So, there I was. Jammed between two wheelophiles, zealously discussing and debating all manner of cars, engines, models and whatnot. I had resigned to just sitting there, nodding and smiling every so often, while my mind wandered elsewhere, bemused at my friends' ridiculous zeal for such a trivial subject. Suddenly, I was in the spotlight, asked about my opinion on some sort of car...thingamabobber. I just shrugged, and replied that as long as it got me from A to B, it was fine. I really didn't care. Their response was a mixture of disgust and shock. As I mulled over the incident later on, a thought struck me then; is this what 'casual gamers' felt like?

Casual gamers are the subject of regular scorn by the 'hardcore' community. It's easy to see why; since they do not frequent the more elitist forums or join in the constant internet discussion, they're an easy target. And an even easier scapegoat. Original game not selling well? Blame the casual gamers! Uninspiring, but competent, game enjoying success? Blame the casual gamers! Socks going missing every morning down the back of your drawer? Blame the casual gamers! Hell, just grab a torch and pitchfork and we can have ourselves a good old-fashioned witchhunt. I'll bring the inbred hicks.

But do casual gamers really deserve the grilling they receive? Are they intentionally out to ruin 'our' industry, shove talented developers into the dole line and endorse mediocrity? Or do they just not care as much as we do? I would be happy to support any creative developer by buying their quality games, or to shun drivel like Enter The Matrix and Tomb Raider, but that's because of my love for gaming and it's possibilities. If a person simply was not as enthusiastic about the medium, are they to be insulted just because they have a different opinion, and are after a different kind of game? Or is it because they don't like what we decree they must like, so they have to be idiots? I mean, there's no other explanation. There don't belong to our special, exclusive little hardcore club, so surely they must be ignorant, uninformed retards.

Or rather, they just aren't big gaming fans. Why should they care if Sega go out of business? How does Infogrames taking the Atari brand affect them? And what's the big deal if Nintendo allow Capcom to make a home console Zelda games? The apathy many casual gamers have isn't spurred by an inherent desire to piss off all the self-confessed hardcore; rather, they are apathetic because they are apathetic. That's it. It's the same for any area of life; there are the specialist areas and the casual areas. I have friends who are big rock fans, or as some have so affectionately dubbed them, 'grungers', while I have a most minor of interest in the music. The bands that rock diehards seem to hold up in so high esteem, like Nirvana and Metallica, don't appeal to me. I do, however, enjoy bands like Good Charlotte. When I mentioned this to them, I got a similar look of disgust to that of the car enthusiasts'. Good Charlotte, I was told, are 'wannabe' music. Thus, I am a wannabe. Rock's version of 'casual gamer'? Perhaps.

I would wager that every person reading this, who considers themselves real gaming diehards, have some other interest in which they are casual participators. Whether it be movies, television, books, music, whatever. We can't be experts in every area, you know. Empathy is seldom used by this race of ours, but situations like these demand it.

A lack of empathy seems to be joined with a short memory. Were we all not casual gamers once? I doubt anyone who subscribes to be hardcore instantly became knowledgeful of the industry and gained some sort of higher taste of games the moment they picked up their first controller. Some casual gamers will develop a deeper interest in the medium, begin buying Edge and judging games intelligently, and some won't. It's up to them. There's little we can do besides put a gun to their heads and make them swear never to write off Nintendo as 'kiddy', or buy a game just because it features copious amounts of the red stuff.

Casual gamers are frequently, and unjustly, blamed for gaming's woes. "Casual/mainstream/massmarket (insert as appropriate) gamers are destroying this industry!" has long since become a cliche, and an irritating one at that. Yes, it is credible to say that creativity and originality are being destroyed by casual gamers, but surely this is to be expected. Every time I hear of Enter The Matrix selling 2.5 million copies, or of genuinely good, but obscure, games languishing in sales chart hell, I cannot help but curse the casual sector. But are they, in fact, the ones keeping the industry on it's feet? It's already in a bad enough state, with regular news of small devcos going bust, and the bigger ones reporting losses. Now just imagine how bad it would be if all the casual gamers, who undoubtedly make up a huge majority of gamers, suddenly deserted gaming in one, massive drove. Perhaps game sales would be more representative of a game's furthering of the medium, but there probably wouldn't be a whole lot of games about.

That's something to think about the next time you decide to blame everything on casual gamers. We might just need them after all.