Those are professional gamers. Hardcore games are one below that. They do everything but get paid for gaming.

Well I really like this article I must say. Try not to read too much into it, just take the basic point, which is:
Pot calling the kettle black. Just forget it already.

Um no. To be casual you are either doing something by chance, indifferent or irregularly. To be a hobbyist you have a regular passion outside of profession. It's what keeps you happy and something you focus on. If you do a hobby casually...that isn't your hobby. That is just doing something casually with indifference towards growth. Hobbyists actually care and spend time on what they do apart from profession. Hobbyists collect, play, work on and do everything (usually without even getting paid for it, because of the love for what it is they are into).

Fair enough, there are people that have gaming as a hobby. But that has nothing to do with being "hardcore". If you meant hobbyist, then why didn't you say hobbyist earlier?

I didn't use the term 'hobbyist' because thats not gaming lingo. As gamers we use certain words to set apart novices (or casuals) from intermediates and advanced gamers. Hobbyist is the technical term that defines a 'hardcore gamer' or 'the hardcore'. They have done everything but gone professional. Most of us here are gaming hobbyists, including me.

I still don't think harcore is the correct term to call someone who plays games that are made simple for the masses (in this case the PC style games on consoles). It's just wrong.

You could say all kinds of stuff like traditional gamers, or core gamers (since core is the traditional market) but hardcore is supposed to mean the elite. And normal console players just doesn't seem very elite to me.

The way hardcore is used today to differentiate gamers from gamers is just as ridiculous as retro gamers claming that people that play new systems are too "casual" to play the old "hardcore" systems.

Anyway, if your description of harcore is people that have done everything but gone professional, such as people who spend lots and lots of time playing games, then you should also agree that it's ridiculous how the word "hardcore" is being used these days. Anyway, what is your definition of a hardcore gamer? Describe the typical "hardcore" gamer and the typical "hardcore" games, that is if you think games can be hardcore.

And I still don't know a single PC enthusiast that refers to themselves as a "hardcore" gamer.

As for "hardcore games," the AO 18+ genre is a pretty small niche.

maybe, but wii still caters to the casual gamers more than anything else.
perhaps we need a new irrelevant tag if we must abide by malstrom's ridiculous supposition.
Super casual? Softcore? 20-minuters?
I'll leave the jokes to you guys. Because Mal's sense of irony is as unfocused as the wii demographic itself.

Barely anyone uses mics in PC Gaming, none of my friends are PC gamers, there is no unified online system for all games for PC Gaming, there is no party/matchmaking system, so you have to scroll through a server list to find good games to play, to play PC games on MAX settings you need a good PC that will cost $1,000+, don't deny it either cause to play games like Crysis on MAX settings you need a crazy good PC, and unless you play a PC game 24/7, you will get owned everytime you wanna play for just a few minutes. Plus, most PC Games are on consoles, and FPS works great with both M&KB & Controller, it's all about preferences....I can use a controller by holding it, but to play w/ M&KB I need a freakin table to keep it stable and be accurate and it hurts your wrists. Also, I never see people playing 2-4 players on one PC, on one PC Game.

BTW again, still dont forget, that these are not articles, these are someone's blogposts, based on terms that he already has a consistent use for.
He even wrote ACTUAL articles about the uselessness of these two terms, it is not accidental that now he used them in quotation marks.