VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: shoryuken4u on October 25, 2012, 05:40:35 pm
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An acquaintance asked me if I was a "hardcore" gamer and a friend of mine quickly replied "She's not even a gamer--she only plays RPGs". So this begs the question, does the genre of the games you play decide whether or not you are a gamer (hardcore or otherwise)? Also, who would you consider a gamer?
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Personally I dislike the term "hardcore gamer".
But, to answer your question:
Genre doesn't matter if you're a gamer. A gamer is someone who plays games for fun or challenge. Just because you enjoy playing mostly RPGs doesn't matter. You don't have to play the newest baddest FPS clone to be "hardcore". The fact that you're dedicated to that genre of games and that's the main thing you play would in fact make you are "hardcore" RPG gamer. Either you're a gamer, or you're not a gamer. "hardcore" is another one of those superiority complex terms that have been getting tossed around to label people and make them feel better about themselves somehow.
The question I'd like to know is, how does only playing RPGs not make you a gamer? Is there something I'm missing here? Because part of the RPG abbreviation is the word GAME.
As for your second question:
I consider anyone that plays games for main mode of entertainment a gamer, be it "hardcore" or "casual". If someone has the hardware and the games and plays them for their enjoyment. Or goes searching for new games, even if they are only the same genre, to experience new stories/gameplay/ etc. Then I would say they are a gamer. Would you consider someone who only reads select series of books a "reader"? Or do they need to read only the newest and critically acclaimed bestsellers? Is someone who genuinely enjoys watching movies a "movie watcher"? Or do they have to see every new released film on release night?
I think your friends logic is flawed and he needs to rethink what he thinks a gamer is. ;)
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The way I see it, hardcore gamers are people who have no life beyond gaming. It has nothing to do with the genres they play, all that matters is that they play games all the time, with possible pauses for sleeping/eating.
Most people who claim to be hardcore gamers are either mainstream or, for lack of a better term, "core" (or "true") gamers. Mainstream gamers being ones who only play what's popular and nothing else (even going as far as hating hardcore/core games for completely superficial reasons), while "core" gamers are ones that play games that they find to be of high gameplay quality (amongst a few other things I don't want to waste paragraphs on :P).
This also brings the need to qualify hardcore games... The way I see it, hardcore games are challenging games. That can mean a lot of things, but to put it simply it's either games with a very high learning curve, massive depth in gameplay, games that are designed to be super time-consuming or really really hard games (as long as it's hard for the right reasons). That's what the term "hardcore game" meant the first time it was used and there's no reason it shouldn't still mean that. You don't need to be a hardcore gamer to play these though :P
In my mind, there aren't many hardcore gamers out there, and being hardcore isn't exactly healthy or something anyone should brag about.
Most people who claim to be hardcore are mainstream gamers who wrongfully believe that playing Call of Duty makes them hardcore, from what I've seen.
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I think foxhack has a pretty good idea of what a "hardcore" gamer is:
I found this game yesterday. It cost me about $2.50. I wasn't planning on buying it... even the seller thought it was something else...
(http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j238/foxhack/DP/dp-2012-10-24.jpg)
._.
Edit: DO NOT GOOGLE ANY INFORMATION FOR THIS GAME IT HAS LOTS OF STUFF YOU SHOULDN'T BE SEEING ESPECIALLY YOU HTIMREIMER
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This also brings the need to qualify hardcore games... The way I see it, hardcore games are challenging games. That can mean a lot of things, but to put it simply it's either games with a very high learning curve, massive depth in gameplay, games that are designed to be super time-consuming or really really hard games (as long as it's hard for the right reasons). That's what the term "hardcore game" meant the first time it was used and there's no reason it shouldn't still mean that. You don't need to be a hardcore gamer to play these though :P
In my mind, there aren't many hardcore gamers out there, and being hardcore isn't exactly healthy or something anyone should brag about.
Most people who claim to be hardcore are mainstream gamers who wrongfully believe that playing Call of Duty makes them hardcore, from what I've seen.
First paragraph I pretty much agree with.
In response to your second paragraph, putting in the time requirements needed to achieve the skills required to hold your own in a competitive game like CoD would, in some instances, qualify a CoD only player to achieve Hardcore status. You don't have to play a wide variety of games to be hardcore.
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I think foxhack has a pretty good idea of what a "hardcore" gamer is:
*slaps you*
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This also brings the need to qualify hardcore games... The way I see it, hardcore games are challenging games. That can mean a lot of things, but to put it simply it's either games with a very high learning curve, massive depth in gameplay, games that are designed to be super time-consuming or really really hard games (as long as it's hard for the right reasons). That's what the term "hardcore game" meant the first time it was used and there's no reason it shouldn't still mean that. You don't need to be a hardcore gamer to play these though :P
In my mind, there aren't many hardcore gamers out there, and being hardcore isn't exactly healthy or something anyone should brag about.
