On "hardcore" gaming

[Gabriel]

There's a segment of gaming which is considered "hardcore." They're best represented by fans of a particular genre of game. They may be fans of 2D platform games, 2D fighting games, anything with a Nintendo label on it, sports games, or Final Fantasy. Their common thread is a total dedication to their genre of love, and a complete and consuming hatred for everything else outside of their genre. Another defining charactertic is that most of the time the genre of thier affection is a dead one, barely marketable because it has been so customized to their niche desires.

 

I'm not talking about those people.

 

To me, a hardcore gamer is one who embraces diversity. When you look at their gaming shelf, you don't see a a single genre or company accounting for all titles. You'll see a wide array of titles. You see classic compilations alongside the latest and greatest graphical extravaganza. You'll see heart attack inducing action games alongside turn based puzzlers. You'll see major titles with lots of PR alongside tiny little niche titles with a circulation in the hundreds.

 

When you ask them what kinds of games they like, they might respond that they love all games equally, but they're human just like everyone else and most will respond they like one or a few genres more than others. Their game library will reflect that, but you'll definitely also see they are open to other things. Even if they tell you they hate platformers more than baby-killing nazis, you'll likely see a platformer on their game shelf somewhere. They're open to new things.

 

One moment they may be playing a 2600 game. A few moments later they may be playing something like Halo or Madden. They'll switch from the cartoony, like Lego Star Wars, to the dread seriousness of Resistance.

 

But, to really go out on a limb, I think the real characteristic which describes a hardcore gamer is that they have expectations. They expect more from games than the casual gamer.

[Scumdogg]

Hi. I'd just like to agree with everything you just said.

[joeybastard]

For me it's much simpler than that. Somebody is hardcore when they are REALLY into playing games regardless of what type of game it is. Somebody who play Sudoku constantly is just as hardcore to me as the guy who plays whatever FPS is the flavor of the month constantly. I don't see any difference.

Edited December 8, 2007 by joeybastard

[moycon]

I look at a hardcore gamer as someone who makes video games a part of their routine. Doesn't matter what genre. Doesn't matter if they are the best of the best. Bottom line when quiting time at work rolls around they are thinking about pick up where they left off in Mass Effect not what to eat for dinner. They day dream about the round of Eye of Judgment they played yesterday and what they could have done differently to have won. They buy faceplates with their favorite game characters, invest in accessories they know they don't really need and post to videogame forums. They can't bear to part with their old systems even though something bigger and better has come along. These are the hardcore gamers. Some people think a hardcore gamer is someone who can score 1,000,000,000,000 in a particular game like say... Space Invaders or someone that plays Halo 10 hours a day and can't be beat. Maybe it used to be that way, but I think when people throw the term around these days, they are just refering to someone who has made gaming a part of their lives in a major way. Just like there are hardcore sports fan, so are there hardcore gamers.

[Jess Ragan]

To me, "hardcore gamer" is just another word for "basement-dwelling geek with an inflated sense of entitlement." I'm a gamer, plain and simple.

[DragonmasterDan]

I think the concept of a hardcore gamer, at least from a publishers marketing standpoint is a gamer who buys double digit software titles at roughly full price every year. In North America the most popular genre for a hardcore gamer to buy presently are first person shooter and adventure games.

 

I think of a hardcore gamer as someone who buys and plays a lot of games, simple as that. But there's a new term that's being thrown around which is a contrast to the "casual gamer" who plays mostly sports games and occasional big releases and only buys small numbers of titles for their system.

[shadow460]

A hardcore gamer can say "Oh, yuck, Gauntlet!" I hate that game!" and then sit down to play it with the wife for three hours straight, just because it's a game. A hardcore gamer can work an entire shift while thinking about the variations of Centipede, except for break times when he thinks about how best to version up the weapons in Coded Arms. A hardcore gamer is happy with titles that other might consider "sucky". A hardcore gamer knows the differences between ports of some of their favorite games, like how the Saturn, PC, and PS1 version of C&C are different. On his shelf, you see boxed games like Hey, You, Pikachu, wipEout, and Sole Survivor.

 

Most of all, the hardcore gamer doesn't think he or she is hardcore at all. They just love video games!

[ManShowBoy]

To me, "hardcore gamer" is just another word for "basement-dwelling geek with an inflated sense of entitlement." I'm a gamer, plain and simple.

 

lol.

 

I really dont think you can be a "hardcore gamer" and have a normal life.

