The Foibles of the Hard Core Gamer (or, The Rise and Fall of the Elite Gamer)

Edited by C. Marie

 In the beginning, there were only video games and the people who played them. There were no cliques or clubs. There were no “hard core”, “core”, or “casual” gamers, no “hard-core” or “casual” games. In those days there was Defender and Stargate (Defender's sequel)--these games were done with a stick and a bunch of buttons. They were also the closest thing to "hard core" games available at the time.  Most everything else had fewer and simpler controls. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Galaga... all hugely popular games. But there were no attitudes. There weren’t elite squads of gamers trying to establish themselves as “real” gamers while everyone else was somehow lower on the food chain. Back in those early days, arcades were King. Home consoles in the early 1980s were extremely popular; fun, yes, but also technically limited. Atari dragged the industry into a kind of dormant state with their mediocre game catalog. Nintendo recovered it. And still there was no defined hierarchy of elitist gamers.

Then Sega introduced the Genesis. With their 16-bit “Blast-Processing” (a completely meaningless term), Sega decided to set themselves apart from Nintendo by selling this idea that somehow their hardware adopters were better than Nintendo gamers. Sega was for the "TRUE" gamer who wanted more “realistic” action and more “adult” themes. Nintendo was a toy for the kiddies. Thus began the mindless trend that is still with us today: the idea that these people over here playing pretend with these toys are somehow better than those people over there playing pretend with those toys. And this one upmanship continued. Games started to be developed for gamers who wanted more; more realistic graphics, more realistic sound, a more realistic experience. Neo Geo launched the AES for the elitist gamers who wanted an identical-to-the-arcade experience. 3DO launched its machine for the elitist gamers who wanted more adult themes with more realistic graphics and sound. Again and again, a huge portion of would-be gamers were ignored and excluded because, well, there was no model for them. The industry competed for this newly-evolved “hard core” gamer.

By the time the first Playstation came out, these cliques and clubs had begun to settle in.That generation of systems taught us that Playstation is for a more refined, advanced and superior gamer; companies like Nintendo were for the kiddies. Nintendo positioned themselves like this simply because they were trying to appeal to as many gamers as they could and alienate no one. Once the Playstation 2 arrived, this formula was modus operandi. So-called “hard core” gamers were the ones most companies were trying to court. Along the way, these elitists got the idea that they deserved this, that the industry revolved around them. “Real games” were for adults; casual games were for children or lower life-forms without refined, advanced tastes.

This whole concept is ridiculous. It’s like comparing cinema fans who like Shawshank Redemption to those who like Ernest Goes to Camp. It’s entertainment, and therefore completely subjective. Adults who fall into this mindset should have a bucket of ice dumped down their pants to wake them up. Let us remember that despite the fact that high-end PCs and modern game consoles cost a fortune and have great specifications, they are still just a toy. The games? They are just that... GAMES. They are not a status symbol that shows off one’s elite standing in the world. 

Then something interesting happened. Nintendo launched the DS, followed by the Wii. Suddenly there was a model that attracted the “casual” gamer and even the non-gamer. People who hadn’t played video games in years gave the DS and the Wii a spin, and loved it.  To hear the elitist “hard core” gamers tell it, the world was coming to an end. I remember an article in an old issue of GMR (one of those magazines that Gamestop foisted upon you with your discount program, which otherwise would never have existed). The author of the article ranted on about how horrible “casual gaming” (or “cas-gaming”) was for the industry, how guys like him put the industry on the map and had always been there for the industry, etc. (This was sometime in 2006 if I remember correctly.) Since then, it has gone on and on. Grown adults are carrying on like children on the playground with this “MY games are REAL games and are BETTER than those BABY games that YOU play” mentality. These adults need to actually act like adults and realize that nobody really cares about their little opinion. Game companies go where the money leads them. Sorry, that’s how it works. It’s called Capitalism.

Today we have smart phones that have the lion’s share of games on them. This indicates that it is the casual gamer who is actually driving an enormous part of the industry now, whether the “hard core” gamers like it or not. And it’s not going away, no matter how much these people cry and whine. Every single game company develops games for the phone market. Meanwhile the big budget games are still around, still in development, and there are plenty to go around. So these “adults” have nothing to cry about. Get yourself a Kleenex, folks, and dry your eyes. It’s going to be OK. All over the internet, I still see elitist gamers crying and whining about how much casual games have damaged the industry (as if they would know something like this). It’s boring and tiresome because the fact is there isn’t a single thing they can actually DO about it. With all the choices of video game entertainment out there, I can’t see why they spend their time in group therapy sessions, sharing their little feelings and crying. 

So what is a video game? Short answer-- it’s a TOY for entertainment. The long answer goes like this: a video game needs three things to BE a video game. First, it must have a video screen of some sort. Second, it must have some kind of control scheme. Third, it must be intended to be a game. That’s it! There is nothing else required for a video game to be a video game. 

I  have looked at this “hard core” gamer elite ideology for quite some time. I consider myself “hard core”, as I collect video game systems and games. I have beaten more games than most people own. I have played through every Uncharted title, every Halo (proper) title, a few of the Tomb Raiders, two of the best Legend of Zelda's (Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild), and could list many more. I do the so-called “hard core” thing. I am also a “casual gamer”. I have played Toon Blast, many of the Angry Birds games, and so many others. I luvs me some Tetris. So I have played a wide range of FPSs, JRPGs, MMORPGs, platformers, action, adventure, racing, fighting and genre-busting games. Games are different, like books or movies are different. I tend to gravitate towards, and spend the bulk of my gaming time on, big-budget games. I have a younger brother who prefers smaller games that he can get into and out of easily. In a 2-hour span I may play 1 game, possibly 2. In that same span, he may play upwards of 8 or even more. Does this make him “less” of a gamer than I am? Certainly NOT. My mother, rest her soul, used to play Solitaire on her laptop and phone from the time she got up until the time she went to bed, stopping only to eat and watch a little TV during her retirement years. How many Call of Duty fans have actually put that much time replaying the same damned copy of COD? I’m sure much of the time it gets shelved as soon as the next incarnation comes out, or some other FPS grabs their attention. Who is more “hard core” in that situation?

It's time for people to let go of this idea that somehow they are "elite" according to what video games they are playing. It’s a TOY, folks. Get over it!