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Do all hardcore PC gamers look down on casual gaming?

By | September 12, 2010, 9:14am PDT

Are PC gamers who choose fighting wars on terrorism or slaying aliens with an overclocked, liquid-cooled desktop elitists who thumb their noses at those whose gaming interests tend toward building farms? A polemical post on the Games Brief blog argues just that.

Nicholas Lovell argues that those who sneer at the runaway success of casual gaming, which you’ll often find on Facebook and which has a majority audience of female and over-30 players, are snobs who can’t handle the fact that 233 million people play games from leading casual gaming developer Zynga each month. And he dismisses claims that casual game companies are stealing ideas and dumbing down PC gaming with the argument: If something’s so popular, then there must be merit in it. In comparison:

I think that making incredibly expensive, hard-to-play games that require proprietary hardware and prior experience to enjoy is a dumb way of providing gaming entertainment to a global audience.

While I see Lovell’s point that there is something inherent in social gaming construction that provides its players with enjoyment — and that it could be applied to “hardcore” PC games — I’m not sure that makes everyone who appreciates the artistry and effort that has gone into Dragon Age and Mass Effect a snob. It may just be that the gaming industry has evolved to a point where there’s a mainstream audience and a specialized one, just like there is in movies, music, or any other form of entertainment.

Of course, there are some who will dismiss casual games, but painting all serious PC gamers with a broad brush is just as dismissive, even if it’s in the name of some sort of populism. Just because you may not get enjoyment out of a FarmVille or Mafia Wars does not make you elitist; it just means that you get enjoyment out of different types of games for different reasons. Maybe you enjoy spending your money on the fastest hardware because you like playing games with the latest and greatest graphics. Maybe you enjoy different types of game play that casual gaming can’t produce — first-person shooters that rely on split-second action, or racing sims that provide maximum accuracy.

What do you think? Are serious PC gamers elitist snobs? Is there any merit to casual games? Let us know in the Comments section.

[Via TG Daily]

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PC, Gamer, Games, Personal Technology, Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

Disclosure

Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist; currently, all work that Sean does is on a contractural basis. Sean has also written corporate communications documents for CA.

Sean does not accept gifts from companies he covers. All hardware products he writes about are purchased with his own funds or are review units covered under formal loan agreements and are returned after the review is complete.

Biography

Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy started his tech writing career at ZDNet nearly a decade ago. He then spent several years as an editor at Computer Shopper magazine, most recently serving as online executive editor. He received a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from the University of Southern California.

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If they do, they have every right so to do
darije.djokic@... 20th Sep 2010
If someone can drive a Ferrari at full potential, and somebody else has problems with anything more then a nice stroll down the mall in a subcompact, are they equal because they are both just ?drivers?? Of course not, the enjoyment of the subcompact driver might not be much different then that of a Ferrarista, but the second one has all the right to feel elite, behave and talk high. It might not be polite but it is a reflection of the capacity and will to perform, and that is what is ultimately important - You have the Little Ligue and then You have the Big Ligue, and that is that. (Btw, I am a casual gamer).
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A teeny bit unfair
nlovell 12th Sep 2010
Thanks for commenting on my post, Sean.

I'd just like to say that I don't think that not liking Zynga's games is elitist; I think that sneering at those who do like Zynga's game is elitist.

Ther is a world of difference.
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Every hard-core gamer I know, hates "casual gaming"
Bruizer 12th Sep 2010
And will go on for hours on how casual gaming has destroyed the industry, how Wii has devastated gaming for "real gamers", how the iPod Touch/iPhone have no "real" games and people that play them are idiots that know nothing about games, how Facebook has set the gaming industry back 10 years...

They all complain about important resources being pulled away from "real" games to worthless projects for "the masses". I had one friend point to Duke Nukem as an example of important games that have failed to ship because of casual gaming. He siad I could not understand his point (what, is gaming like riding a Harley now?) when I tried to explain Duke slipped years before the "casual gaming" experience.

Calling them elitist is an understatement.
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In other words
wackoae 12th Sep 2010
You know a bunch of anti-social idiots who's only life is in games and can't survive in the real world.
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
Asiafish 13th Sep 2010
@Bruizer
I stopped riding motorcycles 17-years-ago, then started again this past June.

You know what? The Harley guys aren't snobs anymore, and rather than ignore or insult (I ride a 1980 Suzuki GS850G) they now wave, talk, and in general (there are always exceptions) are genuinely nice people.

