Define a hardcore gamer.

[DoubleU12]

So simple question, you don't have read past this point if you don't wish to. Can you tell me your definition of a Hard Core Gamer?
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I mostly dislike shooting games. I really do, always have. Not ever been note worthy good at them, I didn't even care much for GoldenEye, it just didn't click with me. I prestige mastered in Black Ops 2 and that's like the only big achievement I've ever done in a gritty shooting game.

I do like Borderlands, Bioshock Infinite, Last of Us, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, Halo Reach. (Halo Reach is the only Halo game I am good at.) but for shooters like Black Ops 2, you would have to pay me to be interested in that game.

No I play Call of Duty because my friend does. no other reason. I don't play Battlefield cuz again, not big into shooters so I'm not going to spend money just to see if it's better than Call of Duty. I don't play Splinter Cell or Farcry or FallOut or any other lesser Call of Duties because they are just lesser Call of Duties.

And now I'm terrible at playing Ghosts online. I can't even get a positive K/D. Seriously I don't know what it is about that game. I'm ok at Black Ops 2 but can't even be called decent at Ghosts. What the heck me?! So now I find myself far less interested in the genre than ever.

So with my disinterest in the First Person Shooter series at an all time high, I find no interest in the PS4 yet. I currently own a WiiU but that's cuz 4 games are out or coming out for it that I want, but either by poor advertising or some other reason, I haven't seen or heard of any game for the PS4 and any gameplay I see of the PS4 is Octodad and Knack which both look cute but they look like they are just fun little tech demos with not much content and full retail price tags. Not exactly something I am going to buy an entire PS4 just to play, and then countless shooting games with no identity.

Like to me, the WiiU seems to be the only console with value.

So now that I'm an established Nintendo Fanboy despite I loved the PS3 and Xbox360 way more last gen, does this mean I'm no longer a hard core gamer? I can accept if the answer is yes but seems kinda a bummer since at no point did I STOP playing video games and I considered myself pretty hard core last gen, at least moderately. I'm totally willing to go full metal pro on Mario Kart and Smash Bros, I rather easily got the no bonfire rings in Dark Souls 2 on only my 3rd NG+, even though I could beat anyone who comments on this thread in SoulCalibur 2-4 and Pokemon, probably at the same time.

Titles don't matter but kinda jarring when just 1 day our of nowhere suddenly people call me casual just cuz I couldn't give less about Titanfall or Watchdogs and no other games look good enough to spend money on a PS4 yet. (Which isn't hard core shooters only played on PC? Like isn't that just a rule? Why does the PS4 only make shooters.)

Eventually I'll buy a PS4 when enough games I'm interested in come out, but that day hasn't come yet and I don't expect that will change this year.

 

[StriderShinryu]

For me, being a hardcore gamer (or just being a "gamer" in general) has always been less about how much time you spend playing games (especially if it's only a single game) and more about how much time you spend thinking about more than just the games themselves. It's actually knowing about, caring about and thinking about the industry of gaming, the direction of gaming, etc. along with playing games. As such, to me hardcore gamer is basically the videogame version of a cinephile or food buff. Everyone watches movies and everyone eats food but only some people actually care about the intricacies of them and what goes on "behind the scenes."

 

[Lilani]

Eh, it depends. I've kind of noticed there are basically two ways of defining hardcore and casual gamers: the asshole way, and the simple categorization way. The simple categorization way is just differentiating between people who play games as simple time-killers, and people who play games for the adventure and experience. Basically the difference between somebody who only plays games on the toilet and somebody who actually spends time they could be doing something else playing games. And there is nothing derogatory or elitist meant by this differentiation, just explaining how somebody spends their free time.

The asshole way is saying that only people who play certain games for certain lengths of time are "hardcore gamers," and on top of that expecting some kind of classic gaming pedigree that stipulates one must have played every renowned game from every classic console EVER to even have a COMPREHENSION of what it could possibly mean to play games. Haven't played Mega Man? CASUAL! Haven't played Zelda II? POSER! Haven't heard of a Boy and his Blob? NEWBIE, YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHAT GAMES ARE ABOUT!

