What Defines A "Casual" Player To You?

[Illumisar]

A casual player is one who simply wants to experience the game and plays for the enjoyment of playing while a hardcore player in one who wants to achieve through play and plays for a sense of accomplishment. For the former the game is a diverting activity while for the later the game is a focusing task. IMHO…

[Vydor_HC]

I define a casual player as someone who plays when they have time, but don't really schedule into their lives, or set aside time especially for the game.

 

I do not define casual or hard core based solely on skill.

 

Yeah, this is how I classify it too. Adding in, that it's not #1 on their things to do list when they have free time. It's a lower priority.

[spoonguy]

Yeah, this is how I classify it too. Adding in, that it's not #1 on their things to do list when they have free time. It's a lower priority.

 

I agree casual players players tend to play when they get time that's about the only quality they all share.

 

I could be said they tend to be less competitive, more laid back etc but that's not always true. They're just busier or less willing to make time for the game.

Edited February 17, 2012 by spoonguy

[themacr]

I think casual is a mindset (and so is being hardcore).

 

I'm casual, still play around 3-4 hours a day though mind you!

BUT

I quit at 1:00 always.

Back in HardCore days WOW i often played till my allarm went off and i had to go to work

I dont farm anything. I do what i want for fun. WHich happens to be warzones. So i do those alot ^^

Backl in HardCore WOW i was grinding my *** of 4 days of the week basicly...

I help guildies more

Back in HardCore WOW i didn't have the time because i was to busy grinding gold for repairs etc etc.

I vallue Quality over Quantity. I'm happy with 1-2 ops groups a week

Back in HardCore WOW this was at least 5 a week.

[Uben]

The definition boils mainly down to investment.

 

-The casual gamer is just not as invested into the game as the hardcore. He has other things to do that he values more important and so can take or leave any game as it sits. The hardcore on the other hand treats it as more than a past time and invests his time into the game making it a pursued hobby.

 

It is the same in other realms of life. Lets take Golf for one example. The casual golfer goes golfing less than the hardcore golfer. The casual is out there to enjoy the day first. he is not worried about his ball slicing into the woods. He is there for the walk and the excercise first. He is there to pass the time.

 

The hardcore golfer is out there multiple days a week. He practices his putting in the back yard when he has the free time dedicating to his hobby instead of going to the movies or reading a book, or such. He goes out of his way to take time off from other things in order to pursue such a hobby.

 

 

-Hardcores may get to 50 first. They are also the players that will keep playing longer after they cap. They are here to invest time into that hobby. On the other hand the casual may be a little slower due to time constraints. He may reach 50 later... he is also more apt to cancel the sub while he waits for more content. He will moonlight more often. One MMO is like another to him. So it is nothing for him to walk easily to any other title in the meantime. He is casual. It is NOT his hobby, there for he does not take it seriously like the hardcore in the terms of investment.

 

That is really the only difference.

[RocNessMonster]

If you play at least one hour a day almost on a daily basis, you are not casual. You are softcore. Majority of players are neither casual or hardcore, but in the middle as softcores. Edited February 17, 2012 by RocNessMonster

[DieAlteHexe]

The definition boils mainly down to investment.

 

-The casual gamer is just not as invested into the game as the hardcore. He has other things to do that he values more important and so can take or leave any game as it sits. The hardcore on the other hand treats it as more than a past time and invests his time into the game making it a pursued hobby.

 

It is the same in other realms of life. Lets take Golf for one example. The casual golfer goes golfing less than the hardcore golfer. The casual is out there to enjoy the day first. he is not worried about his ball slicing into the woods. He is there for the walk and the excercise first. He is there to pass the time.

 

The hardcore golfer is out there multiple days a week. He practices his putting in the back yard when he has the free time dedicating to his hobby instead of going to the movies or reading a book, or such. He goes out of his way to take time off from other things in order to pursue such a hobby.

 

 

-Hardcores may get to 50 first. They are also the players that will keep playing longer after they cap. They are here to invest time into that hobby. On the other hand the casual may be a little slower due to time constraints. He may reach 50 later... he is also more apt to cancel the sub while he waits for more content. He will moonlight more often. One MMO is like another to him. So it is nothing for him to walk easily to any other title in the meantime. He is casual. It is NOT his hobby, there for he does not take it seriously like the hardcore in the terms of investment.

 

That is really the only difference.

