Casual?

During the lecture on Wednesday Kevin briefly mentioned ‘casual’ games, like Bejewelled and Insaniquarium.

It made me wonder what ‘casual’ games were exactly. I was not sure I understood the definition exactly. Is it the content of the game? The design perhaps? Or is it casual because the games are not high budget productions?

Wikipedia says that a ‘casual game’ is “a video game or online game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of game play, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games.”

If this definition is something to go by, Bejewelled by all means does not appear to be ‘casual’ to me, the people I know who play it are avid players and are akin to ‘gamers’ being addicted to World of Warcraft or Counter Strike, or whatever. The same goes for Farmville and other Facebook and/or Flash games, I suppose.

What I gather from all of this is that ‘casual’ games are not casual at all. In terms of commitment to the game anyway!

Han-Gyul Cho