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There are 2 arguements;
1. Casual gamers are a bane on the lives of Hardcore Gamers.
They've come in to gaming through Nintendo's insistence that gaming should be something fun you can do with your family without having to think about long control patterns or memorising walkthroughs.
The gamer arguing this case will cite the apparent lack of shooters and 'adult' gaming on the Wii whilst pointing out that driving PS3 and 360 resources towards Motion Controls will take those same resources away from 'proper' games.
They may also say that with the vast numbers of casual gamers picking up on gaming the developers and publishers will want to concentrate on the areas that bring in the most revenue.
2. Casual Gamers are keeping gaming alive.
The opposite argument is that causal gamers have prevented our passtime from being swallowed up by the recession and have stopped major players in the gaming field from going bankrupt or losing enough resource to think about quitting.
They cite the fact that young casual gamers may grow into gamers who want more sophisticated games but also that so called hardcore gamers often grew up with games on the 8-bit computers which had many similarities with what we currently call casual gaming.
They will argue that causal gamers bring much needed money and media support to the games industry and that many older gamers are happy to play games with their family on Wii while also having one (or both) of the other consoles for different types of games and there is plenty of room for all these gaming genres just as there ever was.
So...where do you fit in?
1. Casual gamers are a bane on the lives of Hardcore Gamers.
They've come in to gaming through Nintendo's insistence that gaming should be something fun you can do with your family without having to think about long control patterns or memorising walkthroughs.
The gamer arguing this case will cite the apparent lack of shooters and 'adult' gaming on the Wii whilst pointing out that driving PS3 and 360 resources towards Motion Controls will take those same resources away from 'proper' games.
They may also say that with the vast numbers of casual gamers picking up on gaming the developers and publishers will want to concentrate on the areas that bring in the most revenue.
2. Casual Gamers are keeping gaming alive.
The opposite argument is that causal gamers have prevented our passtime from being swallowed up by the recession and have stopped major players in the gaming field from going bankrupt or losing enough resource to think about quitting.
They cite the fact that young casual gamers may grow into gamers who want more sophisticated games but also that so called hardcore gamers often grew up with games on the 8-bit computers which had many similarities with what we currently call casual gaming.
They will argue that causal gamers bring much needed money and media support to the games industry and that many older gamers are happy to play games with their family on Wii while also having one (or both) of the other consoles for different types of games and there is plenty of room for all these gaming genres just as there ever was.
So...where do you fit in?
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Warhunt wrote:
>
> For hardcore: I'm going to use my fav example here. World
> of Warcraft.
>
> The game has changed so much in the last year, almost handing
> things to players who are casual, and all the top (really hard to
> get) items are now easily obtainable.
>
> Let's not go too deep intothis point, as I don't actually
> care about it tbh
Yes, lets... I don't mind about the gear but I did spend 15kg on getting the shoulder enchants for 4 lvl 80s then Blizz made it BoA. I want my money back! (okay, gripe done ><)
As I understood it the gaming industry began to stagnate as owners of N64s and PS1s changed their lifestyles and moved away from gaming. I agree with Hedfix (scary^^) in that technology and it's mass availablity is the driving force behind the new face of gaming. Although consideration may have also been given to the fact that "kids aren't getting any exercise as they sit in front of their TVs" as they do so now with the new games.
I imagine hardcore gamers to have stagnated along with the old consoles. Any industry needs new customers and innovative ideas to survive.
>
> For hardcore: I'm going to use my fav example here. World
> of Warcraft.
>
> The game has changed so much in the last year, almost handing
> things to players who are casual, and all the top (really hard to
> get) items are now easily obtainable.
>
> Let's not go too deep intothis point, as I don't actually
> care about it tbh
Yes, lets... I don't mind about the gear but I did spend 15kg on getting the shoulder enchants for 4 lvl 80s then Blizz made it BoA. I want my money back! (okay, gripe done ><)
As I understood it the gaming industry began to stagnate as owners of N64s and PS1s changed their lifestyles and moved away from gaming. I agree with Hedfix (scary^^) in that technology and it's mass availablity is the driving force behind the new face of gaming. Although consideration may have also been given to the fact that "kids aren't getting any exercise as they sit in front of their TVs" as they do so now with the new games.
