Poll: Casual Gamer - Derogatory Term?

[Techno Squidgy]

I've never liked the definitions of casual and hardcore used by everyone else. To me, it's always been a case of: Are games just another form of entertainment to you, or are they your main form of entertainment? Option 1 are casual, option 2 are hardcore, the games you play are irrelevant. Seems much less insulting that way, just a descriptor of what video games are to you.

Though that doesn't stop the people desperate to turn everything into an 'us vs them' situation.

 

[Eve Charm]

Throw a snotty attitude and a condensing tone on anything you say is derogatory.

I think the problem OP and his friends are having tho are confusing Easy games as causal games. Causal or not is a factor of time invested, It could be Dark souls to something that is barely a game like cookie clicker, If you only put a few hours into it before moving on while there is still stuff to be done in it, it's casual. If you thrown 100 hours into it it's your hardcore.

 

[DSK-]

I've always thought of most, if not all games as "casual". My parents play Facebook games. Cool. I don't like them, so I don't play them. Cool. You can go as shallow or as deep as you like in regards to these games skill levels and learning curves, and turn it off whenever you feel like you don't want to play.

I would consider "hardcore" gamers people who play in a professional competitive capacity, or those looking to do so, particularly those that play in tournaments for money, prizes and so on.

My playing Civ V on easy is the same as going 40-3 in COD TDM or playing Bejewelled Blitz on Facebook.

 

[scorptatious]

I always found the terms "hardcore" and "casual" stupid when it comes to categorizing gamers.

As much as I LOVE video games, at the end of the day, they're just that. Games. Granted, they are capable of in depth gameplay and unique forms of story telling. But still, they are a form of entertainment and a way to pass the time. Please stop getting uppity over what kinds of games certain people like to play.

 

[white_wolf]

The extreme terms of casual and hardcore in the gamer title exist only to make a class where none actually exists. I doubt a person whose ever picked up tetris, farmville, mafia wars, cooking mama, ect once is going to say, " Hey yeah I'm a gamer I played Ogame once!" unless they're doing it to fit in like the guy who says yeah I like that sports team when in reality he hates that sport genre or sports in general he's doing it as peer pressure.

No the real person who plays those types of games and says, " yeah I'm a gamer" has spent a total of their lives playing these things a 15minute here, a lunch break there, the wait for their latte, eventually they amass the same hours as normal gamers and can rank up there with the so called hardcores as well its just time is more spaced for them if they're on the go vs if they're home. The divides are unnecessary and useless they also shoe horn people into boxes a COD player can be just as happy playing angry birds or bejewled as they would be an rpg if like most gamers do branch out their genres if they're the single mindedly obsessed type who won't look to other genres and sticks to one you're missing out on a wealth of plots and characters.

 

[MoeMints]

It seems like everyone is confusing elitism in its practical use to the arrogance that comes with it.

No, its how much you like something.
No, it is not how much you personally put effort into the game.
No, it is not a buzzword, though it is often used as one.

It is relative to how much the minimal effort is to be an average player of the fanbase.
Animal Crossing may need 15 minutes a day and for optimal profit, 30 minutes. All of which can be done with multitasking.
While an optimal day in mmos can take 5 hours.

While fighting games are easily played without knowing about them, especially titles like Persona 4 Arena and Super Smash Brothers, you will be always destroyed by any player who has a few dozen matches under their belt.

Tetris and Puyo Puyo can get up to Chess levels of per-determined moves, but most players will just play time to time and nothing in the game in the normal mode can't be eventually bulled through.

Dark Souls is a hardcore title as it doesn't at all give instant gratification, and needs research and/or memory retention to succeed in. However, this does not make the fanbase hardcore in general, as I'm absolutely sure a large percentage does not play a variety of difficult games, never mind From Software's other difficult titles like Tenchu and Armored Core.

Same goes for competitive games, as while it requires hardcore effort to get good at most titles, long-term dedication is NOT remotely anything 80% of the sales the games get.

While it is a good rule of thumb when if you only play AAA titles, a small amount of genres, and/or maybe some odd indie/niche titles from word of mouth, you're just an average player.

Just because people get frustrated by the misuse of something, doesn't mean they don't have a purpose in society.
That talk banned alcohol.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

See I've put a combined five hundred-plus hours into "Fallout 3", "Fallout: New Vegas", "Skyrim", and "Oblivion". And I would classify myself as a casual gamer. Nowadays the actual games that I play tend to fit into one of a few very select categories, mostly FPSes with RPG elements, or straight-up first-person RPGs with combat elements. Plus the occasional indie game (I loved me the crap outta "The Stanley Parable".) But that's pretty much it.

It's interesting how everyone defines "casual" differently in this thread. Some define it as "unpaid", making 99% of us "casual" gamers. Some define it as being unwilling to devote long periods of time to a title.

I'd define it slightly differently, but let me define "hardcore" instead. I'd class "hardcore" as a player with an interest in ANY game that's good - regardless of genre. Someone who's willing to try anything and everything that looks interesting, and has the time and money to do so. That to me would be a "hardcore" gamer. And it's plainly not a title that fits me, since I tend to stick to the same stuff for the most part. I have other things that come first in my list of priorities, and gaming as a hobby strictly comes second. So I stick to what I'm sure I won't regret.

