Hardcore Gamers Don't Exist... At Least Not Anymore

"While everyone is getting down and dirty with their 2010 backlog, I’ve decided to go back over a decade and play titles from the days of the SNES all in the name of “research.” One of the titles I decided to pick up on the iPad recently was Squaresoft’s (no Enix then) Secret of Mana. A classic and very cliché JRPG that is highly regarded by it’s faithful as one of the best titles the genre has ever seen. Barely hours into my adventure, I quickly realized just how hard some of these older titles were, and I wondered, is the game really that difficult or am I just not as “hardcore” of a gamer as I once was; is anyone as “hardcore” of a gamer these days? As much as you don’t want to hear it, you’re probably much more casual than you want to believe."

[Chadness]

It's true. While there's nothing wrong with the games of today, they're still great experiences. The term "hardcore" gets thrown around too casually. See what I did there?

[JoelT]

Oh you are clever. Seriously though, I think phone gamers and wii gamers catch too much flak, mind you the same people slinging around all their anti- casual hate couldn't hang with any of the titles from back in the day.

[DualConsoleOwner]

Games like Cut the rope or Angry birds are hardcore and casual at the same time.

but there are so many casual games that hardcore gamers wont touch...

having said that, casual game market is huge, and definition of hardcore changed with the market.

this is why MS is leaving behind hardcore and focusing on casual.

their 500 million kinect marketing and lack of hardcore exclusives line up proves that..

[ActionBastard]

The hell we don't. Ask Sony or Valve.

[booni3]

@Action
True, but i don't think there's much denying that this casual market has stolen the show so to speak. I mean for godsakes just look at quarter four of last year
D:

[AceofStaves]

Chuckles@Chadness: That was great. :-D

Back on topic, I agree with the author. Games that are released today are much different experiences from what they were decades ago. When I bought "Secret of Evermore" for the SNES when it released, I paid over $100 for the cartridge. (Canadian retail prices and the sales tax in my province were killer back then). Gaming was nowhere near as popular, and it certainly wasn't a hobby you publicly admitted to enjoying. It was the domain of 'nerds' and 'geeks,' not something that could be enjoyed by all members of the family.

'Casual' gaming and 'Hardcore' gaming mean different things to different people, I suppose, and its meanings have changed over the past 20 years or so. When I started gaming, there was no 'hardcore' or 'casual.' Even the term 'gamer' wasn't used for us. We were the nerds and geeks who played video games, either in arcades or on the new-fangled home consoles.

[iiprotocolii]

Then the question should be what is considered a hardcore gamer? And how would you label someone as one? You have new age gamers that play just about everything and consider themselves casual gamers. Yet I play just about everything myself, and I consider myself hardcore. Is this constituted by personal opinion, the amount of time dedicated to the hobby, etc.? It is a term used very loosely. But it's also a label that is hard to place on gamers as there is no ideal definition for the word.

[AceofStaves]

That's one of the reasons I don't like the terms 'hardcore' and 'casual.' What metric do you use to measure? Is it money spent on games and gaming peripherals? Is it years spent gaming? Is it the types of games played? The goalposts move, depending on who you ask.

For example, for me, a 'hardcore' gamer is the type of person who likes to complete RPGs to 100%, who masters all the maps in an FPS game, who finds every secret area and treasure in an adventure/platformer, the type of gamer who seeks out every conversation with every NPC in order to know the whole story of a game. 'Hardcore' are the gamers who strive to unlock all trophies and achievements, no matter how difficult.

For me it's not so much the amount of time played, but the reason behind the playing. You can spend hours upon hours playing 'Peggle' or 'Bejeweled,' yet those are considered 'casual' games. But if the person playing the game is doing so in order to hone their game skills - to master the game, not just play it - then that's 'hardcore' to me.

I was one of those who did get all the ultimate weapons in 'Final Fantasy X' for example, including dodging 200 consecutive lightning bolts on the lightning plain to get Lulu's ultimate weapon. That, to me, is 'hardcore,' since some players won't bother with doing that. I'm one of those 100% completion types. ;-D

[Bigpappy]

A hardcore gamer is now anyone who says they hate Kinect.

[rlm41]

A hardcore gamer is someone that tries out and plays all types of genres and consoles whether they are motion gaming or not.

[Danl]

The term Hardcore died when that dude posted the video of the BLOPS level being completed without a shot fired. Everyone's hand is being held, casual gamers just choose to accept it.

[JoelT]

you just hit the nail right on the head!

[Ninferno]

that is so funny and so true.

[allenhpark]

There's a reason why most of the games I adore and latch onto these days are more reminiscent of retro games than anything else.

[Minifig]

I call BS, my girlfriend and I put four hours into WoW the other day, if that's not hardcore I don't know what is.

[JohnColaw]

Putting time into a game isn't "Hardcore", that's just dedication. Also four hours isn't really that much in the long run. I put about that same amount of time into Game Dev Story which while a fantastic game, consists entirely of tapping the screen every 10 seconds and choosing a few options.