I imagine hardcore gamers to have stagnated along with the old consoles. Any industry needs new customers and innovative ideas to survive.
They have like a Wii Sports night, and you can get on a leaderboard, never been to it myself (since I hate the Wii, and have one at home anyway).
Sonic Chris wrote:
>Lets just say 10 years ago, you wouldn't have had a
> games competition at one of our local pubs, now they have a
> weekly Wii competition.
I would like to go to this pub.
>Lets just say 10 years ago, you wouldn't have had a
> games competition at one of our local pubs, now they have a
> weekly Wii competition.
I would like to go to this pub.
Well the super-hardcore gamers are usually visualised as the guy with glasses who lives in a blue police box playing a SNES or something. Casual gamers, which I'd claim the majority of people are, talking 95% or so, generally do other stuff in their life aswell. I think casual gamers are the ones to blame for bringing gaming into mainstream society. Now companies are capitalising on it (well some are trying (Microsoft and Sony), some are suceeding (Nintendo primarily)) and gaming is becoming available for everywhere. Lets just say 10 years ago, you wouldn't have had a games competition at one of our local pubs, now they have a weekly Wii competition.
Sonic Chris wrote:
> For arguments sake, gaming would be well and truly dead without casual gamers.
I kind of agree with this. I don't think gaming would be dead though, but it certainly wouldn't be the massive success it is today.
I used to consider myself to be a 'hardcore' gamer as I've been playing games since the Spectrum was out, and I used to spend ALL my time playing games.
But now I have a Girlfriend, kids, my own house etc, I do tend to play games more casualy in the sense that I don't have the time to play as much now.
I think there's room for every type of gamer and each adds their own benefit to the market.
> For arguments sake, gaming would be well and truly dead without casual gamers.
I kind of agree with this. I don't think gaming would be dead though, but it certainly wouldn't be the massive success it is today.
I used to consider myself to be a 'hardcore' gamer as I've been playing games since the Spectrum was out, and I used to spend ALL my time playing games.
But now I have a Girlfriend, kids, my own house etc, I do tend to play games more casualy in the sense that I don't have the time to play as much now.
I think there's room for every type of gamer and each adds their own benefit to the market.
I don't see people as hardcore or casual gamers. If you play games, you're a gamer, simple as.
For arguments sake, gaming would be well and truly dead without casual gamers.
For arguments sake, gaming would be well and truly dead without casual gamers.
Nin wrote:
> it
> becomes homogenised to appeal to the lowest common denominator,
> often losing it's original quality in the process. In the case of
> gaming, game length, difficulty and originality have suffered.
> For me, this has resulted in me buying far fewer games and
> choosing to rent instead, which suggests the older cult gamer
> market is being ignored.
Actually the reverse can be argued.
- Many hardcore gamers are more demanding - they want the best graphics, gameplay and they want games to compete with the latest movies and other gaming offerings. This means more people have to be hired and developing a game takes longer as more time has to be spent on each stage of the process.
This 'keeping up with your competition' approach makes games shorter and more expensive to make. It also kills variation and companies taking a gamble because when one of these multi-million games fail - they tend to fail badly and take small developers and publishers with them.
- Casual gamers aren't so fussed about graphics, they're happy to play simple bowling and sports games for instance. These games are cheaper to make and rely on simple gameplay. The costs for making something like Wii Sports compared to something like Gears of War 2 are significantly lower.
-------
Also to some degree it could be argued that technology has created casual gamers through mobile technology advancing and allowing simple games to be played on mobile phones by those who have no desire to sit at home playing games but are quite happy to kill time on the train/bus.
