Casual gamers truly are different not only when it comes to what they like but also when it comes to what they actually notice. I know multiple people who have no idea about the new key features in the games they play themselves. they don't see how all the little details that make us love 2k basketball(and football).Many of them don't understand why 2k13 is not just a great bball game but a most own sports game. They don't care about realistic animations and gameplay if they cant score ridiculous amount of points a game. They restart franchise games before they lose to insure that they make it to the superbowl with the browns in their first year. Instant gratification is key, big plays and big hits, in fact many of them are not looking for realism in anything other than the graphics. Make it look it look good and let me play how i want is the motto.

Great blog. Your article is as refreshing as your findings.

I don't know if things change as the main genre of hardcore gamers begin to age, but I've noticed personally that the older I've gotten and the more real world things I have to worry about, the less and less sock length and multiple lengths of dreads bother me.

I admit, it's hard not to get caught up in the hardcore aspect, that's why most of us are here nonetheless, but it's refreshing to see how the "average" gamer approaches their games. Kind of helps me take a step back to enjoy with my own moment of clarity when I remember that I can just play for fun.

to me, the more realistic a game is, the more fun it is.....when NFL2k hit in 99 it was perhaps the most visually stunning and realistic sports game ever.....i played almost 300 games of NFL2k5 in less than 2 years for the same reason...NHL by EA is super realistic and also super fun, sam ething with the show and NBA2k.....it has more to do with 'realism'....the fact is these games have programmers working on them that are so dedicated it is more fun because they have sweated the small stuff...games can be dumbed down by turning down difficulty level far easier than they can be 'tuned up' if the hard work didn't go into them in the first place...having said that, i am enjoying an NFL Football game for the 1st time since NFL2k5 this year...Madden isn't anywhere near those other games but they seem to be trying now, at least in my opinion

His response was simple, "I manage a business in real life, I don't want to have to do it again in a video game. I just like playing a game of hardball every now and then."

That sounds like someone that doesn't really care about business then, and went into it because they thought it would be 'fun'. I love running my real life business, and when I play sports games, what makes it fun is the chance to pretend I am also running the sports team of my choice.

I don't think I'd want it extremely realistic, but realistic to a point of having a challenge incorporated with fun but accurate business elements. For example, I don't want to wait a week to see if my player signs with me; Let me know right away. On the other hand, a big-name player holding out could be a realistic but fun aspect to a game.

Fun is pure realism and ability to edit and customize seasons to the way you want them. EA fails. I hate the fact that we cannot edit names, heights, and weights of draft class rookies to make them real life.

Excellent blog post! I can agree to this simply because I picked up MLB 12 The Show back in August and I haven't even touched the Franchise mode yet. Just RTTS, which is weird because I wanted to play the franchise mode too. with NBA 2K I want to do both Association and MyCareer, but I may just pick up NCAA 13 just for the Road To Glory mode as well. Heck, I may even pick up FIFA just to get away from the normal routine of bball, baseball, football genres.