[wolfy2449]

i agree that time played doesnt make a player "hardcore". like wow players that believe they are hardcore pvers or pvpers. Hardcore means skill, the ability to do very hard stuff ingame which require skill and not time spent aka money. a

nd especially wow "hardcore" pve, its so easy but many kids think they are cool and hardcore when they kill dumb computer controlled opponents with rly advanced "dont yiffing stand on fire" abilities and use their pro tool vent...

And no playing more doesnt make u more skilled always, each player has different learning rate. a kid might play a game and still suck after 1 year while a gamer will be able to be quite good just from the few first days

[MattJay]

I long for a future where the term casual means what it MEANS and isn't used as an insult. Some people don't poopsock it like you do, bro. Get used to it.

[MattJay]

That's a hypothetical you, not to anyone in particular.

[JohnColaw]

On note of the actual article itself, I remember when I first bought the "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" game for 360 when it first came out. It's packed full of classic games that I LOVED back in the day; Ecco, Comix Zone, the Shining Force series.

I threw the game in, checked out the available games, and then checked out the achievements; most of which involved beating a certain game or accomplishing a certain task in them. Then I booted up some of them and remembered just how DAMN hard they are. Comix Zone is brutally punishing, for one.

[poopoojames]

I like dualshockers but I don't really agree with this article, even though I enjoyed reading it. I don't agree that you can say a game is more hardcore because it is more frustrating and less user friendly. The old school games were so cheap to kill you because the only way they could add length to the game was by making sure that you die... and die a lot. That's just poor game design.

Modern games have an option of higher difficulty, play the most difficult on most games and you get good challenge for the most part that is not too difficult that it is just stupid. I don't think it is the software choice one plays that makes you hardcore, I think it depends entirely on the attitude of the gamer and how many hours they put into gaming.

[Chadness]

You know, in a way I agree with you. It was kind of reminiscent of what I call "artificial difficulty" these days, except in many cases I would say that either the developers back then had less choice due to technological limitations, or the gaming industry was basically still in its infancy and they didn't quite "understand" how to make things accessible, challenging and fun all at the same time.

Some devs today STILL add this semblance of artificial difficulty to their games and I dislike that.

I don't really agree with that being the only way they could add length to their games - look at RPGs back in the NES or SNES days - Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana - the list goes on. While they were much more difficult than the RPGs we find today, they were lengthy games and didn't inflate themselves with the difficulty, but instead let the difficulty kind of ride hand in hand with the story, which provided the true length of the game.

But, again, this is splitting hairs and as much as we discuss it, we will likely not be able to come to one solid definition for "casual" and "hardcore". I hate the terms anyway. :)

[blackburn5]

Actually the term causal get's tossed around to much as well. People have started to call the people who never played a game in their life and are dumb and gullible enough to play stupid mini games like putting your fingers in leaks as 'casual'. The thing is there was never any casual OR hardcore until Nintendo announced there was. They drew the line. We all played TMNT games, Xmen,Sonic, Megaman, Bionic Commando, Super Mario brothers, Rayman, MGS.

[OGharryjoysticks]

I remember when the "hardcore" gamer could excel at the hardest of games. Being hardcore took commitment. Now there are games being released that basically play themselves that offer the depth of a puddle of piss in the alley

[wolfy2449]

there are still a few real gamers out there, but the huge majorities that play games are not gamers and many that claim to be harcore gamers arent even hardcore ... Gaming is simply becoming like drugs, ppl are paying to feel better in easy environments that reward you for even the most skilless act... game designing is tricking the dumb people and making them feel better(probably through giving the change to "win" and feel better)

[thevokillist]

I find the majority of the games that come out today easy. It makes me sad because when I was growing up it always seemed like all of the games I played took 20x as long to complete. Nowadays I just find myself beating a game within a few hours up to a few days. Rather disappointing.

[MrBubble]

I was talking to a friend and said that he meet this guy that played two hours of cod straight and was second prestige and he said he was a hardcore gamer

[Michael-Jackson]

Hardcore Games Don't Exist... At Least Not Anymore

[kasasensei]

"Hardcore Gamers Don't Exist... At Least Not Anymore"
lol
Stupid...

eg:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[A LIVING LEGEND]

'A puddle of piss in the alley'
diluted by the endless downpour...not even a true puddle of piss anymore.
I did lol though :)

[Smootherkuzz]

Some games today are not geared around completion,they are almost no way to clear every level or crab every all trophies and achievements even if the options are available and set to easy.Left for Dead 2 comes to mind, crazy hard when set to easy, not saying it can't be beat but dam why even have harder settings?(lol).Today games makes me wonder whats next? We played shooters,puzzles,fighters,flye rs,racers,and some I don't know what the hell they are.So whats next?Kinect hands free gaming,well thats been done according to some some people and for now making a run an doing well at the moment,but that still does not do it.3d, well thats been done before nothing new there.Maybe Kinect,Move like gaming mixed with virtual(maybe?).

[XeNoStRatoS]

Seems to me that former hardcore gamers spend their time in discussing and arguing about irrelevant stuff (like which console has more colorful / less pixels etc...) of Wii vs. PS3 vs. 360 nowadays - the rest ist just gamer and plays the stuff.