Videogames are arguably the most diverse entertainment medium there is. Combining the visual, audio and textual mediums with interactivity allows for a near infinite possibilities. However, despite the variety and diversity in games, video game fans can be broken down into a few categories.These types of fans, are ordered in a hierarchical structure based on dedication and care. Certain people will drift towards different types of videogame fan, depending on their personality, and where they are in life.

Filthy casuals:

This type of fan makes up the majority. Their motive is to get a good experience out of a game and be done with it. They may not know anything going in. Other than, “It looks cool.” These people are busy average people! They have so much stress and hard work to do. Along with being so tired all the time. So, gaming for them is casual grazing. Playing games to pass the time is what they do best. However, they do very little to try to absorb it more then they have to. What they require is accessibility and simplicity. So Farmville and iPhones games are among their favorites. Ask them about a character or person and they might not even remember their name of what they look like. These people tend to focus too much on their work life. They often think about going back to the grind when they are off. Which causes them not to appreciate gaming for its high, but for its repetitivity. These types of people may or may not be successful in their lives. Games provide the briefest window of escape for them.

Moderately Interested:

These people are interested enough to stay with a property and follow every new major release. If a series is uber popular, expect them to fall off once the fad is over. They get excited a few months before what they like comes out, and know a moderate amount of information about the media they like. A typical example would be someone who buys the new Call of Duty every year. While they may not know the names of the director, producer, programmers, and so on, they will know at least the plot of the game, if it has one.

The would be what someone would call a “regular fan”. Someone who cares about something just enough, but not too much to get odd eyes from people for devoting some much time and energy to something that isn’t work. This person has no major flaws except for the flaw of being painfully average in life. In the areas of dedication, to real life, and to games, they arel well rounded and average. They enjoy their time off and their gaming rather than stressing about work when they are not there. Knowing how a multiplayer game works and playing one is their defining feature compared to the casuals, as they not only possess the skills to understand the rules and play, but is willing to involve others in their entertainment.

Fanboys:
People who fall into this type are a rare breed. They know every piece of trivia. They know every tiny piece of news. They know the release dates of projects years into the future that haven't even started production yet. Usually an immediate sign of these Die-hards is if they buy a lot of the tie-in merchandise. However, some fanboys have a tendency to not have such a good life-media balance. These are associated with the stereotypical basement dwellers that don’t have jobs and play videogames all day.

What unites fanboys, is a strong passion for something.  A videogame series they are invested in and want to see grow even more. More often than not, an obsessive personality or skill to create is not necessary to be gravitated towards this level of fandom and passion, it can certainly help with being able to keep track of all the facts and tie-ins. Basically, you need to care a lot about this stuff to join the big leagues of fandom. Don’t be surprised if they know a certain mathematical process the game uses to figure out what to do next. This strong passion comes from a sense of community and belonging.

Crazies

Like fanboys, the crazies will follow their favorite videogames to the world’s end and then some. However, they have much more radical ideas and feelings. Sure, on the outside in real life these people will blend in no problem, but give them the opportunity to speak their message and their true nature will come out. It festers within them like a savage beast, waiting to be unleashed. While they are a relatively small type compared to all the others, their voices and opinions can reach far, wide and cause massive damage.

These people will proclaim their following to be the best thing in the world since sliced bread. Attacking other fans like themselves for not feeling as strongly or the exact same way they do is extremely rude, but common. Another common example would be putting another similar game series down in an extremely and obviously biased way. The crazies have gotten to a mental state where they have twisted their passion into a weapon to use against others to judge their video game tastes.They might be racist or sexist or angry or stupid or especially irrational. Sometimes, they chose insanity, or insanity chose them. Would this kind of behavior be acceptable in public in a normal conversation?

PC Master Race:
The smallest group of all, and they are unknown among 99.9% of people. Much like crazies, they use their likes to attack other videogame fans. However, instead of flat out insanity, they try to back it up with facts to reach a psuedo-intellectually “definitive” right answer. They’ll throw tech specs, game sales, performance rates, and flat out fanboyism to say the PC is the best platform to play on and everybody else playing videogames on something else is wrong. They act is if they were god’s gift to gaming, that they are the ones pushing games forward on their own and the “evil” 3rd party companies want to “dumb down games for the casuals”.Some may try to pin insanity on the perfectly normal audience or individual. “You all are the reason why Nintendo acts with such hesitance and lack of originality.” 

When in reality, they are biting the hands that feed them, as the mainstream defines the future of games, not their ideals. While only a very small minority of people who play videogames on PC are like this, they are the most hateful group of all.

People of this nichest of niche category have the biggest ego among all. Challenging 90% of gaming is the most insane thing to do, so this large ego is necessary. It also subverts their anger, masquerading as an intellectual elite.