I feel a lil sad when I hear all this bickering about who is hardcore and who is not...this whole argument, in my belief, can be compared to the whole rich-class/poor-class system, with a twist.

Just bare with me for a sec...back in the day, when video games were really not mainstream and we had the Atari, the Jaguar, the NES, SNES, and the Genesis, gaming was good. We had our games, we had our fun and just played on. Sure, we had our classic console war (the infamous SNES vs. Genesis) but we just had fun, and moved on with our lives in general. Everybody was an equal. Maybe not on skill level, but there wasn't so much of an argument on who was a hardcore, who was a casual, or who was a non-gamer (at least not where I living).

Now tho, it has gone out of hand. Now gamers want to distinguish themselves from other gamers, not based on how great they play, but based on what games they play, and how much money they spend on their consoles. This is what I mean about the rich/poor class system. Those who rather pay less money for their games, just prefer the games that just happen to cost less, or like games which don't have much violence but focus more on plain old fun, are deemed "casual" in a negative connotative type of way, whereas those who play violent games, games with blood and gore, games that need expensive consoles, expensive T.V.'s are considered the elite, "hardcore" gamers, those that are above the rest. They need not be rich, they just spend more.

Just goes to show you...no matter how innocent things start out in a new world, it slowly starts to evolve into the real world. I'm sorry for the rant....just sick and tired of gamers who call themselves "hardcore"....many of those players just end up becoming "gaming snobs."

That Bingo chart wins every thread it appears in.

Sighs, I head this a few times already, how could you say wii doesn't have hardcore gamers? there are still people who stuck with nintendo in bad times and still following nintendo everywhere, and anyway, one do you call hardcore game? I certainly don't know, I still think that nintendo has the most hardcore players :P, o yah and when some good games come out for the wii, not saying that there isn't any rite now, don't get afraid to see games past the 200 hours, when I had the gamecube my super smash brother melee got past 250 hours :P I know there are more hardcore then this XD

 I don't feel safe enough without it. I have nightmares about Ioi now ='(

You've already slept since the incident? I'll never sleep again.

The primary difference between Hardcore, Core, and Casual is the time dedicated to gaming. Everything else is a distant second, or a byproduct of the amount of time spent playing. However games can be designed to cater to each group, and few games do an excellent job of appealing to all.

Generally speaking the Hardcore gamer is going to look for a deeper experience. While the casual gamer is going to look for the more shallow experience. That is not an insult, or a compliment. Someone who has five hours a week to play games total is going to be overwhelmed by a game that is overly complex or requires a certain amount of sit down dedication.

In plain terms if the first sit down with a game requires three hours. Then chances are casual gamers will not be that interested especially if those five hours are spread out over a week. They will gravitate towards games that can be played in short bursts, and are easy to pick up. Meanwhile the Hardcore gamer generally loves the challenge, and is looking for a long term relationship. These are the people that will binge a game, and will literally wallow in the experience.

This is the difference, and thats all there is to it really. Most gamers in this forum are not hardcore gamers. They are core gamers they might have upwards of ten hours a week to play so they can get further into games then say a casual gamer, but will be put off by insanely complex games. Generally if your putting in over twenty hours a week you could be considered a hardcore gamer with none of the negative stereotypes. You could say play the shit out of one game, or you might play through half a dozen its the dedication to the hobby that matters.

On a personal note I think the Wii has some titles that can appeal to hardcore gamers. However most of the titles are casual by nature, or more skewed towards that demographic. That said what exactly is wrong with this if you find that the games appeal to you. Where is there a rule that says a console must be heavily into hardcore gaming. Mariokart is a casual game series does that make it any less fun. How about the Mario platformers they are casual also they are built around small level worlds with quick objectives. Casual does not equal bad, and hardcore does not equate to good. They are just different play styles.

I think there are two scales to reference 'hardcore' or other levels of playing.

A. Hardcore being a reference point to 'how much do I play?'

B. Hardcore being a reference point to 'how much cooler are my games because (blah blah)?'


I would think some of the references from critics making severely misconceived statements towards Wii would probably be the latter-use. I've never understood the whole bashing 'fad' concept, nor does anyone else around here.

However, the A reference is probably the most accurate, yet it's such a interpretation and opinionated word it's hard to even adequately decipher what the phrase means.

"No plans. The Wii user isn't a hardcore user." -- This states reasoning B as a form of misconception, but in reality means A, yet the objective of the statement is far from correct, as plenty of hardcore, multi-platform owners own a Wii. So, most people are either misinformed, stupid(, or bribed).

(I don't know if the quote is real, but it was appropriate, so I spared the source as it's not relevant).

I should also note that a C reference exists, but it's next to never used, which would be the actual 'capacity' for a gamer to perform a task on a video game.  AKA, skill, mind and reflexes.  I consider myself those. 

I think there are as many hardcore players on PS3 as there is on Wii. But Wii has sold a hell of a lot more to people that are into party games/wii sports style games and the sort.

To be honest 3rd parties aren't really releasing good hardcore games.