Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Casual Gamer vs. The Harcore Gamer: Where is the line drawn to make it fair for everyone?


Hello everyone. J.P. here with a question for you all. Where is the line drawn to where it is fair for Casual and Hardcore Gamers? I think in order to answer this question, we have to look into what defines a casual and hardcore gamer.
"A casual gamer is someone who plays video games for about 0 to 7 hours a week," said Rich from GameXCape. "Any more than that would make you a hardcore gamer." But not all people define casual and hardcore gamers by time spent playing games. "I feel as though a casual gamer is one that plays games on a rare basis. usually in a social setting with friends, or in a party atmosphere. Or perhaps only plays a select few games," said Stephen Culton, an Xbox 360 gamer. " A Hardcore gamer would be someone who plays almost religiously. The usually either have a set time they sit down to play. A hardcore gamer plays online for a good majority of their game session. Also, a hardcore gamer tends to collect all the titles in a certain series, or franchise of games." Personally, I feel that a Hardcore gamer plays games a lot but also takes them too seriously. A Casual gamer can also play a lot but plays just for fun, not taking games seriously. They just play to enjoy the game.
Well, for a clear definition of what Casual and Hardcore gamers are, well there really isn't one. They are pretty much defined by either however many hours they play or how they play. Nothing is set in stone.
But what happens when casual gamers and hardcore gamers come together? Most of the time, nothing good. I like to consider myself as a Casually Hardcore gamer, mainly I play a lot but I don't take the games seriously. During my games, I have seen hardcore gamers treat casual gamers pretty badly. This isn't all the time mind you but a lot of the time it happens. This sucks for the casual gamers because they will lose interest in the game and that's not fair. But know, casual gamers, not all hardcore gamers are bad people. "Personally I will play with anyone who isn't a total jerk. I don't shun "n00bz" because everyone has been there at some point. Sometimes you can offer helpful advice to someone new," said Robert Culton, a hardcore gamer for Xbox 360.
So what can be done to make it fair for everyone? Some people think that games should be paired up by comparing people's overall stats or their skill level, like Rich and Robert. Some people just like it the way it is like Hardcore PC gamer Rousbell Orozco. "I don't think anything should be changed," he said. Personally, I feel when it comes to fairness, I feel that the programmers should make it to where the number of people that join groups should be a bit fewer, to make it fair, and the overall stats should make a huge impact in which group a person is placed in. This would make the games fair. I feel it would balance everything out when playing and would prevent the likely chance of getting whole teams of hardcore gamers.
Let me know your thoughts. Until next time, this is J.P. with what is going on in the gaming world.

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