Casual gaming girl power; overall boys rule console market
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Apr 17th 2007 at 7:00AM }
Solid information is starting to trickle in about what actually comprises the gamer demographic. Companies are starting to ask who is actually playing their games instead of just assuming it's 16-year-old Timmy Smith living in some square state with his mom and dad, sibling, dog and house with a white picket fence -- and yes, that's who marketing companies still think they're pandering to. According to the ESA 70 percent of gamers are over 18 and 62 percent are male; however, a study commissioned by PopCap Games found that 76 percent of casual gamers are female.The demographics have been shifting dramatically as the Atari generation, who grew up with video games, has children and begins raising a more gaming friendly generation. The console market continues to be 58 percent male, but all things considered, that isn't too large of a gap. Most cross demographic hits like The Sims and World of Warcraft are found on the PC and many people casually game when they're at work anyway. Maybe the answer is as simple as when the husband and wife are at home, wife doesn't want to sit and watch husband play Gears of War so she goes to the PC and games whether that be a casual game or, um, non casual. The demographic information is still nebulous at the moment, but at least we're starting to get a real picture of demographics in the industry.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Geo @ Apr 17th 2007 7:34AM
Now all we need are definitions of "casual" and "hardcore" gamers.
kris @ Apr 17th 2007 7:37AM
Can some one please explain to me what "casual" gamer means? I mean, if i Have a busy month at work my 360 and wii will sit collecting dust for that time. However, maybe if i'm off work or at home it gets played all the time til the wii hours of the morning (excuse the pun!)
Plus, i have a wide collection of games (as upposed to an obsessed WOW player who may only play that one game). If you only play and buy one game are you casual becasue of you tastes.
Or take my girlfriend, I brought her a DS and she has become obsessed with Brain age but is that a game at all? (as it has no beginnning/middle/end) in the traditional sense.
I don't know, my head hurts.
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 8:21AM
Geo
Let me make it simple.
Hardcore-loves every game console and will buy them if can, stay up till three in the morning playing games on a work day, plays games at work while in the bathroom, most friends are gamers as well
Casual-loves quick easy fun, loves games you can play while taking a shit on the toilet after work, Owns the most popular console of the generation, Thinks they can discuss gaming with the hardcore but can't,
kris @ Apr 17th 2007 8:32AM
@Jack of no trades.
If you think hard core gamer is really so easily defined you really are an idiot. I have owned pretty much every major machine since the early 90's (even a virtua boy!) but it arrogant tossers like you that make me never want to be associated with "hardcore" gamers.
Oh and which console is the most popular from the current generation. Please, let me know?????
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 8:40AM
kris
You are in the same hardcore category as me whether you like it or not. If you have owned almost all the consoles you are hardcore and are in a minority.
"Oh and which console is the most popular from the current generation. Please, let me know?????"
Still way to early to tell. Way way to early....Wii or 360.
Kizzle @ Apr 17th 2007 10:18AM
Hanson > Spice Girls
Slaziman @ Apr 17th 2007 9:02AM
I think hardcore gamers are people who play critically acclaimed games and not shit like Cars, NFS Underground or Cooking Mama.
samfish @ Apr 17th 2007 9:17AM
I think there is two types of casuals:
The ones who buy whatever console is the most popular, just too play games like Madden and a few other really popular games, like GTA.
And then there are the ones who play simple little mini games or games you can spend about 20 or so minutes with; they generally have a 'take it or leave it' attitude towards video games.
As for hardcores, they used to be considered people who plays LOTS of games, but at some point over the last 8 or so years (maybe even longer), a crowd of people christened themselves "hardcore gamers"...hijacking it to mean you like games with blood, explosions and swearing.
I would consider a 'hardcore gamer' to be someone who may or may not have more than one console (fanboy), but spends a LOT of time playing games and will accumulate a nicely sized, respectable library of games at the end of the generation.
Ikitsumatatsu @ Apr 17th 2007 9:24AM
Hardcore gamers HATE change. They hate seeing a company with the influence to change the perception of what is popular in gaming, especially if it threatens the genre they've settled into.
Casual gamers will try almost anything, moving from genre to genre like it's nothing. This makes the casual gamer THE archetype to market to. Once again, the hardcore gamer feels threatened that his way of life is in danger, and will stop at nothing to delay the inevitable.
