The Hardcore Gamer Subculture and Pure Pwnage

"Subcultures are groups of people who have some practices, values and interests in common and who form through their interaction a distinct group within a larger culture," (IGS 25).

The "hardcore" gamer is a subculture of the videogamer culture. These people have been heavily stereotyped in modern culture. One of my favorite internet shows, Pure Pwnage, examines the hardcore gamer subculture.

Pure Pwnage is described as a “mockumentary;” it is filmed in the style that a documentary would be, but it is based on fictional characters. The show focuses on a pro-gamer named Jeremy, who can’t hold down a real job and lives with his mom. He spends almost all of his time playing games, and has been doing so since he was 2 years old when he “toaly pwned pong.” Because he has been living in the basement his whole life, he doesn’t know how to socially interact with people and taught himself how to speak. Jeremy is very skilled at the games he plays, and if he loses a game, he instantly starts to freak out. In one of the episodes, Jeremy tries getting a job as a game tester:



The show is basically poking fun at hardcore gamers, and Jeremy is an exaggerated version of the stereotypical hardcore gamer.

Last summer, my friends and I went to Toronto for a screening of Pure Pwnage’s newest episode at the Bloor cinema. When we entered the cinema to wait for the show to start, we were practically blinded by all of the Nintendo DS’s and PSP’s in the crowd of people. To our surprise, nearly everyone there fit the bill as the stereotypical hardcore gamer. They were all hardcore gamers exactly as they are portrayed in Pure Pwnage. It seemed strange that they all liked the show when it was them that it was making fun of. It seems to me that they idolize the show and the character of Jeremy, because it comically portrays the subculture that they are a part of, and it has a way of bringing them together.

Hardcore gamers are different from casual gamers because of the excessive amount of time and skill that is involved in playing videogames, and the competitive nature of these gamers. The casual gamer is playing these games just for the enjoyment; hardcore gamers would still play for enjoyment, but put in a lot of time and effort to complete every aspect of the game. The hardcore gamer subculture is unique because the majority of it can be found online, but Pure Pwnage helps to bring this subculture together and accurately displays it in their internet show, which is why it is so popular among hardcore gamers.

www.purepwnage.com