Gaming is like that too. Used to be all gamers were outside the fringe, as game-capable systems were expensive, temperamental and required a whole lot of geek-cred to configure, often FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL GAME. Motorcycles (including Harley) were the same way.

Then along came Honda in the 60s, much like Zynga today. The once esoteric passtime became mainstream, and the hard core rebelled. In the 1980s Harley riders most definitely did NOT wave to riders of other marques, just as hard core gamers today diss on the many fans of Farmville etc.

Give it time. Just as many Harley riders also share garage space with a Honda, so too are many hard core gamers also likely to play Hearts or even Farmville when not stopping a blight or going after The Collectors.
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The one's I know
kwabinalars 13th Sep 2010
@Bruizer
...would disagree with all of that. In fact I know a lot of them that play social games on FB. Mostly they gravitate towards games that are complex (such as StarFleet Commander).
I also disagree with the term "Hard Core Gamer". There are gamers that prefer a PC, others that prefer set top boxes and other's on FB. When it comes down to it I think you could find people in any area or platform that would consider themselves to be "hard core".
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
Ez_Customs 13th Sep 2010
@Bruizer

Not just Bruser here but all these haters who just don't see whats happening. Look to the Big Crash caused by Atari and Nintendo, (yes Nintendo also saved teh gaming industry spawning the 3 generation systems of the gaming era), in the mid 80's. the industry just about died, but later recovered in about 5 years time, with the advent of Sega DreamCast, Playstation 1, and Nintendo 64! Just think and wake up. PC gaming never died, it slow'd yes, but never died like the console did. Console systems are destine to die, and the reason is that they keep pushing the limits, and abilities of the software engines. when the Console Gamers start seeing the caps on there beloved Wii's, PS3's and xBox, xBox mostly becuase the platform is so close to PC, the PC gaming market will explode, but it will do so slowly.

We PC gamers are seeing a Flux in the market, and how many new people are playing PC games now only becuase of xBox. They find there buddies in xBox Live who use Windows Live, and then hang out, do a few PC lan parties, and Slammin, you have an xBox Lover now converting to PC. Don't defend this, becuase you know it is true. Console developers are doing a great job for sure, but they don't realize if they don't chill, then the console gamers (The wanna-Be Gamers as thought by PC gamer junkies like myself), will get bored and see just how much a Game can be, and will go to the PC because of it.

these Console and Web Based applications you see on facebook and Myspace, only help the gaming industry mature, and the Facebook and Myspace like games are as said. Casual games that can be played anywhere there is an internet connnection available. They aren't slimming down the PC market at all, all they are doing is bringing a new style of gaming to the industery, and as much as I hate to say it, only broaden the PC and Consoles equally to new types of gaming. But on the other note, this brings more people to the interest, much like the Console benefits, plug in insert game play formula that makes Console Thrive! In all aspects, this casual gaming has every potential to push people to the PC in the end, that is where all real gamers go anyway. there are the crowds that do honestly play for one purpose, to kill a few minutes of time before something else comes around. However these people will never convert to PC anyway, so stop the complaining and open your mind Extreme gamers who think that there is nothing to do in life, but spend g's on PC hardware, and waste days before stepping outside because that guy who is beter then you was finally defeated ounce. Yes My PC is about 3 Grand as a whole, but in no way do I think that PC markets in gaming have died, nor have they been influenced by lessor games, Consoles are what is making it happen, and web based apps are not even going to inflict any inspiration to PC gaming at all. get off teh Acid Fellas, and open your mind!! If you think that PC's games are slimming down becuase of lessor Casual games on Facebook, maybe it is time to look at you game closers and see just how much is going on. PC andother Computer gaming isn't what is though to be Graphically pretty, yes they help kep you interested looking for new things in teh complex environments, but really, what makes PC gaming happen is just how much is going on in the mechanical potions of the games. Maybe it is time to stop buying those Mainstream, Big name companies that only sell the name. things like CoD, yse it is a great game over all, but what does it really offer? A console style gaming, only optimized because it can now be used on the Mouse and other more efficient control device.