Do I "look down" on anybody? No. Your free time is yours to do with as you want. If you want to spend it on "Animal Crossing" then go for it.

 

[Gigano]

Well, given that it seems more reasonable and rational to approach "entertainment" in a "casual" way, I'd say no.

 

[mrdude2010]

I think casual gamers should be able to play whatever games they want, I just really hate it when developers previously oriented towards hardcore titles suddenly start trying to appeal to the casual market by dumbing their games down and removing elements of skill from it. All you do there is guarantee your game won't have a particularly long shelf life. No one wants to take a game seriously if their individual skill doesn't have much bearing on rank.

 

[Jadwick]

I'm a casual gamer, I game casually. When I want (or can), and what I want to play during that time. Frankly it seems a little bit silly to expect to play GAMES in any other way.

Oh, I know there are E-Sports, and MLG and stuff and they have sponsors and get paid and stuff so I guess they aren't 'casual' gamers.
I wouldn't lump people that power through hours of the same game over and over again to learn every trick and tactic 'casual' though either, especially when their goal is to become a MLG or whatever.

'Casual' isn't really an insult to me as much of kind of like an in-joke, because responding to those people by calling them 'MLG' sarcastically, is just as funny.

Insults only hurt you as much as you let them.

As for the poll I pick; 'you are all your own special snowflakes.'

 

[Kingjackl]

I believe casual gamers should not be a derogatory term, but that doesn't stop it from being used as one. Looking at you, Yahtzee.

Yeah, everyone should be able to play what they want to play and not be looked down on for it. It's especially pointless for hardcore gamers to look down on casual gamers because at the end of the day, casual players probably have a better attitude about the whole thing. That is, that gaming is something to be enjoyed as a hobby, not obsessed over.

 

[Voulan]

I've noticed a lot in recent threads about the male/female gamer ratio that people tend to assume nearly all female gamers are casual, and thus they are dismissed to have any say in what hardcore games are marketed to. For example, when a female gamer asks for more female characters, people tend to say that because they're a minority in the hardcore audience then they should not be catered to.

Naturally, I think this is really stupid. As a hardcore female gamer, I start to get annoyed when the idea of my existence is dismissed as trivial and unimportant. The argument people put forward is that women have different tastes than men, but this can be dismissed as arbitrary gender roles. It's not that women don't like hardcore games - me and several other female gamers on this forum prove otherwise - but rather they might feel they're not allowed to like games because they're not marketed to women. Instead we have the gaming audience and the media showing the 'dudebro' audience as the norm, and gamers as closet murders, and this builds a very derogatory stereotype. And vice versa for men towards casual games. But as games have started to mature and become more widespread, more women want to play games, but get put off by sexist assumptions in the actual games, the gaming audience and the gaming industry.

That's my belief anyway. I think if games opened up more to minority audiences and started catering to a range of different styles instead of homogenising games to cater to the special 'broader audience' then we might get some more diversity. And then people might stop being so unnecessarily hostile towards the casual market.

I mean if someone plays FarmVille for several hours each day, that's pretty much the definition of a hardcore gamer, isn't it?

 

[MoeMints]

I mean if someone plays FarmVille for several hours each day, that's pretty much the definition of a hardcore gamer, isn't it?

No.

Because that makes you a hardcore Farmville player. Not a player of games in general.

 

[Voulan]

I mean if someone plays FarmVille for several hours each day, that's pretty much the definition of a hardcore gamer, isn't it?

No.

Because that makes you a hardcore Farmville player. Not a player of games in general.

But they're devoting a massive amount of their time into playing a game. Does that mean that you have to be playing multiple games in order to say that you enjoy playing games? Or what if they spend a vast majority of their time playing multiple casual games? That seems unnecessarily divisive to me. If one person only ever plays Dark Souls, which is considered a hardcore game, then they're not a gamer as well?

I think anyone who enjoys games is a gamer. If we're placing bizarre definitions and categories to the term, then I can see why people are unwilling to join the gaming community. It's like the 'true gamer test' thing all over again.

 

[MoeMints]

I mean if someone plays FarmVille for several hours each day, that's pretty much the definition of a hardcore gamer, isn't it?

No.

Because that makes you a hardcore Farmville player. Not a player of games in general.

But they're devoting a massive amount of their time into playing a game.

Yes. A single game.

Does that mean that you have to be playing multiple games in order to say that you enjoy playing games?

You just said, "do you have to play multiple games to like playing multiple games?"
EDIT: In the alternate context, that you mean are you a gamer if you just play one game in a hardcore fashion for an extended time, that requires way too many factors without direct personal experience to be relevant.

I'm playing Phantasy Star Online 2 and Gunz 2 for a very long time over multiple titles I don't play, but I have played dozens of games with the same dedication.

Meanwhile, if you're closer to the response below, nope, still casual.
My grandmother before her knee got worse could spend 10 hours in Wii Bowling but she'll just play puzzle and gambling games otherwise.

