There seems to have developed a major snobbery in the gaming world \u2013 if a game isn\u2019t hardcore then it\u2019s undeserving of any real consideration and you\u2019re an \u201cimbecile\u201d (not my word) if you happen to be a housewife who enjoys casual games. Where did this all come from? Games are meant to be fun entertainment, so why have people become so vitriolic about them?<\/p>\n
Scratch that. Why have certain hardcore gamers become so vitriolic about the non-hardcore?<\/p>\n
As a game creator who loves playing games, I find that many hardcore games are simply too hardcore. Why, for instance, when I play a game on \u201ceasy\u201d, do I still die so many times that I\u2019m forced to give up part way through? Bioshock was guilty of this and I have no interest in returning to it because I know it will only wind me up again. Many people regard it as a great game, but any game that I can\u2019t finish because I don\u2019t enjoy the experience is not great in my book.<\/p>\n
Okay, I know that my reactions may be slowing down as I get older, but isn\u2019t that a part of why the developer creates an easy mode? It\u2019s supposed to allow those without ninja button skills to play and enjoy the game, too. I paid good money for this game, why shouldn\u2019t I enjoy it as much as anyone else?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s because of this that I find myself buying fewer and fewer hardcore games, which is a shame because some of them look fabulous and could be great fun. But it\u2019s that word \u201ccould\u201d that puts me off. How would I ever know without buying?<\/p>\n
Yes, I could play a demo, but it seems to me these days that game demos are becoming rarer all the time. Besides, the demo is not the issue but the fact that some games seem to squeezing out all but the hardcore gamer.<\/p>\n
There are games that give me hope, however. I\u2019m currently playing \u2013 and thoroughly enjoying \u2013 Tomb Raider: Underworld. Okay, I\u2019m playing it on the \u201ceasy\u201d setting, but it\u2019s still a great game to me. I don\u2019t feel that I\u2019m being excluded or that I\u2019m missing out on anything because of this, so to me this is a great game. So far it is tons better than Bioshock. Well done Crystal Dynamics (the developer)!<\/p>\n
So, really, I don\u2019t want hardcore gaming to get lost, but just to be less hardcore.<\/p>\n
The games themselves aside, the attitudes of the hardcore gaming \u201cpress\u201d are much worse.<\/p>\n
This piece has its origins in my reaction to two things that appeared on the net. The first was Randy Sluganski\u2019s article<\/a> about PC Gamer\u2019s condemnation of the Nancy Drew games. The second was Yahtzee\u2019s latest gaming rant<\/a> in which he refers to the huge non-hardcore audience as \u201cimbeciles\u201d.<\/p>\n Okay, the Nancy Drew games don\u2019t appeal to me, but I recognise that to a large section of the general gaming audience they are an enjoyable form of gaming and Randy was right to voice his opinion on the matter; something which I think he did in a very professional manner. He could easily have been much more vitriolic in return.<\/p>\n His main point, that a magazine about PC gaming which isn\u2019t actually being representative of the whole range of players who play games on a PC, is a very valid one. Perhaps this goes some way to explaining why PC gaming appears to be dying \u2013 at least if you think of PC gaming as traditional retail only.<\/p>\n Okay, there may be many fewer people buying hard copies of PC games from the shops or even online, but the number of people playing games on their PC must be huge when you take into account the number of downloadable games available through the many portals. \u201cCasual\u201d if you like.<\/p>\n Actually, I dislike the term \u201ccasual\u201d more and more. When you look at the games portals, they\u2019re offering a larger selection of games all the time and many do not really sit well within the \u201ccasual\u201d umbrella. Perhaps we should term them \u201cgeneral\u201d or, even better, \u201cnon-hardcore\u201d.<\/p>\n Getting back to the point, it was Yahtzee\u2019s derogatory remarks about the non-hardcore audience than annoyed me the most. How can everyone who doesn\u2019t play hardcore games be an imbecile?<\/p>\n Yes, I know that he does his \u201creviews\u201d in a manner that\u2019s supposed to be controversial (and often it works really well), but sometimes it\u2019s just nastiness for its own sake and in this instance indicates a weird kind of snobbery that seems to be pervading hardcore gaming.<\/p>\n I suppose I found it particularly offensive because I\u2019m a developer who happens to be working on games aimed at this non-hardcore audience, so does that make me an imbecile, too? Perhaps even a double imbecile? I enjoy making games for a more general audience and would never see that audience as other than valuable.<\/p>\n There are times that some of these games can come across as patronising or even childish, but that\u2019s mostly because the creators have erred on the side of caution in order to make them easily understandable and accessible. However, the success of recent games like Women\u2019s Murder Club, Emerald City Confidential and Return to Ravenhearst show that many of these general gamers enjoy games with more depth to them, too.<\/p>\n These last three games, although they have lots of adventure style gameplay, have also come under some criticism from the adventure gaming community. Instead of embracing these games as a broadening of the genre, some criticise them because of the way they \u201ccasualise\u201d the gameplay. Considering that the adventure genre has itself has had a lot of unfair criticism from the hardcore press, I find this an unusual viewpoint.<\/p>\n What, then, of the people who like both hardcore and non-hardcore games, myself included? How are we catered for in all of this? In many respects, not very well at all.<\/p>\n Ivinia, one of the posters on the Just Adventure + forums, wrote this: \u201cThere is, however, the other side of the coin with portals focusing mostly to the older female crowd… it would be nice if gaming genders\/age groups\/genres as whole were represented and someone would cover the full spectrum of gaming in an even-handed way.\u201d<\/p>\n Really, that\u2019s the heart of the problem \u2013 the market is being seen as two very different things when it comes to gaming press sites or publications and we\u2019re desperately in need of something to bridge the divide.<\/p>\n Or are they simply too separate for such a site to draw in the users? Are those who do play games in both camps too small a number to justify such an investment?<\/p>\n Whatever the answer, the journalists working in the gaming press should be able to understand and appreciate audience tastes that don\u2019t always fit with their own mind set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There seems to have developed a major snobbery in the gaming world \u2013 if a game isn\u2019t hardcore then it\u2019s undeserving of any real consideration and you\u2019re an \u201cimbecile\u201d (not my word) if you happen to be a housewife who enjoys casual games. Where did this all come from? Games are meant to be fun … <\/p>\n