Happy Together: Hardcores and Casuals Living in Harmony

[RaychelSnr]

In this west coast lunch hour update, Ryan Spencer takes a look at how hardcore fans and casual fans can live in harmony. Spencer takes a look at how developers can bridge the gap between both and make both crowds happy in his article, Happy Together: Hardcores and Casuals Should be Able to Live in Harmony.

"We live in a very polarized world. Black or white. Republican or Democrat. Rich or poor. We are a society of extremes where the terms “gray area” and “middle ground” are foreign concepts.

The same can be said of sports videogames as well. As developers and publishers look for more ways to make their games appealing to “casual” sports gaming fans, the stage is set for an epic battle between “arcade” and “sim” gamers. While the casual gamers make up the vast majority of the market, any attempt to make the game more simple and accessible for these players is met with fierce resistance by the hardcore crowd."

[asu666]

It's the diehards that have purchased tons of games over decades that have kept the business going over the years. The casuals always come and go. I just hope that devs and publishers remeber in their rush to court the Barbie's Horse Adventure crowd that it is people like the ones who visit this sight that spend big money in good times or bad.

[Smokez4DAyz]

before ea locker, it was common practice to go out a buy the annual college magazine, and sit there and re-edit alll the teams, with names, numbers, attributes, etc. NCAA is for the hardcore, period. Casual gamers play for the first three weeks of a title, and move on or don't stay competitive. Hardcores tend to still be playing last year's games up until the midnight release of the new title! lmao. Hardcore keep this industry alive. Casual gaming has been around, Casual gamers are a new breed with their brain age and cooking mama, I know on madden, my son still wants to play me on all-pro or all-madden, he doesn't like that my skill stuff, I've borned a Hardcore....

[Cardot]

I agree with the article 100%. With a good set of sliders & options, everyone can be happy. Infact while I enjoyed and was very impressed by NHL '08, the inability to customize gameplay to my preferences ultimately led me to shelving the game in frustration....and casting some series doubt on a purchase of '09.

I disagree a bit with the opening paragraph. I think there are alot of shades of grey when it comes to sports gamers. While I like my sports games to be fairly realistic, I don't go to the extent of playing 15 minute quarters and letting the play clock tick down every rep. Ofcourse that doesn't mean I want a game where players catch on fire and body slam each other either.

I think there are many on these forums that aren't as hard-core sim as they might think they are. One good test is to join an online league with other OS'ers. The honeymoon of the first season will be ok, but by season 2, people will start to voice their opinions, and you will quickly have an arrary of different interpretations of "sim".

[tril]

I agree with the point of sliders set at 100 or at 0 should work as intended. But these games are programed to give random results over a course of a season or dynasty.
Correct me if Im wrong, I dont think there is really such a thing as 100% in programming when dealing with randomness.
My question, has anyone of the hard core gamers ever really tested the sliders in a quick game mode to see if the sliders are actually working. This is the only place where the sliders may work as intended.

[sportyguyfl31]

I Honestly do not know what constitutes a "hardcore" gamer, or why someone would themselves labled as such.

I play a game expecting to be entertained, and with my sports games, I expect to see a reasonably realistic depiction of what happens on the field/court/ring/rink, whatever.

If the game does this, and its a fun experience, I'm going to play it. A lot.

Does that make me hardcore? Casual? I dont know, nor do I care.

Just make good games, and I'll play the heck out of them Simple.

[sixtydashone]

Great article. I was the type that up until NCAA 09 (patch 2) would always play my NCAA or Madden games without ever touching sliders. After finally messing around with them, I'm convinced they really are a crucial feature. Everybody has different ideas about how the game should play, and the sliders allow everybody to tailor the game to their own liking. Plus the fact that if the developers give players this customizability, then they don't have to hear the players complain that, for example, it's too hard to get sacks, or the AI's running game sucks, or it's too easy to get picks, or the Robo QB is routinely completing passes at an unrealistic percentage regardless of the pass rush, and the list goes on.

[uhnpom]

Hey belton boy, I see your still posting ur writtings and " quoteing" without stating ur sorce. hahaha! I luv gamers but only when I cant get out & do stuff!

[BrianFifaFan]

I think games like the Nascar series and Fifa handle the "casual gamer" really well. They offer aids. Be it for shifting the gears or braking help or passing and shooting assitance in Fifa, they help overcome the casual gamers lack of abilities, be it stick skills or reflexes. You can have a fully functional game that faithfully recreates the sport and it helps you play it and makes it enjoyable. Then as you become better you can turn them off. Best way to do it....

[RogueHominid]

Re: Happy Together: Hardcores and Casuals Living in Harmony

I think the possibility of symbiosis is there, but sliders are not the cure-all that many seem to think. The game engine itself represents a fundamental and non-alterable choice to cater to one kind of gamer or the other. Because I play football games, I will use the two I have played in this generation as examples, not to suggest that one is better and one is worse, but to demonstrate that each has made a choice in the design of their engine to cater to one or the other type of gamer. I'm not sure a compromise can be made here.

Madden NFL 2009 has a distinctive player movement system characterized by the ability to change direction and string together moves very rapidly. Some have called the feeling generated by this system "skating," but whatever the term, it is clear that the players in the game are designed to move according to the absolute whim of the gamer--a move that caters to the casual crowd who might not want to be limited in their movements to things real-life players could actually do or not do.

APF 2K8 also had a distinctive player movement system, much "heavier" than the Madden system. In this system player size and momentum have a significant impact on how players can move while traveling at different speeds. Only certain players are capable of extra-quick cuts, and all players are forced to slow down if they want to make quicker, sharper moves. This choice clearly caters to an audience that wants their players' movements to be restricted by physics, and players of Madden frequently don't like the decisions APF's game engine makes for them. The reverse is also true.

Now both games make different communities of gamers happy, but designers have to either choose to make things like physics matter a lot, or have them matter a little or not at all. There isn't really a middle ground on these types of issues.

I'm sure more examples are out there, but these are the ones that come most quickly to mind. Thoughts?

[Pared]

Re: Happy Together: Hardcores and Casuals Living in Harmony

I somewhat touched upon this in my Arena Blogs.

I think it's just time for the "hardcore" to be a little more forgiving. Think of things that happen in the sports we watch that are incredible. Yet, if it ever happened in one of our games, the game is "too easy" or "broken."

[Jonny Toe]

Re: Happy Together: Hardcores and Casuals Living in Harmony

In this west coast lunch hour update, Ryan Spencer takes a look at how hardcore fans and casual fans can live in harmony. Spencer takes a look at how developers can bridge the gap between both and make both crowds happy in his article, Happy Together: Hardcores and Casuals Should be Able to Live in Harmony.

Its good that such a situation has finally arrived....