Editing Gamer (section)

===Casualization===
Casualization is a trend in video games towards simpler games appealing to larger audiences, especially women or the elderly.<ref name="inaCasualization">{{cite web|last=Sarrazin|first=Vincent|date=October 7, 2011|url=http://www.inaglobal.fr/en/video-games/article/casualisation-video-games|title=The Casualisation of Video Games|work=ina global|publisher=[[Institut national de l'audiovisuel]]|access-date=June 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906195110/http://www.inaglobal.fr/en/video-games/article/casualisation-video-games|archive-date=2017-09-06|url-status=live}}</ref> Some developers, hoping to attract a broader audience, simplify or remove aspects of [[gameplay]] in established genres and franchises.<ref name="gamasutraDumbingDown"/> Compared to seminal titles like ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|DOOM]]'', more recent mass-market action games like the [[Call of Duty]] series are less sensitive to player choice or skill, approaching the status of [[interactive movie]]s.<ref name="eurogamerDoom">{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-07-06-22-years-on-doom-retains-the-ability-to-shock|last=Stewart|first=Keith|work=The Guardian|title=22 years on, Doom retains the ability to shock|date=2015-07-07|access-date=2015-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222081803/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-07-06-22-years-on-doom-retains-the-ability-to-shock|archive-date=2015-12-22|url-status=live}}</ref>

The trend towards casual games is decried by some self-identified gamers who emphasize gameplay, meaning the activities that one undertakes in a game.<ref name="overlandClueless">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamestudies.org/1201/articles/kirkpatrick|title=Constitutive tensions of gaming's field: UK gaming magazines and the formation of gaming culture|last=Kirkpatrick|first=Graeme|work=Gamestudies.org|access-date=2016-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623063357/http://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/kirkpatrick|archive-date=2016-06-23|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Brendan Keogh, these are inherently masculine activities such as fighting and exerting dominance. He further says that games women prefer are more passive experiences, and male gamers deride the lack of interactivity in these games because of this association with femininity.<ref name="overlandClueless"/> Belying these trends, games including ''[[The Sims]]'' or ''[[Minecraft]]'' have some of the largest audiences in the industry while also being very complex.<ref name="gamasutraDumbingDown">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JohnathonSwift/20140110/208440/quotDumbing_downquot.php|last=Swift|first=Johnathon|work=Gamasutra|title=Dumbing down|date=January 10, 2014|access-date=2015-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222164844/http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JohnathonSwift/20140110/208440/quotDumbing_downquot.php|archive-date=2015-12-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to Joost van Dreunen of SuperData Research, girls who play ''Minecraft'' are "just as 'hardcore' as the next guy over who plays ''[[Counter-Strike]]''".<ref name="washpoMoreWomen">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/10/17/more-women-play-video-games-than-boys-and-other-surprising-facts-lost-in-the-mess-of-gamergate/|last=Harwell|first=Drew|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=More women play video games than boys, and other surprising facts lost in the mess of Gamergate|access-date=2015-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223202854/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/10/17/more-women-play-video-games-than-boys-and-other-surprising-facts-lost-in-the-mess-of-gamergate/|archive-date=2015-12-23|url-status=live}}</ref> Dreunen says being in control of a game's environment appeals equally to boys and girls.<ref name="washpoMoreWomen"/> [[Leigh Alexander (journalist)|Leigh Alexander]] argued that appealing to women does not necessarily entail reduced difficulty or complexity.<ref name="edgeDumbingDown">{{cite web|url=http://www.edge-online.com/features/too-many-gamers-think-diversity-means-dumbing-down-its-time-to-forget-that-outmoded-view/ |last=Alexander |first=Leigh |work=Edge |title=Too many gamers think diversity means dumbing down – it's time to forget that outmoded view |date=August 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713174818/http://www.edge-online.com/features/too-many-gamers-think-diversity-means-dumbing-down-its-time-to-forget-that-outmoded-view/ |archive-date=July 13, 2014 }}</ref>