The second chapter in “A Casual Revolution” by Jesper Juul discusses the differences between the stereotypes of casual and hardcore gamers and actual casual and hardcore gamers. He notes and expands on five characteristics of a game that determines its audience: positive or negative fiction, game usability, game interruptibility, difficulty and punishment, and the juiciness of a game. While these are all essential to the analysis of game users, I think that the author did not focus enough on the motivation of the gamers themselves.
I think that almost all gamers begin a game in order to escape from reality. Whether it’s boredom at work, a break from studying, enjoyment with peers, or any other reason, games ultimately provide for users an escape from their current reality. They do this by virtue of simulation. The better a game simulates an alternate reality, the more of an escape it can offer. Angry Birds and Left for Dead both provide an escape, but Left for Dead is a better simulation of an alternate reality, therefore it draws in more hardcore gamers.
The difference between casual and hardcore gamers then becomes the degree to which they wish to escape and the type of reality in which they wish to engage. A casual gamer who has little time to kill waiting in a doctor’s office wishes to escape the reality of waiting but only to a small degree so that other tasks can quickly be returned to. A hardcore high school gamer with few responsibilities and more available time will often wish to escape reality to a greater degree. The type of reality a player wishes to engage in is their preference for a positive or negative game world fiction.