Operation Sports Forums - View Single Post - Casual Vs Hardcore- Labels Exploited For Profit And Excuses

tlc12576 · 01-01-2011, 07:16 PM

During my time here on OS, I have noticed how quite a few things get repeated over and over again till at some point people began to just accept them as factual. Even though I don't think any company directly starts these things, they have been exploited among the Madden community, for profit and excuses. A great example of this, IMO, is with the casual Madden gamers vs the hardcore Madden gamers, labels that allow gamers to be divided and conquered.

A casual gamer, in general, is just a person who plays a game to have fun and/or socialize but is at least interested in the games genre, while a hardcore gamer is more knowledgeable about the intricate details of a game, its' genre and how to they work. In the case of sports simulation video games and more specifically in this thread, NFL football simulation video games, these labels should have nothing to do with the foundation of the game.

First, the exploitation for profit is accomplished by claiming to target casual gamers interest in socializing by adding things like OTP and Ultimate Team. However, these features are not really targeting casual gamers of NFL football simulations but any gamer that might generally like the NFL and various social network mediums, regardless of their interest level in the sports simulation game genre. This would be all good except for the fact that Madden is advertised to be a NFL football simulation video game and not a new innovative social networking medium with a NFL licensed football theme.

Hardcore gamers are exploited for profit by leaving things out that should be basic for a NFL simulation and slowly adding them in annually or semi-annually. This causes a false sense of appreciation from some hardcore gamers that by focusing on NFL simulation "this year" EA is listening to the fan base. When really, EVERY YEAR that EA releases Madden and claims it is a NFL simulation video game, this basic standard should be met.

Lastly, some excuses these labels are exploited to give merit, have been a real stretch, IMO. For example, in some early podcasts comments where made about there being such a thing as sim to the umph degree and mention of penalties being realistically call "out the box", with both being considered casual adverse. However, these are things Madden gamers, hardcore and casual, look for when playing a NFL simulation video game, as much NFL football simulation as possible and "out the box" NFL football realism.

Madden is alleged to be a NFL football sports simulation video game, so anybody choosing to play this game, no matter your label, should expect that. There is no such thing as a casual simulation or a hardcore simulation, there is just simulation. Someone buying Madden for the first time and someone buying Madden for 20th year straight, should both be getting a NFL simulation, right "out the box". The only difference should be the amount of user input required, which should be dictated by the simple user interface options like, auto strafe, auto sprint, gameflow, etc, on by default but which the Madden vet can turn off.

Casual and hardcore NFL football simulation gamers should demand that this game actually commit to focusing on NFL simulation or remove itself from that video game genre and into some kind of NFL arcadey social networking classification.

01-01-2011, 07:16 PM	#1
tlc12576 Banned OVR: 7 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Carolina	Casual Vs Hardcore- Labels Exploited For Profit And Excuses During my time here on OS, I have noticed how quite a few things get repeated over and over again till at some point people began to just accept them as factual. Even though I don't think any company directly starts these things, they have been exploited among the Madden community, for profit and excuses. A great example of this, IMO, is with the casual Madden gamers vs the hardcore Madden gamers, labels that allow gamers to be divided and conquered. A casual gamer, in general, is just a person who plays a game to have fun and/or socialize but is at least interested in the games genre, while a hardcore gamer is more knowledgeable about the intricate details of a game, its' genre and how to they work. In the case of sports simulation video games and more specifically in this thread, NFL football simulation video games, these labels should have nothing to do with the foundation of the game. First, the exploitation for profit is accomplished by claiming to target casual gamers interest in socializing by adding things like OTP and Ultimate Team. However, these features are not really targeting casual gamers of NFL football simulations but any gamer that might generally like the NFL and various social network mediums, regardless of their interest level in the sports simulation game genre. This would be all good except for the fact that Madden is advertised to be a NFL football simulation video game and not a new innovative social networking medium with a NFL licensed football theme. Hardcore gamers are exploited for profit by leaving things out that should be basic for a NFL simulation and slowly adding them in annually or semi-annually. This causes a false sense of appreciation from some hardcore gamers that by focusing on NFL simulation "this year" EA is listening to the fan base. When really, EVERY YEAR that EA releases Madden and claims it is a NFL simulation video game, this basic standard should be met. Lastly, some excuses these labels are exploited to give merit, have been a real stretch, IMO. For example, in some early podcasts comments where made about there being such a thing as sim to the umph degree and mention of penalties being realistically call "out the box", with both being considered casual adverse. However, these are things Madden gamers, hardcore and casual, look for when playing a NFL simulation video game, as much NFL football simulation as possible and "out the box" NFL football realism. Madden is alleged to be a NFL football sports simulation video game, so anybody choosing to play this game, no matter your label, should expect that. There is no such thing as a casual simulation or a hardcore simulation, there is just simulation. Someone buying Madden for the first time and someone buying Madden for 20th year straight, should both be getting a NFL simulation, right "out the box". The only difference should be the amount of user input required, which should be dictated by the simple user interface options like, auto strafe, auto sprint, gameflow, etc, on by default but which the Madden vet can turn off. Casual and hardcore NFL football simulation gamers should demand that this game actually commit to focusing on NFL simulation or remove itself from that video game genre and into some kind of NFL arcadey social networking classification.