Hardcore gamer, does the label mean anything ? Even to a gamer? DISCUSS!!

[TraderJimmy]

Hardcore gamer feel to me really pejorative
What I think it put into the category a person who play more than a certain of time and play certain type of game, I don't think you can become "hardcore" by just playing flash games.
Hardcore seem to be tend to the FPS genre and are the one liking Halo and CoD, some are tend to RPG and MMOs such has WoW
if you friend played hundred of hours on a game it all depend of the time span of those and would not really put him has a hardcore gamer
I guess to some extent you can add knowledge but that more lenient and bow to the side of "geek"
I guess their no real answer of when someone become an hardcore or not, it just depend of how many game he play, how many time spent on those and does he prefer a genre than just play everything?

Dude, things like Meat Boy and Elona Shooter are very much aimed at Hardcore play. Both Flash games (Meat Boy has now expanded to a sequel on the ecksblah).

It's a step below professional in my opinion. Professional to me means you play games for a living. Hardcore, you do other things for a living but still play games as a competitive sport.

Hardcore gamers play games such as CS:S, SC2, WoW, and other competitive games.

It's not necessarily a bad thing. But some of them can be those fat nerds who eat greasy hot pockets all day while lewting teh epix then /spitting your corpse, or double-headshotting everyone with a deagle while spraying nekkid pix all over the walls and t-bagging their enemies, or raging like Idra.

You get idiots in every group. But not all hardcore gamers are idiots.

Or like I used to do when I played games excessively - get skinny by forgetting to eat you were playing so much. Get paranoid and delusional by forgetting to sleep. Ahh, good times. I kid.

So happy I got out of that phase.

Anyone who says they are a hardcore Gamer or thinks of these stupid terms isn't a gamer. As i see it hardcore gamers are the gamers that play games like Halo MW and other "Epic Action" games and take them far to serious.

You play games? Eh? Then you're a gamer. Same way as if you listen to metal, you're a metalhead. Sure, you can say someone's just "a bit of a gamer", or "a bit of a metalhead", but you can't just deny it.

 

[Karhukonna]

To me, personally, it has a dual meaning. Amongst gamers, it distinguishes the truly rock hard core of the group. I am refering to people who think of little else than gaming, gamers who commit to their hobby with body and soul. This includes people who do it for a living, and people who just play a shitload of games.

The other meaning of the word is used when you compare gamers like us with casual gamers, also known as "I just own a Wii and Sports Resort"-dudes. Not bashing the Wii or anything, it has some games targeted at the core audience. It's just the console's reputation.

In this way, I too, can consider myself a hardcore gamers amongst my less playing friends, but when discussing it with other gamers I am not a part of this group.

 

[Creator002]

examples of not hardcore gamer:
playing Fallout on EASY

Ha ha. I play Fallout 3 on easy and plan to do so with New Vegas.

OT: Hardcore gamer? I can consider my friend one. He's an achievement maniac, achieves the highest rating online, plays on the hardest difficulty and finds every secret, even if it takes him forever. His life is spent at University and on video games That, to me, is a hardcore gamer.

Do you find it fun?

Yeah, I do. However, it wouldn't matter even on Very Hard because, playing on PC, I now use the God Mode cheat because I enjoy exploring without being hindered by being killed by a stupid scorpian, raider or, God forbid, accidently triggering a Super Mutant Behemoth.

 

[Pegghead]

This week me and my friends of questionable social etiquette on a podcast we do decided to answer a listeners question.

Ooh, what's the name?

Personally I think hardcore gamer and/or games is a largely self-appointed label for all the people who won't give the time of day to any game that doesn't have large amounts of firearms or killing. To me if you game you're a gamer, no retro gamers, no fanboy gamers, no girl gamers, no casual gamers (or games for that matter) just...gamers.

 

[agrandstudent]

I define a hardcore gamer as a person who is willing to try out new things in the gaming world. They do not find the one genre that they like the most and only play games that are from it. This hardcore gamer plays all games. It is a person who appreciates gaming as a whole. They can find just as much fun in a flash game as they can from the newest AAA title.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

To me, there are 3 levels of gamer out there.

"Casual" - The people who play nothing but Wii and Farmville, and maybe a tiny bit of WoW or something like that. They don't follow gaming news, culture, or anything like that. Most people fall under this category.

"Gamer" - They play more genres, play more often, and might even keep up with some news and things of that nature. This is what most people who consider themselves gamers fall under.

"Hardcore" - They play many different genres, have a high skill level in most games they play, and can drop some knowledge on your ass whenever they please. They keep up with news, post on gaming forums (like this one), and spend most, if not all, of their free time playing video games. I'd say about half of us fall under this category.

I'd say all of your criteria in the OP are good for determining what "level" gamer you are. Some are more important than others, like time spent and skill level. For example, it doesn't really matter if you only play WoW as long as you're extremely good at it and spend all day every day playing it.

 

[Serioli]

For me, 'hardcore' now occupies the same place as 'pro' and 'extreme' (x-treem?). Words that used to have meaning but have now been diluted through constant over and misuse.

http://www.bunny-comic.com/393.html

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Hardcore gamers are like the other half of the Xbox Live community.

Little annoying kids make up one half, the other is made up of total pricks who care of nothing but themselves, are unemployed and live in their mothers basements drinking chocolate milk and playing shooters online against other 'hardcore gamers' and the previously mentioned annoying kids 24/7.

People who think its good to be a 'H4Rd(0r3 g@m3r' should be taken into an alley and shot.

 

[Nahhnbah]

Hardcore Gamer: Someone who spends way too much time playing overrated AAA titles, becoming extremely elitist and dickish and spoiling the fun for everyone else. Typically is in love with themselves and the word "n00b". May also write using "leet speak" in an non-ironic way.

I have a thing against hardcore gamers since every one I've ever met has been a prick.

A true gamer should relish having fun with friends, not griefing all the other players and mocking them for not being as good as them. Enjoy all kinds of games, not just FPS and similar.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

?adjective
1. unswervingly committed; uncompromising; dedicated: a hard-core segregationist.

If you are one of these then you are hardcore.

 

[Hateren47]

To me "hardcore gamers" are the division of gamers (if you want to divide gamers into groups) that are just below pro-gamers(sponsored) and just above competitive gamers. The list looks something like this to me. From serious to not serious at all.

Professional gamers (sponsored and payed to play games)
Hardcore gamers (Pro gamer material)
Competitive gamers (The large majority in FPS games. They play to win)
Tabletop RPG players (more serious about their games than most)
Hobby gamers (A.K.A "the noobs". They like games, but suck at them)
Casual gamers (They play just for fun, also a large group)
Shovelware gamers (They wouldn't recognise a good game from a bad. This also include fanboys who are fanboys for the sake of being fanboys.)

This is not set in stone though and a bit of overlap between groups is expected. I don't play PvZ or SC2 as "competitive" as I play BFBC2 for example.

 

[Twad]

IMHO... "hardcode gamers" are just.. louder.
We all enjoy the same hobby but somehow they do it "harder" or something.

 

[CoL0sS]

To me a hardcore gamer is someone who has started playing on old-school platforms, and has seen games advance to what they are today (can also apply to anyone with 10+ years of gaming experience). They are very serious about games, know exactly what they want from them, are very vocal about their opinions and aren't easily fooled by high budget brand name games. Also, they like various kinds of games, are generally very good at them and have objective approach to all games and platforms. In one word people with a lot of experience. But please don't mistake them for elitists, those guys are nuts