Skatter's definition of Casual, for what it's worth. To define Casual you must define the opposite of casual, Hardcore. These two are not binary and there is indeed a spectrum of players (why i don't like to lump people into one group or the other) Casual: The more casual a player is, the less he or she will bend their play time around their away from game time. Hardcore: the more hardcore a player is, the more he or she will bend their away from game time to suit their play time. Nearly everyone falls somewhere in between, myself included, and using my definition people can switch from one to the other at will ("this weekend i'm not going out, my friends are out of town so i will level up hardcore" has said many a middle-of-the-road player before including me)
A casual players definition differs based on who you ask, because its subject to individuals perceptions. By definition a casual players plays with no concerns and and is fairly apathetic to what goes on outside of what directly impacts them. Thus defined they could care less if they ever get to raid because they don't care to do so anyhow. You could say a casual player is one that prioritizes work, family real life responsibilities or other entertainments over the game. which could then be further broken down into time and assets you invest towards a pursuit. Or you could say anyone who is not us, if you define yourself as hardcore, another term with fluid meanings. Realistically everyone with very few exceptions playing on TLP would be best described as casualcore since you are willing to invest more than a F2P player for the same content, all the endgame content is within player abilities to defeat with minimal skill or gear. Some of these players have more available time and use pay to win methods of boxing for an advantage but can't demonstrate any hardships or handicaps they are overcoming to set themselves apart. Content has to be both hard or challenging to qualify as hardcore.
There are no casual MMO gamers. If you post on forums and play MMO games you are not a casual gamer. This is like an excuse for not winning - I'm 'casual' that's why I don't have a CoF. Well, cool, but I also don't have an olympic gold medal, because I'm casual and don't compete in olympic sports. It would probably be nice to be the best runner, swimmer, whatever, just like it would be nice to be the best player in a video game, but that requires dedication and sacrifice. This is the reason why modern (session based) games divide players into leagues based on their performance. That way people are matched with other people who are on a similar level. In everquest, your performance is based on the amount of time you spend online, rather than your skill, so they would need to limit play time to make a casual server possible.
I don't think so really both terms could be used in a disparaging way, though both simply describe playstyles. In truth neither is even diametrically opposite of one another. Both casuals and hardcore players have their Elitists that feel they are better than others, and anyone not like them is the problem with the game/world/forum etc....
It's weird to me that so many people got over being called a casual. It's like they're insulted that people know they don't raid or something.
Just look at some of these statements. "I am casual because I have a job and I don't neglect my family".
I actually think Greg's definition is pretty good. It's not about how many hours you play, its about your level of commitment. You can be hardcore and only play a couple of hours a day, if say you've got timers set on tons of things so you can only log in long enough to hit those timers. Most people who can commit really hard and make the game a huge priority are going to play a ton but that doesn't mean that they have no lives, just means they put the game first. If you wanna be hardcore, great! I hope you enjoy that style of play. I don't have a problem with people honing their craft and being amazing everquest players. I actually think it's pretty cool to watch. What I don't like is that a finite number of people can play this game, and in order one person to enjoy the game, someone else must necessarily be denied that part of the game. It might have been okay back in 2000 when the game was actually hard enough that the game itself kept most people from getting to raid ready stage. But most of us on this server are seasoned raiders. We're all good at this game. We know how to pull phinny and how to break fear. We're all hardcore because we've committed large portions of the last 16 years to the game. We have encyclopedic knowledge of the game from spawn timers to loot tables to perfect recall of the layout of the game. Hardcore used to be something to strive towards because it meant you loved the game. But it seems now that only the trolls are hardcore. Holly and her ilk want to look down their noses and gloat that they beat another group of loser casuals to the target and that we don't deserve to see naggy. Immature and myopic. Enjoy playing. I hope it's fun. Let us know when you grow up. We don't want to be like you anymore.
I posted the origin of the term on another thread, since its locked I'll quote myself here: Basically, Hardcore was the disparaging term to start with. Once gaming became a little more popular, and due to how other games worked their endgame content, it became a little more socially acceptable to be a raider in a MMORPG on the internet. And the tables were turned around to make Casual the disparaging term. The way it was used by the Lead Producer a few days ago was NOT to be disparaging, in fact it was used in a context not normally used in online gaming (she's not a typical gamer). But that's a different story for another thread.
"unless a distinction can be made rigorous and precise it isn't really a distinction." Gotta love the wikipedia entry for false dichotomy. There are only two types of people in this world; those that think like me, and everyone else.
To me casuals are people who don't take the game as serious, they don't get into a raiding guild and don't put nearly as much time into the game..This is why when people define casuals as groupers it's actually incorrect. I know a lot of groupers who are on more hours then many raiders.. It almost sounds like Holly is in a high end guild though..To be honest..I wouldn't be surprised if she was in TL. I have no proof, but just how she worded it......
Everquest Hardcore : "People willing to put in silly amounts of hours, staring at the screen, hoping for something to spawn that's worthwhile to kill." Everquest Softcore: "People unwilling / incapable due to real life, of putting in silly amounts of hours, staring at the screen, hoping for something to spawn, that's worthwhile to kill." I'm also under the assumption that if the word / classification "casual," makes you sad inside, than you're more than likely just that, a casual.
