Can’t get your mind off games? Then you might just be a hardcore gamer.
Hardcore gaming is reserved for an elite few. These gamers are the ones who really care about their hobby and have a passion for what they do. To them, it is not always just about fun; it is about the games.
Gaming is popular on all fronts these days. There are mobile games, casual shooters, lengthy RPGs, and so, so much more to choose from. But these gamers are on a whole other level.
The hardcore gamer spends hundreds and thousands of hours gaming. It is a big part of their life, it is something they love!
Sound like you? Well, maybe you are a hardcore gamer too. Here’s seven signs that you are!
1. You build your own amazing gaming PC.
Doesn’t that catch your eye?
Building your own PC requires a lot of devotion to the craft of PC gaming. If you do this, you are most definitely a hardcore gamer.
Hardcore gamers know what they want from games, and they know how to make that happen. If you customize your own PC, the gaming experience will be exactly how you want it. It all just depends on what the individual values!
Maybe, as a hardcore gamer, you want the absolute best video card, and maybe you want extra RAM, and while you’re at it, why not make the computer’s case flash blue lights? Because if your PC is that awesome inside, the outsides might as well be cool too.
2. You’re obsessed with modding your games.
Want to have Batman in your Fallout 3 playthrough? That is possible thanks to mods.
If you are a PC gamer, you know that PC games have a significant advantage over many console games through allowing players to add customized content. It’s a big deal! The ability to create mods completely changes the gaming community and its atmosphere.
The mods themselves might fix a problem in a beloved game, maybe something as simple as fine-tuning shades of hair colors or as drastic as revamping an entire game’s graphics to look more beautiful.
Other mods may alter the difficulty of the game. For example, games that have a lock-picking mini-game can be pretty tough and even frustrating to some players; thus, players release mods to make lock-picking easier to finish. The same can be done for passing tests of a certain skill’s level or for spawning more health potions.
Redesigning a game’s HUD may make playing a much more enjoyable experience, especially with MMOs in particular. In games where your character accumulates many skills, has multiple bars for health, stamina, and mana, wants to track their DPS, or has other sorts of clutter on the screen, mods that organize its appearance are a savior. Otherwise, raiding with a group in World of Warcraft could be overwhelming.
Mods can also just be super fun! In games such as Left 4 Dead 2, entirely new levels (like a Disneyland map!) have been built by modders. There is a never-ending list of possibilities.
But chances are, if you are a hardcore PC gamer, you already knew all of this! PC games are our pride and joy, and the community thrives on this sort of teamwork!
3. You’ve played more than 5 AAA titles.
Maybe you’ve played Advanced Warfare!
If you are a hardcore PC gamer, you will know what is popular in the community. If you are a hardcore PC gamer, you will want to know what the best games are. And in order to do that, you have to play them!
Playing all the biggest games mean you will get to know who all the big developers are. Then, you will pretty much be a gaming expert.
Playing more than 5 AAA titles means that you understand that part of the industry and like a multitude of different games – whether that is Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, Bioshock, Fallout, or whatever other games you have dived into!
It means that you’ve spent significant time gaming…maybe enough enough to warrant the coveted title of ‘Hardcore Gamer.’
4. You have a major love/hate relationship with Steam.
Try resisting this.
If you are a hardcore PC gamer, you cannot avoid using Steam.
Many titles are released exclusively on Steam, including both AAA and indie games. Steam is really a breeding ground for gamers to fall more and more in love with games. It truly was revolutionary for gamers of all sorts.
But Steam certainly has its quirks.
Sometimes it cannot find a connection when there is very obviously a connection to be found. Sometimes the downloads are slow.
And then there’s the updates…oh, the updates. They seem almost constant; anytime you reopen Steam, and even times when you don’t, it seems to need an update. Almost hilariously so.
But that is a blessing in disguise; the more Steam is updated, the better the service is. The better it runs.
Furthermore, Steam is an incredible temptress. It is almost impossible to look through one of their exciting Summer or Christmas sales and not purchase something – or multiple somethings. The deals that Steam offers are incredible, and that is true all year round as well.
Hardcore gamers are obviously all over these sales. Steam gives us access to thousands of incredible games that we would otherwise not know about or have a simple platform to play them on. Without Steam, PC gaming would have a much different landscape, and, frankly, it would be far less convenient!
So, of course, the reasons to love Steam outweigh the reasons to hate it. But when you’re a hardcore gamer on a budget and there are hundreds of inexpensive, desirable games in front of you…Steam is a little too tempting!
5. You spend cash on PC gaming peripherals.
This World of Warcraft keyboard is really…really…really cool.
There are all sorts of cool technology that will go hand in hand with your games. If you are a hardcore gamer, you will also be super into jazzing up your PC games with peripherals.
Depending on your favorite games, that can mean all sorts of things!
You could have the most advanced mouse ever. Maybe it has all sorts of extra buttons to make MMOs a breeze to play, a backlight, different modes you can shift into easily, a scroll wheel that works in a dozen different directions, and other interesting features!
Or maybe you own an awesome headset! If you are a hardcore gamer, you probably love surround sound, and noise-cancelling headphones are a must! And being able to fine-tune audio at the click of a button makes the PC gaming experience absolutely perfect; you experience immersion like never before.
Hardcore players of driving or flight games might have a specific type of controller in mind. Driving wheels take gamers back to our old days of playing Cruisin’ USA in an arcade! They are always fun, but they can be very life-like, too!
Same with flight sticks; they are not only fun, they are also incredibly useful for gamers who are into serious flight simulations! Having all those customizable buttons and axles and joystick will make you feel like you are in a real airplane cockpit. All hardcore gamers know the feeling of needing something like that to complete their gaming experience.
Hardcore gamers will know that all other sorts of awe-inspiring gaming peripherals exist, too! Flashing lights, motion-sensitive gamepads, and even tools to make gaming feel like reality are a hardcore gamer’s paradise.
6. You know what GG means.
This is most definitely a game where you will need to know what GG means. If you’re any good at it, at least.
Within the gaming community, there is all sorts of lingo that should be common knowledge to hardcore gamers.
That includes simple gaming acronyms like DLC, AI, PvP, NPC, and XP, or shortened names for genres such as MMO, FPS, RTS and RPG. There are also terms like camping, grinding, Easter eggs, AAA titles, boss, and sandbox; we all know what they mean, but they would sound like gibberish to people outside of the community!
GG is one of those “gaming vocabulary words” that are a must-know if you consider yourself a hardcore gamer. It, of course, means ‘good game,’ and is typically something polite to say after an online match. If you don’t say it, you might look like a jerk.
Hardcore gamers need to know what is going on when they are playing games! You simply can’t be a hardcore gamer unless you understand these key terms.
7. You spend over 8 hours a day gaming.
Fallout 3 is definitely a game you could spend eight hours a day in for a long time.
How much time do you spend gaming?
This is the real test of whether or not you’re a hardcore gamer. If you spend eight hours or more a day, you know you are really dedicated to gaming and are, therefore, a hardcore gamer.
It is that simple; play lots of games, play lots of games for a lot of time, and you are a hardcore gamer!
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