Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Core gamers do not exist: A more accurate breakdown of the customer base

J1M

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
14,616
The game industry largely uses the terms 'core gamer' and 'casual gamer' to segment and target its potential audience. I will summarize why this is embarrassing and propose a more cynical (and useful) approach to categorizing different types of gamer.

The industry categorizes gamers largely based on how much time they spend playing. Casual gamers are labelled as playing less often and for shorter durations.

From what I have observed, the adoption of the moniker 'core gamer' started as largely a rejection of the input of 'hardcore gamers'. Second generation game developers didn't like the high standards present in the feedback of the hardcore audience. They took a path of ignoring the existing audience while attempting to replace it with one that was less discerning. Technically, the industry recognizes the existence of a third 'hardcore' type of gamer, but actively ignores it out of spite.

I don't think I need to go into why that model is horribly inaccurate. But it is worth pointing out how sad it is that such a large industry doesn't have a better way of thinking about its customers. Some sophistication exists around spending habits (ie. 'whales' in free-to-play games and pre-order bonuses), but that is limited to extracting more revenue from existing customers, not what motivates interest.

I propose the following model.

CUSTOMERS:
  • Polyluderes (connoisseurs)
    play everything that meets a personal bar for quality and novelty

  • Secutors (followers)
    follow trends, buy what their friends are playing, motivated by not missing out

  • Genreists (narrow)
    will only play a limited number of genres or franchises

  • Backseat (non-gamers who buy games)
    actively dislike challenge, prefer walking simulators, story heavy experiences, also known as soyboys, journalists, and girlfriends

  • Facile (women)
    demand low challenge, will happily substitute gaming with another form of diversion, play hidden object games/romance stories/ad-driven phone games

NON-CUSTOMERS:
  • Commentators (streamers)
    drama-driven and click-driven personalities, easily bought for a microscopic portion of the marketing budget

  • Semi-Pro (dreamers)
    young people chasing the dream of turning gaming into a job, will play one or two games for thousands of hours

  • Activists (sjws)
    actively ruin games to virtue signal for retarded ideologies, commonly found in low-paying game journalism careers

Note that in this model we clearly label which groups have a worthwhile amount of disposable income to design and market a game to, and which ones do not. If you are confused as to why this doesn't align with who the industry is catering to these days you are not alone.

You could argue that certain studios have more sophisticated ways of looking at the core/casual model, but I'd argue that this model explains things that those models cannot. For example, why Puzzle Quest was much more popular with boys than girls. Using this model, it is easy to see that the match-3 mechanics that normally appeal to the Facile gamer had enough depth and challenge layered on top to appeal to a different audience.

In conclusion, this disparity in models explains some of the industry's missteps and it's what I would use to inform game design and marketing. Feedback welcome.
 
Last edited:

Fedora Master

Arcane
Patron
Edgy
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
27,819
Where do I fit in?

d13.png
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
OP's categorization seems decent, but I disagree with "core gamers do not exist". I don't think that term came into use as part of an agenda to marginalize "hardcore" gamers. I think it implies that core gamers are the extended periphery of the hardcore, so all hardcore gamers are also core gamers (but not vice versa). In contrast, "casual" gamers aren't part of that universe at all.

If anything, I think the rhetorical slight of hand here is that "core gamers" used to be just "gamers", but saying that casuals aren't real gamers is politically incorrect now.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
Connoisseur is a nice way to describe my trash taste and lack of self control coupled with too much disposable income.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
The industry categorizes gamers largely based on how much time they spend playing. Casual gamers are labelled as playing less often and for shorter durations.

Actually I think what the categorization is more likely to be based on is "who do we reach with our advertising". If you're a part of the gaming subculture that involves bombastic trailers, powerful hardware, a shared understanding and appreciation of various conventions and mechanics, etc, then you're probably a core gamer. The publishers know your type and they've built an industry around cultivating and catering to your interests.

I guess this is where you might occasionally see the phenomenon of "hardcore" gamers who in a way cease to be "core" gamers. Eg, the guy who only plays Slitherine strategy games these days and doesn't care about the mainstream anymore since 2005. But these are people who probably used to be core gamers in an earlier era and could return if they wanted to.
 
Last edited:

just_dmitri

Novice
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
8
Well, while it's better then hardcore-softcore-whalecore scale I do have to ask: why do you try separate Gamer Type (customer) and Public Role (non-customer) into exclusive categories? Surely the gaming streamers are also gamers (or non-gamer depending on their content), to some degree: PewDP is some mix Secutor and Polyluder while Sseth is more of a Nostalgic Genreist with some family friendly wholesome comedy. Question is what about their audience? Do they buy games, do they buy games which are featured on the streamers channel and do they value the streamers opinion? Pretty sure that some games got a big addition of customers after reviewed/shown on some channels while when a famous feminist critic recommended some game only crickets and tumbleweeds took notice.

