Gamer Types: Hard-Core

This is a category I can file myself under. Hard-core gamers probably (in my opinon) make up about 60% of gamers. And this type of gamer doesn't belong to one type of game or game platform. Remember, I'm talking about mentalities of gamers.

Hard-core gamers, unlike casual gamers, spend more time playing games. To them, playing games is more than just a few minutes of entertainment. It is also an escape or avenue for virtual socializing. They also spend some time during their day thinking about playing games. Granted, they can concentrate at the task at hand, but when they start to daydream, chances are they are thinking about gaming or something related to gaming.

These are the players that follow game development (trailers, screenshots, news, etc...), pre-order games that haven't even been released yet, participate in a game's offical forum, always on the look out for new patches or releases for their games and (for male gamers) have more "PC Gamer" magazines in their bathrooms than "Maxim" *raises hand*.

Hard-core gamers also spend more time and are more readily able to immerse themselves into the game. They can willfully throw away believability and their sense of logic to immerse themselves into their games for reasons more than just entertainment. They try to "become" the character. To live in the game's world. It is more for the reason of escaping reality than just entertainment.

Another difference between casual and hard-core gamers is that the hard-core gamers are probably the most finicky, demanding, self-centered, opinonated and most vocal sub-culture there probably is out there. Think about it. Let's take in-game advertising for example. Imagine the uproar that would occur if a company like Tampax started advertising on the virtual billboards of Counter-Strike (just an extreme example of course). You can read my opinon on this type of blasphemy here.

Over all, it is this rambling blogger's opinon that this group of players are the "meat" of the gaming industry. This is the category that mostly all of the big budget games are developed and all that marketing money is spent. This is the type of gamer that can raise or destroy a game development company. And, unfortunately, why movies like "Blood Rayne" and "Doom" get made. Hmmmm......I think I have another idea for post.

Idle Hands Are the Tools of the Devil

Well, it has been since October since I have written anything in this blog. I have no excuse. Sorry. With that being said, I do however, want to correct some assertions I made in my prior (last) post from October. In that post I said that there were three types of players; casual, hard-core and power-gamers. And I said that developers tend to develop games to target those play types. Well, that was a bunch of uneducated ignorance (redundant term I know) on my part. You see, I just finished my first term of college last month. I am in the Game Art and Design program and took a class last term called Game Development Essentials (Jeanne Novack, 2005). In that class I learned a lot about the development of video games and the behind the scenes goings on. Come to find out, there is a lot that goes on (a lot more than I thought). Also, while player motivations and desires do play a part in the over-all scheme of things, games are not developed mainly how much time a player might have (which I knew, but I thought it would have a larger impact in the development of the game).

So, my last post was mainly inaccurate. I do, however, believe that there are three "mentalities" of players. Those would be casual, hard-core and power-gamer. I do plan on discussing those types of players, just without trying to connect them to the developing and marketing of the games. It is amazing what you learn when you go to school. They say knowledge is power, but it also helps to prevent you from looking like a idiot *cough* Ted Stevens *cough*. Sorry, I couldn't resist.