For example, arguing/trolling on the internet. Casual gamers are too busy being casual to waste time like that.
kris @ Apr 17th 2007 9:37AM
@ Samfish, So where does that leave ur WOW hardcore 24 hour stinters (or any other MMO player). If they only play that one game for five years and don't buy any consoles are they hardcore? Also surely your wealth and priorities determines how many games you buy (i buy many more now, but struggled to buy many snes games when i was 13 and living off a paper round!!)
@ jack of no trades.
I agree i would class myself as hardcore but i just think the lines are too blured. Take my cousin for example. He got brought Oblivion with a 360 recently as his first console. I checked one of his saves and he had spent over 180 hours playing it and had all 1000 achievement points. Now to me thats hardcore but he wasn't even alive when sega and nintendo were doing battle!!
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 9:39AM
@Ikitsumatatsu
Not all change is good. Change will lead to simplistic games. Hardcore gamers are set in their ways and refuse to change just because of mass appeal.
Im not going to change my gaming ways just because Average Joe thinks the story and controls are too complexed. If you can't hang with the big dogs sit on the porch.
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 9:43AM
kris
Hardcore requires dedication. If you are willing to put that that much time into a game your are hardcore.
sheppy @ Apr 17th 2007 9:54AM
"Hardcore gamers HATE change. They hate seeing a company with the influence to change the perception of what is popular in gaming, especially if it threatens the genre they've settled into."
This, to me, is amusing. After all, it wasn't the casual gamers that kept buying the 2K series of sports when EA was there. Likewise, it wasn't the casuals who took the first chances in sandbox style games. And find me one casual gamer that doesn't internally cringe when you describe a game as "it's more of a traditional turn based RPG except your skillsets and spells change in power based upon how well you do in the dating sim" when they ask what Ar Tonelica is. Hell, find me one casual gamer that's made it lv9999 in Disgaea 2.
Hardcore gamers are just as prone to give new genres a shot as casuals. Even more so, actually. They don't fear change, they encourage it. They fear an abandonment of the past and their presence as a via market in favor of market fads.
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 9:57AM
Hardcore gamers are in the minority and just like any minority we will get the screwed becaused the money is in the majority.
Geo @ Apr 17th 2007 9:59AM
You guys are proving my point. There is no set definition for either. What is the point of putting people in categories that don't have definitions?
And Jack, even in a thread that doesn't involve wii bashing, you still come out sounding stupid. A hardcore gamers plays games while shitting at work, and a casual plays them while taking a shit after work? Hardcores love every console? Please.
Shawn D @ Apr 17th 2007 10:12AM
It's freakin' simple in my mind. Anything with "Hardcore" in front of it simply means they are more "dedicated" than someone with say, "Casual" in front of their description. This goes with JUST ABOUT anything in life, of course with some exceptions, but for the most case it's true.
It's also relative to the next guy/gal, keep that in mind.
Until someone actually uses the brain God gave them, and works their tail off throughout their life, to learn about tech, in order to build an amazing Gaming Rig, should they even be considered "Hardcore" in my eye's, this also includes coders as well(Of course I'm not leaving them out!!). Ever go to a LAN party? Now those gamers' have dedication and commitment on a level most people have absolutely no comprehension of.
Compare that to Joe Blow who simply runs out to the store and buys a console and plays Gears everyday, I ask, who is more hardcore? I think the answer to that is simple. Some will disagree simply because they are biased and take it the wrong way.
If you compare Joe Blow against Casual Cindy(Yeah, the one with the perty pink panties) who is fresh out of college and likes to play slingo and uno all day, who is more hardcore? This is when the issue becomes grey. Is it the time you spend gaming? Or is it the time you spend gaming on certain types of games?
This is why I look for another factor, such as learning and building a machine from sought after knowledge. Mind you, it's just my OPINION, and we all know every one has them and they are compared to something else not suited for Joystiq.com.
When it boils down to it, most people, I would say are casuals, but this is obvious. I don't think we can look at this issue in Black and White, Hardcore and Casual. There are many shades of Grey out there, and the only need for classification is for corporate marketing interests, otherwise, we the people shouldn't really give a damn, because it doesn't serve any purpose in labeling people like cattle. That's the corporation's Job.
