Editorial: Hardcore/Casual Gamers

I HATE the terms casual and hardcore gamer. The concept of suggesting that I’m a casual gamer because I like games like Wii Fit Plus or Sports Resort, despite the fact that I play them EVERYDAY is pretty stupid, what’s casual about playing something daily? And what's so hardcore about taking two days a week to play games like Batman Arkham Asylum, Left 4 Dead or most recently Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 because playing them throughout the week requires too much of a commitment with things like family, class and work looming about.

What happened to just being a gamer and liking to play good/fun games.. Period ? It makes my stomach hurt when gamers consider not getting a game because it’s coming out on a certain system, even though they own that system. A podcaster I listened to was saying he’d rather get a stripped down version of Tatsunoko vs Capcom than get the full version on the Wii. I’m listening to this guy thinking "WHAT?!?" His first argument was he didn’t want to flail around while playing. His co-host mentioned the game was going to allow for all of the Wii-Controller options (gamecube, classic controller..etc), he still held that he didn’t want the game because it’s coming out exclusively on a casual gamer system, even though it does look really fun. I’m still sitting there think-yelling, But YOU OWN THE SYSTEM ! Ugh..

The terms casual and hardcore gamer are tearing us apart from logic and the separation anxiety hurts ! What defines a hardcore or casual gamer ? Is it how often you play? Is it how hard you play ? Is there a middle ground, a casuardcore gamer perhaps ? ...There is no answer to these questions because there’s no measurable meter of where hardcore/casual gamers begin or end, thus making these terms empty and separatist. I can buy that their are casual games and hardcore games but the gamers themselves can only be regarded as gamers, period.

-Chris