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Is the "casual vs hardcore gamer" a myth?

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i used to be a hardcore gamer. now i hate computer games, at least, i dont find them very fun at all anymore. thats why i havent upgraded my video card and sound card for a LOOOONG time. im still using my crapp radeon 8500, and my audigy. when i do occasionally play games though, the radeon 8500 is sufficient enough, although not that great.

thats when i feel wasted for having a 2.53GHz P4 and bottlenecking it with my VGA
 
IMO, hardware can have a large or little effect on the gamer.

Many of the hardcore gamers I know, whom are some of the best I've ever played with, only run on a P3 but play the games they can to the most. Take Tribes 1 for example, before I left the community and was still up to date, they dominated and even at my level where I had 2 guys infront and 2 guys behind me when I went to cap who covered me like none other in suqare formation or triangle if one died, I was killed by many of those guys in a duel in less than a few seconds when usually I duel for about a minute or two or I kill hte other noobe in 2 seconds.
 
Personally, I'm in a rare category, I think.
I don't have that much time to play games, but when I do, I want to enable the highest detail settings possible and get great framerates.
So, I'm a casual gamer with hard-core tastes.

Edit - btw... regardless of the fact I expect the games I play to look really good, I still suck. That's how I ended up with the handle "Cadaver" - that's what I become within a few minutes of playing!
 
Originally posted by: Cadaver
Personally, I'm in a rare category, I think.
I don't have that much time to play games, but when I do, I want to enable the highest detail settings possible and get great framerates.
So, I'm a casual gamer with hard-core tastes.
Join the club (check out my first post up top.) 😉
 
I'm more an hardcore enthusiast/casual gamer, so I pretty much upgade for feature set over raw performance...but I like to take a spin in MotoGP (and others of course) at high resolution on the big screen on occasion, which requires appropriate hardware of course😉
 
Originally posted by: Harabecw
Good point. brings me to a very annoying thing I see.
Walk into Office Depot. Look at their "Top End kick ass rig!".
Laugh at the 256MB of slow ram and integrated graphics selling for twice as much as you can get it elsewhere. then cry when you see people buying into the fact it has a P4 3GHz in it.

Office Depot? High end? Does not compute...
Wait, their high end system, did it have "Extreme" graphics capability, like maybe from Intel?

Geez, like people going to Walmart for computer components (I even work there and I can't recommend it to people). 1 each of our component selection of actual hardware could probably fill a single shopping cart. Walmart just isn't Newegg.:Q
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7
Casual gamer - one who only plays occasionally and uses the default settings, or reduces the resolution and quality to match the hardware.
Hardcore gamer - one who'll play whenever there's time, at the maximum visual settings that'll still give a good framerate. If that's not enough, the hardcore gamer will seek out the best videocard that can be afforded.
Yup I make the game fit my current rig I don't make my rig fit my games.

Thorin
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7
Originally posted by: Harabecw
Good point. brings me to a very annoying thing I see.
Walk into Office Depot. Look at their "Top End kick ass rig!".
Laugh at the 256MB of slow ram and integrated graphics selling for twice as much as you can get it elsewhere. then cry when you see people buying into the fact it has a P4 3GHz in it.

Office Depot? High end? Does not compute...
Wait, their high end system, did it have "Extreme" graphics capability, like maybe from Intel?

duh 😛

 
Hardcore gamers rule casual gamers. If a hardcore gamer is owned by a casual gamer, he is relagated to casual status. If a gamer has enough hardware to rule a game effectively, no upgrade is needed. To upgrade for any reason other than a performance increase leading to more ability to own others is not "hardcore." This is, of course, relating to multiplayer gaming. Singleplayer gaming is an exception.

There is no other difference worthy of note.

This said, anyone can call his/herself whatever they like, and that's what they are. Therefore the difference between the two is simply choice.

:beer:🙂
 
I consider myself a hardcore gamer, however I only play games on average, 5 hours a week.
 
CS is a little slow for my tastes I like the more fast paced FPS. Currently I cant stop play Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.
 
I am not a casual gamer. I can only play a couple of hours a night, but I upgrade all the time to suit the latest graphics, sound and processor demands. It's attitude and priorities that set the hardcore gamer from the casual. Time limitations are imposed on me...family and full time work. I envy those who have the time to game more, but I bet we share the same thrill of the game and the machine that we build for it. The casual gamer does not get caught up in upgrade or die cycle.
 
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