Sidepocket @ Apr 17th 2007 10:58AM
@ Jack of No Trades
More idiot PS2-era hardcore bullshit that makes me wish I was never a "gamer" and feel sad in the game industry.
The new change is simple controls, not simple gameplay. Heck even back in the NES days you had the simple gameplay types and the complex gaming types.
Hardcore is achived by the folowing: A sence of long history of games for at least 2 generations (I have been through 6), someone who plays a game for very long periods of time, and lastly varity. You need to like all genras and game types and not to lable yourself into one type of game.
Anyone who thinks that they are going to try to "change your gaming ways" is an idiot and parinoid. You sounded exactly like the people who thought videogames would shrink and be too eazy when 3D came out.
I rest my case.
Sidepocket @ Apr 17th 2007 10:23AM
Not to mention, just to get my thoughts out, hardcore gamers come from casuals. Its kind of like how mods and wizards were all noob when they started out. When most of us started out, we were playing Sonic or Pac-Man or Mario. By today's standards, kiddy casual games.
To me, this whole hardcore VS casual thing is like Baseball fenatics dissing Little Leagers. Without the Little Leauge, how are you going to get new baseball players and fans you twits!?!
sheppy @ Apr 17th 2007 10:22AM
"Hanson > Spice Girls"
Well yeah, given just that choice. But that's a rather poor choice. It's like compared being headbutted in the nuts by a midget in a viking helmet to being kick in the nuts by a horse in soccer cleats. Both are painful, which one less so?
kris @ Apr 17th 2007 10:40AM
I agree with sidepocket in the sense that as i was saying, No one starts off 'hardcore'. We all develop into it. I have friends who play ur usual Halo2/Pro evo/GTA/Tiger woods stuff and most hardcore gamers would call them blinkered. Yet if they Complete GTA:SA and complete every side level, every extra. Well isn't that an act of hardcoreness???
Also, i love tiger woods and think madden on the wii is awesome (i'm british so american football is not popular over here). Does that make me less hardcore because they are made by EA??
Nah, a games a game. Stop taking it all so seriously.
Geo @ Apr 17th 2007 10:49AM
Sidepocket:
So if I game 20 hrs a week but only play sports games, im casual?
What if I love all kinds of games, but don't play any of them for more than 5 hours a week?
I think the metric must be simpler than that. Maybe just what percentage of free time is spent playing games. Its not perfect, and doesn't allow for nuance, but its a lot better than having specific requirements that must be met.
rlh445 @ Apr 17th 2007 11:20AM
Um, no. I personally hate the term 'hardcore' and 'casual'. If you play video games, you're not 'casual'. Sometimes I get to play Guitar Hero II for 15 or so minutes in the morning before work. Sometimes I'll come home from work and play for 3 hours. It varies, and I know I'm not the only one. Most people game around their schedules. That doesn't make them 'casual', just busy. If you're ignoring work in favor of gaming, you're not hardcore, only sad and pathetic.
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 10:56AM
"a games a game"
There are differences between casual and hardcore games.
I do agree that there is too much grey area in between casual and hardcore. But some games are easy to tell if they are hardcore or casual.
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 11:03AM
"You sounded exactly like the people who thought videogames would shrink and be too eazy when 3D came out."
Nobody thought 3D would make games too easy. It was the opposite. There is a big difference between switching from 2D to 3D and switching from regular controls to half ass motion controls.
Geo @ Apr 17th 2007 11:09AM
By your own definition, jack, you are a casual gamer.
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 11:22AM
There is different levels of Hardcore and Casual.
Im a Level 1 Hardcore. I own NES, Xbox, G-cube, 360, PS3 and my girl owns a Wii but that don't count. I play games about two-three hours everyday almost.
Geo @ Apr 17th 2007 11:28AM
And the conversation falls deeper into the pit of stupid.
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 11:57AM
Geo
If you want we can go back to the Crysis vs Halo debate lol.
Geo @ Apr 17th 2007 12:14PM
I don't know what you mean. Maybe you're thinking of someone else.
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 12:32PM
Oh! We usually fight on every topic so I assumed it was you. lol
Evan @ Apr 17th 2007 12:40PM
@Jack of No Trades "Change will lead to simplistic games." ... "Im not going to change my gaming ways just because Average Joe thinks the story and controls are too complexed."
