About these 'Hardcore Gamers'...

I can make this claim. Can you?

I've mentioned or dicussed 'Hardcore Gamers' before in previous articles. There's also been some confusion about what exactly 'Hardcore Gamer' means. When I used the term before,  I was referring to the mental stereotype we in the game industry have of the 'Hardcore Gamer.' However, this person is not a Hardcore Gamer at all. More often than not, they are merely fanboys.

The 'fanboy' usually has most (if not all) of the following characteristics:

Genre of choice is usually something that more casual players would find daunting and/or difficult.

That usually means Strategy, Role-Playing, certain Adventure titles and First-person Shooters. Role-Playing & Strategy games can get away with having a steep learning curve since they're all based on Dungeons and Dragons but, shooters shouldn't. For example, Doom became a big success (and popularized FPS games with the mainstream) by being really easy to get into and difficult to complete without cheat codes. All FPS games should be this way. What can be more simple than pointing a gun at a bad guy and shooting him? Pong? The User-Interface and Rules shouldn't be so complex that people don't want to play the game. That's bad design and bad business.

No social life and/or severly limited social skills.

This is a bit of a generalization. In the gamer community, they rarely have trouble functioning in a social situation. The social situations in that community are usually geared towards someone with their kind of personality or interest, making it easier for them than other situations. I'm sure any Mental Health professional would concur with me when I opine that this may be one reason why asocial people tend to dwell in a fantasy world so much. No one is going to have a hard time socializing with someone who's just like them.

This is also by no means limited to video games, either. It's extremely well documented among fans of Science-Fiction franchises, with Star Trek fans being the most well-known example. The game business should not be contributing to these asocial people's continuing lack of social skills or interest. We're entertainers, not enablers of misfit behavior.

Obsessive/Compulsive behavior concerning their favorite game or genre of games

Remember that internet meme/YouTube video from a few years ago with the Angry German Kid? Remember how he reacted when he couldn't play Unreal Tournament 2004? Sadly, he's not quite as extreme as he seems. His actions were still quite over-the-top, even for obsessed gamers. His thought process though, was right on the money.

Also, what was he doing playing a game with that much violence? A kid who has as many issues as he seems to have shouldn't be playing first-person shooters. If he does, idiots like Jack Thompson will blame the game industry for whatever killing spree this kid attempts. Talk about some questionable parenting...

They don't realize (or seem to care) that others will have differing opinions.

You can usually spot them by posts they'll make in any internet discussion forum. A good example phrase would be something like "What do you mean you don't like the PS3? R U R-tawded?!" or something else that's equally inflamatory and childish. This leads us to our next characteristic...

A lot of fanboy elitism, often devolving to the point of a form of prejudice against their preferred platforms competitors

Example Text from the Internet:

"Wii is for kids and PS3 is the Suxor! 360 RULZ!!!"

The usual response:

"STFU n00b, 360 is RROD-afflicted suxor. PS3 ownz u all!"

I'm not too far off with these examples, both in the content and the grammar. Yes, that is very sad. You can also read one of these fanboys (who called himself Ash) making some rather pointless remarks in response to one of my previous articles about the PS3.

That description is not what a true 'Hardcore Gamer' happens to be; that is what's called a 'fanboy.'  They are as annoying as they sound too.

I have also heard a different take on 'Hardcore' gamers as of late, which was interesting enough for me to include in this editorial:

"Hardcore" doesn't mean "obsessive with no life" but rather refers to games that are not casual in nature. Someone who doesn't play games on a very regular basis would have a hard time picking up a Halo. You may find them easy to pick up because you've been gaming for many, many years and still do it frequently. But your average Joe has not and does not, and would be daunted by the initial difficulty of most XBox and Playstation games.

Well, casual gamers shouldn't be daunted by 'most' XBOX & PlayStation games outside of the RPG & Strategy genres. I've played enough games on both platforms to feel confident in that claim. Maybe the person I quoted here (who shall remain anonymous) was referring to the PC versions. The Halo games I've played (which are the XBOX versions of the first two in the series) are easy enough for anyone to figure out. Those games even teach you how to play them as you play. It's a good thing too. Most gamers NEVER read the instruction manuals.

So, what do we do about these 'fanboy' people?

There are two things that I recommend be done:

First, the industry should stop serving these 'Harcore' people as if they were master and we were slave.

Ordinary people like games too! Ignoring everyone else in favor of a minority group among potential customers is folly. No matter how obsessive and fanboyishly devoted they are, appealing to them alone is not a sustainable business model these days. The recession affects everyone's wallet, including the fanboys. You don't have to be 'all things to all people' but, you shouldn't be so narrow in focus (if you want to expand), either.

