Got the idea for this thread from a chance remark of dteowner--lamenting that the fact he had played so few games this year might put him in the 'casual gamer' camp. It got me thinking about just what is casual and what is not in gaming. If you've played every rpg since the abacus was invented, but you only play three games a year, are you a serious gamer?

Just what constitutes a hardcore gamer? Is it quantity--playing every game released at all possible opportunities? Is it quality--playing the titles that spark an interest and savoring the best many times over? Is it an obsessive desire to master all forms of cybernetic challenge or a discipline that teaches patience, coordination and skills?

Is there a reality behind the marketing term?

This poll can only scratch the surface of these dilemmas, but please feel free to expand in detail in your comments.

A hardcore gamer?… Anyone who can get worked up about a game and whose main hobby is gaming It doesn't matter if you buy one game a year or 100. If you have a passion about gaming or even just one game that you always play (though I doubt any gamer only plays one) then I would consider you in the "hardcore".

As to how many games I buy in a year I have no idea. I only know I check the "20+ games bought in a year" box when I register a game.

My thought was that the type of game figured into the equation as much as the quantity. 5 games in a year was a paltry sum, but that was only half the picture. My "portfolio" for the year includes a roguelike, a TBS, a FPS, a puzzle game, and an indie RPG. Not much that gets a guy "hardcore" points…

I really wanted to vote "serious", but the reality is that I had to go with "moderate", which sort of confirms my earlier thought.

Hmmm… voted 'serious'. Ten years ago I used to play every shooter, every platformer and every beat'em up that came out as well as the occasional RTS, adventure and CRPG. Since I'm so out of time nowadays, I usually play only the very most wanted new games in the shooter, adventure and CRPG departments… and sometimes not even those. I tend to play less (new) shooters, rather more (new to me) CRPGs and many puzzle and casual games because a) a round of a puzzle game takes less time and b) I find it easier to pause a CRPG for a longer time without losing the immersion effect… can't do the same with shooters. I also replay a lot of my old favorites; I've done it before, of course, but I find myself replaying more and more old shooters because I don't like most of the new ones.

While I'm afraid I bought every single 1997 games for several platforms back then (okay, let's just say 'most'), the only PC game I bought this year was Dark Messiah. I even skipped my absolutely most wanted games (C&C3, UT3, TF2). I did buy my friend's old PS2 and FFX, X-2, XII, Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 along with it, though. Out of all the games I bought this year, I finished Dark Messiah and FFX…. not a great quota if compared to 1997 . But I replayed all my old faves: Hexen, Heretic, Hexen II, Doom 1 and 2, the Catacomb series… so while I still play substantially more games than the rest of my family and my friends, I wouldn't call it hardcore gaming nowadays, and I've never been a hardcore CRPGer, anyway (a hardcore p&p RPGeeeer I was, but that's over, too). The urge to play everything new is gone. 'Serious' would probably describe my gaming habit best. Not necessarily my CRPG gaming habit, but my overall gaming behavior.

So…

"Serious" - I play only crpgs now (with a few exceptions) . In my younger days it was "Need Counseling".

Serious. While I dont play that regularly anymore (like twice a week), I play for like 5-8 hour stretches when I do. I often replay old faves in leiu of new games. During the rest of the week I'm often reading or talking about games in my spare time. The thing is, with me I cannot just sit and play for an hour or so. Either I'm playing for hours, or not at all, so that kinda makes it tough for me to carve out a huge chunk of time w/ other things going on. I'm going to be playing more regularly now that it looks like my and latest Tigress seem to have parted ways officially.

If I could just find a girl that likes playing games that isnt already in a relationship!

While I dont play as much as I'd like to, but gaming's still a huge part of my life. Like thinking up a cool tattoo series lately of my different characters and personalities and symbols from games I like as part of my left arm sleeve. I think that when all is said and done, the Witcher wolf medallion is going to make the cut!

I'd fall somewhere between "serious" and "pretty hardcore." I'm actually something of a binge gamer -- six months can go by without any gaming, and then I can have two months where it's my main pastime. The climate up here is such that I tend to game a lot more this time of year; in the summertime I travel, cycle, run, and do other outdoorsy stuff.

But if it's dumping sleet, there's an icy wind from the sea, the pavement consists of wet ice covered by slush, and it's dark as the belly of a whale, *and* the gym is in a nuclear fallout shelter, gaming is a lot more attractive.

I dunno, I have 38 games / reviews in various states of progress (all at least started) on 5 different platforms (Mac / PC / DS / PSP / Wii) for GamerDad/RPGWatch and others right now … where does that put me

I voted for "moderate", although I have quite a bias towads "serious, but dicerning".

Serious but Discerning I suppose - there just isn't the time in the day for all the games that come out these days.

Not to mention the monies.

I've always been serious it seems. I only play crpgs. I will play a game that has other genres too, but there has to be one or more crpg elements. I've played Puzzle Quest and Spellforce, but if a real crpg comes out those types of games get dumped fast. The last 3 months have seen a ton of crpgs and crpg-hybrids come out. I've played Puzzle Quest (okay), Parhedros (boring), Mask of the Betrayer (good, but I like low level games best), Eschalon (decent), Gothic 3 (waited til it was cheap), and am currently looking at Avencast (not sure if the crpg elements are really there). So far, Eschalon has gotten the most playing time. Avencast might be good, but the demo is really stupid so I'm not sure I'll ever find out.

