Hardcore Gaming Brethren

[Guest Keal G Seo]

What to you qualifies a gamer as "Hardcore"?

I have heard a variety of things from spending enough time playing or playing a large enough variety of games and even having to have started at a young enough age. To me, it is a combination of 3 things: Time spent playing daily/weekly, skill and variety.

[Spiffy]

I simply ask "How do  you kill that which has no life?"

[Jonnin]

Hardcore naturally comes into it for the games where dying means starting over.   Some folks do this intentionally in games that do not support it (elder scrolls for example has a hardcore following that delete and restart if they die).  Others play games that enforce it (diablo, as a classic example).

 

Then there is the serious player use of the term... has beat his games on the hardest settings, spent hundreds of hours on em, has all the best stuff that can be earned in the game, etc.   The guy that jumps into and beats new content hours after it is release.  They guy that has his name at the top of the PVP ladder.   The guy with a top of the line system with specialty input devices,  uses chat programs like teamspeak, the latest video card, might even have 2 or more high end computers or a supercomputer split into virtual machines so he can dual box (play the game with 2+ accounts at the same time!). 

 

Then there is the misuse of the term, often applied to folks that have the best PC hardware and spend a ton of time "gaming" even if the gameplay is at a reduced level of seriousness.   You hear this used by non-gamers to refer to regular gamers sometimes. 

 

To me, the first and second are more or less correct.  The third, not so much.  

[Metalhead]

Pretty much what Jonnin said. Couldn't have put it better.

[2.ooohhh]

I spend lots of time on a relatively basic dual purpose sim rig playing rfactor and x-plane. One program is used to train race drivers for new tracks the other pilots. Previously I had a PS3 based multi-screen racing rig setup for GT4 exclusively but I wanted more of a challenge so while waiting for GT5 to be released a friend introduced me to some of his sponsors and the rfactor platform, and I began building a rig. While I might certainly be labeled as hardcore I've pretty well slipped from "gamer" to "sim geek". As for a more stout challenge, I got all that and then some. I'm often amazed by the guys that shave seconds off my lap times on certain tracks but then I have also figured out that several of them are professional race drivers just in the sim league for the opportunity to "practice" on tracks they actually race on. :stunned:

 

I don't think less of serious MMO or FPS gamers it's just a different world than sims and all 3 can be very compeditive near the top. :2cents:

Edited October 24, 2013 by 2.ooohhh

[Tncobra]

I told my wife to watch TV in the other room one time, THATS hardcore.

[~48_South~]

 When I think hardcore gamer I think of someone who puts a lot of time in on a game and thus their skill level reflects that. For example Im big into FPS on consoles, I use to do a fair amount of online tournies and what not and had an offer for sponsership from the former head of esports however I had to decline because there was no way I could quit my job to play video games lol. Most would look at me and say wow youre a hardcore gamer but when compared to a couple of my friends I play with that starts to go away. A couple of my friends are actually sponsored and are always flying here and there competing in events they both played in separate events last weekend, one in Dallas the other in Orlando both of their teams won first place, Phil won $20,000 then Tyler won $10,000-$20,000 as well though I cant remember. The weekend before that Tyler was in London and his team won another tournament there for $30,000 as a matter of fact Tylers team has won every single event they have played in this year(Several)I believe. I have another friend who has slowed down in the whole gaming scene as of late but in 2011 he made roughly $116,000 from tournaments. They are what I consider hardcore.

[Guest Keal G Seo]

Ok so what I am hearing is a combination of skill, even if specialized to one game, and money spent on it.

2o I know you didn't specifically mention money spent on it but I know those sims can get up in cost on multi monitor and building the seating for racing and flight sims to feel like you are in the cockpit.

Even I take skill into account but what about the guys, or gals I guess, that spend say 40+ hrs/week gaming for enjoyment/entertainment rather than to be the "best"? Do we/should we still consider them hardcore? Because when I think of "average" gamer I only credit them with a couple of hours a day so at most 15-20 hrs/week.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Keal G Seo

[~48_South~]

40 hours a week and I would say youre in the hardcore category for sure.