The Video Game Revue

Labels for Gamers

Just a bit of reaction here to a post over on Infendo:

Jack: my wild prediction is that MGS4 and Halo 3 are going to be considered colossal duds
comparatively speaking
then the industry will go into this huge insecure era of self retrospection
David: bah .. just look at EA .. they’re getting into new games, moving away from ports-only, and embracing Nintendo’s philosophy
there are no more “gamers”. that term is dead.
you don’t say “oh, that person is a cell phone user” .. it’s just becoming a ubiquitous term
Jack: true. i was thinking back on the 80’s and 90’s, as i am wont to do, and i remembered there was no such thing as a hardcore gamer
hardcore gamer = what you get when your audience is shrinking and becoming an obscure niche
David: hardcore, to me, is a person who plays any game they can get their hands on.
but to most people, it’s a guy who plays Halo/GTA/MGS/etc
[...]
David: it’s the opposite in the film world, where a movie buff generally likes the smaller, independent films .. oddball stuff
a “hardcore” movie buff wouldn’t be used to describe someone who is generally interested in blockbuster movies.
I think perceptions will change soon ..
and they’ll have to
terms like “hardcore” or “gamer” no longer mean anything, at least to me
Jack: i’d call it the myth of the hardcore gamer
a marketing term drummed up by people like Microsoft to sell Xbox’s
to a certain demo
unfortunately, it was responsible for shrinking and alienating the market

For my two cents, I absolutely agree about the terms "gamer" and "hardcore gamer" as they're talked about here. Video games are mainstream media now, like television or pop music; there's scarcely a need to label people who are into it because it's no longer an eclectic activity. And yes, there is a perception out there that "hardcore" gamers are into stuff like Halo and GTA, and if they're really daring, maybe Metal Gear Solid or Ghost Recon. To me, a hardcore gamer is somebody who cares about the stuff that's difficult to appreciate--not the mainstream blockbusters.

I don't doubt that the industry will go through some adjustments in its handling of the "gamer" demographic in the coming years. Nintendo has already started a potentially huge trend here; I think that one of the secrets to the success of the Wii is that between the Wii, the Xbox 360, and the PlayStation 3, the Wii is the only console that doesn't market itself as being for extreme and/or hardcore gamers. This could be considered evidence that the majority of the market for video games is not made up of insecure elitist seeking ego validation from the marketing machine of their favourite brand. Now there's a thought that should strike fear into the hearts of the marketting minds at Sony and Microsoft.

posted by Parappa @ 4:13 PM