 

[DoubleU12]

For me, being a hardcore gamer (or just being a "gamer" in general) has always been less about how much time you spend playing games (especially if it's only a single game) and more about how much time you spend thinking about more than just the games themselves. It's actually knowing about, caring about and thinking about the industry of gaming, the direction of gaming, etc. along with playing games. As such, to me hardcore gamer is basically the videogame version of a cinephile or food buff. Everyone watches movies and everyone eats food but only some people actually care about the intricacies of them and what goes on "behind the scenes."

That is interesting, so you feel that being a gamer requires taking your interest outside of the game itself and learning about the real work aspects of it.

That's cool, I personally disagree but I know i am a huge minority on this especially for movies. When I watch movies I want to know as little as possible about the actors and such because it brings too much unwanted baggage into the movie for me. I just want to enjoy characters, not actors. I know less actors than anyone else I know and it bugs people when they talk to me about movies. XD

I think in a video game if you can get behind the stories mythology and world it has created that makes someone a gamer. Not so much the details of how the creator of Double Fine went from making Monkey Island to making Psychonauts. Now a hard core gamer I would define differently.

 

[DoubleU12]

Eh, it depends. I've kind of noticed there are basically two ways of defining hardcore and casual gamers: the asshole way, and the simple categorization way. The simple categorization way is just differentiating between people who play games as simple time-killers, and people who play games for the adventure and experience. Basically the difference between somebody who only plays games on the toilet and somebody who actually spends time they could be doing something else playing games.

The asshole way is saying that only people who play certain games for certain lengths of time are "hardcore gamers," and on top of that expecting some kind of classic gaming pedigree that stipulates one must have played every renowned game from every classic console EVER to even have a COMPREHENSION of what it could possibly mean to play games. Haven't played Mega Man? CASUAL! Haven't played Zelda II? POSER! Haven't heard of a Boy and his Blob? NEWBIE, YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHAT GAMES ARE ABOUT!

XD Haha! I really like this answer because I can totally relate. Every Smash Bros games introduces me to some new timeless beloved franchise I never knew about. Kid Icarus? Suddenly everyone claims to be huge fan of this game. Like huh?....ok, but why did this never come up before? Did Smash Bros invent these games and implant fond memories of them into their brains?!

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I never categorize people who play games. Anyone who plays them is just a gamer.

 

[Caiphus]

It's a bit of a spectrum, I dunno. There are a bunch of things that could tip the balance one way or the other. But in other circumstances, might not.

I'll give an example:
I was at a party, got brought along by a bunch of friends. People were sitting around a table, happened to start talking about video games. GTA V had just come out, so everyone was talking about that. One of the guys sitting on the fringe of the discussion (I'm sorry to say this, it's unfair) looked like a nerd. So I asked him if he'd gotten into GTA V.
He said "No".
I said "Thank God, neither have I. Do you get into video games?".
"Yeah, quite a bit" comes the reply.
"What are you into?"
"Uuuuuuh... The Witcher?"

And at that point I wanted to hug him. I would've nerded out about it with him, but we got weird looks from everyone else, and then someone suggested a drinking game and it becomes blurry after that.

So I dunno, you could probably tell that this guy was further towards the hardcore side of the spectrum. But what if he played The Witcher for 10 hours a week, and everyone else was playing GTA for 30?

And I mean, I wouldn't go around labelling people anyone else on that table who hadn't heard of The Witcher as "casual gamers" or whatever. Because they still game much more than my sister, who plays The Sims 3 every now and then. Who games more than my Dad, who plays Bejeweled for two hours a week.

But hey, let's make a checklist anyway:

"Have you ever become moist while watching a video game trailer?"

"Did you ever have an inner monologue in Nolan North's voice?"

"Have you ever leveled a character to max in an MMO?"

"Do you get visibly tense when someone mentions microtransactions?"

"Did you ever seriously consider foregoing food because it would temporarily stop you playing video games?"
"Did you ever then do it?"

"Have you, at any point, watched an e-sport stream and fantasised giving it all up to try and go pro?"

If you answered three or more of those affirmatively, then print out a sticker or something. You earned it.

 

[StriderShinryu]

For me, being a hardcore gamer (or just being a "gamer" in general) has always been less about how much time you spend playing games (especially if it's only a single game) and more about how much time you spend thinking about more than just the games themselves. It's actually knowing about, caring about and thinking about the industry of gaming, the direction of gaming, etc. along with playing games. As such, to me hardcore gamer is basically the videogame version of a cinephile or food buff. Everyone watches movies and everyone eats food but only some people actually care about the intricacies of them and what goes on "behind the scenes."

