What makes you a "HardCore" gamer

[hermes]

It doesn't need to be "refreshed", it needs to be disposed. It is meaningless...

I guess the difference could be the amount of time we dedicate to gaming. So casual could be 5 or 6 hours a week and a hardcore could be 20+ hours a week? Maybe WoW players because for many it is there life. Where other gamers play for entertainment and fit it in with their every day stuff.

I have seen that argument thrown around quite a bit. I don't think its a fair or an accurate distinction, as adult people tend to have busy periods were playing for 1 or 2 hours a day is more than enough. Also, some people spend more than that in facebook or mobile games...

OT:
- I have platinum some long games in my library.
- I have beaten several RPGs (both western and eastern), many of which after more than 100 hours.
- I have been playing since the Atari days.
- I have beaten some of the hardest (not impossible) old school games of the NES era.
- I could reach the last level of Contra without using the Konami code.
- I know the Konami code by heart.

 

[thesilentman]

I can play Lunatic Touhou! I win!

Right, hardcore is just an elitist thing which I don't give more than a single fuck about. If you like gaming, you're hardcore. Done. Nothing more, nothing less. =D

 

[The White Hunter]

Well I play videogames for fun and enjoy many of them. I often enjoy more traditional genres and more complex or fulfilling experiences.

I do despise the term hardcore though. It's used by the pathetic excuses of people that spend 18 hours a day playing COD to describe their addiction and justify it.

 

[The White Hunter]

Edit: Double post, forum done goofed.

Oooh 5000 inbox messages? Either The Injustice League got popular or the forums spazzing again.

 

[Gorrath]

I usually use the terms "Hardcore" and "Casual" to differentiate between individuals who count gaming as a core hobby and those who don't. My mother and father are both "hardcore" gamers under this deffinition. While the terms have picked up a lot of stigma and there isn't really a universal understanding of what they mean, I think differentiating between gamers who play as a core hobby and those who do not is a useful tool.

OT: I've pared down my gaming habits a bit, but I owned every major console from the Atari 2600 up until this past console generation when I sat out on the PS3. I have over 700 hours logged in Skyrim and hundreds and hundreds more in Sims 3. I own every core pokemon game and have probably 2,000 hours or more across all of them. I was very deep into Dark Age of Camelot (best mmo evar) and had something along the lines of 3/4 of a year spent in game.

I uh, kind of really like video games.

 

[Saulkar]

Let me sit you down and explain this very carefully...

My investment and knowledge of the medium vs someone who simply sits down to play games every once and a little while.

 

[J.McMillen]

I find the whole argument a waste of time. Especially considering that video game players co-opted the term "gamer" from the tabletop crowd.

I'm old enough to remember when "gamer" had nothing to do with computer or console games. It meant you played tabletop role playing games (D&D, GURPS, Champions), war games (Star Fleet Battles, Battletech, Warhammer) and/or niche board games (Talisman, Cosmic Encounters, Axis & Allies). Being a gamer meant that you enjoyed playing games and were usually willing to try any new game you could sit down to play.

A "hardcore gamer" was usually someone who was too obsessed over a few games (or even just one game). Most people I knew steered clear of those types because the tended to be too competitive and didn't have patients for people who played casually (i.e. for fun).

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I'm definitely not casual, but I don't game every day either. I don't really like the idea of "hardcore" or "casual" because gamers are gamers no matter how they play.

 

[Zhukov]

I'm not.

"Hardcore gamers" are miserable snobs that I wouldn't want within 50 meters of myself.

If someone were to call me a hardcore gamer to my face, I'd vehemently deny it.

 

[klaynexas3]

Dunno, I've been playing for as long as I can remember(I'm not joking, I can't remember a time in my life where I didn't want to play a game) back when I would go to my cousin's house or rent the N64 from the local movie rental store, then I got a PS1 when I was 5, currently own every console from the last 2 generations and most from the previous, most of the handhelds, have a pretty damn good gaming PC, and I will be studying game design and will become a game designer after college. I might not be great at them, but I love games with a passion. If that's not enough to be considered a good enough gamer, fine, I don't care. I love games, not you people.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

It doesn't need to be "refreshed", it needs to be disposed. It is meaningless...

I guess the difference could be the amount of time we dedicate to gaming. So casual could be 5 or 6 hours a week and a hardcore could be 20+ hours a week? Maybe WoW players because for many it is there life. Where other gamers play for entertainment and fit it in with their every day stuff.

I have seen that argument thrown around quite a bit. I don't think its a fair or an accurate distinction, as adult people tend to have busy periods were playing for 1 or 2 hours a day is more than enough. Also, some people spend more than that in facebook or mobile games...

OT:
- I have platinum some long games in my library.
- I have beaten several RPGs (both western and eastern), many of which after more than 100 hours.
- I have been playing since the Atari days.
- I have beaten some of the hardest (not impossible) old school games of the NES era.
- I could reach the last level of Contra without using the Konami code.
- I know the Konami code by heart.