Casual games are not necessarily simple games. Games like Sodoku and online chess require a lot more thought and strategy than shooting at anything that moves in Halo. Many casual games are difficult and require a lot of practice to become good at them.
The fundamental difference I see is:
- Hardcore games try to get your heart pumping, and give people excitment that's missing from their daily lives.
- Casual games try to get your brain working, but are otherwise relaxing, and give people a break from the excitment and stress already in their daily lives.
SaraAB87 @ Apr 17th 2007 1:08PM
There's too many types of people and too many types of games to actually define who is hardcore and who is not. The definition of hardcore is more likely than not just a marketing gimmick so that a company can try to figure out who to target their products at.
There are people who stay up all night gaming then there are people who just play for 15 min a day and there are people that play around their schedule and some that play a couple hours per day, some people play games based on whats coming out when... if there are no games they want coming out and if they have already beaten the games they have they may stop playing for a while then come back to it. Then you have people who are just a huge mix of everything above.
Seasons also factor into it, most school kids play more in the summer when they are off school and have nothing to do and are not old enough to get a job. While the high school and college students might not play as much during the summer because they are working their part-time jobs. People in general at least where I live tend to play more in the winter simply because there are less things to do other than video games.
Theres just a ton of factors that determine how people play games.. way too many to make a generalization about everyone who plays games, as everyone who plays games is different.
As for myself I am a female and believe it or not I actually enjoy collecting games more than playing them, but I am not interested in purchasing any of the new generation consoles as they do not offer anything that I am interested in shelling out a lot of money for yet. The gamecube and Nintendo DS Lite are the most current systems I own. I prefer to collect games for older consoles such as the NES all the way through the dreamcast and gamecube. Collecting, restoring and making dead games work again is a big part of it. When I am not fixing up games and systems to work again I am playing the games I worked so hard to collect and fix up. I also like to buy, sell and trade video games in various ways. I usually play about 1-2 hours a day if that, and if my time is not occupied by my collection activities. But again this play time can vary depending on a lot of factors.
I also play based on release dates, for example since Pokemon D/P comes out this weekend I will likely be glued to that game for a full 6+ hours on Sunday, which is something I don't find myself doing often. But other times I will buy a new release game, put it on my shelf without playing it and then come back to it months later (this happens especially when I think its going to be a hard to find title.). I go to bed promptly every night and I am definitely not the type to stay up all night and play a game, and I can put a game down at a moment's notice in order to do something else, I have no trouble pulling myself away from games to do other things.
So where would I fit into this whole mess of hardcore and casual? I own a lot of systems, but I do not own any of the big 3 current ones... yet. Does owning a Nintendo DS Lite make me a casual gamer even though I own hundreds upon hundreds of games for past systems (over 200 gameboy games and around 120 NES games)? What about all the older consoles I bothered to collect, where does that make me fit in in the scheme of things?
Also in my travels I come across a lot of people who just want to play the old games, I had a 50 year old woman want to buy an NES from me just because she wanted to play the old games, and another person who was buying some of my atari games for his father.. there are lots of these types of people out there, people that just want to play the old games... where do they fit in?
Jack of No Trades @ Apr 17th 2007 1:16PM
Sara
Hardcore and Casual differs by how much time and dedication you spend playing games.
Chess would be considered a hardcore game compared to checkers and Warioware.
Geo @ Apr 17th 2007 3:08PM
Once again, that makes no sense. If I play checkers 10 hours a week, am I casual or hardcore? Or can I not be hardcore because Im not playing a specific game?
If we ever want to make any use of these terms that people like to throw around so much, we cant put what games into it.
Defenestrator2.0 @ Sep 10th 2007 9:42PM
How about we just agree that "hardcore" and "casual" cannot be defined, and that Jack of No Trades is a dumbass because he constantly contradicts himself in his posts? Does that sound acceptable?
Geo @ Apr 17th 2007 3:35PM
Sounds about right to me.
Mr Khan @ Apr 17th 2007 4:26PM
I'd say "hardcore" is a state of mind. I would consider myself hardcore, even though i only play about 1 hr a day (I lack the time to do anything more and retain my grades/sanity)
I consider myself hardcore because i spend most of my free time and resources around such games, but i'll play anything from the simple (Wii Sports) to the infinitely complex (Fire Emblem). There are those less devoted to thier games who would call themselves hardcore, and there are those who are much, much more obsessive than i. Also the fact that i haven't owned a non-Nintendo system since the Dreamcast...