That is interesting, so you feel that being a gamer requires taking your interest outside of the game itself and learning about the real work aspects of it.

That's cool, I personally disagree but I know i am a huge minority on this especially for movies. When I watch movies I want to know as little as possible about the actors and such because it brings too much unwanted baggage into the movie for me. I just want to enjoy characters, not actors. I know less actors than anyone else I know and it bugs people when they talk to me about movies. XD

I think in a video game if you can get behind the stories mythology and world it has created that makes someone a gamer. Not so much the details of how the creator of Double Fine went from making Monkey Island to making Psychonauts. Now a hard core gamer I would define differently.

Well, it's not entirely the real world aspects as much as it is just having a greater knowledge and interest than the moment to moment button pressing. To me that generally does take the form of a deeper interest in the industry itself given that I view gaming as going beyond just one title or genre. It may even be as simple as, say, being on this site to begin with. Simply being here at all implies some level of "hardcore gamerness" and having an active account and using the forums likely means that is even more the case. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be interested in the financials of specific companies or the history of studios a specific texture artist worked with (though, if that's your thing, cool beans) but it means you aren't just someone who sits down, zones out and presses buttons.

As a bonus, I suppose it can then easily be broken down into further subcategories if need be. For example, a hardcore fighting game player might not know or care so much about general gaming but will likely know a lot about different fighting games, how the genre has evolved over time and how different games compare to eachother (in addition, of course, to actually playing the games). A hardcore Street Fighter player, then, might not know or care about the larger scope of fighting games but has a wealth of knowledge about Street Fighter itself. This provides something of a framework for players who do know absolutely everything there is to know about, say, CoD, WoW or Starcraft. They may be hardcore CoD, WoW or Starcraft players and spend hours/days/weeks/etc. playing those games but I think it's a bit of a stretch to call them "hardcore gamers" is that's all they ever focus on.

 

[Dandark]

There is only one type of people who can call themselves hardcore gamers. They need to have owned two of every console released in the past 30 years and have a game collection that altogether costs over £80,000.

They also need to have beaten Dark souls without ever dying or resting at a bonfire while only using their fists and no other weapons or items.

They also need to have played through the the entire "I want to be the guy" series of games without ever dying. An entire playthrough without dying. In under 30 minutes.

Oh and they also need to be able to 1337 pR0z HeADsh0Tz 360 N0 Sc0PEz on Call of duty.
I think those are the requirements agreed upon by the great gaming hivemind anyway.

 

[DoubleU12]

There is only one type of people who can call themselves hardcore gamers. They need to have owned two of every console released in the past 30 years and have a game collection that altogether costs over £80,000.

They also need to have beaten Dark souls without ever dying or resting at a bonfire while only using their fists and no other weapons or items.

They also need to have played through the the entire "I want to be the guy" series of games without ever dying. An entire playthrough without dying. In under 30 minutes.

Oh and they also need to be able to 1337 pR0z HeADsh0Tz 360 N0 Sc0PEz on Call of duty.
I those are the requirements agreed upon by the great gaming hivemind anyway.

O_O Damn.... welp, guess I'll never be hard core ; ^ ;

 

[thesilentman]

I have a different take on this. A hardcore gamer is someone who isn't playing a game for the major benefit to have fun. Sure that's a benefit, but they're looking to be enthralled by the game itself, be it through story or gameplay. For example, I enjoyed Dark Souls a lot more than Skyrim because it hung me by the balls and forced me to work for the benefits, whereas Skyrim was a bit easier, which allowed me to simply have juvenile fun while I was playing for fun.

Because of that, they're quick to dismiss anything that's deemed "casual" because they want an experience that truly engages them, however they can get it. They're not interested in the cheap thrills.

There is only one type of people who can call themselves hardcore gamers. They need to have owned two of every console released in the past 30 years and have a game collection that altogether costs over £80,000.

They also need to have beaten Dark souls without ever dying or resting at a bonfire while only using their fists and no other weapons or items.

They also need to have played through the the entire "I want to be the guy" series of games without ever dying. An entire playthrough without dying. In under 30 minutes.

