Russ Pitts said:
People who have never touched a two-hand controller may call you and me "hardcore," and we, in turn, may call them "casual," but at the end of the day we are all gamers.
No, we're not. At least, not unless you also want to include everyone that's ever played any kind of game, including noughts and crosses (so, EVERYONE that's ever lived), in the term 'gamer'. In which case your article and indeed magazine miss the overwhelming majority of gaming and focus only on one tiny part.
If you're interested in accurate descriptions rather than boosting an industry that pays your wages, however, you might argue that there
is a difference between what you call "hardcore" gaming and casual gaming, and that difference is encapsulated in the word 'gamer'. The difference is between those people who occasionally play videogames and those for whom gaming is a hobby. It doesn't have to be a particularly prominent hobby, but if you consider it a hobby, you're a gamer. You can play exclusively casual games and still be a gamer (it'd be weird, but very possible) but only if doing this is one of your hobbies. If you just play your phone games while waiting for XYZ or on the train, GTFO, you aren't a gamer.
Incidentally, the argument presented in this editor's note is quite embarrassing given your usual high standard. Boiled down to the core it goes: I am a gamer (lots of accurate justification). I got and enjoyed Angry Birds so much I displayed signs of addiction to it. Therefore people who kill dead time by playing phone games instead of texting/staring into space are gamers.
