Casual Gamers

[Spaz91]

Why do some people get so steamed up over 'casual gamers', they take personal offense at people enjoying WiiFit or just about any current-gen nintendo game. IF they are casual gamers then you are serious gamers, now 'serious gamers' just sounds incredibly sad. Everyone should be a casual gamer really.

 

[Nexus424]

Nah serious gamers just sounds sad because your saying it wrong. I prefer the term extreme. And I guess some people feel ill towards "casual" because since they feed money into those "casual" games more and more of those come into production faster that my "serious" or "extreme" games.

 

[Herb sewell]

It's not that people dislike casual gamers themselves, it's that they dislike how the market has become oversaturated with games for that crowd which leaves less room for games with real substance.

 

[teisjm]

It's just like people who obsess over bands etc.
They're like "super-awesome-band" is the best band, everything else is suck, you all have bad taste.
Then super-awesome-band becomes succesfull, gets played on the radio, people starts listening to it, and the people who will only listen to it while it's new and hot also knows it.
The "original fans" becomes angry cause now they're not "special" anymore, and fear that people will look at them as mainstream, because what they like has gone from minority to mainstream.
they cannot be non-conformists when everyone else suddenly conforms with them.

Elitism at it's worst

Sort of like fanboys except they're gaming fanboys and not just fans of a specific franchise/genre/console etc.

 

[squid5580]

It's not that people dislike casual gamers themselves, it's that they dislike how the market has become oversaturated with games for that crowd which leaves less room for games with real substance.

Right because the market only has room for so many games. Get too many and they'll have to bury them alongside all those E.T. cartridges.

The real reason they get so worked up is because they believe that the industry should only cater to them. And if a company doesn't cater to thier tastes (see EA hate) then it is dooming the industry.

 

[Amcyr]

No, casual gamers are simply gamers who don't take the game seriously enough and consider a team wipe just part of the fun. They go afk or handle RL events at the most inopportune times, often without a moment's notice. Why would anyone want to play with a caz? They are a scourge on the gaming world. *sarcasm* ;-)

 

[Hexadecimal16]

It's not that people dislike casual gamers themselves, it's that they dislike how the market has become oversaturated with games for that crowd which leaves less room for games with real substance.

It's not that there's less room (is that even possible?), it's just that there are a lot of people who like the fact that 'casual games' can be enjoyed by their whole family. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this. I do agree that the amount of mindless fluff games currently on the market is getting ridiculous, but really, the people who ***** about casual gamers need to get over themselves. You are not the only people in the world who enjoy video games, the market does not belong to you. I'd much rather play a game with a storyline than Peggle or whatever, but if someone else likes it then I am in no place to tell them they're wrong.

 

[HarlyHellbender]

I used to be a hardcore gamer, but I really couldn't handle balancing it and real life all that well once I got to college. Wanting good grades and playing hours/pwning newblettes/buying the latest games just didn't fit into the same equation. And I honestly don't mind being a casual gamer. I'm never really bored with the games I play because I don't spend hours on them. Sure I'll go and pull an all-nighter for a game now and then, but only if it won't effect my personal or professional life.

Now casual games... Fanboys(or girls) can complain all they want, but the Game Companies aren't. Because they're too busy laughing all the way to the bank. Well, not laughing, but they are doing something while on their way there. Casual games = broader demographic, and a broader demographic = $$$ That's money, honey. And that's mostly what the industry is about, besides the passion for making great games, of course.

 

[furnatic]

I could care less. I don't carry a label with me. If it's a good game that catches my attention, which in this day and age, is hard to do, I'll play it.

 

[Joeshie]

It's not that people dislike casual gamers themselves, it's that they dislike how the market has become oversaturated with games for that crowd which leaves less room for games with real substance.

Right because the market only has room for so many games. Get too many and they'll have to bury them alongside all those E.T. cartridges.

Actually your example is one where you could actually make a legitimate case for worrying about the overabundance of shovelware that has been shit out recently. Those ET cartridges represent one of the reasons for the video game crash: too much shitty shovelware and not enough quality games.

 

[Rodger]

It's not that people dislike casual gamers themselves, it's that they dislike how the market has become oversaturated with games for that crowd which leaves less room for games with real substance.

Right because the market only has room for so many games. Get too many and they'll have to bury them alongside all those E.T. cartridges.

Actually your example is one where you could actually make a legitimate case for worrying about the overabundance of shovelware that has been shit out recently. Those ET cartridges represent one of the reasons for the video game crash: too much shitty shovelware and not enough quality games.