Remember you to use to think that pC gaming was lame and over-rated becuase your Favorite atari game was good enough for you at the time? Now look at you, you matured with the industry and because a slave, doing exactly what they wanted you to do in the first place, get into Computer gaming! this is what these other games are all about. developers know where it is at, but they, like any business model, push the easy sales, advertise with the platform and sponsorships on teh bottom of the boxes and commercials, displaying what the software has in it, what systems it plays on, and has screen shots of both in the restpective places. Next time you are at teh Department store, hawk shops like Gamestop, or online shopping stores, just compare teh marketing campaigns, all the search results if you use generic terms like bioshock with no platform name, and you can easily see comparisons of visual Experience, and game play
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Um. Yes
Cylon Centurion 12th Sep 2010
As a gamer, I despise flash based games with a passion. Zynga especially. Those aren't games, they're 'toys' for kids.

Go big, or go home.
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So you're . . .
JLHenry Updated - 12th Sep 2010
@NStalnecker

Admitting that you're an a$$? happy
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
PollyProteus 13th Sep 2010
@NStalnecker - I don't like Flash based games because they use Flash, but some of my favorite casual games (read as games that don't go on forever) are based in Flash so really I have no choice.

That said, "hard core gamers" seem to forget that all games came from a common root. Quarter arcade games from the 1970s. I spent many hours plugging quarters into those games.

Ah Tank Commander, PacMan, DigDug, Asteroids and Space Invaders, what have they done to you? happy
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
wackoae Updated - 12th Sep 2010
Anybody who consider themselves a "h.a.r.d.c.o.r.e" gamer (for whatever platform) is a person suffering from an addiction and is very likely a person with social problems.

Games are for entertainment .... nothing to take serious.
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I disagree
Cylon Centurion 12th Sep 2010
@wackoae

Gamers are not always "addicted" and suffer from social problems. I consider myself a ******** gamer (nothing but the best hardware, etc...), yet I lead a normal and very active social life outside of the digital realm.

Now on the other hand, I do know gamers that do not. But it isn't everyone.
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And yet
kwabinalars 13th Sep 2010
I know a few people that play Zynga all day long. Gotta get their Cafe World to top notch and make sure their Vampire Wars Clan is up to 501.
Social games. Social problems? In my opinion No. People play games for some kind of interactive experience. It used to be that people would lock themselves for days in games by themselves. But over time it has become painfully obvious that the most successful games are ones with a high level of sociality built in. WoW is arguably the most successful game ever made (I base that on the fact that it has 11.5 million (and growing as of May this year) monthly subscribers who PAY every month to play it). Most people that are heavy WoW players do it because they have a close relationship with the people they play it with. There are many people that start off playing it alone. The very nature of the game gives them reasons to become social with other players. Social problems you say, doubtful.
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
dedrizen 13th Sep 2010
@NStalnecker

I consider myself a recovering computer gaming addict even though it has been many years since I played Everquest. I still play games. My system isn't anything to brag about (if I could I would have the best hardware etc but family takes priority in my book--wife and kids). In fact, the only thing I could brag about my system is that I could play WoW while using less than 100 Watts, but that comes with a price such as the computer has to have the graphics features near minimum....

I too know of both gamers who seem to have balance in their lives. And others that cannot seem to get away from the computer to really live a life of their own.

Can games be addicting? Yes. Computer. Console. And even board games at times.

I think your comment caught my interest a bit because I know of a few gamers that have the best hardware and no real social life. And so it is refreshing to know that there are those of us who do more than computer games.

And, yes, I still dream of a owning a gaming rig of my own. I just need to increase my income before that happens. For example, right now it is hard provide for those growing kids and my wife's needs. I know she complains that she falls on the bottom of the list for getting what she wants. If I were to start listing all that I want and don't get, it will only foster anger and I don't want that. So I think it better to focus on what I can do to make things better for our family and then perhaps someday I can have a nice gaming rig connected to a large flat screen television (I do dream!).
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
GrumpyOldMan 14th Sep 2010
@wackoae Anybody who makes broad generalizations about a group of people is likely to be wrong. I consider myself a ******** gamer. I have a job, a girlfriend, and lots of friends who either don't game or are casual gamers. You can have a passion for something without being addicted to it.
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
CobraA1 12th Sep 2010
I think both types of games have their place. The hard core games are great, but require a lot of time investment. Often people with busy lifestyles just can't afford that much time investment.

And sometimes you just want to play for a few minutes, rather than playing for hours. Which is a perfect time for a casual game.

Yeah, I had to learn to ignore the all too often snobbish attitudes of the hard core gamers.