Oh and they also need to be able to 1337 pR0z HeADsh0Tz 360 N0 Sc0PEz on Call of duty.
I those are the requirements agreed upon by the great gaming hivemind anyway.

I suppose you're missing [/sarcasm]?

These guys exist everywhere, even if it's playing casually or seriously.

 

[DoubleU12]

Story about friends and Witcher

^_^ That is cool. I never played the Witcher myself but if I ever heard anyone who even KNOWS what Odin Sphere is I might tear up and hug them as well! XD haha! I've never felt so alone loving such a fun game! XD

But hey, let's make a checklist anyway:

"Have you ever become moist while watching a video game trailer?"

"Did you ever have an inner monologue in Nolan North's voice?"

"Have you ever leveled a character to max in an MMO?"

"Do you get visibly tense when someone mentions microtransactions?"

"Did you ever seriously consider foregoing food because it would temporarily stop you playing video games?"
"Did you ever then do it?"

"Have you, at any point, watched an e-sport stream and fantasised giving it all up to try and go pro?"

If you answered three or more of those affirmatively, then print out a sticker or something. You earned it.

1. Ok um.... maybe, I mean let me not kid myself, Elizabeth's cleavage is quite lovely. o u o;;;
2. I've had inner monologue, who the voice was I can't recall by name so I'm going to put a 0.5 yes on it. XD haha.
3. Yes, very recently in fact.
4. I feel I have to say no to this 1 which feels odd because that seems like something I'd have PTSD over by now...huh.
5a. Well not for long periods of time... >.>;;; Like I;d skip a fast food run with friends cuz I'm too into the new Dragon's Crown I just got and end up not eating til the next day...so to a small extent, yes. ^_^;;; oh dear.
6. There was this 1 time I - no nevermind! Let me save face and just say no! XD haha!

So what did I need? 3
Well um... looks like I scored a 2.5 o_o;;; dam, close.

 

[DoubleU12]

For me, being a hardcore gamer (or just being a "gamer" in general) has always been less about how much time you spend playing games (especially if it's only a single game) and more about how much time you spend thinking about more than just the games themselves. It's actually knowing about, caring about and thinking about the industry of gaming, the direction of gaming, etc. along with playing games. As such, to me hardcore gamer is basically the videogame version of a cinephile or food buff. Everyone watches movies and everyone eats food but only some people actually care about the intricacies of them and what goes on "behind the scenes."

That is interesting, so you feel that being a gamer requires taking your interest outside of the game itself and learning about the real work aspects of it.

That's cool, I personally disagree but I know i am a huge minority on this especially for movies. When I watch movies I want to know as little as possible about the actors and such because it brings too much unwanted baggage into the movie for me. I just want to enjoy characters, not actors. I know less actors than anyone else I know and it bugs people when they talk to me about movies. XD

I think in a video game if you can get behind the stories mythology and world it has created that makes someone a gamer. Not so much the details of how the creator of Double Fine went from making Monkey Island to making Psychonauts. Now a hard core gamer I would define differently.

Well, it's not entirely the real world aspects as much as it is just having a greater knowledge and interest than the moment to moment button pressing. To me that generally does take the form of a deeper interest in the industry itself given that I view gaming as going beyond just one title or genre. It may even be as simple as, say, being on this site to begin with. Simply being here at all implies some level of "hardcore gamerness" and having an active account and using the forums likely means that is even more the case. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be interested in the financials of specific companies or the history of studios a specific texture artist worked with (though, if that's your thing, cool beans) but it means you aren't just someone who sits down, zones out and presses buttons.

As a bonus, I suppose it can then easily be broken down into further subcategories if need be. For example, a hardcore fighting game player might not know or care so much about general gaming but will likely know a lot about different fighting games, how the genre has evolved over time and how different games compare to eachother (in addition, of course, to actually playing the games). A hardcore Street Fighter player, then, might not know or care about the larger scope of fighting games but has a wealth of knowledge about Street Fighter itself. This provides something of a framework for players who do know absolutely everything there is to know about, say, CoD, WoW or Starcraft. They may be hardcore CoD, WoW or Starcraft players and spend hours/days/weeks/etc. playing those games but I think it's a bit of a stretch to call them "hardcore gamers" is that's all they ever focus on.