 

Hmmm, not sure I agree. I've seen more "hardcores" tear their hair out and move on to the next game than casuals after burning through the content and, understandably, reaching a point where they simply cannot run another dungeon/raid/flashpoint whatver even if the gear/rewards increase. Too, I am "invested" in the game else I couldn't be arsed to pay and log in.

 

Games are one of my hobbies, one that I DO have quite a bit invested in, time, digging around for info, learning various things (classes, stats, builds etc.), meeting new people, keeping up with old friends, learning, exploring etc. etc. etc.. I just am not...rabid about it. Being ONE of my hobbies, I also spend time on others. But when I game...I GAME!

 

In fact (heh, sorry) I think you've got this quite the wrong way 'round.

 

Taking a game seriously can be done by hardcores, casuals or the, likely, majority inbetween. Unless you're defining "seriously" as I would "obsessively" but I don't think that's what you mean, right?

[Agenteusa]

I think Hardcore is a player that is willing to commit more time into achieving whatever he wants to achieve whether a Casual just plays the game for fun not having set rules on when/how to achieve the same goal as the hardcore.

 

I never was casual , but I was hardcore, now I´m soemthing in between. I still play a lot, but íf I come home from work and feel like taking a nap instead of raiding I just take the nap.

 

Commitement is the key word between casual and hardcore imo.

 

Has nothing to do with skill but its normal that hardcore players are generally more skilled than non - hardcore simply because they commit more and hence practice more.

 

That said some people in the same situation as me now are ex-hardcore players which ofc translates into skill generally.

Edited February 17, 2012 by Agenteusa

[Uben]

It's simple. A casual player is a player who plays an MMO like it's a single player game. Which is the vast majority of players. And, no, joining a guild doesn't mean you don't fit this category.

 

I don't care if you're playing it 20 hours a day while never interacting with another soul in game. You're still a casual in my eyes.

 

You're the blight that game developers are obsessed with catering to, while sacrificing the entire original premise behind 'MMO', which was once this bright promise of a virtual online world, and was in the early years. But, we've learned the dark side of the human psyche as "MMOs" stopped intrinsically forcing players to function as members of their given online society, by introducing more and more "solo" content.

 

There is nothing more vile and vicious than an MMO community, and what's even more enlightening is what it says about humanity as a whole: that as soon as we think there are no repercussions for acting in a vile manner, we're going to go ahead and do so. If there was ever a better argument for a police state than MMOs-and the internet in general-I can't think of it.

 

I can only hope real life societies never advance enough that people start to think they don't need anyone else, because the 'community' we see in MMOs is a dark vision of what real life society will become as our technology continues to progress to make us ever increasingly self-sufficient-yet isolated.

 

Way off base.

 

They want the casual crowd because it makes them more money. Especially in a P2P format. If you can keep them subbed yet logging on as little as possible you are going to save the cost of bandwith and STILL make the money off the sub. It is a better scenario than the hardcore logging in 8 hours a day. He is costing you MORE bandwith than the casual. Bandwith costs money.

 

They would have to change the pay formula for the hardcore to make them more money than the casual. For example, if you were charged by the hour for your sub.. lets say 5 cents an hour for this example.. THEN the hardcore would make them more money. He would be more valuable because the time he spent logged in would make them more money by default.

 

It is economics 101.

[Thunder-God]

Casual to me is a player who has 1-3 hours a day to play.

 

or less. or less often (like 1-3 hours every 3 days or every week)

 

It has nothing to do with skill level.

[Erevan_Kindelar]

A casual player for me is a player who plays the game to have fun. I do not mean that they enjoy the game per se, because that would imply hardcore gamers do not enjoy playing the game.

 

However, a casual player is one who will log on and think "ok, what do I feel like doing now?", and who will get side-tracked by other options.

Someone who will go round the map to explore the map for the enjoyment of it, rather than hunting every last xp point for exploration.

Someone who will collect datacrons when they come across them, and who will try to collect all of the datacrons because that will complete the planet, not because the extra +2 points will give them a 0.00001% increase in DPS.

[CidTrip]

I define a casual player as someone who plays when they have time, but don't really schedule into their lives, or set aside time especially for the game.

 

I do not define casual or hard core based solely on skill.

 

That's a great definition.

[BigOso]

Casuals are ELITE, there the driving force of all MMo's. Its alot tuffer to be a CASUAL player then a hardcore one.

