Hardcore is Average

Or something like that. It seems that's the argument of Ziff Davis Game Group's Editorial Director John Davison:

So what is being "hardcore?" It's a form of behavior rather than an expression of taste. Really, being a core gamer is choosing to play games above any other form of entertainment. Any game can be responsible, and the step toward playing 10 hours a week or more is just the beginning of the journey. Microsoft rightly told us at E3 that "Not everyone is driven by the need to crush his opponent on the field of battle," but this doesn't immediately relegate these gamers to the rank of being "casual," does it? If you play Civilization IV for a couple of hours every night instead of reading a book, what are you? If you're one of the 5 million people playing World of WarCraft and you're a level 60 player with 600 hours logged but you never play any other game, what are you? Hardcore gaming behavior manifests itself in more ways than we tend to acknowledge, and the "gateway drug" is rarely something that's actually designed to be just that. All it takes is a single experience introduced by a friend or sparked by reading something in a magazine or online

-- Hardcore Is Mainstream

There's even a plug for a certain gaming grandma by the end. Definately a twist on the normal "casual gaming is for everyone" mantra. It does seem like the lines are getting pretty blurred. Sure, Katamari is fairly "casual" gameplay in that it's easy for anyone to pick it up and roll (hehe) ... but what does playing it twenty hours a week and desperately trying to find every cousin and present qualify as?



tagged: hardcore, gaming