Are you a mid-core gamer?

by Scott Jon Siegel on Feb 6th 2008 9:00AM

Plenty of gamers are often stuck between the definitions of "casual" and "hardcore." They care too much to be the former, and yet they don't care enough to be the latter. If you're one of them, and yearning for your own defining category, then worry no more. You might just be a mid-core gamer.

What does your new-found identity mean? According to 8-Bit Rocket, it means you're the type of gamer who doesn't want to buy a new computer every time a new game comes out. You might love MMOs, but you don't have the time (or patience) for eight-hour quests. You might own the latest consoles, but you might not finish every single game you buy. 8-Bit Rocket also suggests that mid-core gamers are generally of the older generations, but we firmly believe that young people can be mid-core as well.

So, are you mid-core, or not? Declare yourself in the comments.

[Via GameSetWatch]

Source

Tags: mid-core

Reader Comments (179)

Yeah. That's about right. I'm young, though.

Same here. I've owned one console the past couple generations. I buy 3-4 games a year. I frequently don't finish the single player games and I mostly look for multiplayer games I can play with my wife or friends. I visit this site (and a couple others) for video games news, but more because I consider that a fun break than because the news matters to me.

Sure, I'd like to own and play more games, but I'm a married 25 year old medical student and I'm quite happy with my life without more brain-rotting. =)

I wouldn't go as far as saying video-game playing is "brain rotting".....

Yup, mid-core fo' sho.

Can we call you Dr. Jerk Face from now on?

Yes.

I actually just finished medical school. It was pretty awesome.

Not exactly "young" then.

Dude, I was totally kidding. And for the record, I'm 25.

Mid-hard-core, here, fading slowly into mid-core territory as I get older, due to time and money constraints.

I blame college.

college is how i went from casual to mid-core...

College, girlfriend, and money are the main things that lessened my game life.

I'm with you there, but I've already gone far enough to defy my parents assurance from when I was 8 that I would "someday grow out of playing video games." I know I will always look forward to the next console/game/etc, even if I can't afford it. But yeah, I wouldn't consider myself older either, at 23.

I'm definitely mid-core. I'm the kind of gamer who always keeps up with the latest news, but doesn't buy that many games. As with your articles definition, I actually rarely fully complete (or with some, complete at all) games. I play WoW, but as soon as an instance hits the 2-hour mark I start to get bored.

But although you say mid-core gamers are mostly older, I'd disagree fully. I'm only 16, yet I feel that I fit every category you give.

im 24, and i consider myself a mid-core gamer...
im torn between having a life and playing countless hours on screen grinding away...
i mah gaems though.

I'm not a Mid-Core Gamer... i'm a Geek...

I buy a new computer every time a new processor technology comes out...

But as far as gaming goes, that sounds about right. I usually play a game a committed 75% and then sell it... not dedicated enough to finish most games... or atleast games that require you to be commited.

I'm so mid-core. I'm in the middle of half a dozen games at all times, most of which i will probably never finish. Some games with particular quality or production values will grab my attention and i won't stop playing them until I have wrung them out dry (Half-Life series, Oblivion, Crysis, TF2), but I don't always need a game to play. Somehow my gaming desires are propelled by my addiction to upgrading my PC, instead of the other way around.

totally. this is me all over, i rarely sit down and game for more than about 45 minutes straight these days and i agree with most every point in that piece.

i also far prefer the term midcore to hard casual.

I'm a softcore gamer due to my pudgy center from playing video games in my youth rather than playing outside and forming gangs to terrorise the neighbourhood.

There's still time, brother. There's always still time.

Yeah, I guess I am. You marketing types and your silly fucking labels.

How about flex-core or tempered-core? I play games, go to college, and work a campus job. Does that make me multi-core?

Hehe. The picture should be "Hello, my name is , and I'm a mid-core gamer." Otherwise the joke doesn't really work.

I am a mid-core gamer.

Is that a baby foot underneath the DS?

That's MY foot. The camera's just really far away, plus it's a weird angle. I assure you I have normal feet.