Also the Activists are mostly trendchasers, same people who love extreme modesty and non-violence today was probably loving the 2005-2015 tv when every show was trying to be filled with darkness, blood and tits or as they called it "mature, adult entertainment".
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
Actually I think what the categorization is more likely to be based on is "who do we reach with our advertising". If you're a part of the gaming subculture that involves bombastic trailers, powerful hardware, a shared understanding and appreciation of various conventions and mechanics, etc, then you're probably a core gamer. The publishers know your type and they've built an industry around cultivating and catering to your interests.

All I watch on Youtube is videos about PC gaming, RPGs and FPS games, etc. Yet all the ads I see are for mobile games, usually city builders and "strategy" titles.
 

J1M

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
14,616
Well, while it's better then hardcore-softcore-whalecore scale I do have to ask: why do you try separate Gamer Type (customer) and Public Role (non-customer) into exclusive categories? Surely the gaming streamers are also gamers (or non-gamer depending on their content), to some degree: PewDP is some mix Secutor and Polyluder while Sseth is more of a Nostalgic Genreist with some family friendly wholesome comedy. Question is what about their audience? Do they buy games, do they buy games which are featured on the streamers channel and do they value the streamers opinion? Pretty sure that some games got a big addition of customers after reviewed/shown on some channels while when a famous feminist critic recommended some game only crickets and tumbleweeds took notice.

Also the Activists are mostly trendchasers, same people who love extreme modesty and non-violence today was probably loving the 2005-2015 tv when every show was trying to be filled with darkness, blood and tits or as they called it "mature, adult entertainment".
Asking these questions makes you more sophisticated than the typical industry analyst. The reason I called out those non-customers is because I see the industry catering to them with detrimental game design. You will always find individual exceptions to a model (it is by definition a simplification) but the primary point is that catering to those groups is foolish because they do not purchase a meaningful number of games.

Streamers are a very small group, and the notable ones receive games for free.
Profitable e-sports activities spring up around popular games, not vice versa.
SJWs don't buy games, they complain about them on twitter.

Certainly there are follower groups that can be influenced by these people, but it is important to remember that you should be catering to the tastes of the followers, not the buzz-creation mechanism. If a game can be fully enjoyed by watching a Twitch stream, it will not sell to those watching. The full-retard version of this is investing money in creating game features that only apply while streamed to an audience.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
You forgot:

Matriarchdors - People who have little time to actually play the games they buy.

Because they're on your mom.
 

just_dmitri

Novice
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
8
Asking these questions makes you more sophisticated than the typical industry analyst. The reason I called out those non-customers is because I see the industry catering to them with detrimental game design. You will always find individual exceptions to a model (it is by definition a simplification) but the primary point is that catering to those groups is foolish because they do not purchase a meaningful number of games.

Agreed, the eSportification of fighting games and RTS didn't seemed to help, keeping politicians and activist happy is meaningless unless they are known gamer demographics (pro-tip: they're not) and with streamers you need to be carefull.

Streamers are a very small group, and the notable ones receive games for free.
Profitable e-sports activities spring up around popular games, not vice versa.
SJWs don't buy games, they complain about them on twitter.

Certainly there are follower groups that can be influenced by these people, but it is important to remember that you should be catering to the tastes of the followers, not the buzz-creation mechanism. If a game can be fully enjoyed by watching a Twitch stream, it will not sell to those watching. The full-retard version of this is investing money in creating game features that only apply while streamed to an audience.

Esport and Activist can be ignored almost completely when talking about marketing of an unknown/new game. With streamers, one need to realize that different streamers have different audience, which in turn have different buying patterns. PDPs was mostly kids who could buy something cheap and "lolzy" to play with friends or some trending game (like every horror game around his popularity 201X) but would not spend money on walking sim which could be experienced completely on YT, like that dragon-cancer game. Other channels will have review of old games, from good old xbox360 time of classical games, or some niche genres and have much smaller audience but also higher rate of sold copy/viewer if your game click with them.

So what most gaming studios should do is not just looking att streamers number of viewers but instead analyze amount of gamers from total viewers and their typer according to your Customer types, three smaller channels where most viewers are Genereist and Polyluders beats one megachannel where most are non-gameres and Secutors. Unless you really sure your memefriendly game is the memest of them all, unlike every other challenger.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
You forgot about the coomers.

Coomer is an actual target audience now, it is ridiculous. Any game with slightly frivoulously dressed women in the thumbnail or screenshots has a few dozend threads on steam asking wether there is nudity or patches in there. And if the Dev answers no its always "A shame, saved me 20 bucks" I bet if you catered to those coomers you could easily double your sales as a niche game. Maybe Witcher 3 was only so successfull because you see tits in it?

:thinking:
 

Dramart

Learned
Joined
Nov 28, 2019
Messages
540
Location
Argentina
You made Disco Elysium's fans mad, I bet they felt included in the category facile. We could consider them the women in the codex, hahaha.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom