This will be an introductory course in the classification, identification and strategies on dealing with Hardcore Gamers in your midst.
First, since definitions are so popular, it must be made clear that Hardcore Gamers are not to be confused with Core Gamers. Core gamers play core games and discuss strategies and appreciation on the internet. Hardcore Gamers write petitions to Blizzard to make the game "darker and more gritty." Hardcore moan about being "abandoned." Hardcore Gamers are much more histrionic than your average person. When equipped with these definitions, they become easy to spot on any random forum.
But even so defined, they may easily blend in with the regular forum members. But there are a few distinct and also compulsive habits they exhibit:
#1 Making strange requests.
For example, the request of 2D Castlevania games. Now I know, dear reader, that you are quickly typing up a Quick Reply saying how there have been SEVEN 2D Castlevania's since 2001, but please allow me to finish. The request is not for those games, as all of those games are for handheld consoles, deemed lesser gaming experiences by the hardcore. The routine request is for 2D Castlevania on consoles. Because of the continuing dissatisfaction with the absence of 2D Castlevania on consoles, it becomes quite clear that the issue is not with games' existence, but with control, which is altogether unrelated to games itself. You will see this every time a petition is started attempting to control game companies' direction, like for example the Diablo III petition to "make the game darker" and "include more violence," and "show scenes of human depravity." (Yeesh, I hope that's not what that last guy finds entertaining.)
#2 They will complain chiefly about graphics.
I will admit I can be fond of graphics. It's amazing what Square Enix can do with the DS to make it look better than some of their earlier PSP (and even PS2) efforts. Liking graphics is no problem, and good graphics on any console are possible, as evidenced in the indifferent attitude towards graphics last generation, despite the GC and the Box being several standard deviations above the PS2. Graphics are also an indicator of effort, as well as the desire to cultivate an artistic image, even when the game itself is very simple. However, the hardcore will add two initials that will identify them. HD. The insistence for HD and detraction of anything less than HD has little to do with actual graphical progress. It is simply a validation for the money spent on bigscreen televisions and 7.1 surround sound systems and the latent fear that in a few years one of those unwashed and unclean casual gamers maybe be able to enjoy HD gaming after the glut for pennies of the dollar of what he spent for his HD Temple.
The consequences for companies acquiescing to this demand is evident, as third parties consolidate and less games are released and less types of games are scheduled. Furthermore, some adopt strategies of "portfolio diversification" where they squeeze out effortless games onto more popular platforms in order to simply fund the unsustainable HD games. I say "portfolio diversification" because this is a defense against what they are really doing, which is "sending good money after bad." Portfolio diversification is maintaining shares and stakes in multiple "profitable" ventures. The other strategy is taking profits away from the source of them to fund unsustainable efforts. This is also relatively new in the gaming world, as most third parties piled onto the PS2 once it cemented itself as the market leader, regardless of the perception that PS2 owners were nothing but DVD watchers and Madden Players.
#3 The hatred of the new.
This is not new concepts or game styles. This is new PEOPLE. The hardcore treat their hobby like an exclusive club that only they should be in. The introduction of new people frightens and confuses them as they have not "earned" the right to play video games, and are almost aristocratically scared to look, talk to, or heaven forbid, touch one. Most of these new gamers are children, some females, some elderly, anything that lands outside of the 18-30 male demographic.
One possible explanation is personally historical. The group that particularly causes discomfort is the children. Almost like looking into a time machine, they are taken back to their first game purchase and remember that fat greasy comic book nerd who mocked their selection of Bad Street Brawler or Nuts 'N' Milk, and treated them with a scoff as they selected a game for their superior 16-bit Amiga. Instead of being a guide to art or quality within the parameters, they were treated with scorn and derision.
The internalization of this belief and the learned and conditioned behavior of "hardcore" Amiga owners causes the hatred of the self, symbolized in the outward hatred of anything "childish" or actually the new gamers themselves and their selections of software.
Another possible explanation for the outright hatred of new gamers links back to habit #1, which is the exertion of control. Attitudes such as "How could these new people like what they like and not like what I like?" Thus the new gamers are treated with scorn and not treated with constructive comparison and culture cultivation. This method of hatred can be latent, as seen with distinctly drawn group-labels for "us" and "them." Every discussion becomes centered around how a certain game is labeled and who fits into that label and why. This can be linked to the third phase of Kubler-Ross's Stages of Grief, Bargaining, wherein the Hardcore Gamer is attempting to bargain with the erosion of his control and influence by saying "You can be here as long as you stay over there with your people and I stay over here with my people." But, like segregation in the South, the underlying attitude is that of inequality, and will soon erupt again once the new people cultivate their tastes independent of the Hardcore's influence, as he squandered his opportunity to have any in order to live in a Hardcore Fortress.
This is merely an introduction into the habits of Hardcore Gamers. There will be more as the generation moves and the market shifts, and I hope to document more.
As a bonus, here is the guide to identifying a gamer in the wild:
Anybody with a controller/stylus in their hand.
Thank you for reading and I hope I have been informative.
Topic: How to spot a Hardcore Gamer in the Wild. (Read 25577 times)
