CASUAL GAMERS vs HARDCORE GAMERS

Casual Gamers vs. Hardcore Gamers (video script)

by Anthony J. Gomez

It looks like in the last video there were some people that didn’t like that I even own the Wii.  It’s not hardcore enough, I guess.  Question is… what makes someone a casual gamer and what makes them a hardcore one?

So, a hardcore gamer is a gamer that plays M rated games, is that it?  

Oh what?  M rated games on a Nintendo console don't count?  That makes me a casual gamer?

I thought being a casual gamer was playing video games casually, you know, when someone did it sometimes.  Like if I whip out my smart phone during subway or train rides and play Angry Birds or Tetris.  That makes me a casual gamer, right? 

What if I casually played Call of Duty: Black Ops?  Or casually played Mortal Kombat 9?  Or Bulletstorm?  You know, when I had the time.  They’re hardcore games, so even if I played them sometimes, does that make me hardcore? 

Oh, so you have to play them for long periods of time too?  Like those World of Warcraft people do?  Playing 18 hours a day is hardcore?  Oh, okay. 

Let's say I own a Kinect and I want to master Michael Jackson: The Experience.  I want to perfect the dances so I play and play and play so long hours upon hours passes.  I love this game.  I’m playing it literally 12 hours a day.  I think I mastered it, AND I’m playing it on the XBOX 360, which is a hardcore console, and am playing all the time -- what?  Michael Jackson: The Experience is a casual game because it’s a party game?  Well, so is Guitar Hero, and there are kids mastering that and making money doing it.  Are they not hardcore gamers? 

Oh they are.  But what?  They only play Guitar Hero.  Hardcore Gamers play every game they can get their hands on?  Is that so?  So how come some people called me a Wii Fanboy just because I only own that console?  Does that mean because they don’t play Wii games that they’re not hardcore?  I’m more hardcore than them because I just enjoy games? 

No?  That’s not it either?  Oh… Nintendo doesn’t have good online you say?

Okay.  I think I got it.  

If I play M rated games on a non-Nintendo console and play them for long extended periods of time, but still made time for other games that are also considered hardcore, and play them online, but making sure I’m on a headset and killing people in the game, and playing 18 hours a day neglecting food, water, family, sunlight, and sex, and then coming online and making fun of people that play a variety of different games that don’t meet my standard of hardcore: makes me hardcore.  

Then I guess I’m a casual gamer.