[moycon]

To me, "hardcore gamer" is just another word for "basement-dwelling geek with an inflated sense of entitlement." I'm a gamer, plain and simple.

 

I think now with the huge volumes of soccer moms playing Bejeweled and Word Search on Yahoo, and more-so the groups of seniors and people that never play or think about videogames Wii bowling in their living room, the term "gamer" needed further refinement and people took it upon themselves to define it. Would you compare your gaming habits to your moms? To your grammy's? Sure you all game, but I'll bet your habits are considerably different. As for those people themselves, in spite of the fact what you might think about them living in their mommies basement, I think they are probably normal folk who just want to set themselves apart from the masses of casual gamers (Especially since the Wii was released) and that's an extremely simple way to do it. I'd bet many people who use the term "hardcore gamer" not only don't live in a basement and don't care about entitlement, but wouldn't hang out with you in the real world because you were too much of geek Jess. Hard to imagine hu? Way to try and start a new stereotype though.

Edited December 9, 2007 by moycon

[8bitgamer]

To me, a hardcore gamer is someone who takes the hobby seriously and enjoys the competition, whether against the game, against his or herself, or against another player. Also, someone who adapts to each successive generation as new systems come out.

[Breakpack]

To me, "hardcore gamer" is just another word for "basement-dwelling geek with an inflated sense of entitlement." I'm a gamer, plain and simple.

 

lol.

 

I really dont think you can be a "hardcore gamer" and have a normal life.

 

Define 'normal'

Edited December 9, 2007 by Breakpack

[kisrael]

I'm probably not a "hardcore gamer".

 

But I think I have a deeper, or wider view than most... I started playing back when the industry was in its infancy, we've kind of grown up together. I had a collection of 2600 games when everyone else was getting into NES. I am a small time game author, for the 2600 and more often now in Java. I have a certain philosophy of what I'm looking to get out of games ("novel interaction"), I have certain genres I can't stand (all but the arcadiest of sports games, especially Tony Hawk-style, and any RPG with menu-driven combat)-- but I tend to respect the giants of those genres as good games, just not my cuppa.

 

I've had most every major console since the mid-90s except the Saturn and now the PS3, and tend to hold on to the best games of each generation, especially multiplayer...

 

So I dunno. I'd shy away from hard core, I sit down and play through maybe 5 or 10 games a year.

[Jess Ragan]

Geek? I'll have you know that I'm a nerd, thank you very much.

 

I reject the label "hardcore gamer" because the term generally refers to people who I am not. I don't obsessively play Halo. I don't like Grand Theft Auto. I don't rush out to buy the latest gore-fest. However, that would be the criteria used to define a gamer as "hardcore."

 

My tastes are eclectic and eccentric. I love the old stuff, but I'm not against playing new games as long as they appeal to me. I enjoy popular games, but I get just as much entertainment from an obscurity like Fire Pro Wrestling Returns as I would heavily hyped titles like Crackdown. My interest in video games defies a simple two word classification, and I would hope that the rest of you would feel the same way.

[moycon]

I reject the label "hardcore gamer" because the term generally refers to people who I am not. I don't obsessively play Halo. I don't like Grand Theft Auto. I don't rush out to buy the latest gore-fest. However, that would be the criteria used to define a gamer as "hardcore."

 

Maybe that's how it used to be, but it doesn't appear that is the case these days based on how it's being used, if you don't believe me, do a search on "hardcore gamer" and read who is using it and how they are using it. (Doesn't have to be on this forum, explore.)

 

Remember when being a little bitch, ment you were the female runt of the litter?

 

Remember when cracker was only something you put in you soup?

 

Remember when being gay ment that you were just a normal happy-go-lucky fellow?

 

Remember when hardcore only ment sexual penetration?

 

Words and their meaning get altered or changed all the time Jess. Embrace the change. Don't poo-poo it or belittle because you don't understand. Reject if you must, but it'll be for naught...You can't stop change Jess. You just can't.

 

If it makes you feel better though, We could try to get people to start using the term like this. :

 

hardcore gamers...and Jess

[Fretwobbler]

When you have a hard core of skin build-up at the centre of your thumb from pressing too hard on the D-pad, your a hard core gamer.

[A Sprite]

Much as I'd like to agree with the post that started us out, too often hardcore is more like:

 

Hardcore gaming is when you can claim the Final Fantasy series is both an obscure favorite the mainstream will never understand, and a mainstream favorite that you can't understand in two separate rants within the same sentence.

