What is the difference between Hardcore and casual gamers?

[Unknown Entity]

You want to be a hardcore gamer? Trust me... it's not all fun and games. It's borderline stupid, and will drain you mentally, physically and destroy the money you have in your wallet.

A casual gamer is someone who'll catch a glimpse of a game trailer when they're on their once a blue moon internet session, and won't look back on the game again, but will probably buy it at some point in the future. They won't mark the date in their phones, they'll just wonder into a game store eventually and pick it up. They'll take it home, play it for a few hours, and then turn it off. They'll play it for an hour or so every few days until the main story is finished, and then if it goes online, they might give that a whirl for a few nights. Then they'll trade it in with their trophy/achievement percentage at 20% because they don't really care for them.

A hardcore gamer would follow the news of all new releases for months before the release date, and probably have a year old pre-order receipt for it. They'll probably purchase the special edition, and if they're REALLY hardcore, they'll buy the special edition for each console they own for the console exclusive DLC/bonus items. They'll have dates marked up, transportation sorted, and dinner arrangements booked for that day around their gaming time (which'll usually be a cupboard full of ramen to be made during the ten minute break they'll take after the first six hours of playtime). In twenty-four hours, they'll probably be playing for over twelve hours. They'll probably attempt to beat the game on the hardest difficulty too. Nine times out of ten, they won't trade a game in, even if they've got all of the trophies and achievements for it (which they'll probably have because they're hardcore).

As for me? I'm between but leaning towards hardcore. I can play for hours on end, and there's even been days when I have from the moment I've woken up, to the time I've gone to bed (with breaks lasting a few hours or so - playing that long without doing the basics of life is just ridiculous; showering, eating, communicating with humans, catching a little daylight, chores, etc). I do like my special editions, and will gladly pay the extra money for it. I'm not a trophy whore, but I do like setting myself the challenge to collect them for the platinum, so I'll go ahead and beat a game on super extra hard mode for the fun of it.

[TheNiteAngel]

You want to be a hardcore gamer? Trust me... it's not all fun and games. It's borderline stupid, and will drain you mentally, physically and destroy the money you have in your wallet.

A casual gamer is someone who'll catch a glimpse of a game trailer when they're on their once a blue moon internet session, and won't look back on the game again, but will probably buy it at some point in the future. They won't mark the date in their phones, they'll just wonder into a game store eventually and pick it up. They'll take it home, play it for a few hours, and then turn it off. They'll play it for an hour or so every few days until the main story is finished, and then if it goes online, they might give that a whirl for a few nights. Then they'll trade it in with their trophy/achievement percentage at 20% because they don't really care for them.

A hardcore gamer would follow the news of all new releases for months before the release date, and probably have a year old pre-order receipt for it. They'll probably purchase the special edition, and if they're REALLY hardcore, they'll buy the special edition for each console they own for the console exclusive DLC/bonus items. They'll have dates marked up, transportation sorted, and dinner arrangements booked for that day around their gaming time (which'll usually be a cupboard full of ramen to be made during the ten minute break they'll take after the first six hours of playtime). In twenty-four hours, they'll probably be playing for over twelve hours. They'll probably attempt to beat the game on the hardest difficulty too. Nine times out of ten, they won't trade a game in, even if they've got all of the trophies and achievements for it (which they'll probably have because they're hardcore).

As for me? I'm between but leaning towards hardcore. I can play for hours on end, and there's even been days when I have from the moment I've woken up, to the time I've gone to bed (with breaks lasting a few hours or so - playing that long without doing the basics of life is just ridiculous; showering, eating, communicating with humans, catching a little daylight, chores, etc). I do like my special editions, and will gladly pay the extra money for it. I'm not a trophy whore, but I do like setting myself the challenge to collect them for the platinum, so I'll go ahead and beat a game on super extra hard mode for the fun of it.

I guess I strike a pretty happy medium between these two. I consider myself a hardcore gamer when it comes to the FF series and a number of other RPG/Adventure titles. I'll spend hours working out each sidequest to get myself a perfect playthrough, but not too perfect. I just want to complete everything for the storyline, but I can't stand when someone absolutely has to stat max every character. For example, I will not be around when my brother plays Fallout 3. He doesn't play as many RPGs as me, but he'll work out the math for every skill point to go into something and for me that takes away from the enjoyment to be had with the game. I do set release dates on my calendar and go to midnight releases, but only for games I'm really invested in. And generally, my habit tends to wane a bit in when I go back to school. I play more than I should, I think, but I won't sacrifice the important grade for a big boss battle. So I don't really know what you'd consider me... just an obsessive completionist?