> it
> becomes homogenised to appeal to the lowest common denominator,
> often losing it's original quality in the process. In the case of
> gaming, game length, difficulty and originality have suffered.
> For me, this has resulted in me buying far fewer games and
> choosing to rent instead, which suggests the older cult gamer
> market is being ignored.
Actually the reverse can be argued.
- Many hardcore gamers are more demanding - they want the best graphics, gameplay and they want games to compete with the latest movies and other gaming offerings. This means more people have to be hired and developing a game takes longer as more time has to be spent on each stage of the process.
This 'keeping up with your competition' approach makes games shorter and more expensive to make. It also kills variation and companies taking a gamble because when one of these multi-million games fail - they tend to fail badly and take small developers and publishers with them.
- Casual gamers aren't so fussed about graphics, they're happy to play simple bowling and sports games for instance. These games are cheaper to make and rely on simple gameplay. The costs for making something like Wii Sports compared to something like Gears of War 2 are significantly lower.
-------
Also to some degree it could be argued that technology has created casual gamers through mobile technology advancing and allowing simple games to be played on mobile phones by those who have no desire to sit at home playing games but are quite happy to kill time on the train/bus.
I'm both a hardcore gamer and a casual gamer.
I like challenging games but I like easy ones aswell. i don't like platformers or beat 'em ups much so the easier those games are the better as far as I'm concerned because that allows me to have fun with games in genres I'm not so keen on.
I like challenging games but I like easy ones aswell. i don't like platformers or beat 'em ups much so the easier those games are the better as far as I'm concerned because that allows me to have fun with games in genres I'm not so keen on.
While the casual market has helped the industry to thrive, they've also changed it to the point where it's very different to the industry I grew up with, and not in a good way in my opinion.
Unfortunately this is a problem with capitalism in general, any time the mass population takes something under their wing, it becomes homogenised to appeal to the lowest common denominator, often losing it's original quality in the process. In the case of gaming, game length, difficulty and originality have suffered. For me, this has resulted in me buying far fewer games and choosing to rent instead, which suggests the older cult gamer market is being ignored.
So to answer your question. Casual gamers are good for business, they're no friend to gaming though.
Unfortunately this is a problem with capitalism in general, any time the mass population takes something under their wing, it becomes homogenised to appeal to the lowest common denominator, often losing it's original quality in the process. In the case of gaming, game length, difficulty and originality have suffered. For me, this has resulted in me buying far fewer games and choosing to rent instead, which suggests the older cult gamer market is being ignored.
So to answer your question. Casual gamers are good for business, they're no friend to gaming though.
I don't agree with number 1 and I agree with number 2 to an extent.
I don't understand the issue that the 'hardcore' have with casual gaming. There never used to be an issue with playing games as a family, my mum regularly gave me a run for my money on Millipede on the Atari 2600 and she is not a games player. Gaming is gaming, it's just like everything else, there are games for different people, why should it be exclusive to the so-called 'hardcore'?
I don't think casual gaming has saved the industry. It has perhaps saved Nintendo, general feeling is that they needed their next home console to be a big success and they nailed that. But there can be no doubt casual gaming has changed things. As Warhunt said, shops that previously didn't cater for games now have an extensive section. More and more shops are getting in on the pre-owned market and none of that is down to the hardcore.
Can't we all just be friends?
I don't understand the issue that the 'hardcore' have with casual gaming. There never used to be an issue with playing games as a family, my mum regularly gave me a run for my money on Millipede on the Atari 2600 and she is not a games player. Gaming is gaming, it's just like everything else, there are games for different people, why should it be exclusive to the so-called 'hardcore'?
I don't think casual gaming has saved the industry. It has perhaps saved Nintendo, general feeling is that they needed their next home console to be a big success and they nailed that. But there can be no doubt casual gaming has changed things. As Warhunt said, shops that previously didn't cater for games now have an extensive section. More and more shops are getting in on the pre-owned market and none of that is down to the hardcore.
Can't we all just be friends?
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