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Hardcore gamer is a term used to describe a type of video game player whose leisure time is largely devoted to playing or reading about video games. This type of gamer prefers to take significant time and practice on games, in contrast to a casual gamer. Many hardcore gamers pride themselves on mastering the rules or use of a game, although this is not a strict requirement.

As the games industry has grown the types of games developed has expanded creating new niches of gamer audiences. More than ever people can invest increasing amounts of time, effort, and interest in games. This has effectively given birth to a new class of gamer who identify themselves with the playing of games as something more than just a pastime.

The increasing availability of the Internet has enabled gamers to play online games with others; Xbox Live and Playstation Network allows gamers to play online with each other. The Web has allowed gamers to congregate on forums to discuss their gaming interests. This has gone some way to producing common attitudes, opinions, and memes amongst the more involved gamers. As gaming magazines moved, conceptually at least, online to provide gamers with news, reviews, and information they have inspired the involvement of the hardcore in forums and in the production of content such as walkthroughs and FAQs, earning them the respect of the gamers they help on sites such as GameFAQs.

In addition, one medium that has been successful is attracting hardcore gamers is that of the webcomic such as Penny Arcade and PvP. Their associated forums, blogs, computer game guilds, and conventions have served to unite gamers and in particular, those that would describe themselves as hardcore. A positive aspect of this coming together is the defence against persistent negative stereotypes and in countering opinions on the influence of violence in video games and the judgement of people who enjoy playing such.^[1]

Hardcore gamers respond well to the reward systems employed in games. The term is often used to describe those who value gameplay over advances in graphics.

There is often confusion about what a hardcore gamer is. The term is often used to differentiate between types of hardcore gamers by such things as the amounts of time invested playing, how competitive the player is, preference for player versus player or player versus environment, game style or gameplay preference, or even the type of computer or console equipment used. Certain hardcore gamers are sometimes inaccurately labeled as casual gamers, often derogatorily, because of this differentiation even though they prefer playing games which are designed for hardcore gamers. This is common among MMORPG players where there is a demand for many different gameplay styles (e.g., solo play, quests, PvP, raid content, crafting) within a single game but limited developer ability to deliver all of them.

1. ^ Kohler, Chris. "Jack Thompson Versus Gamers". Wired News, November 4, 2005.

• Casual gamer
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• GameFAQs
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