OBJECTION!

...Sorry. Always wanted to do that.

Anyway. Before you start pointing that finger around, I suggest you actually read up on the gaming crash in question. You'll find more than poor quality games to be the culprit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983

Long story short, Nintendo is making far too much money to 'crash' anytime soon and excess of shovelware is hurting no one but the companies trying to put it out and make a quick buck. According to Kotaku, those games simply aren't selling.

 

[Squarewave]

9/10 when I hear someone call themselves a casual gamer they do so because they think its cool to be a casual and geekish to be hardcore.

If you spend 3 hours a day playing WiiFit, guess what, you are hardcore.

If you spend a fair amount of time on video game forums, guess what, you are hardcore.

If you spend only spend an hour a week playing halo, guess what, you are casual.

The reason why there was hostility about games targeting casuals was the amount of internet tough guys that flooded the forums calling anyone who likes games that have depth losers. Compounded with a flood of simple puzzle games, aka shovelware targeting people who call themselves casual despite spending a fair amount of time gaming. If the games were any good it would be a nonissue, but most were garbage that you could get for free online, or in the case of WiiFit targeting people wanting a fun way to exercise. Most of the time the so called casual games were just as hardcore as any other game labed as such, like mario galaxy. I laugh whenever some joker claims Super mario 1 is proof that casual games are better, when SMB was a very hardcore game for its time


Now that developers have realized casuals only buy one game every few months there have been a lot less advertising about casual games, and less in your face, buy our poorly made puzzle game, or you're a hardcore loser, you don't want to be a loser do you? And more focus on games that can't be found for free as a flash game online

 

[NewGeekPhilosopher]

I don't know if I am a casual gamer so much since I buy and play a lot of games, especially for my DS Lite. I have 20 games for that thing. My PS3 has half that much, lucky I won that thing in a blogging competition instead of paying for it with real money instead of my pensmanship. Kinda strange how a dude who wouldn't normally buy a non-handheld console can win one in a competition and have a few games for it just so he doesn't look like the biggest douche in the universe for having a really expensive console he got for free but never buying games his friends can't afford a PS3 of their own to play. Man, because they see me as a casual Nintendo handheld gamer, they JUDGE me with the evil eye if I buy something like a J-RPG instead of a "real game" like Little Big Planet, even though I want that game I need to get the J-RPGs first because they be niche hard to find titles which get harder to find later on.

Then Chinatown Wars comes out for DS and they're like "DUUUUUUUUDE. I hate you so much, not only can you play GTA IV on your PS3, which your awesome mother asked you to buy her for Christmas that year, even though you don't even like GTA IV and don't play it, but you get to play Chinatown Wars and I can't because I was too snobby to buy a DS because I thought Nintendo handhelds were for wusses. Nah, I kid, I love ya man, NO I DON'T! I HATE YOU FOR GETTING ALL THE GOOD GAMES THE OTHER GUYS NEVER GET TO PLAY... seriously though, we don't mind as long as we can come over... TO KICK YOUR ARSE AT STREET FIGHTER IV AS I TAKE OUT MY RAGE AT YOUR GLEE AND HAPPINESS..."

To my friends I'm the Nintendo Handheld guy. Who has a free PS3 he won on the side. My brother is the Wii guy. And his Wii broke. It's like his gaming life was a one horse town and the horse died because now he can't play Guitar Hero or Brawl. Guess who has more friends now?

And you know what? People respect me because I actually give evidence to their impression I do other things than play video games all day. Like writing books and illustrating them, managing my online blogging empire, and generally thinking about nerdy philosophical concepts my friends at University are too busy/lazy/drunk to even comprehend.

 

[squid5580]

It's not that people dislike casual gamers themselves, it's that they dislike how the market has become oversaturated with games for that crowd which leaves less room for games with real substance.

Right because the market only has room for so many games. Get too many and they'll have to bury them alongside all those E.T. cartridges.

Actually your example is one where you could actually make a legitimate case for worrying about the overabundance of shovelware that has been shit out recently. Those ET cartridges represent one of the reasons for the video game crash: too much shitty shovelware and not enough quality games.

Back in a time where few households had a console and everyone who did hid in the closet. Factor in the confusion of the different consoles since we didn't have things like the internet to explain things better. It was never about the games were bad since they were all terrible back then. Great if you were 5 and had imagination but beyond that the technology wasn't there to really support the industry and attract new customers.