 

It takes finess and strong will to play the game the way it was ment and still see it as a FUN game.

 

Hardore folks burn out trying to get to endgame to quickly, in thehopes of being able to brag about it. then complain theres noone to play with

 

gogo CAsuals!!!!!

[mangarrage]

There is no universal definition

 

There is a huge groups within the casual tag

 

I have a guy in my guild who rarely plays but hes pretty dmn good in pvp a hell of alot better then me and I play all the time and hes a good raider, but I see him maybe 3x a week only

 

You also have casuals who want everything handed to them. This is the group that alot of people just cant stand, hell there is a large population of casuals that cant stand that type either

 

Time has nothing to do with it, skill has nothing to do with it

 

Basically most people who play casually get lumped into the self serving cry babies now people-by alot of posters

[Uben]

Hmmm, not sure I agree. I've seen more "hardcores" tear their hair out and move on to the next game than casuals after burning through the content and, understandably, reaching a point where they simply cannot run another dungeon/raid/flashpoint whatver even if the gear/rewards increase. Too, I am "invested" in the game else I couldn't be arsed to pay and log in.

 

Games are one of my hobbies, one that I DO have quite a bit invested in, time, digging around for info, learning various things (classes, stats, builds etc.), meeting new people, keeping up with old friends, learning, exploring etc. etc. etc.. I just am not...rabid about it. Being ONE of my hobbies, I also spend time on others. But when I game...I GAME!

 

In fact (heh, sorry) I think you've got this quite the wrong way 'round.

 

Taking a game seriously can be done by hardcores, casuals or the, likely, majority inbetween. Unless you're defining "seriously" as I would "obsessively" but I don't think that's what you mean, right?

 

I am talking of serious pursuit and investment. If you are setting aside time for this, and calling it one of your hobbies. You are hardcore.

 

If you game when a spare hour pops up that you had nothing else planned for it... and that brings you to the keys to log in. If during that time something else comes up and you drop the game to do that other thing on a dime... If the game is ONLY there as a back up... you are casual.

 

Look through this topic and the replies. You will notice a trend. The casuals throw terms like 'Real life' around.. Explain they have kids, a family, OTHER pursuits that are of importance than gaming.

 

Hardcore golfers pull their hair out too..

[HalusW]

CASUAL [kazh-oo-uhl] adjective: seeming or tending to be indifferent to what is happening. Not serious.

 

Some "casual" players (numbers unknown) are ex-hardcores who burned out on the click-n-go loot piñata race for item level supremacy being a 2nd full-time job. No more grinding 20+ dailies and heroics. No more farming 2 nights a week to support raids. No more 4 hour wipe nights 3 times a week with multiple back-to-back 6 hour boss grinds on the weekends.

 

Casuals. They still have viable skills and can hold their own in a fair fight. They excel in team environments and have zero tolerance for attitudes. Their perfectionist edge is gone because they chose to let it go. They bask in the heat of battle but have no desire to fight an entire war. They play to win - just not at all costs. When they pat you on the back, you can add it to your resumé. And when they drink, they drink Dos Equis. Stay thirsty my friends . . .

 

I can say this because I am one of them. I'm a recovered hardcore. I'm a casual and I'm proud of it:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWH1jEgiO0w

 

How would you define the "casual" player?

 

I like this definition...except for the beer, but we can save that discussion for another thread. I feel that Casual has some negative connotations to it, but I'm down for the struggle to fix this.

Edited February 17, 2012 by HalusW

[Blotter]

CASUAL [kazh-oo-uhl] adjective: seeming or tending to be indifferent to what is happening. Not serious.

 

Some "casual" players (numbers unknown) are ex-hardcores who burned out on the click-n-go loot piñata race for item level supremacy being a 2nd full-time job. No more grinding 20+ dailies and heroics. No more farming 2 nights a week to support raids. No more 4 hour wipe nights 3 times a week with multiple back-to-back 6 hour boss grinds on the weekends.

 

Casuals. They still have viable skills and can hold their own in a fair fight. They excel in team environments and have zero tolerance for attitudes. Their perfectionist edge is gone because they chose to let it go. They bask in the heat of battle but have no desire to fight an entire war. They play to win - just not at all costs. When they pat you on the back, you can add it to your resumé. And when they drink, they drink Dos Equis. Stay thirsty my friends . . .

