Note: This article originally appeared on my blog on ScrewAttack.com. The community comments that followed carried an excellent discussion, and in fact, proved me wrong on several of my points.

Think about what type of gamer you are, and I don’t mean how often you play or the length of each play session. Forget about hardcore and casual. I’m not talking about the amount of games you own or how closely you follow the industry. I’m talking about what genres you like. I’m talking about how you play. What about games makes you like to play them? Do you like to explore new worlds? Do you like to beat every mission, finish every quest, collect every artifact? Are you in it for the thrill of the chase? Are you just one of those assholes who likes to take advantage of your level 70 undead warrior and raise hell on every lower level member of the Alliance just to fuck with them? Or do you like to play with friends in a party setting? Do you just need some time to kill before your dermatologist removes that scary looking mole on your shoulder? It could be a combination of everything.

Because the point I’m trying to make is this: they that are typically defined as “casual” like to do these things, too. I know people who usually wouldn’t be caught dead playing most games, but they log in hundreds of hours on World of Warcraft. They play as often as other Warcraft players, and they’re on for hours at a time. They have high-level characters and they’re very good at the game. And the thing is, WoW is the only game they ever play. Are they the so-called casual audience that Nintendo (and now just about everyone) is targeting? Because Nintendo has a sparse online strategy let alone something as big as an MMO. I remember my girlfriend’s grandmother flipped out over the fact that one of her grandson played his PS2 for 8 hours, one day, only stopping to have lunch and use the restroom. “That’s nothing,” I said. “I used to live with three other guys. All of us including several others who lived elsewhere had our computers set up in the dining room. I’d get home from work at 8 or 9 on a Friday night and everyone would be gathered, all playing an online game. I’d go to bed at midnight, and when I woke up at 10 the next morning, they’d still be playing.” And here’s the kicker: WoW is the only game they play. I know people who watch that much TV. Are they “hardcore TV fans?” Do they bitch about all the casual TV fans? When you really stop to think about it, the exact definitions of “hardcore” and “casual” are rather vague.

Studies have been done on the various types of play. Many of the above-mentioned gaming habits are outlined by Chris Bateman on his blog, which you can check out here. I highly recommend reading it. I know some of it is a bit convoluted, especially the section he refers to as “Callois’ patterns of play,” but bear with him, he knows what he’s talking about. The point is that the divide between hardcore and casual isn’t so black and white. I have no doubt that these two extremes exist, but there’s a million shades of gray in between. The studies I refer to have shown that 49% of people who identify themselves as “casual” play every day and approximately 85% of them consider themselves to be “literate” in video games, meaning they have extensive knowledge of the games they like. Contrast that to 81% of “hardcore” gamers who play every day and 95% of them say they are literate. (Source: Chris Bateman’s blog).

That’s really not that big of a divide. In fact, I was surprised by how many self-proclaimed casual gamers claim to be video game literate. This shows that the players really aren’t that different at all. Both hardcore and casual gamers play as a hobby, about as often, and know their shit when it comes to games. The difference isn’t the gamers. It’s the games. Think about it. I would argue that one of the first “casual” games (at least in recent memory) was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. It’s easy to get into, but hard to master. Aspects of some of the games in the Wii Sports collections are similar. It’s easy to raise your arm and pantomime throwing a bowling ball and then watching it roll down the alley to pick up the spare, but there’s a certain finesse in putting English on the curve and attempting to bowl a perfect game. Ironically, one of the best players at Wii Sports Bowling I’ve ever met is a friend’s old girlfriend who hardly ever plays games. But she used to bowl, and in a league with her family, no less, so the video game came to her naturally. Contrast this to a WoW or a Fallout. Sure, they have plenty of intricacy, but are they easy to get into? I would argue no. And yet, so-called "casual" gamers are into them (at least WoW--not too sure about Fallout).

I, personally, would like to challenge developers to try to make titles similar to the first few Tony Hawk games, meaning, they have a low point of entry but a certain level of depth and complexity. Guitar Hero is like this, although the point of entry in that game can be hard for those with poor hand-eye coordination (or maybe that’s true of any game). Patapon and Peggle are like this, as is Bejeweled. Hell, the original Super Mario Bros. is like this. That’s why New SMB on DS still makes it on the top ten charts. Who wants to bet that New SMB Wii will do the same? This is the reason why Wii Music was such a failure. There’s no depth. The game has pretty much no challenge and no urgency. There’s no punishment for failure and unfortunately very little reward for success. But those games that find a good balance between ease of play and underlying depth are usually some of the best games out there. They bridge the divide between hardcore and casual. And hell, I say spread the love. The world will be a lot better if we can all get along.

EDIT: After reflecting on some of the excellent comments I'm getting, (on my ScrewAttack blog) I've decided to reevaluate the topic of this blog. There IS in fact a divide between hardcore and casual. As many of the G1s have pointed out, hardcore gamers are the kind of gamers who do what we're doing right now--that is, discussing this topic on a website targeted mostly to die-hard video game fans. Also, another divide might well be the willingness of one to master a game rather than to play it in short, sweet bursts if only to pass the time or have something to do.