 

( Bonus points if you can claim any one of 7, 8, 9, X, or XII is the worst in the series, without batting an eye, and not even think to mention the first two NES sequels, X2, or XI. )

 

Odds are you love Megaman games, and wish that companies would show more innovation.

 

You think Dead or Alive is a shallow attempt to target your pants, and would prefer to play Guilty Gear instead. Same with Tomb Raider - you don't see Samus wearing tight or revealing clothing in order to sell her games, do you?

 

If you didn't get how those last two sentences contradicted themselves, you might not be hardcore.

 

If you've played every game in every series mentioned to completion, and you still don't get the contradiction, put your pencil down; you passed. You're hardcore.

 

If you make your girlfriend sleep alone 6 or more days in a week because she gets in the way, you wish you were hardcore. It's actually an addiction.

 

But enough with the easy targets - here's who else is hardcore...

 

Anyone who thinks the NES ruined gaming. Anyone who thinks DOS made them more of a man.

 

Anyone who believes liking any one thing more than any one other thing about their hobby gives them a moral high ground over the mass audience, come on out, and admit it, you're hardcore.

 

To me, it seems hardcore is more about being better than someone else - it's elitism, or reverse elitism, the systems change, but the people are all the same: it's Atari fans, Nintendo fans, Sega fans, Commodore fans, and Speccy fans; it can be anyone.

 

All it takes is wanting less options in the world, in the name of fighting blind conformity.

 

Nobody else needs to use the term - as Jess said, we're just gamers who like to have a little fun.

Edited December 9, 2007 by A Sprite

[bones]

Cheers Gabriel, that's a great definition of hardcore. Personally that term always left a bad taste in my mouth, it seems to be used to exclude certain types of gamers/genres/company fans in favor of others. Looking at gaming as being eclectic and inclusive is a much better view on things.

 

From that view most anyone posting in Modern Gaming on an Atari forum should be considered hardcore, and that's a good thing

Edited December 9, 2007 by bones

[warmachine]

I "game" as a way to kill time, so that it won't seem like it takes so long before I die.

 

You think Dead or Alive is a shallow attempt to target your pants, and would prefer to play Guilty Gear instead. Same with Tomb Raider - you don't see Samus wearing tight or revealing clothing in order to sell her games, do you?

 

Surley, you can't dismiss the little striptease at the end of the metroid games that make nindendo fanboi's fantasize about screwing

cartoon characters while yanking the pole in anticipation of the next bland metroid game based on the belief that samus might show

a little nipple next time.

Edited December 9, 2007 by warmachine

[kevincal]

Anyone who comes to Atari Age everyday is hardcore in my book. It means videogames are part of your daily life.

[shadow460]

Anyone who comes to Atari Age everyday is hardcore in my book. It means videogames are part of your daily life.

 

For the most part, yes. If games aren't a part of everyday life, then either they used to be, or they are a part of the everyday life of someone you live with.

[godslabrat]

I think now with the huge volumes of soccer moms playing Bejeweled and Word Search on Yahoo, and more-so the groups of seniors and people that never play or think about videogames Wii bowling in their living room, the term "gamer" needed further refinement and people took it upon themselves to define it.

 

A Sprite's extremely funny list actually had a lot of truth to it, but I think this is the key distinction that everyone is trying to make. Gaming is starting to trickle into everyday culture... almost everyone games, even if it's something as basic as Windows Solitaire. So yeah, even my mom and grandma game if you factor in stuff like that. I can understand needing to make a distinction between people like that and people who spend hundreds of hours each year playing games. That said, when people call themselves "hardcore", it always sounds pretentious.

[Danno]

the groups of seniors and people that never play or think about videogames Wii bowling in their living room,

This doesn't really happen. It's just a commercial.

[Bucket]

If you can get as much enjoyment out of a tech demo than any actual game, you might be a hardcore gamer.

[godslabrat]

If you can get as much enjoyment out of a tech demo than any actual game, you might be a hardcore gamer.

You might be a hardcore gamer if...

 

... you've ever been kicked out of GameStop for being a "douchebag"

 

... your gaming PC cost more than $2000, yet you pirate games because paying for games is "for suckers"

 

... you don't own any shirts that weren't given away with a pre-order.

 

... you see a fatal car wreck, and cannot resist the urge to yell "pwn3d!"

[Lord Helmet]

The only thing you guys are leaving out is that you have to be a Wii hater and rip anything and everything Nintendo Wii or DS in public internet forums...then, and only then, can you ever be *truly* hardcore