 

I can say this because I am one of them. I'm a recovered hardcore. I'm a casual and I'm proud of it:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWH1jEgiO0w

 

How would you define the "casual" player?

 

I disagree to some extent. My "perfectionist edge" still exists in spades and I'm no less competetive for taking my time. Fact is, I simply grew the hell up and no longer think there's any rush to be "first" because guess what: it's a video game, you're not "famous" in the context of your server, you're not "the best," nobody gives a flying rat's pink patoot that you finished all the content while sitting in your own excrement because you didn't even get up to go to the bathroom, and there's no such thing as "hardcore" (becuase, again, it's a video game)...only obsessive compulsive time-wasting do-nothing no-life-having 15-hours-per-day poopsocking idiocy that evidences a low enough self-esteem that the person's confidence and ego are entirely wrapped up in an imaginary world full of digital puppets. I know this because I too am a recovering moron (and wish WoW all the worst for it).

 

That being said, I'll take any tool who thinks he's "hardcore" and spank him sillly in a duel or Warzone scenario, even if slightly undergeared in comparison to him. I also don't fail when raiding. What I won't do: sacrifice my health, job performance, freindships, my sense of reality or my ability to get along with others and treat them with respect all in the name of trying to convince myself that I'm better at the game than everyone else just because I blew 300+ hours grinding in less than a month so I could be first and use it as justification for having an overinflated ego or making claims that I'm better at the game...cuz it doesn't.

 

BTW, Dos Equis is yummy, but I try to mix it up a bit haha

 

$0.02

[Yfelsung]

There never has really been a correlation between skill and "hardcore" other than the "you play more, you get better" effect.

 

Back in WoW, when I actually had my finger on the pulse of my server's community and was social with a lot of people, I soon discovered many of the people who played the most were also very bad at the game, while many very casual players were exceptionally skilled in PvP and PvE.

 

Skill in MMOs, I found, was more related to whether a player was a gamer or just an "MMOer".

 

People who played only MMOs, yet played for 50 hours a week, were terrible compared to anyone who happened to play other genres of games on top of MMOs even if those other players didn't play the MMO in question very much.

 

So, in the end, hardcore vs casual has no bearing on skill, it's more "MMOer" vs Gamer that dictates who's the better player.

 

I even discovered that being on a PvP server vs a PvE server, again, has almost no effect on if someone will be good at PvP. Some of the worst PvPers I've ever seen were on PvP servers, meanwhile the best PvPer I personally know plays on PvE servers almost exclusively.

 

Also, a lot of Gamers also end up being "casual" because, well, we have lots of games we play so we don't have the time or desire to dump 40 hours into a gear grind. Just give me my gear so I can get in there and fight.

 

I play FPS matches for hours without any gear reward, I'd play warzones for hours too.

Edited February 17, 2012 by Yfelsung

[Arnokar]

Lol. SO what you're also implying is.....

 

Gamers aren't people.

 

 

That would follow your logic then right? They are actually no-lifers living in mom's basement, nerds, no Girlfriends/Boyfriends, no life, no job, no car?

 

Casual or Hardcore, a gamer is a gamer.

 

Farmville is for FB fanatics, web-based mouse clicking isn't really "gaming" insomuch as "wasting time" with browser apps.

 

I've been on both sides of the fence, casual and hardcore, and ultimately the reason I went "casual" with the same exact raiding schedule but different people is because "hardcore gamers" like yourself have exactly that attitude you used in your post.

 

Interestingly enough we have the same progression, more fun and less grinding for min/max nonsense.

 

Well said.

[archifikoss]

It is the same in other realms of life. Lets take Golf for one example. The casual golfer goes golfing less than the hardcore golfer. The casual is out there to enjoy the day first. he is not worried about his ball slicing into the woods. He is there for the walk and the excercise first. He is there to pass the time.

 

The hardcore golfer is out there multiple days a week. He practices his putting in the back yard when he has the free time dedicating to his hobby instead of going to the movies or reading a book, or such. He goes out of his way to take time off from other things in order to pursue such a hobby.

 

 

 

Whilst I agree with your post to an extent, this is an area in which I differ. Let me explain why with a personal example since you brought up sports:

 

I am in a runners group. We are what you would call a "casual" team, but we have some pretty good runners there, a handful of which could even go professional, or at least could have if they were younger and/or had the desire to. But we do not have any actual professional athletes and we view it as a hobby and even a social gathering rather than our future.

