Casual Vs. Hardcore: depends on who plays the game

The line that defines and separates causal and hardcore gaems is blurring as most of recent games are hybrids. In the article, Juul uses five categories to separate causal and hardcore games; Fiction, usability, interruptibility, difficulty (punishment), and lastly juiciness. I agree that those elements discussed in the article do make some games more easy to approach for players, which is defined as casual games in the article. However, I don't really agree on dividing causal games and hardcore games because what determines the game to become either casual or hardcore really depends on who plays the game.

I have a female friend who keep refers herself as a non-gamer. Whenever I talk to her, I can sense that there are stereotypes exist regarding gamers. The notion of gamers changed postively over time, but there are still people out there who view people who play games with stereotypic images of nerdiness and a loner. However, last time when she vistited my place, I was able to notice an intersting sight. The female friend of mine was playing a "casual" game in her iphone for hours. Her response was interesting. She didn't think that playing game on her iphone makes her "game user" because it was a "causal" game that serves to kill time.

The point I want to make is that depending on who plays the game, the game can be either casual or hardcore. As Juul mentions on the article,  games such as Chess, Guitar Hero, etc have both causal and hardcore elements in the game. Even a casual game such as Tetris can be considered as a hardcore game if a player shows the stereotypical images of hardcore gamers while playing the game such as playing a game for long time. On the other hand, games that are referred as hardcore games can be transform into a casual game depending on who plays the game.