I think I gotcha now. ^_^ For me I feel like that would be how I would define a gamer and a "Hardcore" gamer I would categorize as more focused and streamlined towards competitive games exclusively. If I was to make a chart of it I suppose it'd be a diagram that shows that not all hard core gamers are gamers and not all gamers are hard core with a cross section in the middle for both.

 

[Caiphus]

Snip

Thanks for answering my poll .

To be honest, I wrote the "no eating" one in an desperate attempt to find solidarity with people who have done some of the dumb, frankly unhealthy stuff I have.

You haven't lived until you've realised that it's gotten dark and you haven't eaten yet today.

But yes, finding people who share your interests is always fun, especially if you're into slightly obscure stuff. And I think that's a positive side of creating some of this "hardcore gamer"/"casual gamer" labelling stuff; it can help you find people with similar interests. I'm probably going to have more to talk about with people who are into Dragon Age/The Witcher/whatever than people who are into Candy Crush. And that's fine, the people playing Candy Crush probably don't want to hear about the new gear on my level 85 (or whatever they're up to now) Paladin.

And I haven't played Odin Sphere, myself. But I'd probably be interested to hear about it from someone at a party.

Of course, that all breaks down when people start going "casual gamer get on my level fag". Not that you were, of course.

 

[LaoJim]

For me, being a hardcore gamer (or just being a "gamer" in general) has always been less about how much time you spend playing games (especially if it's only a single game) and more about how much time you spend thinking about more than just the games themselves. It's actually knowing about, caring about and thinking about the industry of gaming, the direction of gaming, etc. along with playing games. As such, to me hardcore gamer is basically the videogame version of a cinephile or food buff. Everyone watches movies and everyone eats food but only some people actually care about the intricacies of them and what goes on "behind the scenes."

I agree with this completely. In fact it might be better to call these types of gamers "game buffs" or more pretentiously "ludophiles" rather than "hardcore gamers" which seems contain a value judgement about anyone who is not sufficiently hardcore.

For me (and admittedly I don't hold the key to the box containing the "real gamer" certificates) you (the OP) are clearly a ludophile, since you have listed between 10 and 20 games in your post in such a way that suggests that you know a reasonable amount about them, have played enough to know what you like and dislike, and could probably give clear responses if pressed further about what appeals or not about each of them. Even if you're not going to buy Watchdogs or a PS4, you know enough about them to make an informed decision and are probably more of a gamer than people who have rushed out to buy it purely because of the Ubisoft hype machine (which is not a criticism of people who have bought the game after careful consideration).

That said, video games differ from movies in one important respect, as Dara O'Briain put it "You can't be bad at watching a movie, but you can be bad playing a video game". For this reason people often tend to define being hardcore as being good at gaming, either generally or for a specific game or genre. In some ways this is clearly ridiculous, in the sense that there should be no requirement to be good at on-line CoD, especially if you actively dislike the game, and if you are good at other games. For some games, for example Bioshock Infinite, I enjoy as a work of art, and have no particular desire to get good at it.

On the other hand, I'd question if someone who played CoD on-line every night, but had no particular desire to improve, was a hardcore gamer. To put it another way, someone who played football once a week, just to have fun with their friends, wouldn't necessarily count as a "football fan", especially if they didn't actually like the game. And there's nothing wrong with that, if you are having fun with friends, there's no particular reason why being bad at the game should be a problem. (That said if you are having fun, I don't see why you don't like the game, and if you're not having fun, can't you suggest that your friend plays a different game, at least occasionally)

Incidently, who exactly is calling you a casual? Your friends or just people on-line? Have you tried explaining to people exactly why you are not interested in Watchdogs? I don't see how they could reasonably continue to maintain you're a casual in light of that, and if they do they are clearly just assholes.

That's cool, I personally disagree but I know i am a huge minority on this especially for movies. When I watch movies I want to know as little as possible about the actors and such because it brings too much unwanted baggage into the movie for me. I just want to enjoy characters, not actors. I know less actors than anyone else I know and it bugs people when they talk to me about movies. XD

I think there's two aspects of knowing about actors here. I don't blame you if you want to ignore the "whole gossip surrounding celebrities" that we are constantly exposed to. On the other hand, I think most cinophiles are generally interested in the mechanics of making a film and part of that involves knowing why, say, Dustin Hoffman or Robert DeNiro are great actors, and how they prepare and carry out a role. Actively not wanting to know such a thing, and merely enjoy a movie, would make you a somewhat strange cinephile, but on the other hand if you are thinking about the characters, relationships and themes in a movie at a deep level, you'd still qualify.