Nintendo knew this and that's why they made a system like the Wii. Appealing to the comman man with a good and/or different product takes you far in any marketplace. Blizzard knew this too, which is why World of Warcraft was made easy enough for the layman/noob to understand and has a customizable user-interface. It's also why they advertise so heavily, using commercials with celebrities. They weren't going to get over 10 million monthly suscribers by just appealing to socially-awkward fanboys. Did Trey Parker and Matt Stone make an episode of South Park about Halo? No, they didn't. Hell, that episode is probably the best condemnation of the 'fanboy mentality' I've ever seen.

Second, I think it's obvious that a lot of these fanboys are kids and teenagers. Their parents know about this obsession. These parents need to force their child to go outside more often.

I'm not being a finger-wagging narcissist here, nor am I trying to tell parents how to do their job. Even Nintendo's head Game Designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, would say this to you. Everytime a kid asks him how they can become a good game designer, he always tells them to go play outside. Not only does it help build needed social skills, it's also where Mr. Miyamoto gets most of his game ideas.

Despite my love affair with my NES (which continues to this day), I still went outside and played with the other kids back in my youth. I'm glad I did. My social skills would be non-existent without that experience. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that many times I would just go to a friend's house to play games. There were also many times when the neighborhood kids would come here to my house to 'play Nintendo.' I had the NES set up in the living room, attached to a 25" screen TV. Back in the 1980's, that was quite huge. However, we would get bored and go outside after awhile. Wii Sports and party games didn't exist yet and we had a playground with a baseball field nearby. Why sit at home?

So, what is really 'Hardcore' and not just fanboyish?

The same person I quoted before claimed "'Hardcore Gamer' applies to everyone outside of Nintendo consoles.'"Well, I happen to own 18 consoles, several of which aren't from Nintendo. Those systems include (excluding several of my PC's), a Sega Genesis, an XBOX and numerous dedicated consoles loaded with old Atari games. I used to have a lot of old Atari consoles and the first two PlayStation consoles as well. I even have a Pong Box clone from Magnavox. So, am I 'Hardcore' by this definition? No. That just means I have a lot of choices in what I want to play at any given moment.

When did 'Hardcore Gamer' become associated with the stereotype of some obsessive nerd that does nothing but play PC games all day? And why is it always an MMORPG, FPS or RTS game that enthralls him? Why not a great puzzle game like Bejeweled? Is that too casual for these reputed nerds? Is it not elitist enough? Do they not consider it challenging enough? I'm being serious when I ask those questions too. What is it that makes them want to spend so much time playing World of Warcraft? I know it's a great game but, it is just a game. There are other games to play and other things outside of games to do in life, kids.

In fact, I'm beginning to severely loathe this Hardcore/fanboy stereotype. These people aren't 'Hardcore', they just obsess over one game or genre. If you want a real Hardcore Gamer, then look no further. I am your man. To support that rather bold claim, I present the following as evidence:

1.) I own nearly 800 games right now, and will continue acquiring more as my finances allow.

You can see my complete list here:

http://www.msbae.net/Games%20List.htm

2.) I pursued my hobby as a degree program in college, graduating with Highest Honors and Perfect Attendance.

How many college kids can make that claim?

3.) I've actually made levels for PC games, made a playable (and nearly complete) prototype of a puzzle game and written design documents for several other games.

All of that (and more) is avaialble on my personal website here:

http://www.msbae.net/Game%20Stuff.htm

As you can see, I'm not just knowledgable about these kind of obsessive/compulsive individuals. In many ways, I'm practically their King.

Yet, I won't act the way a fanboy would. I won't play one game exclusively, even when I'm playing a new Mario or Zelda game for 3 months straight. (We all need a break sometimes.) I won't try to dominate (or 'own' in netspeak) a bunch of other players around the world via the Internet in some Shooter. I won't consider myself some kind of bad-ass when I'm successful in that endeavor, either. I won't even use netspeak 99% of the time because I consider it an affront to the English language.

I have never played an MMORPG and I'm not interested in playing one, either. Too many people use them as a substitute for genuine social encounters. Face-to-face social interaction is always better, especially in multiplayer games. I shouldn't need an instruction manual more than an inch thick to figure out a User Interface, either.

To me, 'Hardcore Gamer' doesn't mean playing games that are intimidating to the layman. It means playing games for the sheer joy of playing games. I play whatever I want, whenever I want, regardless of what anyone else might say or think. If I want to play old-school Atari games instead of the latest Shooter, I will. If I want to ignore one console in this hardware generation and purchase another, I will. If I think my PS2 sucks and want to trade it in for a bunch of used Super NES & N64 cartridges, I will. In fact, that's exactly what I did back in 2003 and I have no regrets about that decision. Now, that right there is what I call 'Hardcore.' I can imagine the messages expressing shock and condemnation already and I'm laughing at them.

Ignore the trends and just play what you want to play, people. You don't need to have the latest and greatest to have fun.

So-called 'Hardcore Gamers', consider yourself Own3d.