The minority group that dismisses anybody else as casual (for any reason) believe themselves to be on another level. They are delusional. And pretentious. You should laugh at them instead of taking whatever they say personally.

I like to lump them in with the whole "pc master race" (or Xbox/PS haters/super-fans) crowd and laugh at all of them at the same time.

The whole thing is just... so... friggin ridiculous I can't do anything but laugh.

I don't even know in which box to put myself...

I'm spending far too much time with gaming to be called a "casual"

On the other hand (although i like to learn the little details on game mechanics) i don't take games seriously enough to be "hardcoe".

So i might be Cascore... or Hardual...

This is the problem right here though -- that video-games are ultimately about fun, while neglecting the importance video-games could have on the player. Not all movies seek to thrill the viewer with action shots and explosions; not all books are escapist fiction. In this way, I do not think all video-games should be entirely about fun. It's an interactive medium that deserves more attention and more care to utilize it to it's full potential. Video-games such as Planescape: Torment offer little in the way of actual game-play. In many ways, the game is simply broken, but it is the story, the plot, the characters, and the themes that elevates the player to new ways of thinking. Depending on the players actions, it could determine the outcome the player will encounter.

I think some games shouldn't focus so much on the "fun" value and offer something more to the players that want it.

Don't read too much into a single word like that. I admit, that enjoyment would have been a better word to use (I don't always find the right words on the fly when I type. Non-english and all that etc. etc.)

lol, no you're good. I was just expanding upon it, just something I thought needed to be said.

Basically, I think this hardcoe vs. casual goes deeper into what we might expect from video-games. Ultimately, in every medium, there are those aren't as interested as others in what that medium does and can possibly do.

For instance, myself. I've went back and played a ton of old CRPGs from the 80s and 90s. I didn't have to, but I felt it was something I needed to do to better understand the genre. I played through the Wizardry series and Might and Magic the old Ultima's, and this gave me a much stronger grasp of what RPGs are doing today and what they aren't doing. I wouldn't consider that at all to be casual.

Without trying to sound elitist, I think that separates me from those who's sole knowledge of the genre relies upon Fallout 3 or Skyrim. I have more to say about the genre because I know more about the genre from experience. In a way, it's not elitist to call someone an expert. Experts exist in every field or medium, and typically, in other mediums, they are placed on a certain pedestal because they are more knowledgeable than most people about something.

In gaming, we seem to place reviewers or developers on that same pedestal, but that makes zero sense. You can be a developer, but know very little about gaming. You can be a reviewer, and know nothing about gaming -- check out Adam Sessler's early days. He didn't even know what Final Fantasy was when he first started reviewing.

Ahhh ok. Not always easy to discern what people mean (Now I hate myself for being on the defensive here, lol) As for your elaboration, yes, games can be used for other things than "fun" Altho, I find learning through games fun, where the fun part don't have to be about laughing etc. Planescape Torment is a brilliant game btw.

No, you're fine lol. Yeah, Planescape:Torment was amazing. At this point, I think it was our Citizen Kane for the gaming medium, but it's sad in a way, because there are very few games like that, even cross-genre. PS:T showed us what games could become, and I still think that another game could be released that it's even better, but unless the gaming culture changes, we won't see it.

Gaming is still in it's infancy. You see it everywhere from the derogatory name calling, the lack of respect for older video-games, the constant push for "evolution" in gaming while neglecting what past games have done that were better (because people don't know it's history), and the lack of professionalism in the industry.

In the next 20 years, I hope to see a change from this, and maybe this hardcoe vs casual will become a thing of the past and instead be replaced by a respect for experts in the medium, much like literature, art, and movies have.

I think it's a simple question of pressure testing. When you play the game at the hardest difficulty settings you're really pushing it to present the hardest challenge possible, revealing its shortcomings and testing the AI etc. People who play at the hardest settings are typically more experienced "super-users", who know how to push the software and reveal faults and shortcomings of the programmers and developers. Your anology of a movie review doesn't really work since there aren't different rates at which you can watch a movie. Try a car. If you test drive a Porsche at 200 MPH, doing some serious cornering etc., I'd take your review over someone who just drove it to work at 35 MPH.

Heck to me casual vs hardcoe isn't about what level a game is played on . I have over 800 hours into FO4 on very hard level and a friend of mine has 120 hours on survival mode . we both bought the game at same time .

I really don't know if he is hardcoe or I am . makes no difference .

hardcoe to me is : I have a nephew who has every game put out for years and plays all the time . he is more hardcoe than I am . I play a lot but not like he does . now another nephew buys a game because he likes the cover and seen a commercial and liked what he saw and he bought it . he does have some time playing it . now to me he is a casual player . is the only game he has bought in 6 months or more .. oh and he went out and bought a new xbox 1 because it had a halo package with it almost a year ago and still hasn't played it at all , but he has it LOL ..

as my nephew says , he who has most games/toys is the winner

there should be new hardcoe survival mode and there should be left old survival as well.

new hardcoe mode should be most hardcoe possible

My only point was when I play a random game to waste time such as at a bus stop I feel more casual than when I set out to play a game for purely just playing it.

I don't put people into either casual or hardcoe, I just described how I feel when I play depending on the circumstances of why I am playing.

Mobile phone/tablet games are not silly, who is being judgemental now?

(Ok Candy Crush is silly, but Fallout Shelter is awesome)

A lot of time when people ask things online about a game, you do have to consider difficulty as well.


People should never make fun of people for playing easy,

but people whom playing on easy should be careful trying to give advice on people playing on normal and above since the game mechanic can change very drastically.

I agree. It should be nothing but the steamiest hardcoe danse/preston leather harness action.