I only have a problem with them when developers take established series that I enjoy and change them so that they are more marketable towards casuals.

Other than that I don't give a damn about them.

Irony ftw.

anyway I don't know why anyone would do that. All they would accomplish would be looking like a hardcore asshole in front of everyone else.

implodingMan:
I only have a problem with them when developers take established series that I enjoy and change them so that they are more marketable towards casuals.

Other than that I don't give a damn about them.

Yeah, basically this. I don't care about whether someone plays only Brain Age or Bejeweled on their DS twice a month or whether they buy every Final Fantasy game. It's only annoying when the games I like to play get changed to appeal to them.

It's elitism mostly. Been gaming longer = "more" of a gamer = inherently better when it comes to gaming.

I believe that casual gamer market is sort of a myth. If you look at the Wii numbers compared to PS2 owners... for the most part most Wii owners are ex-PS2 owners who don't want to drop tons of cash on a game system (yes, i know the 360 is cheap as hell now).

Most of my friends who would be considered "casual gamers" are just old PS2 gamers who are too busy to really tear into games the way they used to. The number of senior citizens who are now into games is so marginal that they aren't really significant in terms of demographics.

I have no problems with casual games, but I get a little ticked when developers start relying on them to make profits of people who don't appreciate depth in games, or when they making established gameplay in a series more casual in order to cater to a larger audience, and making appreciative fans disappointed.

Because they drag developers into pursuing the casual market.

Yes, its petty, but by god if it doesn't irk me that all of a sudden my voice as a loyal, long-lived game consumer suddenly counts for less than those Wii-swinging upstarts. Why take all these steps forward, and then two back?

It doesn't have to make sense, it's hate.

Ultrajoe:
Because they drag developers into pursuing the casual market.

That is my sole reason.

The developers realise that players are wanting games that can be picked up and understood in a matter of minutes and where playing for a short amount of time is rewarding as playing for a while and so they are making more games to fill this gap.

Problem is when they are making these games they are losing the depth and immersion that a "proper" game gives and because more and more of these casuals are becoming the norm there is not much we can do about it. It's just like when somebody doesn't realise they are passively damaging their cars engine by revving high.

zhoomout:

Whats wrong with Brain Age? Or Bejeweled for that matter? They are my DS weapons of choice! *starts humming the tune*

Haha, I didn't mean to say there was anything wrong with those games. I meant that I don't mind whether someone's a casual gamer or not, I have nothing against them; it's when the franchises I like go "casual" and start to lose their depth/difficulty that it bothers me..

To be fair, Brain Age and Bejeweled are games typically thought of as casual games, but by no means did I want to imply that they're only for casual gamers. I myself am a fan of Chessmaster DS :P.

zhoomout:

Oh sorry, I misinterpreted what you said heeheehee! I play chess video games too, more of a challenge than my family!

Haha! Yeah I got ir when I got back into chess last year, and realized it's really hard to practice without playing (and possibly embarrassing yourself) against another player. And since the DS is the only system I have with me here in college... Chessmaster DS. And definitely a challenge.. I got whooped quite a few times by it. (P.S. nice Sylar icon I'm really loving Heroes right now.)

But, yeah... I kind of wish the casual market wasn't so overwhelmingly large, and that it was so lucrative as to make devs 'casualize' their franchises. But at the same time, you can't fault them for trying to maximize profit... *sigh*

i dont have a problem with casuak gamers i have a problem with developers using the idea of a casual gamer as an excuse to be lazy as soon as i hear that a game is accessable to casual gamers i immeadiatly know that it will be way too god damn simple to be fun for more than 10 mins

Because developers should only ever design games for ME.

Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demands for dictatorial powers. In Soviet Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie; in Nazi Germany, it was the Jewish people; in the gaming community, it is the casual gamers.

I love it when Ayn Rand offers practical advice.

For me it is not the casual gamers but the casual games. Devs are know latching onto the idea like it is pure gold. It is diluting the market as they turn the limited amount of development cash away from other types of games into the so called casual games market. And thus shovelware by the metric ton load is made. This period will pass and the core market will still be here.

well i have no problem with the casual gamers i mean they are mainly people who used to play hardcore games but now just simply don't have the time to play them or the money to spend on a high end console but for me as long as i have a PS3 controler in my hand*hugs PS3*i'll always be a core market gamer :)

Its all in the word for me. Casual implies jeans, trainers & perhaps a polo shirt. Wheres the effort? Wheres the cosplay? Wheres the dignity? I like my games in a full tuxedo complete with hat & cane. Keep your denim away from me

Indigo_Dingo:
All over this site, there are people who treat them on a level akin to Nazis in terms of being vilified. What the fuck? They are people who enjoy playing games a little less than us, and suddenly they are scum of the earth? They enjoy some games that you don't enjoy, so the hell what? Do I look down on women cause they buy and use clothes that I don't wear?

