[casual_games] Re: What is a Casual Game?

[Phil Steinmeyer]

I think what Joe was trying to stop was an argument over semantics.  Those 
are boring.  What are casual games?  Can games be art?  What is a clone? 
Blah, blah...

But I think you're touching on something interesting.  Why do certain games 
that *look* like they should be casual games (i.e. Oasis) not have 
substantial commercial appeal to the audience that we generally deem to be 
the casual audience (i.e. people who try and buy games off the portals - who 
skew substantially female, older, etc than the average 'core-gamer'.

Regardless of the label - why do some games succeed in this market and other 
games, actively targeted at this market, fail?

I liked Oasis, too, as did a lot of other 'core-gamers', including many of 
us developers.  It won GameTunnel's 2005 game of the year, and was the IGN 
winner in 2004.  But it didn't resonate (apparently), with the 'casual 
gamer' crowd.

Another game I liked that also featured a deductive minesweeper mechanic was 
'Betrapped!'.  That game also appears to have been a commercial 
dissappointment.

Clearly, there is some level of strategy and forward thinking in some casual 
hits (Bejewelled and it's ilk, etc), but I think the key is that it doesn't 
go TOO far, and that the game still appears to contain a substantial element 
of luck (i.e. to grossly stereotype - Aunt Sally can play the game while 
half-watching a soap opera and still succeed).

It's frustrating to me, and perhaps to others on this list, because many of 
the mechanics that appeal to me personally, don't seem to appeal as much in 
the marketplace.  Some of the biggest hits (Collapse, Bejewelled, even 
Zuma), feel overly simplistic when I play them and I quickly get bored.  But 
I'm not a good representative of my target demographic.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Szeder" <john at mofactor.com>
To: "'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'" <casual_games at igda.org>
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 1:04 PM
Subject: RE: Re[2]: [casual_games] Re: What is a Casual Game?


>I think that minesweeper is more of a "core gamer" game.
>
> Using deduction to determine where to click is not intuitively obvious to
> many people.
>
> I don't consider Oasis, which is among my favorite games, to be very 
> casual
> either and it is inspired by minesweeper.
>
> Judging by the volume and frequency of posts to the leaderboard, I think 
> the
> reaction of the consumer marketplace speaks to my statement. The reaction 
> of
> the penny arcade people, who are very "core gamer" oriented also seem to
> support that while the game is "downloadable", it is not really "casual".
>
> It looks like people are trying to derail this topic just as we are about 
> to
> explore a boundary condition so I will defer to the wishes of the list and
> shaddup accordingly.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
> On Behalf Of Aleksey Linetskiy
> Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 8:29 AM
> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
> Subject: Re[2]: [casual_games] Re: What is a Casual Game?
>
> I would disagree. In my opinion, both are casual games - they're just
> for somewhat different players.
>
> -- Aleksey Linetskiy
> -- http://grumpytech.blogspot.com
>
> Friday, January 6, 2006, 2:43:49 AM, you wrote:
>
>> That doesn't say anything about accessibility or game style.
>
>> I think most people would say that solitaire is a casual game, and
>> minesweeper isn't.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
>> [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
>> On Behalf Of Adeo Ressi
>> Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 7:38 PM
>> To: casual_games at igda.org
>> Subject: [casual_games] Re: What is a Casual Game?
>
>> I have a simple definition for a "Casual Game" that I always use:
>
>> "Casual games have a short duration of play and are easy to learn."
>
>> As a result of these two dynamics, casual games are a mass market
>> phenomenon. To some extent, it does not matter what we, as an industry,
>> think. It matters how we define ourselves to the end user: short and 
>> easy.
>
>>         Adeo
>
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>
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>
>
>
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