[casual_games] FAQs: Casual Games vs. Casual Gamers

[Brian Robbins]

Michelle, that's great insight and of course leads to one of the
biggest issues with trying to do something like this. To a large
extent casual games are impossible to define. We have struggled with
this for years when working on the white papers, and no matter what
definition we come up with, there are examples and edge cases that
invalidate it.

My personal thought is that defining casual games in terms of their
typical player is the most accurate, but there's still lots of
problems with that.

As such there's a bit of a cop-out answer on the FAQ :)
http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

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


On 11/22/06, Michelle Bushneff <michelle at planbenterprises.com> wrote:

> Yet another great initiative from the IGDA -- thanks for being so responsive

> to us members.

>

> Regarding the definition of casual games, one suggestion -- use Wikipedia as

> a starting point. For example, their definition of Casual Games:

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casual_games. Is this a good definition, or

> should it evolve?

>

> FAQ: Is a casual gamer one who plays casual games?

>

> The term "casual gamer" is another story. Wikipedia does not define it

> separately, and personally I take issue with their definition of the term

> "hardcore gamer" as being the opposite of "casual gamer." A hardcore gamer

> is one "whose leisure time is largely devoted to playing video games.

> Typically, they will play a game to mastery before moving on, in the process

> becoming very knowledgeable about individual games." Couldn't that

> definition apply to a segment of the audience for casual games if you simply

> remove the word "video?"

>

> --Michelle

> ----------------------------------------------------

> Michelle Bushneff | http://www.PlanBEnterprises.com

> ----------------------------------------------------

>