Video gaming is a traditionally male hobby. Until the Super Nintendo era, female video game players were very rare. Today, 30 percent of PC gamers and 20 percent of console gamers are female. Video game players who think older video games are more fun than newer ones sometimes call themselves old school gamers, and the opposites are called new school gamers. The classes of video game players are casual, softcore, and hardcore.

Hardcore gamers are video game players that purchase many video games, make the purchase decisions independently, and have video gaming as their one of their top priorities. Most hardcore gamers are males and are within in an age group of 14 years of age to 30 (as determined by the Entertainment Software Association). Hardcore gamers make a significant contribution to the video game industry, including the console industry. Some hardcore gamers are also video game proponents.