Comments on: What does it mean to be “hardcore”?

By: Skyrider

Skyrider — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:32:50 +0000

Oh, and I still have that nagging sense that something about this next iteration of Civilization seems not quite right.

By: Skyrider

Skyrider — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:22:47 +0000

It’s a problematic word in our language that’s been stretched and overused so much that it’s not a particularly useful word anymore. If anything, it’s more of a hype word now than anything else.

By: Easy There, Tiger, That’s a STRATEGY Game | RobZacny.com

Easy There, Tiger, That’s a STRATEGY Game | RobZacny.com — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:10:06 +0000

[...] Civilization V preview that promised, “It’s not just for the hardcore anymore.” This brought Troy up a little short. It’s not? When was it? Is Civilization a hardcore game for hardcore people? I tweeted my [...]

By: Justin Fletcher

Justin Fletcher — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:59:28 +0000

What does it mean to be “hardcore”? Nothing. It has so many meanings that it’s meaningless.

From where I sit, hardcore is an adjective best applied to porn – not anything else.

By: Jimmy Brown

Jimmy Brown — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:08:22 +0000

“From where I sit, hardcore is an adjective best applied to players – not games.”

I agree completely, Troy. I would further suggest from my experience that “hardcore” is a matter of attitude. Many people can be very interested, highly practiced, and skilled; they can spend a lot of time focused on a certain game or certain type of game. But they lack the hardcore attitude.

I think of it as similar to the MST3K definition of an extreme sport as being anything you do while screaming very loudly.

By: MikeX

MikeX — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:58:37 +0000

IMHO, hardcore refers to the non-casual gamers who enjoy playing complex games of the genre. Hardcore rpg players will like deep stories with unexpected twists and many quests with multiple ways to solve them. Hardcore strategists love to manage things (armies, cities empires) and to be challenged continuously. If the games sells very well, means there are many players who like that type of game, even hardcore players :)

Civ is a game for hardcore strategists. It’s deep, complex and the sheer number of options scares the casual gamer who just wants to have some simple fun. Even if it’s really simple to learn and you can play it on easy, it takes someone who want to rewrite history to understand civ.

IMHO a player who likes shallow strategies isn’t a hardcore player and he won’t like civ. Yes, he can play on easy but that’s not “real” civ and after some time he’ll be bored and he’ll try playing on Noble and he will fail…