I don't want to derail the thread but I do sort of want to expand on this a little. I agree that terms like "casual" and "hardcore", when they apply to games, are somewhat "floaty" in that they mean different things to different people. A lot of people might agree that something like Farmville is "casual", but then where is the line where games hop from being so to being "hardcore"? Furthermore, what makes a gamer "hardcore"? Is it the type of games he plays? The hours he puts in? Both?
Different people will say different things, but in fairness, different people will define "gamer" differently, as well.
I've come up with a sort of personal definition for myself. I don't usually refer to myself as a "gamer". Partially because the word has developed negative connotations with your stereotypical 14-year-old kid screaming profanities into his Xbox headset whilst playing Cowadooty, and partially because I feel that I aim higher than that. At the risk of sounding exceptionally silly/geeky/whathaveyou, I self-identify as a "video game enthusiast". I read about games, I write about games, I dedicate most of my free time to playing them or learning about them via history books or blogs, and I take care to play as many classics as I can get my little paws on. I feel that just as there are book buffs, music buffs, and film buffs-- I am a video game buff.
If I had the time, I would explain this to anyone who asked if I was a "gamer". But I don't, so sometimes I just use the much shorter term "hardcore". It's not a very good replacement term, but at least it hopefully gets the point across that I try to play games the way a wine connoisseur might taste his wine.
And that, my friends, is possibly the nerdiest post I've ever written on this forum, which is saying a lot.