Most people who claim to be hardcore are mainstream gamers who wrongfully believe that playing Call of Duty makes them hardcore, from what I've seen.
First paragraph I pretty much agree with.
In response to your second paragraph, putting in the time requirements needed to achieve the skills required to hold your own in a competitive game like CoD would, in some instances, qualify a CoD only player to achieve Hardcore status. You don't have to play a wide variety of games to be hardcore.
The way I see it (I need to find a different way to say this :P), CoD, in its core design, is meant to be played in short 5~ minute bursts (ignoring the insanely stupid single-player). You can put tons of time into any game to get good at it, but the core design is still meant for a casual experience. I mean, I've seen people be mindblowingly awesome at Tetris Attack (I think it was someone on here, actually), but in the end Tetris Attack is still a casual game.
Not saying playing Call of Duty instantly doesn't make you hardcore, just that playing nothing other than that outside of the competitive scene isn't hardcore.
The way I classify gamers is more general, I don't mention super specific types of gamers like competitive gamers (who I'd separate completely from Hardcore since competitive gaming counts as actual work). In the way I classify gamers, both core and hardcore generally need to have somewhat varied taste.
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I think foxhack has a pretty good idea of what a "hardcore" gamer is:
*slaps you*
I think you got the "hard" part right. ;D
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I think foxhack has a pretty good idea of what a "hardcore" gamer is:
*slaps you*
See what that game has taught you?
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To be fair, I only have two categories for gamers. Gamer and competitive gamer. Just because you waste some time here and there playing a game like Angry Birds doesn't qualify anyone to be called anything but a human.
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To be fair, I only have two categories for gamers. Gamer and competitive gamer. Just because you waste some time here and there playing a game like Angry Birds doesn't qualify anyone to be called anything but a human.
Definitely. While I do have a way of my own to classify gamers, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter :P
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I've been called hardcore a number of times. I used to be really good at Unreal Tournament, have been asked to join competitive teams on CoD, have beaten just about all of the super challenging games that seem to be on everyone's list (Ninja Gaiden 3, Ninja Gaiden Black, DMC3, Ikaruga, almost every Contra game, Dark Souls, etc, etc, blah, blah). Am I really hardcore??? Not in my opinion. I just have above average hand/eye coordination and a really good memory. I don't play games everyday and I don't consider myself hardcore at all.
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My friend is a FPS devotee--CoD and Battlefield are his games of choice. When I think of casual gamers, he comes to mind because he plays games that are marketed to the masses and are not too difficult. He's part of the FPS/Madden/Halo crowd and considers himself the only true type of gamer, I guess.
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A hardcore gamer is open to interpretation. Obviously your friend thinks he is a gamer cause his games all come from "Game"stop.
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eh, I happily call myself a video game collector who likes to play games, or a classic gamer. Either one works for me. :)
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Jobocan said in his post that People who play very hard games are considered hardcore. I would disagree. I play a lot of bullet hell shooters but i dont consider myself hardcore. I Agree with part of his post about being a hardcore gamer means spending hours upon hours on a game. I don't think playing certain genres makes you hardcore, but how much time you spend on games.
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Jobocan said in his post that People who play very hard games are considered hardcore. I would disagree.
Wrong, I said that very hard games are hardcore, not that you have to play them to be hardcore. Big difference :P
I love hardcore games, but never would I be able to consider myself a hardcore gamer... I have too much of a life for that.
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I considered myself a hardcore gamer when it come to Everquest. I averaged 12-13 hours a day for the first 5 years ... it waned some but it was still in the 8-9 hours a day range for the rest of the 11 years I played. Being a "hardcore gamer" really is a waste. I regret a lot of the time I lost from it. :(
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I considered myself a hardcore gamer when it come to Everquest. I averaged 12-13 hours a day for the first 5 years ... it waned some but it was still in the 8-9 hours a day range for the rest of the 11 years I played. Being a "hardcore gamer" really is a waste. I regret a lot of the time I lost from it. :(
That how it was for me and WoW. I'd get home from work and hop on the PC right after I found food. Then I would be online until 1-2am then get up at 7:30 for work again the next morning. While I loved that game I also wish it hadn't sucked me in as hard as it did.
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That's pretty much how I was with Star Wars: Galaxies for the first 5-6 years it was out. I finally had to stop myself, I just uninstalled the game and never looked back.
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I'm also not a big fan of names/labels like "hardcore" gamer.
