Casual vs. Hardcore

What's a hardcore gamer?

People always talk about "Oh, I'm a hardcore gamer," or "I'm a casual gamer," or "He/She/It is hardcore/casual gamer/nongamer."

I don't get it.

I love playing video games. But am I casual or hardcore? Am I a gamer at all? A lot of people seem to think that the very fact that I'm female makes me a casual gamer, or not a gamer at all.

I don't get it.

I mean, I'm not very good at video games, I'll give you that. The few I am good at usually have the word "Sims" in it.

But I LOVE to play video games. I play them constantly (except when I'm on the internet, of course!). And I DO play hard video games, like Red Steel (debatably hard, I'll admit).

I don't get it.