Now "Casual" is just a word that us "hardcore" gamers apply to anyone we feel to be beneath our level of devotion. Someone more devoted than i would maybe call me casual, it all depends
Mephistopheles @ Apr 17th 2007 6:22PM
The definitions are simple: A hardcore gamer is somebody whose primary hobby and use of free time goes towards gaming. A casual gamer is some whose hobby and primary use of free time is not dedicated to gaming but to something else. There are different extremes within each group but the definition still stands.
The problem people have with defining these terms is that they try to describe the person of each type rather than set the criteria.
I was once a hardcore gamer but as I got older I found other hobbies and now gaming takes a back seat to those hobbies which makes me a casual gamer.
Nino @ Apr 17th 2007 6:34PM
You're probably not a hardcore gamer if the words "The princess is in another castle" doesn't mean anything to you.
I'd say anyone who plays at least 3 different genres of gaming and plays around 5+ hours a week is hardcore (and of course plays 20+ whenever they get a new game they like). I don't consider my other female friends who only play RPGs hardcore because RPGs aren't reflex-based, a big part of what makes most games games.
Nino @ Apr 17th 2007 6:34PM
don't mean anything to you*
Damn lack of edit feature.
luckyluc @ Apr 18th 2007 10:33AM
@ Well, just about everyone:
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Casual games is an INDUSTRY
Casual games is not how often someone buys a game - it's a seperate (but similar) market to Hardcore gamers. Most casual games are PC, but you'll see a few on the consoles, handhelds and mobile.
Check out sites like BigFishGames.com or iWin. Those are sites that offer casual games. Casual games are Bejeweled, Mystery Case Files, Diner Dash, Super Collapse... etc. They are games that are easy to learn with comparatively lower production values than hardcore games.
Also, none of this demographic info is new. We've been saying for years now that the casual games market is comprised mostly of women over 40.
Dr. Goat @ Apr 19th 2007 4:38AM
After reading the discussion i have decided the word hardcore is causing alot of trouble. People are even taking offense becuase we are trying to classify ourselves, in doing so we draw a line between us and another person. In trying to define ourselves we must inevitably exclude some one else. It's like water for instance. Water can be flowing in an ocean and water can be in a cup.
Now i'm going to explain why the word hardcore has deep meaning for me. I haven'y dated many women in my life, but all of the ones i have were very passionate about music.
For instance the first girl i dated. Now i had heard some songs on the radio before by a band named nirvana and even downloaded some of them. loved em, good songs. However, i didn't care about kurt cobain or his wife courtney or even why or (if) killed himself.
I put the IF in parenthessis for this reason. My first girl friend was OBSESSED WITH THE BAND NIRVANA AND KURT COBAIN EVEN MORE!!!... i can't even describe how much she was obsessed. It got to the point i began to hate nirvana becuase of howmuch her passion for them shadowed my "casual" enjoyment of the music.
Also, becuase of my nature, i have often put myself down and thought horrible of myself for not having this passion of hers. Why can i not enjoy going to concerts? Why don't i know the name of the lead singer in this band i like so much? Questions like this that made me feel i was "less" than hardcore. my vote didn't count. i often ended up resenting her.
now for you women i also noticed something about my nature. even though i am a male. I often exhibit behavior that is "stereotypicaly" thought of as female. I make this point becuase of what i wrote above. the problem i faced within my relationship with a person with a "passion" for music. It often reminds me of my sister who's husband who plays video games alot and is also passionate about music. Often times she feels neglected and can become resentfull becuase of her lack of ability to share this "passion" with him. As do many women get a bit irritated about their partners time spent on video games and get mad at them for it.
I have cuased myself alot of pain becuase i felt i didn't live up to other people becuase i lacked their "passion" which made them "hardcore" something i wasn't and could never be. i often call myself a pussy. however, today, i try to be proud of being a pussy.
So i relate this to this discussion in that hardcore to me is some one who has a passion, devotion, and deeper understanding.
someone who was female made a post about how she is a collector of ALL games. Your question was are you a hardcore gamer. I'm not going to classify you as hardcore or casual, becuase you seem more like a connaisseur of video games. You understand all games are different from generation to generation as well as genre to genre. you have no personal favorite becuase your favorite is the concept of games themselves and what it means to play a game period.
