To contrast to the Esports discussion. I thought this week’s mention of casual gamers would fit nicely in comparison to the competitive esports world. Casual gamers are what make it all work. The majority of people cannot become a competitive esports celebrity due to the large sacrifices needed in terms of career stability. As the most popular game changes, so do people’s careers within esports. Having said that, the casual gamers make up the largest portion of the gaming industry and allow for growth in all sectors that branch off from itself. A casual gamer has been coined as not being a gamer by some. This notion is just not correct, casual gamers make the ecosystem thrive. A casual gamer is someone who is interested in the space but cannot devote the majority of their time to it. A casual gamer can appreciate all the work that goes into a game but might not know the high-level mechanics to speed run it daily. This has created an atmosphere that some might call toxic between casual gamers and those who are in the competitive esports industry. Having said that, they share commonalities, they might even be playing the same game. Casual gamers, Stardew valley, chess for girls, feminism and computer games.

A game that we explored this week perhaps fits into that more casual player base, Stardew Valley. Personally, I thought this game was exactly that, casual. Having seen it in action, I have been reminded to think twice if I haven’t played it myself. This game is really for anyone. Role players will be very attracted to this game due to its open word and infinite and feel. Starting out on a farm like plot, the rest is really up to you to find your path or journey. Certain players may take advantage of this freedom and explore while others may take a more goal-oriented approach and set out on progression-based tasks.

Back to the Esports scene. This is where these two gaming types mix together, with another week’s content, streaming. There seems to be some common ground amongst these gamers, competitive players may use “casual” games to cool down and still keep up to date on their mechanical skills with a keyboard and mouse or controller. Furthermore, some competitive players have a streaming career on twitch or YouTube gaming where the chat interacts and can vote on the game they play. This allows for a mix of the genres, a community effort. Bringing people together is what most games are all about and I think that streaming really ties the competitive Esports world and casual gamers together. Furthermore, someone considered casual can watch and improve by gaining insight from the best players in the world, in real time. It is definitely an exciting time to be a gamer, anything seems to be possible in this evolving landscape, definitely trending upwards like never before.