I think a hardcore gamer is someone who does not follow trends. Sure, he/she may play Final Fantasy, Gears of War, Halo, etc., but a hardcore gamer also tries the more obscure games, like Okami, Every Extend, etc.

A hardcore gamer also knows and respects the classics: Zelda, Mario, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy before it appeared on Playstation One, etc.

BadFish

I have to say, since reading Siliconera, No OTHER POST HAS BEEN AS POWERFUL AS THIS ONE. Just about everyone here has posted something true to the “HARDCORE GAMER” tag line. We all have our definitions of what is to be “hardcore”.

In many ways, we are all right. I can’t give you an answer, but I’ll tell you this. We all win, because at one point, people laughed, called us nerds, losers, and look at the gaming industry now! We should all proud of ourselves no matter what.

It’s kinda like the difference between someone who is able to enjoy a sophisticated cheese. An open mind is needed for one, and then a love for gaming(or cheese lol).

Also, I think the ability to appreciate bad games because they are bad, and play all the way through it and make it look easy, and by they end, they have mastered a game that everyone says is bad. By mastering it, they develop strategies to use in other games.

With that experience, they can start to play a game they have never played before, and play though it quicker and better then a non hard core gamer.

I would also like to think that having a game or two in there collection with crazy value on Ebay would be a likely candidate.

Overall, I would have to say the hard core gamers are more of a casual gamer since they play so many games in a month. Not only is it their way of life, but they do there best to make it other peoples way of life, and encourage people to play all sorts of other games.

Here is what I would say makes me a hard core gamer:
1 - Obscure collection of games in addition to the main stream games.
2 - Always recommending games, mostly obscure, to people I think will like them, because they started talking to me about mainstream games in the same genre.
3 - somewhat emotionally attached to quite a few characters from games.
4 - Can watch a game commercial and identify well over 3/4s of the games they show, along with the system is is on, the level they are currently playing, and sometimes even the music.
5 - Non inflated ego… I do play competitively, and when I win, I don’t gloat about it, instead I will talk to them about how good of a fight they put up and what they might want to practice on. And when I lose, I congratulate the winner. The last thing I want to do, is beat someone, and then discourage them from ever playing that game again.

My personal belief is that hardcore gamers play for the love of the game. They don’t play to finish games. They don’t play games to say that they played them. They don’t play games to be “in the know.” They play games to advance their gaming experience. It’s the difference between a pro athlete, and one that plays in a rec league. A pro athlete spends everyday trying to hone his skills. A hardcore gamer, while not necessarily honing everyday, will do the same thing. It is somone that just enjoys playing, and doesn’t care about the end result, but just wants to play some more. Every gamer has games they become hardcore about. A few off the top of my head for me was Chrono Trigger (I played it for 2 years or so, trying to figure everything out), Devil May Cry ( Dante must die!), and various final fantasy games. It’s the person that completes a game, just to jump in to the next difficulty to see what changes. It’s the person that spends more time doing random side stuff for no reason, other than it’s there and it means the game won’t be over that much sooner. It’s the person that takes it slow and relishes in the experience, knowing it will be over all too soon.