We all know that hardcore gamers are serious about their rigs and dedication to the geek genre. But are they also a snobby and elitist bunch with little tolerance for social or casual gamers?
Well, Nicholas Lovell of GamesBrief believes that hardcore gamers should stop looking down at titles like Farmville and start realizing that Zynga has “done something” that traditional gaming companies have thus far been unable to accomplish.
“Zynga, Playfish, Playdom, 6Waves and Crowdstar have found ways to make games that appeal to a broader cross-section of society than traditional approaches have ever done,” he opined.
”They have done more to make games mass-market than anyone other than Nintendo. They have made gaming something for everyone. Isn’t it time we applauded that?”
Lovell also took issue with the large amounts of cash that hardcore geeks happily shell out for serious gaming rigs and costly hardware-hungry titles.
“You know what I think? I think that making incredibly expensive, hard-to-play games that require proprietary hardware and prior experience to enjoy is a dumb way of providing gaming entertainment to a global audience.
“[Yeah], it works for some – [but] it doesn’t work for all. [Sure], multi-million dollar development budget games have a place in the market. [And] so do casual, accessible, browser games that appeal to a different demographic.”
To illustrate his point, Lovell noted that at least 233 million people are currently playing Zynga’s games alone, while the company is generating perhaps as much as $500 million a year from social titles.
“So when will gamers stop sneering, stop hiding behind their bleating ‘but Farmville isn’t a game’ and start realizing that Zynga has done something that traditional games have [yet to do]?”
