These days gamers are distributed across the Venn Diagram of “core” and “casual” gamers. The mediums and venues that these gamers play on are widely distributed, but in most cases the core gamers prefer what Schell refers to as “The Hearth”, while the casual gamer may be playing on their smartphone while riding a subway on their commute to work. We discussed these various venues in class, but something I’ve been recently thinking about is the scenarios where the gamer type crosses with what is generally considered the opposite venue.
In thinking about this, I’m mostly intrigued about the casual gamer in a venue like the hearth, as a core gamer is more likely to be an enthusiast of most types of games and therefore should be able to thrive in most venues. But the casual gamer is much different. The casual gamer isn’t concerned with unlocking every single costume, getting every little achievement, or even finishing a game after starting it. So how is it that there are those who consider themselves to be casual gamers who can invest so deeply into gaming by purchasing a home console, and then further purchasing expensive games that they may only play for a few hours?
I think a great example of this is the number of people who enjoy games like Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo is really good at getting the casual audience to purchase their consoles). I know so many people who own Nintendo consoles and games but rarely use them. Yet thinking about how much a Nintendo system costs, plus how expensive new games are, it surprises me that so many people will essentially spend around $300-$350 to play Mario Kart for a few days. I assume that my difficulty in understanding this is because I’m a core gamer, but there are a lot of quality mobile games that appeal to the casual gamers and are so much less expensive than those that are played on a core platform.
I consider myself to be a casual gamer and I find what you had asked as an interesting question too. I see a lot of games, especially some of the ones we talk about in our class, that I would never purchase or find time to play simply because I don’t have the skill level or time to fully play through these games; let alone spend lots of money on various consoles including the games themselves.
As what many of the other comments are saying about Nintendo Wii, I completely agree. The Wii is a console that I could play with my siblings and other family members without needing to have a tremendous amount of skill or time to do so.
To the extent of my understanding, “core games” generally tend to appeal to the Hearth because they are far more skill based. I have always been a casual gamer, and core games have never appealed to me because of the skill requirements that they bring. A game like Mario Kart is so simple to start playing, I never have to make a significant effort to get off my feet.
Its certainly an interesting question isnt it? How do you get a casual gamer to drop “core gamer level money”. My evidence is anecdotal, but I might venture that part of the key lies in the ability of companies like Nintendo to create cross generational opportunities for multiplayer experiences. I know more than a few people who, even if they were not gamers themselves, picked up a Wii because it gave them something they could share with their young children, or older parents. Kind of like a more modern take on family board game night, which works for the reasons Audra described. I’m sure there are plenty more reasons than that, but its something that jumps to mind.
Hi Tom,
I can understand your confusion. I would consider myself to be a casual gamer, but I was really excited about the Wii and Mario Kart is one of my favorite games. I think the appeal of the Wii is that it’s easy to pick up and it’s really engaging. So when having a get together, you don’t have to explain the game in detail because a lot of it is already familiar. Consider Wii Bowling. People already know the rules, the only thing one would have to learn is when to release the button, and how to move and angle your character. For me, there is also the exercise aspect of it that gets me off the couch to play.