Difficulty Curve? Attention Spans changing?

[ZenErik]

Seriously Gregzilla, not all of us kids are idiots. I, for example, much prefer Contra to CoD.

I don't see how you preferring Contra makes you less of an idiot. Or how someone that prefers CoD makes them more of an idiot.

[3DSStrider]

Seriously Gregzilla, not all of us kids are idiots. I, for example, much prefer Contra to CoD.

I don't see how you preferring Contra makes you less of an idiot. Or how someone that prefers CoD makes them more of an idiot.

Neither do I.

[MrEco]

Look around the internet and even ask around with a general crowd of video game players. Younger gamers (and even some adults) Seem to think serious gamers play

(and almost exclusively from my experience..)
-Call of Duty
-Oblivion/Skryim (with mentions of the older games bringing in cries about graphics..)
-League of Legends/World of Warcraft
-Forza (and similar racing titles)
-Madden

This is from 90% of the people Ive ever talked to video games about. These are the so called 'serious games for real gamers.'

I'm sorry, but why are LoL and WoW lumped together? They're too entirely different genre's.


Also, I think I might have said this before on other places in the forum, or maybe I haven't. But I don't believe that it matters what specific games you play when it comes to defining whether you're a hardcore or casual gamer.

Where in the words "hardcore gamer" do you see the letters "excluding Call of Duty?" All I see is gamer, a vague term which means you play games. It is a non prejudice word.

More rather, I think that being a "hardcore gamer" should be defined by the amount of time someone spends playing games as well as the variety of games you play.

For example, if someones plays 99% Minecraft, I wouldn't call them a hardcore gamer. To me, they'd be a hardcore Minecraft player. Same goes for someone who only plays, let's say, Planescape Torment. If that's the only thing you play most of the time then I don't care how good you think the game is, to me you're not a hardcore gamer. You'd be a hardcore Planescape player.

Similarly, if someones plays a lot of video games. Like, well say 20 hours a week on average. And most of what they play is stuff like Skyrim, Call of Duty, League of Legends, Madden, World of Warcraft, and Forza, well I would call that person a hardcore gamer. They play games a lot, and they're playing a large variety of genre's and game types.

[Jmustang1968]

(and almost exclusively from my experience..)
-Call of Duty
-Oblivion/Skryim (with mentions of the older games bringing in cries about graphics..)
-League of Legends/World of Warcraft
-Forza (and similar racing titles)
-Madden

You realize how difficult the game can be and how skilled you have to be to be a master at Madden or Forza? I have competed against some and it is impressive.

[Menegrothx]

Hardcore gamer is some one who
1. Plays at a competitive/professional level (Fighting games/RTS/FPS/MOBA/WoW arena/competing for world first kills in MMORPGs)
2. Is otherwise dedicated to a single game, in other words plays the game in question 35+ hours a week, but hasn't reached competitive level, or the game isn't one where you can compete against other people
3. Is extremely skilled at single player games that require a great deal of skill (bullet hell SHMUPs, oldschool Western/computer RPGs, 8-bit platformers...) or have other wise a really high learning curve (Dwarf Fortress, simulator games...)
OR
4. Some one who has played thousands of games. One who plays all types of games from all different time periods and platforms and doesn't have any trouble tackling any kind of game. A player who rather tries to have a very large knowledge of gaming in general, rather than trying to become very good at a single game/genre.

Hardcore is a term that shouldn't be applied to 65%-90% of all gamers. Hardcore is a small elite, 1% or 2% of the whole playerbase. Hardcore isn't something that's easy to become, in other words it's an insult to the term if "hardcore gamer" has become synonymous with a person who plays the best selling, most popular games (CoD, Skyrim, etc). Hardcore is something that requires dedication and hard work, and still most who try will fail.

[Gunstar Green]

I grew up liking difficult games on the NES and Genesis and I still like those type of games.

If I had grown up today I'd probably get frustrated and do something else.

Back then I didn't have anything else to do but to practice Mega Man levels over and over again until I got them right. In today's world however, there's no shortage of media to consume. Games have a lot of competition now and as a result are designed to hold people's attention by not pushing their patience too far.

It's also a matter of home gaming having evolved away from its arcade roots of limited lives and game design tailored specifically to kill you and boot you off the machine.

Most mainstream games at least are designed to make it easy for anybody to see the end while in a lot of older games, seeing the end was an accomplishment and not the default result of playing the game.

But on the other hand most games still allow you to ratchet up the difficulty if you want that kind of challenge.

If people's attention spans have changed it's only because video games themselves and the media ecosystem they inhabit has changed.

[Erik_Twice]

Fucking casuals, if you don't know what "hardcore" actually means it means you aren't one, you assholes!


It's a pointless debate.

[Gamerforlife]

3. Is extremely skilled at single player games that require a great deal of skill (bullet hell SHMUPs, oldschool Western/computer RPGs, 8-bit platformers...) or have other wise a really high learning curve (Dwarf Fortress, simulator games...)

That's how I define hardcore gamer.

#4 is a gaming geek or enthusiast

#2 is just...someone who really likes that game. No special terms required other than "big fan"

#1 "Professional" implies to me someone making money off of competitive gaming. Some people do

[MrEco]

Hardcore gamer is some one who
1. Plays at a competitive/professional level (Fighting games/RTS/FPS/MOBA/WoW arena/competing for world first kills in MMORPGs)
2. Is otherwise dedicated to a single game, in other words plays the game in question 35+ hours a week, but hasn't reached competitive level, or the game isn't one where you can compete against other people
3. Is extremely skilled at single player games that require a great deal of skill (bullet hell SHMUPs, oldschool Western/computer RPGs, 8-bit platformers...) or have other wise a really high learning curve (Dwarf Fortress, simulator games...)
OR
4. Some one who has played thousands of games. One who plays all types of games from all different time periods and platforms and doesn't have any trouble tackling any kind of game. A player who rather tries to have a very large knowledge of gaming in general, rather than trying to become very good at a single game/genre.

Hardcore is a term that shouldn't be applied to 65%-90% of all gamers. Hardcore is a small elite, 1% or 2% of the whole playerbase. Hardcore isn't something that's easy to become, in other words it's an insult to the term if "hardcore gamer" has become synonymous with a person who plays the best selling, most popular games (CoD, Skyrim, etc). Hardcore is something that requires dedication and hard work, and still most who try will fail.

You say that, but according to your own four criteria you've included literally everyone except for the people who only play the kinds of games you don't like. Because they're too "popular and mainstream."



I don't know why I even bother sometimes.

[Jmustang1968]

I learned something today...

People that play games someone likes or is a professional = hardcore.

People that play games someone doesn't like = casual.