Me? I play to have fun, that's how I like to play.
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Exactly . . .
JLHenry 12th Sep 2010
@CobraA1

Although, I will admit, as I've gotten older, my love for Non-violent games has increased . . . I find it more challenging to create than destroy . . .
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Can somebody tweak the filter?
CobraA1 12th Sep 2010
Can somebody tweak the swear filter for this? Every time we talk games, it blanks out the word.
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I *****
Cylon Centurion Updated - 12th Sep 2010
@CobraA1

This ****** is rather ******** at best. I **** to **** what is wrong with the word ********? It's not **** we're ******* *** here.

Sheesh. ****************************************
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Now THAT'S a post . . .
JLHenry 13th Sep 2010
@NStalnecker

I can agree with!!!!! happy
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
ZStoner 12th Sep 2010
I think casual games have a purpose, but so do the serious games. Each for their own reasons. For me, (yes I play a little Farmville), casual games offer the quick fix when you don't want to invest dozens of hours on a campaign. But on the flip side, there are times I might want to do exactly that.
But as a whole, I do see the entire gaming market starting to dumb down a bit and become a little like WalMart or your local Dollar Store -- quick fixes on the cheap.
To me, I started seeing the "gaming erosion" start a bit over 10 years ago with the onset of games like Deer Hunter and Sims. But also saw an growing group of computer savvy indie programmers (thus where Flash and Java became handy for that quick fix). It's only multiplied since then.
It's both a blessing (more people able to write games) and a curse (fewer people able to write true cutting-edge games).
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
tonymcs@... 12th Sep 2010
MMORPGs are another example of the divide between casual and ********. Blizzard has recently moved World of Warcraft to be more attractive to casual gamers rather than the 1-5% of ******** players who believe a bio break is the only reason to spend time out of WoW.

Essentially it doesn't really matter about your equipment - it's your committment that matters. And if you're not prepared to spend 20-49 hours a week in Azeroth then you are casual wink

When it comes to the PC versus the kiddy controller games (ooops, may have let my prejudice out ;-)), there is definitely a movement to dumb down PC games to match the limited UI of a console game. This means instead of a complex, but well designed UI like WoW, you get a simplified version. As more developers view the console market as their intended audience, even games released for the PC are beginning to show a console UI rather than a keyboard/mouse approach.

I still think PCs are more ubiquitous than consoles and I prefer a mouse/kb interface, but I don't think I'm elitist. Casual games certainlyu have their place. I'd be as bored as hell on a flight path on Azeroth if i couldn't play Peggle and Bejewelled in game to pass the time wink

However, there's one thing lower than consoles in gaming and that's touch phones. Who thought it was a good idea to cover the viewing area with your hand?
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
CobraA1 13th Sep 2010
@tonymcs@...

As long as they keep allowing UI addons, I don't care much what they do with the standard UI. Yeah, they do have to appeal to a pretty broad audience.

. . . and the new UI is actually giving us devs more stuff to play with, expect some better addons with the changes happy.

I think WoW has done a good job of appealing to both the casual and core gamers alike. While the UI is becoming a bit more basic, reports I've heard from the beta are that the end game content is certainly challenging.

"However, there's one thing lower than consoles in gaming and that's touch phones. Who thought it was a good idea to cover the viewing area with your hand? "

Gives you something to do while waiting in line for your next preorder or Blizzcon wink.
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What is a
superbus Updated - 12th Sep 2010
Serious question. What IS a "********" gamer?

Does a ******** gamer require that they have a $3,000 PC, with dual Radeon 5870HD cards and everything else that goes into a full setup? Does a ******** gamer have to only play games that hit the ******** Gamer Checklist? What about those "casual" games? Not really talking about Zynga (a company that hasn't developed one game, and has instead stolen the work of others), but other games like Popcap games? There's a lot of "********" game elements in a lot of those games.

I said this last year ( http://diehardgamefan.com/2009/02/03/blogging-on-the-bus-casually-********/): the lines are blurred between "********" and "casual" games, as they should be. Instead of realizing this, people like the author of this piece make it worse by further compartmentalizing us. It's irresponsible.

EDIT: ... OK, stupid censors. If you're going to have an article talking about a particular type of gamer, don't censor the darned word. Do you REALLY think we're talking about porn, here?
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One thing I've noticed . . .
JLHenry 12th Sep 2010
on these so-called casual game machines, like the iPhone/ipOd touch, the Wii, etc., you're seeing a revival of the older "classic" Games. like Golden Axe, Wolfenstien 3D, Final Fantasy I & II, DOOM, just to mention a few. And I'm seeing a lot of the old arcade games that I cut my teeth on, that I could stand and play for hours on just a quarter . . .

