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[Elitist1945]

So what exactly does the term "casual" mean when it comes to gaming? My friend called me a "casual" gamer after he learned I stick to genres like Shooters, Action, Adventure, Horror etc. and I'm having trouble figuring out what a "casual" means.

Halp.

 

[Cade]

Casual Gamer = you like what I don't like

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

An insult, or an impenetrable defense against the same insult.

 

[Settin]

It means you wear khakis and a polo shirt to the office.

 

[tengiants]

Depends on who you're talking to.

 

[ComputerMKII]

People who want developers to respect their time.

 

[boredandlazy]

Anything that fits the criteria for the agenda of person using the term.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

So what exactly does the term "casual" mean when it comes to gaming? My friend called me a "casual" gamer after he learned I stick to genres like Shooters, Action, Adventure, Horror etc. and I'm having trouble figuring out what a "casual" means.

Halp.

I don't know exactly as labels are usually pointless and stupid but your friend calling you that one based on what you said is incorrect.

 

[James Scott]

Someone who games casually, usually those thag play on mobile or like 1 or two popular games a year like: CoD, Just Dance, or fifa.
A core gamer would play weirder games that arent as popular or beginning friendly like Bayonetta or Dark souls.
Think of the term "casual movie goer"

 

[TriAceJP]

You are either a 'casual' or a 'hardcore' game player.

Despite the fact I've played and collected games for the past twenty years, I'd consider myself more 'casual' than 'hardcore'.

To break it down, you are either IN IT TO WIN IT 100% everything trophy hunter with 20 hours a week online multiplayer max difficulty etc 'hardcore' or I just want to play for an hour or so and I don't really want to do everything the game allows but just have fun 'casual' gamer.

 

[PirateKing]

Someone who plays games every now and then.

For example, I'm a movie casual. I go to cinema like once a month or two.

 

[Marceles]

You usually get called that when you say you only play games everyone else plays like Call of Duty. It's like someone telling you you only listen to pop music

 

[Dastardly Jerks]

It means sometimes you wanna play games, and sometimes you don't. And those 'sometimes' when you wanna play games, you wanna actually have fun and not compete or be obsessed with being the best.

 

[darkazcura]

There's actually no such thing as either. They're just all games, and we play them.

 

[Cudder]

Someone who plays games for fun and doesn't scrutinize everything. Basically not GAF.

 

[Currygan]

someone who just don't give a shit about brands not attachment to a particular property or franchise, and plays what he/she likes atm, before forgetting all about it the very next day. It's a curse, and a blessing

 

[loaf of bread]

Someone who generally doesn't play a lot of games and mainly sticks to the big hitters i.e. Cod, Madden, Halo, Battlefield and doesn't really follow the industry/releases.

I wouldn't consider anyone on Gaf, an internet gaming forum, a casual gamer.

 

[SystemBug]

Casual Gamer = you like what I don't like

done and done

 

[Militant17]

A person who games on an irregular basis?

I mean if your playing once a week or so, that's casual gaming. I don't stick any other preconceptions on top of that, don't care what you play. It all depends on how much you play it. Imo.

 

[Fbh]

IMO:

I've allways considered them people who play and enjoy videogames but aren't that much into them.
They don't keep up with gaming news, they don't visit gaming sites, they mostly buy the heaviest advertised game... and they mostly play online or with friends.
Or people that mostly play candy-crush like games on their phones

I really don't see it as a "bad" thing like many people on gaming forums. Some people are just not that into game but still enjoy them

 

[zenosparadox]

Someone who likes games but only the popular stuff.

Edit: Like someone that only watches summer blockbuster movies or only listens to the radio/top 100, etc.

 

[Dodecagon]

Someone who doesn't practice personal hygiene

 

[JordanN]

A casual is someone who plays and buys less games than a hardcore gamer.

Casual games take advantage of this (i.e, games that are meant to be played in short bursts instead of actually engaging with you to play more).

 

[MacH1nation]

Someone who may play an odd game or two on their phone or in a social setting with others for something like MK or Smash, but who doesn't care about gaming as a hobby or enthusiast.

At least, that's how I feel the term is generally used.

 

[illmatic24]

I view it as someone who plays the most popular games and sticks mainly to those games without branching out much. Especially yearly ones such as CoD, Madden, etc. Maybe stuff like Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil.

I also view it as someone who buys one system and sticks to it with little desire of trying anything else.

 

[NinjamicWZ]

Kinda likes playing games sometimes, but is not super into it as a hobby, and doesn't really care about anything to do with games in any kind of historic, technical, artistic, cultural or financial contexts.

 

[Qblivion]

Someone who plays games for the fun, rather than playing competitively.

I like Dark Souls single player, but don't really care about pvp. I consider myself casual.

 

[Gattsu25]

Casual gamer = gamer who plays games that I don't like

Its origins are from marketing teams. You know, the same people that have no problem calling their biggest fans "whales"

 

[smurfx]

Someone who generally doesn't play a lot of games and mainly sticks to the big hitters i.e. Cod, Madden, Halo, Battlefield and doesn't really follow the industry/releases.

