Yes, real life gets in the way, and this was the subject of a couple of posts I read yesterday, namely The Decline of Hardcore, a guest post on BioBreak, and On “The Decline of Hardcore” from I Have Touched the Sky. Of course they were talking about hardcore gamers, but really it was about growing up, getting a life, and not having as much time to play games any more (even though there are plenty of versions of ‘us’ from 10 or more years ago filling in those slots I’m sure).
I’ve never been a hardcore gamer if you go by the majority definition, no 6 night a week raiding or anything like that, but I do consider myself a hardcore gamer in that I spend a ‘significant’ number of hours every week playing games. Mostly MMO’s, but also plenty of Steam games and iPad games (and I’m about to lose many tens of hours in Fieldrunners 2!).
I love Fieldrunners, and now it’s even better!
Although gaming blogs are about gaming, it’s nice to get to know the people behind the posts, and Rakuno’s was great to read, inspired by Ambermist’s July challenge :).
So here’s a bit about me:
- I’m an Aussie from way back, at least 4 generations that I know of. Before then I think it’s mostly England, Scotland, France.
- My husband and I are a mini Brady Bunch (without Alice unfortunately), 4 teenagers between us, all of them gamers … naturally 😀
- We are busy packing to move :(, so gaming time is limited at the moment, one of the down sides to renting is that there’s no guarantee that you can stay in one house for more than a year or so. Melbourne and Sydney houses are incredibly expensive to buy, and why buy a massive house when most of the kids will be out of home in a few short years … maybe 😛
- Leelu comes from the movie The Fifth Element, I love Gary Oldman movies, Dracula from back in 1992 being my favourite.
- I was very sad when, after pre-ordering The Secret World and being able to put a name aside, that Leelu was already taken. My current character is Leeftea instead, after re-rolling to Templar from Dragon so that our little wandering guild could all get together in a Cabal. I will miss the butterflies.
- I’ve been playing games since … well, a long time. My first memory of playing games was on the Merlin, I thought it was ace, then came the Commodore 64 which meant more games, and coding :D.
- My collection of Steam Games is down right embarrassing. How dare they do such tempting sales.
- I work in what little is left of the gaming industry here, and for that I am extremely grateful!
The Butterfly Gamer 
Personally, I never liked the definition of hardcore as it being equal to time played or how much of a stomach one needs to have to deal with hardship in a game. To me it is a lot more about the passion. As far as passion goes, I do think you are hardcore. Just by the variety of different style of games you posted about here, how have you enjoyed it, it is easy to see that. 🙂
This will sound sacrilege to you, and probably is, but I have never watched “Fifth Element” (although I do know who Leelu is!). Always wanted too since back when it was still a new film but never got to it for some reason. Guess I will correct it next time I go movie hunting! I did watch the 1992’s Dracula though if it makes anything better.
I don’t think my steam collection of games is still that big but I do admit there is a bunch of games in there I have yet to finish. Fortunately I am being strong enough this summer sale to not make matters worse!
That, Rakuno, is an excellent way of putting it :), and if it’s about passion, then in regards to games, we have that in spades! Oh, you must watch The Fifth Element, it’s excellent!
I promise you, many of my guildies would be pleased to know that they aren’t the only ones with embarrassing Steam collections! 😛
Ugh, I HATE moving SO MUCH. It’s such a hassle. I hope you’re putting those teenagers to work a little for you!
You’re a gamer, and even though I do it myself sometimes, gamers are gamers. We come in different flavors, but at the end of the day, this is more than just a hobby–it’s part of who we are.
And I’m cool with that. 😀
Yes, we’ve had a bad run with moving, this will be the 4th house in 4 years, only in this one 6 months before the owners decided to sell, grrrr. We’ve triple checked that the next one was bought as an investment property, fingers crossed! All that down time from gaming, lol.
You are so right that this is part of who we are, and I couldn’t imagine, or want it any other way :D.
As for Steam … 😛
Two of my favorite games of all time are from the commodore 64 days and it is so rare to see anyone mention it so I had to leave a little hello. So hello. If you are interested, wasteland and starflight are the names. Both great games and even if they are light years ago in technology I can still pop them in and have a great time playing them. Ah, the memories, thanks for bringing them back.
Ah yes, only ‘old’ folks get to mention the Commodore 64! lol. I can’t even remember what games I had for it, I just remember that it was my first introduction to code, and I was in awe :). If my parents had been more sentimental I might still have it, but at some point along the way it must have been discarded :(.
Never be embarrassed about steam games. My collection has doubled in the past week…:)
Haha, good to know! Now to find time to play just a small portion of them :P.
Gamers are gamers, but once in awhile I love when I’m in Alterac Valley BG, and someone screams “ICELORD!”, or “Lets turtle for 12 hours” I know what their talking about because I was there. I survived it. LOL! I was shocked to see my blog in the blogroll thanks, I added you to mine…oh no offense but 5th element was one of thee worst movies I ever seen
Haha, none taken, if we all liked the same movies it’d be pretty boring out there. I haven’t watched it for years, probably aged pretty badly :P. Bruce Willis smoked cigarettes that were 3/4’s filter, I remember that.
I’ve only dabbled in battlegrounds, but I do remember a few nights staying up late forcing my eyes to stay open while the guild tried over and over to get through a dungeon for the first time. Fun times 🙂
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