[casual_games] the term Casual Games

[Greg Zesinger]

Wish I remember who said it at the Casual Games conference in Austin,
but someone referred to casual games as "convenient games" which I think
is a very good description (though not as catchy) since casual players
can be just as hardcore and spend as much time playing these games.

-Greg Zesinger
Product Manager, eGames/Cinemaware
www.egames.com

------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 11:03:40 -0500
From: <jonathan at gametrust.com>
Subject: Re: [casual_games] who invented the term casual games
To: "'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'" <casual_games at igda.org>
Message-ID: <00c201c70d86$9c6bfcd0$7765a8c0 at D261JT71>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="windows-1250"

I remember reading somewhere that the phrase "casual games" was coined
by
the traditional (core/hardcore) video game sector, who, in contrasting
both
sectors, referred to our games as being more "casual" than traditional
games
- in target audience, production budgets/timeframes, etc. 


Jonathan Greechan | Director of Games
Game Trust, Inc. | www.gametrust.com 
jonathan at gametrust.com  | 212.367.7336 x126
MSN: jonathan at gametrust.com | ICQ: 285535456 
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
[mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Brian Robbins
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 10:51 AM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] who invented the term casual games

I'm not sure who actually coined the phrase. Looking back at the
IGDA's Online Games and Casual Games White Papers it seems to have
become fairly prevalent in 2002-2003. The 2002 Online Games White
Paper (http://www.igda.org/online/IGDA_Online_Games_Whitepaper_2002.pdf)
only has 4 or 5 references to casual, and it is all through the
description of "casual gamers"

The 2003 Online Games White Paper though has numerous mentions
throughout of casual gamers, and casual games, though even then it
wasn't a standardized term:
http://www.igda.org/online/IGDA_Online_Games_Whitepaper_2003.pdf

In 2004 we struggled with the name and ended up using Web &
Downloadable games as nobody was very happy with the term Casual
Games, but we didn't have anything better. In 2005 it had become so
commonplace that we just used that term anyway.

My best guess is that nobody truly coined the term. Instead it rose
out of descriptions of the various types of players of these games.
You had hardcore players, and you had casual players. Therefore casual
players must play casual games.



-- 
Brian Robbins
Executive Producer and Gaming Evangelist
Fuel Industries - www.fuelgames.com
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