Goodbye, hardcore! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Well, I just posted a reeeeeeeally long comment on Go Nintendo, which can be found in this article's comment section. Well, I was just so damn proud of this comment, I decided to turn it into an article! This is really more just to tide over my readers for now, because that super-big article is taking FOREVER! So, until then, enjoy my take on the term "hardcore"!

I say we abolish the term “Hardcore” now. It’s become to convoluted over the years. Everybody has their own description for hardcore nowadays.

If I had to describe it, I’d say a hardcore gamer is one who buys whatever game they want, regardless of what other people say. A hardcore gamer is one who can enjoy all types of games, whether it’s Final Fantasy or Wii Sports.

As for hardcore games, it has nothing to do with popularity, blood, sexual themes or swearing. In fact, there is no such thing as a hardcore game all on it’s own. What makes a game hardcore is the devoted fanbase that follows it. Thusly, there are many different kinds of hardcore games and gamers.

There’s the casual hardcore gamer, who only plays games labeled “casual”, not because they’re casual gamers, but because they religiously play these games to the bone. So anybody obsessed with Madden, Wii Sports or Tetris exclusively is a casual hardcore gamer.

Then there’s the mainstream hardcore gamer. These people play only the best selling and most popular games, not because of those reasons, but because they enjoy them. Anyone who exclusively plays games such as Grand Theft Auto, Halo or Burnout, and very little else, is a mainstream hardcore gamer.

We also have the fanboy hardcore gamer. This particular breed only plays games from a certain developer. So anyone who plays only Nintendo, Square-Enix or Electronic Arts games is a fanboy hardcore gamer.

Then there’s the truest of true hardcore gamers. These people will play any game, regardless of classification, developer or genre. These people will play any game their heart desires, which means anything from Dance Dance Revolution to Doom. This is the true definition of a true hardcore gamer.

There are also plenty of gamers who are not hardcore, but still greatly enjoy video games. The thing is, they often don’t game quite as much as others, making them simply gamers.

That’s how I think of hardcore, but other people may have a totally different perception of this. That’s why I don’t believe hardcore should be used anymore. It has too many different meanings. So unless the entire gaming community can decide on one single definition, the word hardcore should never be uttered again.

The Duck Has Spoken.