Casual versus Hardcore

Lets see.. 3 hours raids 2 nights a week normally, 3 hours hanging out helping people and chatting most nights (maybe on my alt bard, maybe not) and probably 5 hours on Sundays.. not counting the 3 hours previously mentioned for Sunday Night raids..
the "hardcore" as I see it is the raid nights, the other nights are casual friend time. But, I'm older, my kids are grown and gone, and I work 48+ hours every week, so EQ is my relaxation.

It's not simply a time thing, there's people who play everquest 30 or 40 hours a week that really are just casual. They play a lot but they're casually playing the game.

There's players who play less than 10 hours a week who have very focused play sessions and treat it like a hard core game they're not wasting a second of that precious play time. They want to do really good at the game and want to progress.

Everyone seems fundamentally set on this activity difference between players. It's all about time investment. I don't know how all of you can miss that point.

Step back from EQ, is 10 hours a week playing any game hardcore by any sort of metric? Yes, without a doubt.

We don't "miss" the point. We disagree with it.

We are using a subjective, imprecise word (hardcore). You define it a certain way. We define it differently. Really not that hard to understand.

In a nutshell? If you're on this forum, you probably aren't "casual"

EDIT: Comic moment aside it's probably quite apt. Regardless of play time, spending time becoming involved in the direction of the game in an external forum is probably a good indicator you're not entirely casual.

But you can be non-casual and non-hardcore. I'd argue the two terms describe players on either side of your average gamer that plays these kind of games.

Well now. I play an average of 8 hours a day 7 days a week. What does that make me? lol

Committed!

This is all pretty textbook addict denial. Take an any other example of doing something 4 or more times a week, and it’ll give you a better perspective on your own behavior patterns within EQ. If someone said they run 1 hour a day 5 days a week or cycle or go to the bar 5 days a week is that a casual bar patron? No, and nobody would argue differently. I’m looking at this from a time only perspective and not any deeper than that.

EQ isn’t a casuals game, everyone reiterates that you can’t get things done in 4 hours a week. I agree with that. There’s no differentiation between doing a raid or clearing content. You’re still using your time for something you find meaningful. It’s insulting at its face value to press that distinction.

Again, thanks for the fascinating responses.

No, sorry... it's not about "time". It's about how you approach the game. If you think you do "good enough", and don't care to get as good as you can be at the game... you're a casual player. Whether you play 4 hours a week or 40.

4 hours a week seems beyond causal. That's hardcore casual. I'm not sure what I could get done with that little time or if I could justify a monthly sub without quadrupling that number.

When people say things like "this nerf isn't going to affect hardcore players, it's only going to hurt more casual players," they mean people who understand their characters well enough to (at least attempt to) push the game to its limits vs those who don't. If a group of people can barely hobble through gribbles at 115, they don't become "hardcore players" if they start doing them every day instead of every three days.

"hardcore" can be defined in a bunch of ways, and while time can certainly be a factor in it, using that as the sole metric is not how most people are using the word (as evidenced by the responses in this thread)

Going by this, the phrase "casual EverQuest player" is a contradiction in terms and all EverQuest players are "hardcore" by default, making the distinction between "casual" and "hardcore" pointless.

This is probably the best example that explains why trying to divide Casual and Hardcore based on playtime is not the correct way to do it.

I think, overall, you'll find that your "Hardcore" players actually spend less time playing in game than your "Casual" players because they complete their objectives more quickly.

The thing about MMOs is that you can spend all day sitting in a city zone doing absolutely nothing but chatting and you're still "playing." Those high numbers of playtime do not make you a hardcore player though.

"I spent 8 hours this week raiding in EQ."
vs
"I spent 8 hours this week decorating my house in EQ."
Do you see the difference?

Lots of difference casuals and hardcores

casual/hardcore play time

casual/hardcore attitude to maxing game skills

casual/hardcore to reading the forums

casual/hardcore to tradeskills

casual/hardcore socializers

casual/hardcore overseer players.

etc etc

Some of the most hard core in game play time are the opposite in regards to mastering game mechanics for instance.

Just saying casual/hardcore in relation to everquest without addressing specific parts of the game is meaningless. Peeps could be considered hardcore in one or more areas and also casual in one or more areas It all depends on what part of the game you are talking about.

First you have to define what part of Everquest play you are trying to define as hardcore or casual.

I think the main division is how much folks get out of the game mechanics such as being in a high end raid guild where folks are expected to either master their classes on their own or accept instruction to do so. Or folks not in raid guilds who do the same working through their say set ups say with software to max out ever last bit of DPS they figure they can get. I think that is the most common type of hard core discussed but even that is open for debate I guess.

i give this thread a troll rating of 10/10 though. hardcore.

It would perhaps be better to see what regular usage of the two terms are and see how it applies to players.

hardcore defined

Just using the first definition that popped up on a search and the first entry is

That would actually describe my play style. I don't even keep track of how many hours a week I play but I've been playing steadily since '99. No "coming back to TLP to experience the game the way it was meant to be played" for me.

casual defined

That's a bit harder to apply so maybe another dictionary has a better fit. Roughly speaking people who play irregularly, take long breaks, change servers, lose account information etc. Oh, and only come back for TLP starts pretty well fit as casual.

There is no good or bad here, no judgement on anyone. Just showing up a few months every year so you can beat really old content again and socialize and chat is casual and that's just fine.

My gosh, you full of it.

Junkie: I don't have a problem with drugs.

Man whose never taken drugs: I don't have a problem with drugs

Pawtato: Wow, that second guy's in denial, classic addict response.

So now, hardcore = addict?

Question: why did you start this thread, look for opinions, when you already decided you KNEW the answer: "EQ isn’t a casuals game"

Sounds like YOU'RE the addict, and want to justify by saying, it's OK, we're all addicts.

Thanks for the less than fascinating thread. /out

I'm a harcore casual. If I feel like playing I do. When I am playing I do stuff until I feel like doing something else or until it stops being fun. What constitutes fun entirely depends on my random mood. I'd say I am more likely to put in major time when I have a fun set of quests to do, catch up on tradeskills, or when I am farming tradeskill materials. All three of those are major timesinks but it doesn't really feel like I am on all that long. Being in a really good pug is a lot of fun but is kind of stressful to me so I get burned out faster. I haven't raided in 15 or more years.

The thread may not have been intended as a troll but in his responses it is clear that he cannot help but troll. Much like the majority of his postings around the forums. Hardcore forum troll.

Pretty much.

Most of us are part time trolls, we get so aggravated or disgusted by something dumb we end up backsliding into trolldom, but some people are just 100% full on troll mode.

Well thank you everyone for sharing your definitions. This has been...informative.

Before more people starting accusing each other of trolling. Which is also against the rules by the way.

The thread is locked.