a taxonomy of Gamers
so clearly we have the stereotype casual gamer – i.e., someone who primarily plays mobile games like candy crush, f2p MMOs, other things of a drop-in drop-out nature. even if they are quite hardcore about said games they cannot drop this characterization.
then we have hardcore gamer – an ill-defined category; generally taken to mean the person who goes out and buys the newest and shiniest AAA game on the market, whether single-player or multiplayer; no level of proficiency in competitive multiplayer is really required to reach this category. most esports competitors do NOT fall under this category as they devote themselves too thoroughly to one title. generally the domain of the 16-23 year old male. also called “core gamer” by industry types. call of duty aficionados = hardcore; dark souls = hardcore; metal gear solid v = hardcore; fallout 4 = hardcore; halo in its heyday, borderlands, etc.
this is all the mainstream seems to realize, although with the benefit of proximity to the matter, we can see many more subtle varieties–
the competitive gamer: one attracted to the struggle of getting good at a video game, and the competitive element of being better than other people. can be found in games as diverse as league of legends, counter-strike, hearthstone, poker, fighting games, chess, starcraft, etc. oftentimes this comes with a bit of a narrow focus.
the sim gamer: one who plays games on a spectrum from light simulation elements to simulations that strive for verisimilitude. attracted oftentimes by pure geekery of the historical, technical aspects of the simulation, or else or simply attracted by the complexity of the systems involved. gamers who tend towards the latter side of this spectrum may represent the hardcore simmer who looks down upon his more ‘‘casual’’ counterparts. this category also represents more fantastical sims that may not represent reality, such as Dwarf Fortress or even EVE Online.
e.g. in air combat, this spectrum can be represented by: War Thunder (arcadey with light sim elements such as selecting weaponry, modeling of flight physics); Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (more sophistication of flight models, attempts at historical accuracy); to something like IL-2 Sturmovik or DCS A-10C (thorough attempts at accuracy of flight models, physics, history; complexity/nuance of controls; often restricts its scope to a single theater or aircraft to achieve verisimilitude in that one sphere).
artgamers / indiegamers / notgamers: those attracted to experimental games that exercise the craft of the medium; roughly analogous to experimental/art film buffs. example games include Thirty Flights of Loving, Space Funeral, Passage, Undertale, Gone Home. the idea is not that one defends all these games or even likes them (for example i think passage is quite crap), but more that their purpose is to attempt to push the boundaries of the medium.
sidenote: the fact that a list of games used to defend games as art must include a subheading for each entitled “How Its Still Fun As Hell” [sic]… well.
please add categories i’ve forgotten, i’ve mostly stuck to the ones the appeal of which i can best elucidate