I wouldn't consider anyone on Gaf, an internet gaming forum, a casual gamer.

what do you consider somebody that plays none of the new games and sticks to 1 or 2 older games?

 

[Cuphead]

Casual Gamer = you like what I don't like

This

 

[DarkHeartedKill]

It's just an insult pretentious people use to make themselves feel better.

Casual Gamer = you like what I don't like

This also sums it up quite perfectly.

 

[Omega]

someone that plays games casually. Whether you're playing Dark Souls or Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is irrelevant.

 

[klee123]

A person who plays the yearly big games, but doesn't really go into the specifics about them? Such as, discussing about it on forums, sales talk, technical aspects etc.

I consider anyone who posts on GAF gaming side to be a gaming enthusiast lol.

 

[Trust me. I'm a PhD]

You know you will say something like "I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy" and your friend goes "It was a fairly competent interpretation, but their decision to choose the least well known line up to represent their first foray into the Marvel universe is a short sighted one because it limits their ability to adapt the most celebrated story lines from the original run of the team" and you reply with "I... um... baby Groot was cute." You are a casual Marvel fan (as am I^^). Sure, it could and sometimes is used in a derogatory fashion, but when my wife (who plays Diablo 3, Towerfall, and other co op games with me) say "Why are there no more Mario games for PS4?" There needs to be some distinction between those very invested in a hobby and those only casually so. It is why we have Bookworms, Movie buffs, Otakus, and Sports super fans.

 

[Anon67]

I don't really care for the "casual" label, though I would consider a "casual" to be someone who doesn't follow the gaming industry or plays seasonally released games like Madden and Call of Duty.

 

[travisbickle]

Someone who is more accepting of playing an average/good game with less than stellar IQ.

 

[Octavia]

I dono, I thought it was always pretty cut and dry to me:

Casual: Facebook games, flash games, and some light mobile stuff. Couldn't tell you anything about a 'console', 'controller', or anything like that.

Regular: Everyone else who doesn't engage less than the above.

 

[TheGreyHulk]

Hipster gamers call those who play nothing but madden and blockbuster games "casuals", but to me, those are "core" gamers to me. They know how to pick up the sticks and play. They just play what they like and that's cool.

Casuals to me are those who don't really game at all and just play simple mobile games like candy crush and clash of clans or whatever the hit new social game is. They don't really care for gameplay. They just like the fad game in the hear of the moment cuz their friends all play it.

 

[Riposte]

Used sensibly, it means on a spectrum, you fall toward on the less dedicated side of the spectrum (spend less effort and time). The other side the of the spectrum are dedicated gamers (or "hardcore"). This is relative to individual games or genres. I doubt it really applies to you if you are posting on GAF.

 

[Corpekata]

At this point it's one of those terms or phrases (like "not a game") that signals the person is probably not worth talking to.

 

[Gaiaknight]

someone who only plays for a couple hours a week.

 

[jellies_two]

casual gaming is gaming you can do without the spouse getting on your case about it

 

[kubricks]

Casual Gamer = you like what I don't like

Cheers.

 

[Harpuea]

Some one who plays games, but don't care about its history, its politics, its news. They may also don't care about deeper game mechanics.

Pokemon can be pretty casual and hardcore to the extreme for example: Pick it up and play it once for fun is a casual Pokemon master. The hardcore Pokemon master dudes breeds them over hundreds if not thousand of generations to the max/min with the eugenics of stats and techniques in mind. I didn't even know such mechanics even exists. I am therefore a Pokemon casual. However, I am a FPS hardcore utilizing and exploiting TTK, Latency, average reaction time, server tick, CoF Standing/Crouch/Strafing to the max. Casual FPS players accuse me of hacking all the time cause I kill them before I even render on their screen, etc.

 

[Braag]

I consider someone like my mom a casual gamer who plays only games which she bought from her iPad or iPhone, she plays games almost each day ranging from 30 min to 1h.
The games need to be really basic too, she hates violence or guns in her games so she ends up playing usually very similar games but with a different paint job.

 

[levyjl1988]

Gamers who don't take considerable effort to master a game or learn it's indepth mechanics. One who probably plays the story mode only for the story at the casual option setting. Doesn't care about the gameplay mechanics or collectables. Will most likely buy the vanilla game and not the DLC. They have no allegiance and will quickly swap over to the next big thing without any fandom.

ie) Casual gamers who gamed on the DS and moved on to playing iPads without jumping on the 3DS because it's not retina display. They would choose to play crappy microtransaction games on the iPad than $40-50 on a good quality handheld title.


Sigh.... though most of the casual crowd do have more money than those that are hardcore in a way than most.

 

[flatearthpandas]

You only game at parties or when you've been drinking.

 

[Professional Enthusiast]

Someone that only buys one console per generation, usually the most popular one, and only gets COD/Madden/GTA.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

It means gaming while wearing a polo shirt and some nice corduroys, as opposed to wing tips, dress pants, and a silk button up


or nothing really at all

 

[User 479360]

Someone who only plays one or a couple of games, and only games here and there.

Parents who play Wii Bowling or party games with their kids, those who just buy Call of Duty, etc.