Yes, depending on what you consider casual, I would consider myself a casual player. This has nothing to do with my play time really. I do play a decent amount. This has to do more with what I do with that time.
There was a time when all I wanted to do was Raid. Log on, jump into LFG and pray for something good to be going down. This is not a motivation for me at the moment. I should be whoring out my uber leet skills to pugs in need, but I am about as interested as Ellen Degeneres at a Chip N Dales show.
The casual vs hardcore debate has been raging forever. While I consider myself to be casual, how many would thing I am hardcore? I have a blog, I have three well geared level 80 toons, and I make ass tons of gold playing the auction house.
WoW is like a delicious multi-layered cake. There are many different paths, and along those paths are different levels of "hardcore". On the PvP layer of the cake, I would be considered ultra casual. If I were a porno, I would be something on Skinamaxx at 11 pm. On the other hand, I cancel and post auctions several times a day, spying on my competitiors so I know when to strike. If I were a porno here, I could well be a compilation of DVDA and bukkake videos.
I consider annoying rep grinds to be somewhat casual. You dont really need to use any brain activity to do them. I am almost done with the Shataari Skyguard at the moment and will switch to Sporregar after that. Some people think rep grinds are hardcore. They are measuring the level of hardcore by time instead of challenge.
How do YOU define hardcore or casual. Is it based on the content you try to tackle or is it based on the time you spend in game. I have accomplished much more than my sister in WoW in a lot less play time. Does that make me hardcore?
I read blogs and outside resources. Does that make me harcore, or does it make the people who dont ultra casual. This is really a very tricky to figure out.
If you raid more than me, you have no life. If you raid less, you suck. If you make more gold than me you have no life, if you make less you suck. I read several examples of this in a blog recently. We make our own guidelines for determing what we deem casual or hardcore. Everybody is going to have a different opinion. I have babbled on for so long, I no longer know what I am talking about. Hey look over there, a penguin.
Anyways, how do YOU define hardcore and casual? What are you in that spectrum?
11 comments:
I thought hardcore normally refer to those raiders that raid 4-5 days a week? That is my understanding of hardcore.
I'd consider guys like Voltan with more than 10k achievement points hardcore, anyone with "the insane" title, or the protodrakes from hardmodes naxx/ulduar..
Other than that I think most are "normals" or "casuals".. Spending 3 nights a week in Uld25 is definately not hardcore, it's rather a testament that you're not doing all that well in there if you need three sessions to get through it ;)
Everyone's definition is different. It always makes me laugh when I hear people who raid 2-3 times a week calling themselves a casual raider. What's casual about that?
The only true definition that works is: casual is someone who plays less than you, while a hardcore plays more.
Casual - someone who can only play when they have time. Casuals have difficulty scheduling for events such as raiding or arenas, and usually do things as they have time if they are logged in. A casual can spend a long time in game, but they may not be there every Wednesday night. They do rep grinds as it fits their fancy, and AH is not done everyday etc.
Hardcore - is about how seriously an activity in game is done, whether it is raiding, arena, rep grinds or AH.
So you may be casual in somethings and hardcore in others. So you have to define further what your activities are: Social, Solo-play(this includes pugging, AH etc, anything that can be done without anyone else in particular), Arena, Raiding.
I think you answered it. Anyone that does more than me, whether in time, grinds, or achievements is hardcore. Anyone that does less is casual.
We treat that as a joke, but I really do believe it depends on your own personal situations. For example, let's take a high school student during the middle of summer with no job and no responsibility that plays 60 hours/week. Is he hardcore? Probably not, he's just got a lot of time on his hands. Now take a father of 6 that works and spends time with the family and finds time to play 10 hours/week. Is he hardcore? Might be if he's pressed to find those 10 hours.
Interesting post, the porn comparisons were absolutely delightful.
I just wrote about the problem of identifying hardcore these days - and think your post have inspired me to discuss it further.
I think the poster above said it best, your level of dedication and priority makes you casual or hardcore. I will never be more than casual because I refuse to schedule my life around the game. And if my level of PvP was a porno, I would be disney channel, I dislike and avoid it that much. . .
Oh my gosh! You make a ton of money on the AH??? You're totally hardcore. :)
I like the way you defined the spectrum since there are several aspects of the game.
Damn it Darraxus. Now I get the Jong Song stuck in my head when I see him reply. Oh wait, whats the topic?
Mmm, interesting term Casual can be. On a player basis, that term is hard to narrow down, but for a guild, that label is very important to define to visitors looking at a guild with that term on it. My own included, and we choose that term carefully
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