This comic is based on actual events. Really!
Suddenly, there he/it appeared, a mysterious figure in a dark cloak, after some poor sap picked up a copy of Myst instead of Quake 3: Arena. As our tale relates, that poor soul paid the price for his choice.
Let’s talk about this whole “Casual” vs “Hardcore” thing.
My friends and I have had many pointless conversations on this whole thing. We’ve basically come to the conclusion that “Casual” games are meant to be picked up easily. That is, there is no barrier to entry and the game can be learned very quickly. The common mistake made is to assume that something being labeled a “Casual” game is the equivalent of saying it is easy or lacks depth. However, this just isn’t the case. There are quite a number of “Casual” titles that have deep, engaging game play.
Conversely, “Hardcore” titles require that you have some preexisting knowledge of the genre or type of game. The barrier to entry is higher and it may take a while (or longer) for a player to learn all the nuances of the game. Additionally, as with the “Casual” label above, a game that is classified as “Hardcore” is neither necessarily significantly more difficult than it’s “Casual” brethren, nor does the label imply that the game has tons of depth.
Personally, I have enjoyed games from both wells and figure that as long as you like the game, why try and justify your gaming prowess to others (or yourself) by assigning it a pointless label?
See you Thursday.