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A Casual Revolution

So, I’m sitting on this plane, flying from Glasgow to Austria, surrounded by people whose faces are lit up by small electronic devices, mostly Nintendo DS/DSIs, some PSPs and the occasional iPhone, all quite happily playing away to pass the time until we land in Salzburg. It got me thinking about a comment I made on the forum a week or so ago, that we should be making moves to change this approach we have of branding people a casual gamer and also pretending that there is some stigma attached to calling yourself a gamer. Despite having the largest media industry in the world making things for us that we actually want, we feel somehow forced into being reclusive and ashamed of telling people that as our main hobby we play games. I made a comment, which I fully stand by, that what other gamers classify as casual gamers are the people who keep this whole industry afloat. Those micro transactions and app store purchases generate the millions that keep us propped up, playing the titles we want to play. But let’s break down this casual gamer myth.

What’s the criteria you need to have to fit into it? Are we talking about just having a Wii or are casual gamers people who simply sit about on Facebook and spam your page with updates about rainbow pigs and needing nails? A forum member commented that his time to play games has drastically been reduced as he is busy with his life and career. Being a seasoned veteran of gaming, does this now downgrade him into being a casual gamer or do we let him off because he has some history with playing games and that’s good enough to slip out of the criteria?

The thing that makes me laugh the most is that despite plenty of people being shy about calling themselves a gamer and wanting it to become more acceptable in a normal social circumstance, it’s us who created a sub-tier of gamers, seeking acceptability from a greater social mass. We are the ones who are quick to apply this casual gamer title to people to separate them from us, to let them know that when it comes to gaming, we are superior.

My opinion is that if there are that many people out there buying games for portable devices, playing shockwave games, doing whatever it is that gets them tied down as a casual gamer, then surely we want to bring them into the fold? Strength in numbers makes sense to me. So, here is what I’m asking you to do, the next time you are going to call someone a casual gamer, think about the term, think about why you think that fits, drop the casual and stop the segregation of people who just want to play games.

Every revolution starts with a simple notion. Let this be the one that helps us get past this casual gamer nonsense.

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Walter

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10 responses to “A Casual Revolution”

  1. Deltorroelsorrow avatar
    Deltorroelsorrow

    There is a difference between a casual gamer and a proper gamer, but that doesn’t mean a proper gamer is “superior”.

    My mate KiTa only ever plays Fifa 2011 or Modern Warfare 2. He’s completed one game in his entire life. He knows nothing about gamer culture whatsoever. He’s a casual gamer.

    He plays games as a distraction, or as a way to pass the time. Gamers play games as something they proper love doing and have a passion for.

  2. Walter avatar
    Walter

    Is this your definition or an acceptable standard?

    I’d say someone who’s gone out and bought a console to play a couple of games sounds pretty commited to it.

  3. Deltorroelsorrow avatar
    Deltorroelsorrow

    This is my definition.

    I’d disagree, my Mum owns a DS and she thinks gaming is a childs pass time. She uses her DS for Brain training, Professor layton and such. She’s not a gamer. She casually plays games. She’s a casual gamer.

  4. Mark P avatar
    Mark P

    I agree with Walter. You’re either a gamer or you aren’t. I can’t think of any other hobby you can do casually, why should gaming be an exception? There’s no such thing as “casual” fishing.

  5. Deltorroelsorrow avatar
    Deltorroelsorrow

    Yet not everyone who fishes is a fisherman, are they?

  6. Mark P avatar
    Mark P

    By fisherman, do you mean someone who catches fish for a living? That’s entirely different.

    If you meant an angler, then are you trying to say that it doesn’t count as fishing if you only catch small fish?

  7. Deltorroelsorrow avatar
    Deltorroelsorrow

    Let’s ignore the “fisherman” comment then. The analogy is getting confusing already.

    Bottom line is that there’s a difference between someone who plays games for the love of gaming and someone who plays games out of boredom.

    Treating people who use the term “Casual gamer” like they’re being superior is a brilliant strawman really but the argument doesn’t hold any water that “If you’ve played games you’re a gamer”. It’s borderline stupid.

    Here’s an example of the difference between a gamer and a casual:

    My brother-in-law has 4 children and takes every available (sensible) opportunity to get on his console and play same games, because he loves them. – Gamer

    His wife occasionally plays the Wii because the kids want to play it. She enjoys it but she doesn’t ever feel a want to play it any other time, because she doesn’t love gaming. – Casual

  8. Mark P avatar
    Mark P

    But both of them play games – surely that makes them both gamers? The argument isn’t “if *you’ve played* games you’re a gamer”, it’s “if *you play* games, you’re a gamer”.

    The way I see it, the act of playing a game isn’t something you can break up into being done “casually” or otherwise. Do or do not, there is no casual.

  9. Walter avatar
    Walter

    That is exactly the point Mark, come the revolution, we’ll see Deltorroelsorrow at the bottom of the scoreboard.

  10. Simon avatar
    Simon

    It’s interesting, definitely.

    I guess that maybe we should stop calling people “gamers” full stop. We don’t call people who watch movies or listen to music anything special.

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