Mainly, because I think that it's one of those *VAGUE*, ill-defined, and, most of all...SUBJECTIVE words.
Because of this, I think, that if you asked (and/or -in "Fantasy Land", if you were able to read the minds of 100 different gamers)...you'd likely hear 100 different definitions (or, in the case of "mind-reading"); I think that it's likely that you'd see 100 different ideas, images, and/or *criteria* for what does/doesn't constitute a "hardcore" gamer.
IMHO...I'd actually say that I would tend to think that what (again, *IMO*) would actually constitute someone as said "hardcore" gamer...would have *LESS* to do w/ what genre of games they play, how difficult that those games that they're playing actually are/aren't, and the amount of time that they spend playing these games...but...I would say, that the main, defining features, traits and/or qualities of being "hardcore" would actually be based much *MORE* on things like...
A). What *role* does gaming play in their life contrasted with:
(1). How much of a life/what the *Quality* of their lives are/and how happy & satisfied they are/aren't w/ the "non-gaming-related" parts of their lives,
B). Where gaming in general stands in relation (priority-wise) to the other areas of their lives, and
C). If gaming is...
(1). Rare/occasional entertainment,
(2). One (of several) hobbies,
(3). An *only* / *favorite* hobby,
(4). An infatuation/obsession (that, in some ways, may negatively impact, anger, frustrate, and/or put-off friends & family members), or
(5). An all-out, full-blown *addiction*; negatively impacting all/almost all areas of their lives, possibly losing jobs/relationships/friends as a result.
As Jobocan also stated earlier - I also don't think that being called/being a "hardcore" gamer is anything good, healthy, impressive, and - I certainly *don't* think that it's something to be treated w/ respect, bragged about, and/or encouraged/enabled.
Then again, these are just my own private & personal thoughts on the matter *AND* are likely quite biased & jaded coming from me (someone who struggled w/ all sorts of different negative effects and different manifestations of my own "Addictive-Personality" throughout most of my teen years, and even into my early 20's...then...got a grip on these things, went to school, and became an addictions counselor myself.
Take w/ several grains of salt, as I'm *FAR* from the 'typical' perspective & opinions on such matters :P
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I agree with disgaeniac that it's a very vague and subjective term for people, and I think it really depends on who's using the term.
I've gotten a lot of friends calling me a "hardcore gamer," but I scoff at that title and know they're only saying that because
1. I own a current-gen console that's not a Wii
2. I own more than 20 or so games (that's a lot to people who only play video games casually/socially)
3. I can read/talk/have an active interest in video games at all times
... and that's pretty much it, I bet, for what constitutes a "hardcore gamer" amongst my friends who are more casual/social gamers or don't play games at all.
Many of them own Wiis and a few Wii games, and once they take that step to buy a portable system, I usually raise an eyebrow in interest.
Of course, having another gamer in the room who owns twice the number of games/consoles and plays more often than I do would never agree that I was any kind of hardcore gamer. Super subjective, and I don't think it's enough of a technical term for people to actually use with a standard definition/criteria.
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I'd say "hardcore" is more about an attitude towards gaming than anything else. I wouldn't say that owning certain games or spending <X> amount of time a week playing automatically makes someone hardcore, for me it's more about the passion that drives a person to spend time gaming that makes the difference.
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I believe that the term "hardcore gamer" is a horribly overused misnomer. It has come down to the point that the only people that consider themselves "hardcore" are the ones who play nothing but the latest mainstream title, or they won't touch it if it doesn't have that "M" rating on it. I believe that archaic term is something best thrown around by kids, or those that have the mentality of.
I have been told several times that I am "hardcore". I don't think so, more like overly passionate to the point of annoyance. That would be a more apt descriptor. I love owning them, playing them and running off at the mouth for hours about them. I will never seriously claim to be a "hardcore gamer" whatever those may be.
So be it racing games, sports titles, shooters or RPGs. You should first of all hold your head high as a gamer that doesn't let an arbitrary misnomer dictate how you love your hobby.
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Here here, ffxik!
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Hardcore gamers are the foolish youth born in the Age of the Internet who like l33t speak :D I'm just joking, kind of...everyone has already said enough about the topic and I'd say most of the people who hang around here likely don't use that term. I've only ever considered myself a gamer, just of the regular variety, it's who I am for better or worse. I suppose people who play games on mobile phones instead of consoles or computers are gamers too, but I'm not one of them ;) It really shouldn't matter which genre(s) someone plays.
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I only have one gamer friend that I would consider "Hardcore"... his Live gamer score is 160834 :/
Me personally I'm a OG!
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Here here, ffxik!
Yes.
Well said!