Not to long ago I stopped by my local game store to browse. While there the clerk (who is also the owner) and I struck up a conversation. We talked for a while about my upcoming wedding, and the stress around that. Then we started talking more about my gaming habits. Obviously he wanted to make a sale, so he had to know my taste to make some suggestions.
I played it off as just that and told him I don't have a particular genre, that I play everything. He then asked what systems I owned. I rambled off the full list and he instantly thought me a Sony fanboy, though I was quick to correct him. I avoid the fanboy thing like the plague. I'd get a 360 if I had the disposable income, sony's exclusives just suit me better.
After a while I decided to pick up Brutal Legend, because Tim Schafer made it and it was cheap (plus its been on my list for ages). As I was purchasing it a discussion began about how the game was critically received. I plan on doing my own review of it when I get a chance to play it (which won't be for a while, sorry). He mentioned that it's really only worth playing on the hardest difficulty because in his opinion if you're a hardcore gamer that's what you do.
Now, he's a great guy, but I really have to disagree with him. First and foremost, avoiding the excellent discussion made by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of Zero Punctuation fame the we should not use the term gamer (read it here seriously it's amazing: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8031-Extra-Punctuation-Dont-Use-the-Word-Gamer ). I disagree with him on the merit that what you enjoy out of games makes you better or worse. This is, of course, generally speaking, but hardcore gamers use the term hardcore amongst themselves to describe… well… themselves.
It's like there's this pseudo hierarchy in video games now that is dependent on you gamer score, trophy level, or hours spent in Smash Brothers. While I'll admit I think trophies are a fun distraction they don't really add anything to the core experience of the game. It's all just fluff for the completists. So why is such value placed on something that is essentially useless beyond face value? For that we need to dive into the fragile psyche of those who identify themselves with video games.
I enjoy playing games because I find them entertaining. I do not play games because they are challenging. To me that is not the point at all. Why would I play something on the hardest difficulty so that it becomes controller tossing levels of frustrating. That's not fun. I'm a very patient person but to me it seems silly to play a game like that. Again, that's just my opinion. So yes, the difficulty you choose to play a game is just personal preference. I don't like to watch gory movies, that doesn't make me any less of a movie goer, nor is the person who doesn't like artsy films. The point is it's just all taste, one mans trash is another mans treasure. Your "core" is not made "hard" by what you do.
Honestly, I would prefer it if we could just toss out the term Hardcore along with gamer. I mean, think about it, just like the term gamer is now irrelevant, a term describing gamer is in the same boat (I'm looking at you too, Casual, though that term holds more water than hardcore). You don't call a person who reads a book a booker, and you certainly don't call a person that reads difficult books, or long books a hardcore booker. Gaming is normal, it's mainstream, and that's not a bad thing.
A problem does however arise because now that gaming is mainstream the people that want to be unique need a new descriptor. Thus, the hardcore gamer was born. Now, I don't mind if you like playing a game on the hardest difficulty. But honestly, do you think it makes you more of a gamer? While you were busy wasting hours playing God of War III on insane mode for the 8th time I was busy playing another game, then another, and so on.
I don't want it to sound like its quantity over quality, because it really isn't, and that works both ways. A game is an experience, and people will all have different views and opinions of the best way to experience it. There are the OCD kids that will find everything, the ones just in it for the gameplay, or maybe only the story.
So here's the new vocabulary word, if one should insist on being a "HardCore Gamer" then please start identifying them as an "Elitist Gamer" because that's what they are. They want so badly to identify themselves above the average video game player. It's ok to love video games, but don't try to put others on a lower pedestal. This isn't Xbox Live, it's real life. Let's keep our polite hats on.
Alas, I know terms like Gamer, Hardcore, Casual and others will exist for many years to come. There is no way to eliminate them from the conscious of the people, especially the ones who choose to identify themselves as such. As for me and mine, I will say I'm person who enjoys many things, video games chief among them. But don't call me HardCore, or Casual, or indifferent.
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