 

[StriderShinryu]

That said, video games differ from movies in one important respect, as Dara O'Briain put it "You can't be bad at watching a movie, but you can be bad playing a video game". For this reason people often tend to define being hardcore as being good at gaming, either generally or for a specific game or genre. In some ways this is clearly ridiculous, in the sense that there should be no requirement to be good at on-line CoD, especially if you actively dislike the game, and if you are good at other games. For some games, for example Bioshock Infinite, I enjoy as a work of art, and have no particular desire to get good at it.

This is an interesting point. I won't refute the point made as I agree that there generally is an expectation that "hardcore gamers" actually be decent at playing games, but I actually think there may legitimately be people who are bad at watching movies. Perhaps it's a slightly different perspective than what was initially intended, but I'm sure we've actually all seen them. You know that person in the theatre who loudly asks their friend what someone on screen just said or who needs simple plot details explained to them when it was clearly already explained in the movie. It's something of an expectation of the medium to actually pay attention to what is going on on-screen and while the "skill-gap" is much less here than when taken as the direct interaction in videogames there still is a level of learned and executed behaviour.

 

[LaoJim]

This is an interesting point. I won't refute the point made as I agree that there generally is an expectation that "hardcore gamers" actually be decent at playing games, but I actually think there may legitimately be people who are bad at watching movies. Perhaps it's a slightly different perspective than what was initially intended, but I'm sure we've actually all seen them. You know that person in the theatre who loudly asks their friend what someone on screen just said or who needs simple plot details explained to them when it was clearly already explained in the movie. It's something of an expectation of the medium to actually pay attention to what is going on on-screen and while the "skill-gap" is much less here than when taken as the direct interaction in videogames there still is a level of learned and executed behaviour.

I don't think there's too much difference between us. We started by saying that to be a gamer you need to have an interest in video games. This interest manifests itself as being able to talk about, analyse and have opinions on different games, but to some extent the quality of these opinions/analysis depends on the amount of free time one has and one's intelligence and education.

I guess people can be enthusiastic about movies/games but still not know what is going on in a particular game or film. But I still think there is a difference between knowing what is happening in a game and being good at it.

Going back to Bioshock Infinite again someone could be utterly confused by its (admittedly complex) plot, but be good at shooting everything on the screen. Another person might understand the plot and be able to explain well why its a good game (historically and in reference to other avaiable titles), but die a lot while playing it.

Going back to the sports metaphor, there are sports fans who know the names of every player in every team in a given league and the scores of their teams in every game going back decades. They might not be very good at actually kicking a football though. One the other hand you have sportsmen who are athletic, play the game well (at an amateur level) but are not that interested in the history of the sport or the professional leagues. The issue comes when the first mocks the second because they don't know enough about the game, or when the second mocks the first because they aren't playing the game well enough. In either case, one decides the other isn't a true football fan.

 

[Erttheking]

Well, I've got two definitions for hardcore gamer. The person who is deeply invested in video games, studies the mechanics in every game that he or she is in, masters them, has great personal investment etc etc etc, and then there's the hardcore gamers who take it way too fucking far, are about as friendly as a basket full of rabid rats, blow up at the slightest error on the behalf of others while ignoring all of their own and probably spend most of their time on some sort of multiplayer game like Starcraft 2, or League of Legends or Halo calling other people faggots.

Then again I don't consider many people to be hardcore gamers and I wish that some people would stop acting like the world of games is divided into hardcores and casuals. I've been playing games as long as I can remember, I've sunk thousands of dollars into my hobby, way too much to be a causal, yet at the same time I can't bring myself to call myself hardcore either. I think we may get a little too obsessed with the details of labels at times.

 

[The White Hunter]

Of the last 72 hours, barring the 29 spent at work and 3 travelling, I have put 20 hours into FFXIV levelling my new Scholar build.

That might count I guess. But tbh thats fairly casual, some people spend 16 hours a day farming tomestones.