(and yes, I'm aware of the irony that this is a rant against people who rant against casual gamers)

Well because one the reason people become good at anything is for recognition, thus "true gamers" would wish that the casual people just instantly recognize their greatness and any failure to do so should result in no less then sudden spontaneous combustion. Needless to say I can find them annoying in those rare moments, but I respect the fact that I was once like them and really didn't understand much about the gaming world.

Cousin_IT:
Its all in the word for me. Casual implies jeans, trainers & perhaps a polo shirt.

Hey! That's basicly my daily outfit.
But that's clothes which is a different subject entirely.

I consider myself a hardcore gamer. But I do enjoy some "casual" games.

P.S. If you didn't realize the first line I was just being an idiot.

EzraPound:

Dude, you're a dumbass. 'Shovelware' has always existed, and never sold particularly well (the only reason developers create it is because of low production costs, not high sales), regardless of how 'hardcore' the market is. Do you know how much 'shovelware' is on the NES? Or how much was made on the PC in the eighties - at that time the epitome of a 'hardcore' platform? All it takes is common sense to realize that a) shovelware is not significantly detracting from the sales of good games (the Wii's top sellers, for example, are all predictable: Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy, Zelda: TP, Metroid Prime 3, etc), and b) the abundance of it on any given platform has historically had more to do with the easiness of development than with the size of the installed user base.

Fuck, the hardcore are as bad or worse than the casual gamers. They rant and bitch as if being a 'casual gamer' causes you to have an innate impulse to run out and buy Ninjabread Man, then hype sequels that are deliriously complex variants of their predecessors and bring nothing new to the table. In the future, try knowing what you're talking about before opening your mouth.

There's always a far left, or far right. But don't forget that there are those who are somewhere in the middle as well. Personally, I'm a hardcore gamer, I've played the Quake games for about 13 years now... So yeah. Although I dislike a lot of the more recent trends in gaming, I can't blame it entirely on the casuals.

This Article.

and

end the thread.

I don't have a problem with casual gamers, they play what they like and I sortof envy them sometimes for them to play games just for fun.

However, it's the belief that all "casual gamers" are stupid and only want cheap crap is what is making me angry at the developers and maybe a little bit of the casual gamers who are buying the crap, BUT to each his own.

Also, birdmen.

EDIT: DAMNIT! Ninja'd by ElArab with the article, but nonetheless;

birdmen.
birdmen.
birdmen.
birdmen.
birdmen.

(sarcasm) They are unfamiliar, therefore I must hate and revile them (/sarcasm)

As a guy who used to play WoW for 8-12 hours a day, grew out of the demographic, and before I quit, was playing maybe 5 hours a week, I can appreciate what blizz has done to try and make the game more accessible. At the same time, for me anyway, a game like WoW lost a lot of appeal when anybody could do absolutely everything as long as you can mash 1-2 keys continuously.

This thread inspired me to go play more peggle.

BallPtPenTheif:
I believe that casual gamer market is sort of a myth. If you look at the Wii numbers compared to PS2 owners... for the most part most Wii owners are ex-PS2 owners who don't want to drop tons of cash on a game system (yes, i know the 360 is cheap as hell now).

Most of my friends who would be considered "casual gamers" are just old PS2 gamers who are too busy to really tear into games the way they used to. The number of senior citizens who are now into games is so marginal that they aren't really significant in terms of demographics.

Instead of investing in this generation or the previous one, I've been playing my N64 to this day. Vigilante 8 is still as compelling to me now as it was when I was in the 7th grade.

I'm breaking the pattern for the Fallout 3/GoW2/L4D three punch combo I was delivered though.

I just don't like the ones who overstep their bounds and think they know everything about the industry and think they are "all that" when all they really do is play music games like Guitar Hero. As for them dumbing down the market, I dislike the companies for that rather then the people.

Well the fact that it is a made up category of gamer is my main reason.