For 2007, Oblivion got the most of my gaming hours. Lazarus came in second. I'm looking forward to Vault Dweller's game, although I strongly prefer fantasy to anything else.

Voted "None of the above". I'm not hardcore, nor do I stick to one genre, and I also do not play "top games". I play an assortment of different genres, and what I tend to like is not necessarily what is regarded as the "best" of it's genre.

I rarely finish games, since I play games for the full experience, and more often than not games fizzle out at the end and lose so much of what made the core game excellent.

I also never buy games upon release, often waiting for them to come down in price or pick them up cheap on eBay.

All that said, I do have strong opinions on games and game design, and things I want to see, so there's certainly a vested interest well beyond the casual or even moderate gamer.

I guess I'd consider myself "Moderate And Discerning" really, to use terms from the poll options.

Originally Posted by txa1265
I dunno, I have 38 games / reviews in various states of progress (all at least started) on 5 different platforms (Mac / PC / DS / PSP / Wii) for GamerDad/RPGWatch and others right now … where does that put me

Probably in a padded cell run by Gamers Anonymous!!

Originally Posted by Corwin
Probably in a padded cell run by Gamers Anonymous!!

With someone smacking me with a sea bass and yelling 'say NO more often … say NO more often'

Great question and interesting question to debate. I have very limited time and can only manage to play the key CRPGs each year (my definition would vary to others: I play every Spiderweb game but didn't get Hellgate: London, for example), and I play the occasional story-based shooter.

Measuring in hours seems pointless, because I play considerably less than Kayla (although she's disagree) - but she plays more "casual" games (Zoo Tycoon, Rollercoaster Tycoon) and the occasional CRPG…but then, I follow game news avidly and run a gaming site. Surely that is "hardcore"?

Dunno.

Oh, and txa is an alien freak who works simultaneously in multiple parallel dimensions. I couldn't keep track of that many games if it was a full-time occupation with a whole team of support staff.

"Serious but Discerning" is the closest to my playing habits, as I mostly play RPGs and the occasionnal adventure game. I might play others genres, but all those 100+ hours RPGs take so much of my time, even tough I play 20 hours a week on average, that I don't have any left. I don't replay games much either, again because of lack of time mostly. Neither would I say that I play "top" games; I played Neverend but would never even think of touching Oblivion.

I would play *only* adventure games if there were enough - and enough that fit my taste, since I don't like mystery and horror themes that much.

Everybody's responses quite interesting. It was hard to word the categories as I was trying to get a feel not just for how many games but what kinds and how much. I think one of the lines between casual and serious is whether you choose your games off the shelf because they're well-marketed or you hunt them down yourself because they suit your style, but that was hard to get in the description box--they're quite small. 'Top' was a short word that seemed to indicate both well-known and good, but I suppose it also has a connotative meaning of "best seller. "

I personally fall somewhere between Serious but Discerning and Pretty Hardcore as more time has come to be at my disposal. When I worked a fifty hour week, gaming was a guilty pleasure for weekends after my household and family duties. Now it saves my sanity (what's left of it) on the long nights as my body ages and requires less sleep.

I used to play 2 genres, tb strategy and crpg, and I still do mostly, but instead of going to the electronics store and browsing the shelves for whatever they may have in those categories, I now have the entire internet to use for information and often buy games straight from the publisher or from online sites that carry hundreds more games, and this has broadened the field for me. I never would have bought an indie game five years ago, for example, for the simple reason that I would never have seen it. I try games I wouldn't have considered when my time allowance was shorter also, and explore demos and media a lot more. I think there's definitely a corollary between how hardcore you can be and how much available gaming time you have.

Originally Posted by magerette
I used to play 2 genres, tb strategy and crpg, and I still do mostly, but instead of going to the electronics store and browsing the shelves for whatever they may have in those categories, I now have the entire internet to use for information and often buy games straight from the publisher or from online sites that carry hundreds more games, and this has broadened the field for me. I never would have bought an indie game five years ago, for example, for the simple reason that I would never have seen it.

This is pretty much my "journey" as well.

Doncha miss going into Electronic Boutique and grazing? Even Best Buy has pared down the PC shelves significantly (I remember when it used to be 3 full aisles of PC games and now it's down to 2 short sections). Walking into Gamestop these days is pretty much a waste of time unless you're planning on purchasing one of the ten titles on their 4' wide rack. Mrs dte used to HATE Electronics Boutique because I could graze the racks for literally an hour. Ah, those were the days…

Indeed. I boycott EB since the pimpled adolescent at my local outlet sneered at me after asking for a pc game. He said they were "phasing them out"--which they may have done, since I haven't been back since. But I do remember those shelves fondly--back in 1999 you could browse five aisles of pc games at CompUSA…and find more rpgs than you could afford to buy. And the bargain bin( where I picked up Planescape Torment for ten bucks) was a joy unequaled to this day, except maybe by gogamer's 48 hour madness picks from time to time. ..sigh…