I think playtime is merely a facet of hardcore, a way it can present itself. I don't think anyone who used that description did so in an all-encompassing "this is the only thing!" way. It's just one pretty good indicator that you're serious about your games. It doesn't mean that if you don't play for very long hours every day you are instantly disqualified. All it means is that if you DO, you more likely than not (by a huge margin) would be hardcore about your gaming.




I also think that you don't need to be a currently active gamer or to have kept up with the modern waves of gaming in order to qualify either. Even if you, say, really really love classic Jrpgs for example and don't bother playing any other genre, as long as you take them SERIOUSLY and as long as they mean to you more than any other generic form of media, you should qualify.


I don't think you need to keep up with the modern AAA games to be hardcore, as long as games mean something more than "interchangeable time killer X" to you, you should qualify.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I'm too busy playing games to be concerned about the distinction between hardcore and casual, I just play to have fun.

 

[Ikasury]

beat the Demi-Fiend in Digital Devil Saga... seriously, that guy has to be THE HARDEST BOSS EVER!! got the freakin' Amala ring in DDS2 to prove it .-.

course i range my 'hardcore'-ness on obscure titles and knowing details of the story off the top of your head... by grind/level standards i suppose the most 'hardcore' thing i've done is gotten all 150 pokemon in Blue version legit and grinded a full water based team to 100, legit, and beat the elite four... i used to have so much patience as a kid, huh, ironic, cause i know i couldn't do that now .-.

grinding in titles nowadays just doesn't seem as... satisfying as it used to be... hrm...

does beating Xenogears at least 10 times count as 'hardcore'? *snickers*

 

[Arcade Hero X]

What makes me a hardcore gamer eh?

Nothing because I play all games, I mean I'll whip out pocket planes on the train or dropping the kids off at the pool while I equally enjoy playing some dark souls and a quick game of cod. The term Hardcore was made up to make people feel better. I personally dislike the term casual gamer to me also you're either a gamer i.e someone who plays a game 10+ hours a week or not a gamer i.e less then 5 I don't give a fuck what you're playing tho.

I'm so sick of this separatist bullshit Seriously why do we need a title, Hardcore or casual either way to a non gamer you're are a nerd and always will be. So fuck it if someone wants to play farmville for a few hours let'em how does it affect you.

 

[A_Parked_Car]

The term 'hardcore gamer' is very difficult to define. That being said I would consider myself a fairly hardcore RTS, RTT, 4X, TBS and grand strategy gamer.

The most hardcore thing I have done recently was when I broke through the Soviet lines and exploited the hole all the way to Stalingrad in Hearts of Iron III while playing as Hungary. It was that action, in combination with a Hungarian-led assault on Moscow, that led to the collapse of the Soviet regime in game. Thanks to some weirdness with war goals, I ended up annexing basically the entire Soviet Union.

 

[Cabisco]

What I feel makes someone a hardcore gamer:

You have had an absurd over the top reaction to something that doesn't really matter to do with the gaming spectrum that to an outsider looks like a you're a crazy person. Examples include the following; "HOLY S**T F**K why is [insert 30 second segment of 20 hour game] not in this trailer of this game movie?! I must write hateful things online and to my friends". "THAT GAME IS AWFUL BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE IT!" "Everyone who uses that tactic, weapon, character is gay. Apart from when I use it correctly." "HOW DARE YOU SAY [insert game, developer] IS NOT THE BEST THING EVER, YOU MUST BE retarded/gay/insane/troll [delete as appropriate]."

If you haven't acted like a five year old you're just not a hardcore gamer I'm afraid. Sadly I am, I remember doing quite a few of these things over my time as a gamer and boy do I regret it now. Thats how I'd define hardcore anyway, blood rage over pointless things.

 

[southparkdudez]

I play more than just COD I actually Play games Like MGS, Dead Rising, Street Fighter, MK, UMVC3, and many more

 

[PoisonTaco]

I consider myself to be hardcore because I play niche games over the mainstream AAA games. I'm not afraid to dig in and explore mods. I'd rather put my money down for a game at Kickstarter than GameStop. I'm willing to do research and find games that suit my tastes and look for ones that offer completely new experiences. I guess that's what I consider to be hardcore. If I find anything I like I'll share with my friends and get them to expand their horizons.

 

[Mocmocman]

Edit: honestly this was supposed to be a thread about cool stuff people have done in games, could one person tell me something cool they've done in a game just one? pretty please?

Kinda stepped on a landmine using the "Hardcore" word.
At least looking at the numbers for this thread you got a couple of shiny new badges, eh?

Anyway, just today I made a Big Daddy not exist. Not just killed him but destroyed him so hard there wasn't even a corpse. The poor little sister didn't know where to stand and cry without it.

EDIT: Ended too many sentences with a question. Must be the Canadian on my dad's side.

 

[l0ckd0wn]

What makes me a hardcore gamer...?

My expensive gaming rig... My expensive, gaming oriented peripherals... The nearly 40+ hours/week playing games outside of work...

Those are decent enough reasons I suppose.