Sure they don't have graphics with a 200 gazillion fps, but the game play is the important thing (or so I always thought . . .).
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Not ALL ******** gamers look down on casual gaming
Lerianis10 13th Sep 2010
Personally, I play 'real' PC games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and also play things like RealArcade and Big Fish games.

'******** gaming' is a misnomer.... it doesn't exist.
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Do 'HC' Photographers ... etc.
Original Eggman 13th Sep 2010
Do serious amateurs and pros look down on the 'casual' shooter with a $200 camera?

Do serious and pro golfers look down on Putt-Putters?

Do serious / Professional programmers look down on casual scripters and wannabes?

Do truck drivers look down on 4-wheelers and real cops look down on security guards?

OF COURSE THEY DO - it's human nature.
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
aaaa123354 13th Sep 2010
No.
They just don't consider them to be gamers. that is all.
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
aaaa123354 13th Sep 2010
BTW are you guys aware that you censore your own article titles??
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A deliberately, and unfairly, phrased question to induce polarization
Dr_Zinj 13th Sep 2010
It has been my experience that many, so-called ?hard-core? gamers do look down on other gamers with derision. However, that does not hold true for all, or even most, people who are considered to be hard-core.

Computer game players come across a broad continuum. They do not fall in discretely quantized categories of casual or hard core. Some may play simple popup, single player, browser based games like Solitaire. Other play more involved but free internet games like Runescape or Farmville. Still others take the extremely involved subscription based games like World of Warcraft or Everquest. Some people play maybe an hour a week at most, others may play 40 or more hours a week.

It may help to place people on a grid of time spent playing per week versus game type.
On the y-axis, we break it into 3 groups. Group I: 0 to 10 hours per week of play, Group II: 10 to 20 hours per week, and finally Group III: 20 to 80 hours per week. (The assumption being that if you?re playing more than 80 hours per week; you?re not hard core, you have a mental illness.) On the x ?axis, we have the categories of A: simple, single player games, B: limited group games (2 to 12 players usually), and C: massive multi-player games. You could argue that there is a third axis of game complexity where the game is simple, like Othello or Tic-tac-toe, or a complex virtual reality like Final Fantasy or EVE; but that mostly confuses the issue. After all, you could have a world-class Othello player who devotes 40 to 60 hours per week training and playing; which most people would agree is pretty ?hard core?.

?Casual? players can be considered to be those people who are consistently in time Group I. Moderate players pretty much fall into Group II. The funny thing is that many ?hard-core? players, which consistently fall in Group III, consider everyone else to be casual, whether they really are or not.

As for myself, I fall at the high end of Group II, Category C. I used to be solidly III C; but found my emotional, mental, social, and physical health were taking an intolerable hit. Since my gaming wasn?t earning me any income, I cut it back pretty drastically. I know of many people who were in similar situations who completely dropped gaming cold turkey for similar reasons. And I know many people in player guilds I belong to who fall in the III C block who bemoan those who don?t play at their level of intensity. Fortunately for me, I don?t play very often in the guilds who slam the more casual players.
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
Greenman76 13th Sep 2010
I break down Hard Core gamers into three categories.

First the MMO players. WOW, Everquest and the like. These Hard core players are so consumed with their game many may not even know other games exist let alone take the time to look down upon casual gamer's. (Watch The Guild if you don't know what I'm talking about)

Second are Competitive game players. Games like Starcraft 2, Counter Strike and DOTA. Mostly RTS and FPS game many of which have proffesional leagues. These people tend to be Elitists and certainly look down upon Zynga type games if not all casual gamers.

The third are the high end single player gamers. Games like Dragon Age, Fall Out 3 and Oblivion that required high end gear to get the full graphics and audio capability out of. These people buy the high end gaming gear for their own enjoyment and aren't as likely to look down on player's of other games, unless they think it is going to affect them in some way ie causing high end games to be developed less.

