The streets are flowing with the blood of the innocents, two sides are fighting to what seems an everlasting war, a war that rages on for only a few years, yet they have the same goal – to entertain. Yeah, to entertain ungrateful people who think there is a war between the casual and hardcore gaming market. There’s a lot of gripe lately on how the casuals (the games and the people) are killing the gaming industry. To tell truth, the hardcore consumers are as much to blame as the casual ones.

First, let’s start off what it exactly means to be on either side.

Casual:

•    Irregular; occasional
•    Accidental
•    By game industry terms, a game that can be quickly played.
•    Lasting no longer than thirty minutes.
•    Able to jump in and jump out of the game.

Hardcore:

•    Committed; uncompromising; dedicated
•    By game industry terms, a game that can be played over a long period of time.
•    Lasting longer than thirty minutes.
•    Must spend several hours to complete.

Now that we got that out of the way, I am assured that some of you can agree with these definitions. Combination of Webster’s dictionary and actual insight from the industry itself. So what does all this mean? The games we call “casual” and “hardcore” may not actually fit the description exactly or that they may actually fit both descriptions.

Tetris, as you all may know, is the definition of a casual game. It’s simple, fun, and can be enjoyed by all. There’s no need to dedicate hours of your life to fully enjoy this game. As you also may know this game as been around for over two decades and yet here we are, the industry is large and still growing. I guess this casual game hasn’t killed the industry. In fact, for those who like to put on your rose-tinted glasses can obviously see that many games from the eight bit era and the sixteen bit era fit the full the description of a “casual” game and yet no one ever complained that those games were killing the industry.

Now let’s look at Deus Ex, a first person shooter/role playing game. Well hell, it’s a combination of two “hardcore” genres, so that must mean it’s super hardcore. But anyways, Deus Ex is the definition of the “hardcore” game. The player must invest many hours to complete, it’s hard to just jump in and play for mere minutes to get satisfaction, a large open world to be explored, people to talk to, it has an in-depth storyline that is on par to any movie or book, etc. Indeed this is a great “hardcore” game that no mere casual can enjoy. Regarded by many as a great game, fun was had by all and the thirst for something truly fulfilling has been quenched. But wait, this game was pure awesome and in no way hurt the industry. It didn’t tell people to “Piss off, I’m so hardcore you should stay away from this hobby”. No, rather, the casuals didn’t care. So why should you, the super hardcore elitist video game player, should care about casual games? Some of you people act like casual games raped your dog and killed your mom.

Neither of these games had a negative effect on the industry and yet the consumers (or trolls) think that one side is obliterating the industry in one way or another. People believe casual games just mean shovelware and hardcore games mean less profit for the developers. The truth is, there must be balance between the two sides, because neither side is bad nor are they killing the industry. But if one side prevails over the other, then the market will be flooded games the community as whole will not want. On the other hand, it may just be the people complaining blindly about what exactly is killing the industry.

Quake III Arena is a perfect example of both definitions. By the casual definition, it is a game that one can quickly play, just like Tetris; and yet it has a dedicated community that play this game for hours on end for competitive play to point where it’s has its own convention. Quake III Arena is very successful as it can appeal to a very wide audience, so successful in fact, Quake Live is coming out in the future and it relies completely on ad revenue which means it must have a very large player base. No one ever complains that this “casual” game is killing the industry or the fact that this “hardcore” game isn’t out casting a gaming niche. There are other games that can fall into this category, Halo for example is another; the single-player can be considered hardcore while the online multiplayer is easily accessible and can be enjoyed for a good ten minutes of play.

The whole point is that we shouldn’t get rid of casual game or hardcore games as they both serve a purpose to satisfy the public. Quit being elitist pricks and thinking that video games are only meant for you, the hardcore video game player. Video games can be enjoyed by all and should be enjoyed by all. Like movies, like books, like music; video games are open to all the public and for that to be possible we need both casual games and hardcore games. So don’t stick on one side of the wall, tear it down, and shake hands with the other side as they too, enjoy video games.