Or what if they spend a vast majority of their time playing multiple casual games? That seems unnecessarily divisive to me. If one person only ever plays Dark Souls, which is considered a hardcore game, then they're not a gamer as well?

Assuming they are average players of casual games, and ONLY casual games, as the average is short bursts of leisure, that is almost the very definition of being casual.

I think anyone who enjoys games is a gamer. If we're placing bizarre definitions and categories to the term, then I can see why people are unwilling to join the gaming community.

They aren't "bizarre", they have been used for decades for fanbases.

It seems more and more like people confuse the context as an insult for their actual usage, effectively making them MORE insults.

This is also assuming being a gamer is something worthwhile in itself. It isn't.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Well, given that it seems more reasonable and rational to approach "entertainment" in a "casual" way, I'd say no.

Isn't entertainment the thing you do out of your own choosing when you're free from work and obligations and other such thigs? Why use that time for a casual activity when you could be neck-deep involved in the ultimate intricacies of whatever thing you enjoy as a means of getting the most out of it and through that getting the most out of life? It really doesn't make sense to me to spend that precious time in activities you're not that invested in.

 

[william12123]

As other posts have shown, this is a touchy issue. I personally think it's one centered on some weird identity/badwrongfun interaction. (For my own 2 cents, I tend to avoid the term casual gamer for it's connotations. And animal crossing: wild world is among my top 4 games EVER so I cant fault her that) The rest here is composed of observations I've made recently after I became aware of how people's "identity" shaped their reactions.

One one side, you have those who "identify" as gamers. Gaming is a core part of who they consider themselves to be (regardless of what games they play). They have a lot of emotional energy invested in the notion of gaming, and have certain "standards" to go with it. The same can be said for "movie buffs", "foodies" and other groups who identify themselves through what they consume.

Then you've got your friend who games a little, but doesnt necessarily identify as a gamer, and (in their eyes) claims said identity. So those who identify as gamers, not having the same image of a gamer, reject it & try to dismiss them. Which generaly ends up poorly for the person on the other side.

This type of thing happens in all mediums. Be it an anglophone who calls themselves Québécois & some of the more aggressive Québécois separatists, the moviegoer & the "movie buff", any number of examples where something you have little control over (and is shared) becomes part of your identity.


Removing the label itself (IE casual) will do nothing to deal with the more fundamental reasons for the aggressivity & dismissivness. There will always be assholes. The best you can do is avoid them or destroy them.

To the OP:

"She plays a video game that she thoroughly enjoys, and wants to share that experience with others. Isn't that the whole point of video games? "

I tend to disagree with your assertion there. My perception of the "whole point" of video games is entertainement, self-satisfaction & safe exploration of spaces & ideas. Requiring sharing (or approval of others) for validation can easily end in heartbreak. In her case, she was dealing with assholes (or at least they seem to be). She should dismiss them as easily as they dismissed her. I know it hurts when we arent validated in what we love, but most people simply dont care.

 

[Phasmal]

What do you think, Escapists? Should we reduce/remove our use of the word "casual?" It is evidently an ignorant label that can prevent potential members of the community to join/enjoy the very same things we enjoy.
Do you think she is right? What are your opinions? I am curious.

Your friend gets to define her relationship with games, no one else does.

`Casual gamer` is a derogatory term when someone is using it to diminish the perceived interest of another.

To be fair, I'm a pretty proud no-lifer, been playing games my whole life and I still get called a casual on occasion.
If I chose to define myself as casual, it wouldn't bother me- and it doesn't bother me other people being loud and proud `casual` gamers. But it DOES bother me when some pimply arsewipe comes along and tries to tell me how much I like a thing.

All gamers are real gamers. Death to nerd elitism <3

 

[Racecarlock]

Oh what in the hell does "Meaningful" mean anyways? That you decide who lives and dies? So like in every sandbox game when you choose to murder or not murder people? Is it the big moral decisions that don't mean anything more than a second playthrough? Or is it just being challenging enough to scare off normal people?

I think it's time for a hard truth here.

NOTHING in games is meaningful. Nothing. Unless you're learning real life lessons from it, but that's probably the only thing there. Other than that, difficulty, narrative, moral choice, it's all fucking pointless. It means nothing. Because at the end of the day, you can just hit new game and rewind time to the beginning of the story. Even if you don't, all the people you're saving or not saving or all the challenges you go through are just graphics tied to coding. You are NOT doing anything important by playing them. It's just entertainment. It might feel like it has meaning, but that meaning is fake. It will always be fake meaning. Because nothing you do is real. Nothing you do has actual, lasting consequences. And that's good, because minimal consequences for stupidity and cruelty is one of my big reasons for playing games, along with feeling like an indestructible god by using cheats.

There is NOTHING meaningful about gaming. Or rather, one game is not more meaningful than the other simply because it has a better narrative or takes on a social issue. It might suit different tastes, but I don't think anyone will compare the middle east section of beyond two souls with the kony 2012 video.

 

[Raziel]

When I refer to "casual gamers" I refer to things like phone or facebook games. NOT at all ds gamers.

I find most people who I refer to as casual gamers don't even think of themselves as gamers. And while I do mean it as a derogatory term its because I blame them for f2p becoming the new standard.