual gamers = casual buyers and hardcore gamers = big buyers. And to them, a guy that spend all this time on Counter Strike cannot be considered as a big custommer, since he only bought one game (HL).

On the other hand, you have the breakdown players try to apply to these terms, based on the kind of games, the number of games owned, the quality of games, the time spent, etc. And of course, they will consider a CSS players as hardcore.

But the player's definition is so vague, that I'd rather stick with the marketing one. Especially since in the end, that's the only one that really has a kind of impact (in market analysis).

I just don't have any interest in Nintendogs or The Sims and indeed, I can see a difference with Okami or GoW, but in the end, to me, anyone playing these games is a "fellow gamer", exactly like someone that read books I don't like is still a "fellow reader".

Right, I understand your position. I'm just stating that I disagree, and that the example I've given illustrates why.