In his 2010 book “A Casual Revolution”, Jesper Juul discusses a “new wave” of video games – one that sees new (or “once”) players able to pick them up and experience “meaningful play” within a “short time frame”. He remarks that there have been many games “ignored by potential players” and ponders the reasons behind this – whether a lack of time to invest, prior knowledge, money, or hardware – but describes how games released in recent years have managed to re-establish a “pull” on the public.
A prominent example in his argument is the Nintendo Wii (Nintendo, 2006) – the likes of which sold far more units than rival consoles (Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3) despite its lesser graphics and focus on casual games. It is supposed that this is because the Wii was revolutionary in that it made video games accessible once again. In Juul’s research, he discovered many potential players felt “frustration [at] not knowing which button to push” but that these people could still play Wii games.
Furthermore, the Wii Remote bears a striking resemblance to a standard TV remote, which near-enough every household owns. The simplified, familiar design can be seen as a means to translate the “new expressive and creative language” developed by the hardcore games industry of recent years into terms they can understand – especially with the majority of Wii games being mimetic and therefore easier to learn.
However, mimetic games do not only allow for quick pick-up. As Juul puts it rather eloquently, the “player space and 3-D space appear continuous” while playing games such as Wii Sports Boxing (2006). In games such as this, the player’s actions (punches, dodges, etc.) are replicated on-screen, thus blurring the lines between fiction and reality – it is easier for new players (regardless of age) to derive meaning quickly because they are so immersive especially when in a social context.
However, this may not always be the case as Juul suggests that the distinction between “casual” and “hardcore” will forever “co-evolve” with audiences. As games are once again becoming “normal” (as of 2010, 65% of US households own a gaming device), the definitions of “casual” and “hardcore” are getting harder to separate, and so should be seen as a “number of changing parameters” that should continuously be studied.
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- J. Juul, A casual revolution. Reinventing Video Games and Their Players, The MIT Press, Cambridge MA & London, Ch. 1 (available online: https://www.jesperjuul.net/casualrevolution/casual_revolution_chapter1.pdf)
- Wii Sports Resort Boxing. 2006. Nintendo.
The Last Lemming 