Intro

People love talking in terms of opposites. Good and evil. Right and wrong. Democrat and Republican. 1 and 0. But most things in life don't fall neatly into two buckets. There's always a spectrum within the two extremes, and in fact, most things fall somewhere in the middle. The bell curve usually rings more truthfully than the ying-yang.

And so I believe the same is true for the video game consumer. You hear about "hardcore" and "casual" all over the gaming press. The former thrives on 100-hour RPGs and will not hesitate to invest $100 in the latest mouse-input technology to gain an edge in FPSs (or, speed running through point-click adventures). The latter only has enough intelligence and hand-eye coordination to handle Flash-based Tetris rip-offs between meetings at work and probably can't even finish a level without a dose of Ritalin. The prudent game developer will recognize that between these extremes lie a mountain of people that don't fit either demographic but are nonetheless eager to spend real money on virtual entertainment.

Enter the "mid-core" gamer. The mid-core gamer may have been a hardcore gamer, but is no longer for whatever reason - an "ex-core". The mid-core gamer may have been a casual gamer, but has learned to appreciate more complexity and depth - the "bridge-core"? Or, the mid-core gamer may just be someone who likes games, not too much and not too little, but just the right amount.

I consider myself an ex-core gamer. I used to play a lot of hardcore games, but these days, I'm way too busy with other things (thus the title of the blog). This blog will focus on my thoughts as a busy mid-core gamer. I did work at a game studio for a year, so my posts may be more development oriented. Hope you enjoy it, and I'll try to keep all posts under a page long, following the first rule of the midcore manifesto: respecting your time!