Now not all people who play those games are ******** gamers and not all ******** gamers stick to one type. No matter what they play everyone has a diffrent personality and will have a diffrent definition of casual gaming and look at it a diffrent way look at them.
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
trust2112@... 13th Sep 2010
I think it just depends on what game you are playing. Personally, I have no respect for Sim Game players. What your real life so sucky that you have to pretend. It's like dolls, for grownups. I do waste away playing Half Life 2, Portal, Fallout 3, Quake 1,2 and 4. But, I also play the hell out of Trackmania, I enjoy whooping on the Euro-trash overseas. It's all about the quality of the games, not how many terabits it pushes per second. I like complex games, i like easy games. I still pull out ol Turok, and give them dinos a beating they'll never forget. Mame too, let's not forget the ones who started it all, can't get any less complex that DK or Pac-man.
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RE: Do all ******** PC gamers look down on casual gaming?
daidrick 13th Sep 2010
I rarely post to any boards, but this one makes a good point.

I have enjoyed video games since I was a little kid and pong came out; I have enjoyed casual as well as the more elaborate games. But now, I have responsibilities that prevent me from having the time to play many games. I can?t sit there and get into a game of WOW or anything else, there are only 24 hours in a day and I already use up 16 to 20 of them just with daily responsibilities. It doesn?t leave much time for rest and my off days are consumed with taking care of the house, etc; so now 99% of my game play is casual games; puzzle games mostly. My all time favorite games were the Jane?s Combat Simulators (Longbow 2, F15, etc.) and the MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries.

But yes there are a lot, and I do mean a lot of gamers out there that are total snobs. Nearly every gamer I have met determine a persons worthiness to exist by the games they play. They have absolutely no sense of reality, no life, no job, no girlfriend, a few back stabbing ?friends?, and if they are married they are on the verge of divorce. All they care about is playing those games.

99% of these snobby gamers barely know how to turn on a computer and hit some buttons but yet they think they are the ?best of the best? of computer geeks and gamers and everyone else is garbage to them. They don?t know the first thing about building, repairing or troubleshooting systems or networks. They think that to custom build a computer it means to go to some proprietary company?s website and select a preassembled system and add an external drive to their cart.

Perfect example: My wife and I met this person and she was very nice, then we went to meet her husband and he is a gamer (WOW mostly). He didn?t even say hello to us; his first words were,? Do you play WOW?? We said, ?No, we don?t have time to play much in the way of games.? He immediately sneered and said, ?Well then we have nothing in common.? From that moment on, he has done nothing but talk down to us and about us to everyone. I have even heard him say to people, ??and they don?t even play WOW.? to top off his list of BS.

But guess who the first person was he called when he needed to have his computer fixed. I of course refused because his BS was pouring out of his mouth more than not when he got on the phone with me. I even told him, ?I won?t help you if you keep running your mouth.? He just couldn?t contain himself.

So he went and paid $240 to have it fixed and got ripped off; it got back to him with the same problem and a cheap generic video card installed in the place of the nice ATI he had in it. His wife eventually brought the computer to me and I fixed it; it was the sound card drivers that were causing the whole problem after another update.

To me, everyone can learn (I am learning new stuff all the time) but they have to be willing to learn and drop the ?I know it all and everyone else is a lowly life form? attitude. I would not be where I am today if I had that attitude.

So snobby gamers, just remember, if it weren?t for people like me that design, program, build and repair, you would not have your precious little games.
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Something to take consolation in
Dr_Zinj 13th Sep 2010
There's been a LOT of research lately that's indicating that people who sit for several hours per day are severely impacting their health. And one way to define a hard core gamer is by how much time and for how long they spend parked in front of a PC.

Statistically speaking, if you're a hard core gamer, everyone else is going to outlive you, and be a lot healthier and happier doing so.
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Zynga..
falonscilla 16th Sep 2010
Their motto is do-evil. They infect people with their mindless games, and prey on weaker people by offering them in game rewards for money. They are vultures, and really that is why we look down on them, because they are the scum of the gaming spectrum.
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If they do, they have every right so to do
darije.djokic@... 20th Sep 2010
If someone can drive a Ferrari at full potential, and somebody else has problems with anything more then a nice stroll down the mall in a subcompact, are they equal because they are both just ?drivers?? Of course not, the enjoyment of the subcompact driver might not be much different then that of a Ferrarista, but the second one has all the right to feel elite, behave and talk high. It might not be polite but it is a reflection of the capacity and will to perform, and that is what is ultimately important - You have the Little Ligue and then You have the Big Ligue, and that is that. (Btw, I am a casual gamer).

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