Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

[Ice Cream Truck]

I kinda hesitated to put "hardcore". Maybe that's not the right word. But I meant gamers that know more about games than what they get from commercials and advertisements.

People often say that the "average gamer" knows little about what game/system is better than the other, release dates for certain games/systems, etc. But is this still true? Is it safe to say that the IGN 2k VS EA poll is a misrepresentation of what most gamers prefer? Is it safe to say that the average gamer has no idea that PS3 exists?

What do you guys think?

[aukevin]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

I would say that the average gamer doesn't really go to IGN and watch all the videos and read the polls and articles. I say this because most of my friends that play video games don't do this. The know around July for instance, NCAA football comes out and they find out the release date or something.

But I do believe that average gamers are aware of a PS3 coming out. I doubt they gave much thought to it until the XBox 360 press starting coming out, but I'm sure they know there will be a PS3 soon.

[SPTO]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

The average gamer is not dumb. I'm sure they realize there's a PS3 coming out. I used to be an average gamer and sometimes i'd buy games that were um well bad.

One thing about average gamers is, they follow the trends more then the hardcore gamers. The perfect example is the whole EA vs 2K thing. I'd say there's a majority here on this site that preferred the 2K series of games more then EA because 2k/sega catered to them with a more sim based set of games.

I remember (I think) last year when the 2k NBA game came out and there was a hailstorm of criticism because people thought they veered too far into the arcadey realm in the effort to attract those who would normally buy the EA game.

Anywho I think the average gamer today is more educated then the average gamer of 10 years ago.

[bryan_05]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

^^^more educated do soley to the internet I'd say. And, the average gamer finds out most of his/her info from us, the message board goer.

[Graphik]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

Take it from a guy who lives with 2 casual gamers and a third who frequents my home. The one thing you can say about any casual gamer is they are UNINFORMED. You can apply this logic to any casual fan of anything. A casual fan of the NBA knows the big players, heck may even know every player in the league and they'll know a few major stats like PPG, Assist and Rebounds but a hardcore guy will know FG percentages, shots per game and minutes per games as well as the major stats.

As for gamers, I can make a list for what I feel qualifies as a casual gamer.

A Average or Casual gamer:

-is afraid to step out of their boundaries. (meaning that they will only buy a game that they know they will like or what is the most popular. They are afraid of experimenting)

-does'nt like challenge(meaning they dont like a game that is to complex or confuses them. They rather have a game that requires less thinking and easy to get in to.) *note: does'nt qualify for everyone

-does'nt care for configuration, ie:sliders, difficulty modifiers(Easy, Normal, Hard. Thats as simple as they want it. Unless the situation calls for change.)

-Not a smart shopper (cant count how many times my friend would buy a game for 30-40 when he could of got it from a diffrent store for 10-20 dollars less. A hardcore gamer looks for sales or is informed on deals)

-looks at scores and pics moreso than read the content (will buy a game based solely from a score and will flip through a mag without reading a single thing but has strong interest in advertisments which brings me to the next)

-sold on advertisments (sees a commercial, back of box or mag spread and instantly puts the game on his radar. When any hardcore guy will know that the commercial may or may not be in game footage.)

-Does'nt care for detail (if you were a fan of current gen EA sports, you dont care for detail. Simply put)

-is a loyalist/fanboy (we all know about fanboys. For hardcore guys, if a game sucks, we dont buy it and if we do buy it, we take it back....immediately.....then come here to complain. A fanboy will force himself to like it because of his loyal ways and also because he is afraid to explore the competition.)

last but not least....

-Uninformed (knows nothing but when a game comes out and how much it cost)

Follow this guide if you want to find out who is a average gamer.

[sense]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

^^ 100% agreed.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

i agree with Graphik. Does this mean i'm a hardcore gamer? i only buy a 2k series every year for every sport and a few FPS every year but not much else. But i do pay attention to to every aspect of each game i do play as far as sliders, recruiting makin sure i get it right. But maybe its because i don't have much time to play.

Maybe i'm an above average gamer

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

The average gamer is not dumb. I'm sure they realize there's a PS3 coming out. I used to be an average gamer and sometimes i'd buy games that were um well bad.

One thing about average gamers is, they follow the trends more then the hardcore gamers. The perfect example is the whole EA vs 2K thing. I'd say there's a majority here on this site that preferred the 2K series of games more then EA because 2k/sega catered to them with a more sim based set of games.

I remember (I think) last year when the 2k NBA game came out and there was a hailstorm of criticism because people thought they veered too far into the arcadey realm in the effort to attract those who would normally buy the EA game.

Anywho I think the average gamer today is more educated then the average gamer of 10 years ago.

agreed, most average gamer knows about the PS3.

[bryan_05]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

However, I would like to point out, I am not a hardcore gamer. I play recreationally. But, I read a lot about the industry out of fascination, therefore I am overinformed to what is going on, but not classified as "hardcore"

[RockinDaMike]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

this one time my co worker came into work with X,Y,B, A presed on his face. now thats a hardcore gamer

[Ice Cream Truck]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

I should've said, "informed gamer" rather than "hardcore".

[Shaver]

Re: Thin line between "hardcore" and "average" gamers?

Difference between AVERAGE and HARDCORE

Average Gamers knows the Madden Release Date
Hardcore Gamers know when it "went Gold"

Average Gamers knows what team he may start a Dynasty with
Hardcore Gamers already has the Pre-season pages on the Dynasty Website going

Average Gamer will play with HB#3 and DE#90 on NCAA or maybe name their favorite team
Hardcore Gamers won't even break the wrapper till the first set of rosters are out

Average Gamers know game titles
Hardcore Gamers know the Developers and 12 guys who worked on it

There are a million differences... but, at the core, it's simply people who are more into the hobby.