Casual gaming and casual gamers has often been an activity looked upon by self-proclaimed “hardcore”gamers and many similar individuals among the gaming community. Many of these games viewed as “casual” games usually do not contain the same amount of competition or stakes present in games that are considered non-casual. For many, the term of casual games can be used to encompass entire platforms or genres of games without consideration of the diversity of games within that genre or platform. I also know many other games from perceived “casual” platforms and genres where the stakes present within the game can be just as high as games from more “hardcore” platforms.

I remember at one point that I became interested in a single-player mobile card game (that was not Hearthstone) that had good artistic design and interesting strategy. From my point of view, the amount of thought that goes into playing this game would not be considered “casual.” However, I have been asked by others why I waste my time on such a game. Their negative perception of the game turns out to be stemmed from the fact that the game was a mobile game. I find it interesting that Hearthstone is a similar game that can be played on a mobile platform, but a game like that is not looked down upon in comparison to various other card games available in mobile app stores. I feel that the game coming from Blizzard, a large game company known for many other “hardcore” games may be a factor in this. 

This is an effect that I see happening in the opposite manner in games from platforms that are considered hardcore. For example, indie games that feature gameplay that are not competitive, stakes-heavy, or require great time investment do not receive as much criticism for being “casual” when developed for a platform like PC. In class, we played Stardew Valley, a game that has received praise and in my experience, very little would call the game “casual.” I think it is interesting that mobile games developed by small developers are looked down upon as casual while the opposite is true for games of more “hardcore” platforms that are also developed by small developers. This is not even considering the fact that browser games are largely ignored by the gaming community due to its perception of being a casual platform, while a large majority of games developed in that platform are from indie developers. There is a clear double standard here in regards to how the gaming community views indie games and games made by smaller companies.

Casual gaming has also often been seen as a stereotypically female activity (Eklund, 5). This probably stems from sexist societal views of women who are better off spending time on domestic activities, and that they are better suited to games that do not lend as much time investment as “hardcore” games. I think this adds to the negative perception towards “casual” games, as many gamers are embroiled in a male-dominated culture that is often sexist. Back to the discussion of the double standard of attitudes towards indie games, I think this is also present when it comes to developers. Most indie games that receive praise from the gaming community are usually male-led projects. 

Sources:Eklund, Lina. “Who Are the Casual Gamers? Gender Tropes and Tokenism in Game Culture.” Social, Casual and Mobile Games : The Changing Gaming Landscape, 2015, doi:10.5040/9781501310591.ch-002.