DJMetal Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Okay, if you'll allow me a little rant, and I actually do have a question for everyone here...just a little background first. Okay. "Hardcore" gamers. When I hear this term, I don't think of Halo kids playing their little hearts out or frat boys playing their sports games like microsoft wants me to. No, I think of dudes who have been on the scene since "pong" and who are probably so jaded by the gaming industry they flirt with quitting every time they pick up a new title. I absolutely HATE this marketing bullshit about "hardcore". There are no hardcore gamers, and if there are, they are NOT the people who only own an Xbox360, Halo 3, and a few sports games. One of the things I loved about the video game thing when I was younger was that it hadn't quite gone mainstream yet, at least not in the states. Games were for little kids, and so most marketing was aimed at them. But no, we're over 20 now, games are for everyone, from your dog to your grandma, and those jerks in marketing are doing the same thing to video games that they did to music decades ago. [/rant] Sorry about that. *ahem*. Anyways, what do you guys think of this "hardcore gamer" title, and how do you feel about the evolution of the video game industry (and the image/marketing strategies thereof)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brycepops Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I'd have to say that the real hardcore gamers are the ones who do it for a living. Like, doing nothing but honing their skills and entering the big tournaments and shit. Hardcore, professional, same thing in my book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwaltzvald Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I know how ya feel, hell the shmup scene's always something of an underdog in the gaming arena against juggernauts like action/rpgs/jrpg/sports games. In terms of continuing gaming inbetween responsibilities that at one point I didn't have, I find myself often diving into niche titles to little gems inbetween like , the as well as the recent . The "hardcore gamer" title is something of a word becoming vague over time imo as any one can be excessively good at any game after some time over a number of games; in which some may regard as a hardcore gamer, in particularly in competitive gaming. From the bhopping fraggers on quake/tf games to shotokan whoring kens/ryus/akumas along with Sagat on Sf4, every game genre has their "hardcore gamer"... gaming for a living, may as well be a new career rather than hardcore gaming; especially if one actually depends on being successful in them earning cash wins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Derrit Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 a hardcore gamer is someone who knows games very well and has been playing them a long time. the person knows his games (so he's not buying barbie's adventures) and knows the industry as well. the hardcore gamers that companies talk about are these people. inb4moved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sauzer Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 real gamers don't have girlfriends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Damned Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I had three four-player Pong tabletop arcade machines in my basement as a kid. We played them until they died. We went to find parts to fix them, but it seems that they don't make that level of technology anymore. Does that count? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Hardcore anything is a waste of precious life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuketheXjesse Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Hardcore anything is a waste of precious life. Unless it's productive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Good point. However, unless you mean Hardcore Balanced, I don't know if it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeky Stoner Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 To me hardcore gaming is really diving deeply into any game 'street fighter/halo/star craft not necessarily in any sort of competitive or pushing the limits of your skill kind of way but just exploring as much as you can as possible about the game. I grew up playing the snes ,and I've always been a twitch fan. I'm pretty sure the first game I played was mortal kombat on the snes. i really love shoot em ups gradius 3 would have to be my favorite that ive played so far. i still have every console and handheld(except ds(for now)from snes to xbox 360. i still kinda catalog my collection on Gamespot (i don't keep up with it much anymore i kinda faded from this site when some of the staff left) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCvgluvr Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 You see, here's the problem. A lot of people, gamers especially, don't even want to make a distinction between hardcore and casual. They'll go so far as to deny the existence of both factions. But the truth is, there is such a thing as a Hardcore Gamer and a Casual Gamer. Almost everybody knows what a movie aficionado is, right? You know, the guy who knows all that useless trivia about [insert movie here]? He watches at least 2-3 movies a week, and has probably seen dozens, if not hundreds of movies during the course of his life. He's probably watched the Lord of the Rings movies all in a row or something... Or what about car fanatics? Those macho guys who talk about mufflers and transmissions while they swig a beer. Is a Hardcore Gamer any different than they? Of course not. Its all about the level of interest and devotion to said subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpanishFly Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I'm not about to try and deny the existence of casual or hardcore gamers, since that won't do much good. However, I do think that the definition of what makes a hardcore gamer and what makes a casual gamer will vary from person to person. For example, I'm part of something called a "Smash Crew" for Smash Bros Brawl where me and a bunch of my friends from the city get together and play smash bros and have like tournaments and try and get better so that we can go to other tournaments and stuff (mind you I only started in October, but I'm just using this for example's sake). Now some would say since it's a competitive thing of sorts that it makes us hardcore gamers. Others would say that we're casual because we still want to have fun while we're doing it and it's as much about hanging out as it is the game. So, you're always going to get diverse opinions of it, and in my mind that's kind of a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlagshipAmadeus Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 To me a hardcore gamer is someone who plays games on purpose (i.e. not just to pass the time while on the bus), spending a lot of time playing the games they play, as compared to a casual gamer who plays Rock Band with the guys, or plays Wii Bowling when the grandkids come over. I'd almost say hardcore gamers try while casual gamers don't, as I've seen people who literally don't even play the game, they just go through the motions to pass the time for an hour or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitashi Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I define a hardcore gamer as anyone who almost constantly plays games, regardless of what type of game. If someone decides to focus on one game, then they would be a hardcore <insert game name here> gamer, whereas someone who plays a wide variety of games nonstop would just be a hardcore gamer. As for what the games today are like compared to that of the past, I'd say that anymore the majority of game companies focus on trying to get as much money as possible. They do this by making shiny things to catch people's attention and make it pretty because apparently that's