About
“Filthy Casual” is a term used on message boards and in comments to negatively describe a gamer who only plays casual games[1], or a game in any genre that requires a low level of commitment and often has simple gameplay.
Origin
The term originated on 4chan’s /v/ (video games) board by hardcore gamers who view people who play casual games in a negative light. The first archived use of the term[2] was posted on August 30th, 2008 in a parody thread about how an average discussion plays out on the board.
Spread
By April 2009, the term had spread to other boards on 4chan, including /m/ (Mecha)[3], where a poster was called a filthy casual for admitting he or she enjoyed the anime Toradora!.[4] Throughout 2010, the phrase appeared on a handful of other boards including /a/[5] (anime & manga) and /tg/[6] (traditional gaming). Also that year, “filthy casuals” was used in commentary about people who play Facebook-based games on the Escapist forums[7] and on a Destructoid community member’s blog.[8] In December 2011, the first tagged image macro depicting a stereotypically nerdy looking male with a caption referencing flithy casuals was posted to Tumblr[9]
On April 10th, 2012, Josué Pereira of the webcomic Nerf Now![11] posted a strip comparing the gaming habits of filthy casuals vs. self-proclaimed elite gamers (shown below). That same day, it was reposted to the /r/Gaming[10] subreddit, where it accrued 505 upvotes, 363 points overall and 72 comments before being archived. In late 2012, references to these types of gamers were made on the /r/Circlejerk[12] subreddit and World of Tanks gaming forum.[13] That November, the first Facebook fan page[14] dedicated to the phrase launched.
On January 21st, 2013, a /r/FilthyCasuals[15] subreddit was created, but has only had one submission as of May 2013. A week later, a second Facebook[16] fan page was established. In early 2013, discussions and image macros about these types of gamers have appeared on Gamespot[17], We Know Memes[18], Tumblr[19] and FunnyJunk.[20]
Search Interest
External References
[1]Wikipedia – Casual game
[2]Chanarchive – Unpopular opinion thread
[3]Foolz Archive – /m/: You filthy CASUAL. GETOUT.
[5]Foolz Archive – /a/: If this is too much for you, just go back to watching Naruto and moeshit, you filthy casual scum.
[6]Foolz Archive – /tg/: You, sir, are a scrub, a filthy casual, incapable of winning tournaments and so pant-shittingly terrified of what they entail.
[7]The Escapist – Zynga Introduces Retail Game Cards For FarmVille
[8]Destructoid Blogs – Those Filthy Casual Games
[9]Tumblr – steven-of-uber: You heard the man, sod off. December 10, 2011
[10]Reddit – /r/gaming: Elite Of Gaming vs Filthy Casuals – Know the difference
[11]Nerf Now – Pro Guide April 10th, 2012
[12]Reddit – /r/circlejerk: Reddit, why does society look down on gamers? Hang on a sec, I see some stupid filthy casual playing ANGRYBIRDS on their phone, I’m gonna go tell them to grow up and be a REALGAMER. October 10, 2012
[13]World of Tanks – Are you a Filthy Casual or a Hardcore Accountant?
[14]Facebook – The Filthy Casual November 27th, 2012
[15]Reddit – /r/filthycasuals January 21st, 2013
[16]Facebook – Don’t touch me, you filthy casual. January 28th, 2013
[17]Gamespot – Don’t touch me, you filthy casual!
[18]We Know Memes – You Filthy Casual May 5th, 2013
[19]Tumblr – Posts tagged “filthy casual”
[20]FunnyJunk – Filthy Casual May 4th, 2013