And for the people who classify themselves as hardcore i have to say this. You are competitive and thats why your posts are offending people. I can sit at my computer and play Half-life oldschool multiplayer deathmatch for 15 minutes and completely own everyone in the server. However, thats only becuase i used to play that game constantly and competitively. I wasn't playing "just for the fun of it" i was playing it to kick your ass and prove i'm the baddest mutha fucka in the server.
and for people who classify themselves as casual gamers, you simply enjoy gaming. What you desire from a game is an, "escape", something to distract you from life as usual for the sake of a little bit of enjoyment. The casual gamer is some one who could care less if they get a 50/3 kill ratio (i had that in counter-strike using only the desert eagle in a full server of 18 ;) ;)) in a deathmatch server.
which brings me back to my dilema with the women i date and their "passion" for music. the problem is, they are HARDCORE listeners. the music isn't enough for them. they have to KNOW where it came from, why it sounds the way it does, and what it means to them. It's why they jump into mashpit, becuz the people with the bruises and the scars are showing off badges of devotion to their music. so compared to my girlfriends i am a casual listener of music.
now back to the connaisseur. I am a connaisseur of pot, but am a hardcore gamer. When it comes to pot i am a collecter... i have saved a nugget from every bag of pot i've bought in the past year and a half. i don't smoke this pot. i save it and put it in a jar so that i can have the "smell" of that strain of pot on file so i can recognize it again when i see it to enhance my knowledge of pot itself. However, i have met many "hardcore" pot smokers...and many "casual" pot smokers. Some that smoke pot constantly, but to them pot is pot. Some that smoke every now and then, but to them still pot is pot.
that makes me a "casual" listener of music
that makes me a "hardcore" gamer
and that makes me a "pot" connaisseur
everyone you will ever meet in life has a "casual" side, a "hardcore" side, and a "connaisseur" side.
Also, there can be hardcore female gamers, casual female gamers, and obviously a true connaisseur
female gamer (the game collector who posted who said she was female). Yes there are more male hardcore gamers then women. However, don't get hung up on this, becuase most of those people are relying on some woman in some way to make up for what to them is "casual", and to what they are a "connaisseur" of. So even though i had a 50/3 KD ration in counterstrike only using the desert eagle...my step-mother was doing my laundry and making dinner while i was acheiving this "great" "accomplishment" hehe.
My main conercen with this thread is people taking offense at one another's posts. nobody here is stupid. when you label some one stupid u don't give them a chance to be anything else after that.
so thats my "2 cents" lol. happy gaming EVERYONE
SaraAB87 @ Apr 19th 2007 2:25PM
I think there are many more females who do what I do, however its just that there aren't too many of them that want to come to an article infected with people hating on each other and calling each other stupid over trivial reasons to state what they do as a hobby. I have to admit that I don't talk about it often either (I only talk about it to the people that I trust), as when I do it usually ends up turning into a giant flame war of some sorts.
I have a cousin my age who does the same thing that I do, I didn't even know it until the family gathering this past christmas, and she has just as many console games as I do if not more.
Its even worse if your a female and you like Arcade games, apparently its considered to be really odd if your a girl that likes arcade games, so you have to be careful about who finds out about it, let the wrong person in on the secret and your laughed at to epic proportions or automatically considered a filthy dirty geek that doesn't bathe but once a month. Its a little better with console games as that seems to be more universally understood but again if you tell the wrong person you automatically get labeled as a dirty filthy geek living in some basement. Unfortunately my interest is also arcade games as well so I have to be careful who finds out about it or else I will get labeled in an unfavorable way. In other words I only tell people that seem to care, if you run around randomly talking about some obscure arcade game people won't like you too much.
I can relate to the music obsession though, during my high school years there were many who were overwhelmingly obsessed with the Backstreet Boys, I had to put up with it for a long time and it was not fun. From what I remember the gamers weren't even as vocal as this crowd of obsessed people over the Backstreet boys. Then there were the guys who were obsessed with wrestling. I don't think games were really a huge obsession just something that was touched on here and there. One person in particular who I think is still obsessed with the backstreet boys was very very annoying.