The Core/Casual/Hardcore Dynamic

[Szymon]

Being that geeks are generally an obsessive group of people, I would say that these terms are loosely connected to the level of obsession that somebody displays regarding a game or gaming in general. In my opinion, it might even mean playing games once or twice a month for a couple of hours, but, this person spends a lot of time obsessing over facts, history and lore, reading up on strategies, watching videos about the game(s), crafting game-related paraphernalia and accessories, or attending gaming related events such as PAX or tournaments.

No doubt there are a lot of people out there that feign this sort of fanaticism by purchasing a few gaming related knick-knacks and adorning their room with them. Gaming culture is becoming cool and it's weird to see people posing as gamers. A quick conversation about the 1-Up mushroom on their shirt is usually enough to reveal these frauds, and seeing these people stealing a culture and parading it on their shirts when they don't share the fanaticism that we do really grates my cheese.