From our style of play to the platforms we play on, there’s always a category we can fit into as gamers. Once upon a time, gaming was a relatively simple concept, but by today, it has grown to be a diverse, dynamic, and ever-evolving industry. There are constant changes within the gaming industry, and new technologies are emerging every day. We’re here now to look at the many types of gamers in the world, helping you to identify where you fit into the bigger picture.
Whether you’re deeply competitive, super casual, or a lover of retro consoles, there’s a category for you. Read on to learn about the ten key types of gamers out there in the world today, and try to determine which category you’d fall into.
The Ten Types of Gamers Out There
1. Casual Gamers
Out of the 3 billion gamers in the world, many of them can be categorised as ‘casual gamers’. These types of gamers tend to play games very infrequently, and they don’t really care for the latest innovations in technology. They’ll be slow to purchase new consoles and hardware, and in many cases, they’ll favour portable, casual platforms like mobile gaming. Most of the time, they’ll take a long time to finish a single game, simply for the reason that gaming might not even be their main hobby, but they enjoy it nonetheless.
Typical Games: Clash of Clans, Pokemon GO, CODM, Fortnite, Among Us.
2. Retro Gamers
If you’re an older gamer by age, you might also be a retro gamer. These types of gamers love their old-school technology, frequently diving in to play games that launched ten, twenty, thirty, or even forty years ago. They’ll favour retro technology, owning and enjoying games on platforms like the SNES, N64, PlayStation 2, all the way back to the Atari 2600, Amiga, or Commodore 64. However, this doesn’t mean that they’re not likely to enjoy modern games at the same time – they just really enjoy collecting and playing retro games.
Typical Games: Super Mario 64, Metal Slug, The Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy.
3. Professional Gamers
There’s a special breed of gamer known as the ‘professional gamer’. These types of gamers will compete in high-stakes esports tournaments, representing a team, organisation, or even a nation while playing a game they’ve spent years practising at. These gamers are hardcore, elitist, and highly skilled, and they’ll typically be found playing competitive first-person shooter games. For instance, many professional gamers can be found represented on the top CS2 sites or being discussed in Call of Duty debates.
Typical Games: CSGO, League of Legends, Dota 2, Call of Duty, Valorant.
4. Competitive Gamers
Typically sitting one step below the professional gamers, the competitive gamers are skilled players that might be trying to become professional gamers. They’ll boast remarkable skills in their game of choice, but perhaps they haven’t yet had the opportunity to reach that next level. These types of gamers may frequent esports betting sites, utilising their knowledge of the gaming industry to make a little money, maybe going so far as to learn crypto esports betting to take advantage of emerging technology. These gamers are talented, often aggressive, and live for the competition.
Typical Games: CSGO, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, Escape from Tarkov, Battlefield.
5. NextGen Gamers
NextGen gamers make up a rising category; a group that has been steadily emerging in recent years. With the ongoing developments in play-to-earn games, crypto games, and even the metaverse, a new breed of gamer has begun taking shape. As one of the key types of gamers, NextGen gamers are hungry for technological developments, pouring time, energy, and effort into the latest advancements. They’ll be interested in crypto betting markets, earning NFTs through games, and developments in VR and AR technology.
Typical Games: Axie Infinity, Decentraland, Sandbox, VR Chat, Beat Saber.
6. Core Gamers
As you may have guessed, core gamers make up the core of the gaming audience in general. These types of gamers tend to play the mainstream titles that ‘everybody else plays’, devoting a fair amount of time to video games in general. They’ll keep up with mainstream developments in consoles and hardware, perhaps investing in new technology either as soon as it releases or shortly after launch. While they’re not hardcore gamers, they have an appreciation for the industry and can easily spend a few hours grinding away on their favourite titles.
Typical Games: Assassin’s Creed, Fallout, Call of Duty, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto.
7. Completionist Gamers
Now, this isn’t strictly a dictionary-defined term, but it certainly is one of the key types of gamers. These players make up the more hardcore individuals in the industry, opting to fully absorb every single aspect of a given video game. They’ll want to find every collectable item, complete every side quest, and rinse every piece of downloadable content. If they invest money in a game, they’ll see it through to 100% before they move on to something else.
Typical Games: Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Grand Theft Auto, Batman, Dark Souls.
8. Gambling Gamers
These days, many gamers are seeking to gain something from playing their video games. With the rise of play-to-earn games, some players directly earn cryptocurrency or some kind of cosmetic items simply through playing their games. However, these types of gamers, the gambling gamers, go one step further, seeking out the ability to gamble in some way in every game that they play. They’ll typically frequent crypto casinos and online gaming sites, they’ll purchase and unlock lootboxes, skin crates, and cosmetic rolls in-game, and they’ll take a chance at every possible opportunity.
Typical Games: Online Casino Games, CSGO, Grand Theft Auto, FIFA UT, Rushlane.
9. Immersive Gamers
Like completionist gamers, immersive gamers want to fully understand every aspect of their chosen game. However, an immersive gamer will push the envelope a little further, opting to absolutely immerse themselves in the gaming world around them. Typically, these gamers will favour MMORPG or RPG titles, games where they can create a character and truly live a second life. They’ll often spend hundreds of hours poring through the game, working with a single character for months and months at a time, truly exploring the length and breadth of the title.
Typical Games: World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Guild Wars, Neverwinter.
10. Social Gamers
Finally, we come to social gamers. These types of gamers are quite similar to casual gamers, in that they won’t play very often, and in most cases, they’re only playing to interact with their friends. In many walks of life, you get social individuals who will only take part in an activity because it enables them to connect with others. In most cases, social gamers may only play free-to-play games like battle royale titles, something that requires very little investment but enables them to directly interact with their friends – and potentially make more friends on the go.
Typical Games: Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, PUBG, Apex Legends, Hyper Scape.