I tend to fluxuate between hard and mid, I suppose. I mean, I own all the consoles and almost always play through the games I start, but I can also go a week without popping a game in and I don't get the shakes or anything.

I guess it all depends on work schedules, other hobbies, relationships, the weather, and (to be perfectly honest) what games are out. Having almost finished the last holdout of my pile of must-play games of '08 (for some reason I still just can't get into Metroid Prime 3,) I'll probably go back to part-time gamer.

same here....although I think you meant the last hold-out games of 2007?? = )

Yeah. With the exception of some decent games, I'm trying to forget 07 ever happened.

I'm definitely mid-core. I surf joystiq and the fanboy pages more than I game. I do finish games, but it takes me months--that's why I don't count it as a strike when games are short. I mean, sure Heavenly Sword only takes 5 hours to beat, but spread that over three months and you got yourself a mini-series!

I hear ya brother! I love it when I hear a game is "too short". Yay - it's only going to take me 3 months to finish!

This pretty much covers the majority of gamers, myself included.

Definitely mid-core @ 24 w/ a fiancée, a job and a place to worry about. I have SO many 360 games I need to finish.

Ich bin eine midcore.

"gamer who doesn't want to buy a new computer every time a new game comes out. You might love MMOs, but you don't have the time (or patience) for eight-hour quests. You might own the latest consoles, but you might not finish every single game you buy"

This sums it up nicely 4 me. Time is the 1 thing I never have enough of.

more like gaycore amirite?

That makes so much sense.

Gawrsh yer so witty. Did you think of it all by yourself or did Billybob help you with your biggoted sentence?

I can only HOPE to be as funny and original as you Jimbob.

SpartacoxxINURMOUTH OR IS IT SPURTACOXXINURMOUTH?

I took that as rather obvious sarcasm :p

Can I be mid-core at times, then a hardcore completitionist for some games (looking at you Oblivion!) and old-school at other times?

I buy a lot of games and I make sure to finish the good ones, but I also don't waste time or money on average or sub-par games (no Turok for me, that's for sure!).

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle of multiple categories.

Tottally agree with that. Also, it depends on timing. Right now, I'm paid to play video games and continue playing to other video games when I come home (well most of the time) I don't seem to get fed up.

But there are periods which I can pass without playing at all.

Plus, I like all kinds of game even if I have a preference for multiplayer shooters and platform games.

So I guess I would be somewhere between mid-core and hard-core depending on the time of the year. I don't think I've ever been soft core since I started playing because even when I'm in a sort of detox, I continue to read the news and get excited about the good games.

I'm petty hardcore, but not stupidly so. I won't finish games I think are poop just for the hell of it. I won't bust a gut to improve my gamer score, but it's still higher then most peoples who've had a 360 longer then I have. I've spent about 70 hours playing Team Fortress 2, but I'm not in any clan. etc, etc.

woah, make that well over 100 hours on TF2... Jesus.

That's a lot of TF2! XD

Dude, TF2 is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

TF2 is midcore paradise (on console). All the hardcores are Haloing and CODing.

I am not a label.

Why can't we just be happy to play video games without having to label each other, as if we're brands or cattle.

This just seems like another way for the industry - and its offspring (the uncritical media) - to create an invisible market and advertise towards it.

Hahaha, disregard that I suck...

Mooo!

Definitely mid-core gamer.

I am totally mid-core. In fact, just recently I was declaring to a friend that I must be a casual gamer because I know I'm not a hard-core gamer. Thank you Joystiq! 28, going on 29 if you're curious.

I just dinged 29 myself last Friday, and I'm definitely in the mid-core range.

When I was a teen, I was hardcore. Having more than 80 hours into a game wasn't a big deal. Now, there's only about one or two games a year that I put more than two hours into.

I used to refer to myself as the hardcore casual - I'm a gamer to my core, but I simply don't have the time I once did. House maintenance, time with the wife and our puppy, etc -- I simply don't have the free time I did, but when I have time, I play as much as I can.

Mid-core sounds funny, but based on the description, it's me.

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Are you a mid-core gamer?

Reader Comments (179)

Posted: Feb 6th 2008 9:04AM Jerk Face said

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