what the people who like shiny things want. Back in the days of the SNES (what I started playing), they couldn't make things all that pretty, so they focused on gameplay. There are a few companies today that make games that focus on gameplay, but they seem to be the minority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazygecko Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Back in the days of the SNES (what I started playing), they couldn't make things all that pretty, so they focused on gameplay. Do I ever get tired of hearing this argument. This is nothing but nostalgia-goggles horsecrap. Focusing on pushing the graphics have been at the forefront since the dawn of the industry. You may look at the hardware as outdated now, but when they were new it was impressive as hell, and people focused on the new possibilities they could achieve, not what they couldn't do yet. The bloom and pixel-shaders of the 16-bit era were motion-capture ala Mortal Kombat, Mode7 or plastic pre-rendered 3D sprites. It's the same today. We just look at all this cool new stuff we can do, thinking we have nearly peaked, but if you get some actual perspective there's still a long, long way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAK55 Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I used to consider myself a hardcore gamer. I used to play at least 2-3 hours a day in my younger days, starting with NES. One of my main goals was to be better than anybody else in games, and for the mast part I was. But as I grew older, I realized that there are other things in life other than video games. I have grown more into more of a casual gamer these days. Overall, I would define hardcore gaming as not having much interest in other activities besides video games (having no life) as well as wanting to be better than everybody else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magewout Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Hardcore anything is a waste of precious life. Hardcore music, anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dj Mokram Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 When I was young, I used to think a hardcore gamer was any guy owning a NeoGeo and playing to Fatal Fury 2 or Art of Fighting. Today we whine for a 50$ game... but one Neo-Geo cartridge costed 400$! Who the hell could afford the price? It doesn't get any more Hardcore than that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypnotikid Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I am a hardcore gamer... but what is it to me? I call myself a hardcore gamer, and so do some of my friends and family. I believe the reason for that is that of more than one... Allow me to list them... 1) I have been gaming since 1986 when I got the NES. Since then I have been hooked on gaming. I currently own that NES, and several others. I own: NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy advance, NDS, Gamecube, Com 64 (no longer working and i lost all the games, my parents owned it and I found it in the attic lol), PS2, Sega Genesis (currently at my sisters' house), Vista PC which I use for most of my PC gaming, N64, and of course the Wii. 2) I have also enjoyed trying to make remixes from Video Games via the emulator and ROM era. I stopped because I had no musical knowledge what-so-ever of Music. I bought a Yamaha Keyboard, but had no way to hook it up to the PC lol. So that dream crashed, but that didn't mean that i downloaded and enjoyed remixes here from people who knew what good remixing was all about. 3) I also like to create games. To me, you are not a true hardcore gamer if you don't intend to try to create your own game. It can be a simple text-based only game, 2d game, or a more advanced 3d game. I still intend to pursue this dream of game creation, but I have a long way to go before this dream is met. To sum this all up, I believe your a hardcore gamer if: You have been gaming since you were at least 4 years of age, attempt to make your own collaboration of pre-existing video game tunes, and tried to create your own original game and don't intend to give up on gaming in the future. Game until you are physically unable to game any longer. Then game in your sleep, and you will be labeled a "True Hardcore Gamer" that's just my opinion though =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XZero Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I think one thing that sets "hardcore gamers" apart from other gamers is a general willingness to play games regardless of aesthetics. The big thing a hardcore gamer focuses on is gameplay. It has to be fun, intuitive, and logical. From my years of working at a game store, I know a lot of customers who come in and talk about this game or that game and say that it looks good. Generally, these people mean exactly what they say: it LOOKS good, e.g. it is visually pleasing. Meanwhile, a hardcore gamer will make the same comment about Mega Man 9, but mean something totally different. Also, though it isn't a universal truth, I think most hardcore gamers tend to be associated with RPGs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 real gamers don't have girlfriends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiral Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 To me a hardcore gamer is someone who plays games on purpose (i.e. not just to pass the time while on the bus), spending a lot of time playing the games they play, as compared to a casual gamer who plays Rock Band with the guys, or plays Wii Bowling when the grandkids come over. I'd almost say hardcore gamers try while casual gamers don't, as I've seen people who literally don't even play the game, they just go through the motions to pass the time for an hour or so. I can agree with this. It definitely seems to be the way marketing is divided --- on one side, trying to pick up new customers with easy to pick up games, sort of "idle amusements" that anyone can enjoy, without being a part of a "gamer culture." On the other side are the games marketed to the regular fanbase, people who play games as a favorite hobby...But, although they call this "hardcore" I still think of hardcore as being someone who plays a bit excessively or obsessively. And the way they show it, it's like you're not allowed to like "non-hardcore" type games or you'll lose all the respect of your peers. I dunno... I think there's a lot more overlap than the industry seems to realize anymore. I don't think there's anything wrong with enjoying a silly game on your Wii for fun. It doesn't make me want to throw away my SNES, and it doesn't mean I'm gonna cry that it's too hard when shooting hordes of aliens in the face...but that's the way they're marketing it. It's like they think they have idle housewives and basement-dwelling misanthropes playing their games with no in-between for those of us who just like playing games and grew up with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitashi Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Focusing on pushing the graphics have been at the forefront since the dawn of the industry. I don't mean they ignored the graphics back then, or else we wouldn't be where we are with graphics today. I mean that on the past consoles, the hardware prevented companies from productively spending a lot of time on graphics. As the hardware improved, companies could productively spend more time on graphics, and to keep up with the expected release-rate, they spent more time on graphics and less on mechanics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollgagh Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 real gamers don't have girlfriends fixed and such Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigfoot Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 What if the girl is a real gamer? Is she more inclined to have a boyfriend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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