I don't.

I would say hardcore vs casual is related to what style of games the person place and the dedication to the games they have.
For example, a casual gamer is someone who plays Minesweeper and solitaire or maybe even some Wii Sports. They may dabble into some sports games or something that seems really cool every once in a while, but does not dedicate a lot of time or thought into gaming.
Whereas a hardcore gamer, plays everything from Battlefield and MW2 down to Mario and LBP. They are willing to try any game and spend a lot of time playing the games as well as researching new games. They are the ones that dedicate years of their lifetime in the pursuit of their gaming. They will spend their hard earned money and time for peripherals and everything else.

I also think there is the third class of gamer which I wold denote as an Average gamer, they play the new cool games that come out, they may not finish all the games they buy, and gaming comes secondary to most things in life. The average gamer has no problems spending a 4-5 hour shift of gaming when they have nothing else to do, but will not chose gaming over most things.

I lay probably halfway between average and hardcore. This is mainly because I work at a job that allows me to look into and research games as well as spending a lot of time on it. So i only partially fit the hardcore side, but then again, I also have a $100 gaming mouse. Does this mean I have too much money to spend, or care about gaming too much. I can't decide.

I never used the word "casual" in relation to gaming. "Casual gaming" is a pleonasm anyway.

I used "hardcore" a few times, but I always made sure the sarcasm is apparent and what I really mean is "retarded teenagers with too much time on their hands playing nothing but piss-easy M-rated 3D games". I don't believe a valid definition exists for this one either.

In general, I tend to disregard anything said by people who use those terms seriously.

i say hardcore as in how long you play a certain system/game...a casual player will not play games for too long, a hardcore player will play for many hours

I use those words like this:

You can't beat hardcore porn and casual sex.

I only use these terms for porn.

I don't.

They're really nothing more than industry buzz words to either milk you for revenue for the former, or for the latter, in nicer terms, dismiss you as a retard.

And it's ironic, since most of the self-proclaimed hardcore gamers are playing dumbed-down, or, casualized if you prefer, PC games in the first place.

Hardcore=most HD twin content
Casual=Wii with exception of RE4, Zelda titles which would be hardcore.
rofl, that seems to be the general consensus of the people I talk to. I think NSMBW can be played hardcore just as much as MW2.

Congratulations! You've just won the thread!

I agree with you, I was just trying to get people here to understand that the word Hardcore and Casual are laughable to say since it doesn't make sense.  You can use those 2 words in more than those 7 ways I have listed.  I was hoping people would be confused when they try to choose which 7, lol, and finally learn that those 2 words are for; as you just said; buzz words to either milk you for revenue for the former, or for the latter, in nicer terms, dismiss you as a retard.  I do agree though *thumbs up*