Is It the Casual Gamer's Time to Shine?

It all started out with board games.  Board games have their fair share of casual players and hardcore players.  Anyone can see this when it comes to chess and checkers, but did you know Monopoly actually has championship tournaments?

Since then, video games are well on their way to becoming the most popular form of entertainment.  As with board games, gamers can also be casual players or hardcore players.With the rise in smart phones, tablets, and the lack of time causing the rise of casual gaming?

Currently, some people are finding themselves in a predicament:  they don't have a lot of time on their hands, but they want to do something fun for the time being.  After all, with all of the things to do around us there is a lot fighting for your free time:  video games, surfing the internet, television, Netflix, and the list goes on and on.  In order to spend their time playing games, people are now finding the need for quick re-playability.

In the middle of cooking, a mother might sits down and tend to some crops on FarmVille.  While sitting on the bus, a student pulls out his iTouch to play his word on Words with Friends.  After eating lunch, a construction worker plays a couple of games of Doodle Jump.  There are thousands of games currently targeted at casual gamers such as these.

This, sadly, is bad news for the hardcore gamers.  For every handful of games targeted towards hardcore gamers, e-truckloads of casual games are dumped into the market.  Many of the most popular games of today are casual games, although some can double as hardcore:  FarmVille, Angry Birds, Words with Friends, Plants Vs. Zombies.  What is the cause, though?

There's simply a lack in the amount of time people have to spend playing games, and this amount dwindles on a daily basis.  It's also much easier for developers to publish and promote their games, so this could be why we see so many on app stores and markets.  These two reasons are the cause for the casual gaming surge.  The people want it (and a lot of it,)  and they get lots of it delivered.

We see many more casual games and more come out that are targeted towards "quick fixes" for gamers.   What do you think about this?  Is this good or bad for gaming?