 

Now some of us are more dedicated, we go four or five times a week, do more intense sessions and try to improve our personal record in actual races. And we're actually "specced" into sprinters, mid/long distances and marathon runners. However we still don't sacrifice work, family etc over our hobby and generally don't see other runners as "competitors".

 

Others - most of them - are much more "casual", they come when they want, do generally lighter sessions and are in it for social reasons, fitness etc rather than the actual joy of running and improving their own performance.

 

So in short, I would say that if we had to compare, a "hardcore gamer" would be equivalent to a professional athlete, and a "casual gamer" would be equivalent to anything from an amateur running enthusiast to a simple jogger.

 

You could say that an actual professional gamer (either people who are paid to play like in Starcraft leagues or even game reviewers like Angry Joe) could be compared to a professional athlete of course. And that would be true in more "material" terms. However I believe that the true difference is in the mentality - Just like a casual gamer, a casual athlete will try to fit their activity into their schedule rather than plan their schedule around their activity.

[Tal-N]

Casual players typically won't bother posting on forums because they weren't fanatical enough about the game. They might lurk out there but usually casuals work on the principle of just picking up a game and playing it with no consideration for where the game is going, how to be better at it and deeper understanding of the game itself.

[ThiborF]

I don't see a hard set definition but, more of a combination of three variables. Take the following three "sliders" and you could get a casual/hardcore rating:

 

1(varied in-game interests) ---5----10(singular focus)

 

1(an hour or less a week avg) ---5----10(several hours a night)

 

1(very laid back) ---5----10(ultra competitive)

 

That kind of scale is fairly arbitrary where you see yourself in them but, it gives you an idea of how I perceive casual vs. hardcore.

 

I know people that focus solely on one character and predominantly on raiding with that character (dabble in PvP), only craft if it benefits their raiding (ie. they don't do it just for fun) and are very competitive among others of the same class or role within the group, trying to be better than them. BUT, they play 2hrs a night only 2 days a week. They have a hardcore mentality while they are playing but, the game in an of itself doesn't consume lots of time in their week.

 

Conversely I know lots of folks similar to myself that have multiple alts, no characters (or maybe one) at max level, like to explore the maps just for the sake of it, work at all facets of crafting instead of just one that helps them min/max, etc. They may PvP and will likely dabble in raiding/end-game play but it isn't the sole focus of their gaming. AND they play several hours a day, 5 or more days a week. I don't think of them as being really hardcore.

[WickedDjinn]

Casuals aren't gamers..farmville or SWTOR is the same for them.

 

If that's the difference I would say its the casuals who are the real gamers.

[archifikoss]

disregard - sorry. Edited February 17, 2012 by archifikoss

[Uben]

Whilst I agree with your post to an extent, this is an area in which I differ. Let me explain why with a personal example since you brought up sports:

 

I am in a runners group. We are what you would call a "casual" team, but we have some pretty good runners there, a handful of which could even go professional, or at least could have if they were younger and/or had the desire to. But we do not have any actual professional athletes and we view it as a hobby and even a social gathering rather than our future.

 

Now some of us are more dedicated, we go four or five times a week, do more intense sessions and try to improve our personal record in actual races. And we're actually "specced" into sprinters, mid/long distances and marathon runners. However we still don't sacrifice work, family etc over our hobby and generally don't see other runners as "competitors".

 

Others - most of them - are much more "casual", they come when they want, do generally lighter sessions and are in it for social reasons, fitness etc rather than the actual joy of running and improving their own performance.

 

So in short, I would say that if we had to compare, a "hardcore gamer" would be equivalent to a professional athlete, and a "casual gamer" would be equivalent to anything from an amateur running enthusiast to a simple jogger.

 

You could say that an actual professional gamer (either people who are paid to play like in Starcraft leagues or even game reviewers like Angry Joe) could be compared to a professional athlete of course. And that would be true in more "material" terms. However I believe that the true difference is in the mentality - Just like a casual gamer, a casual athlete will try to fit their activity into their schedule rather than plan their schedule around their activity.

 

Proffessional just means you get paid for it. As in; it is your profession.

 

 

The hardcores are the ones that are there for the hobby of running. The ones you claim are there to beat their own times and records. The ones that do it 5 times a week instead of once a month comparitively.

 

The latter is the casual runners. Mostly there for something ELSE than running. Be it fitness, socialising, trekking through the park for the enjoyment of the day more than the running part. It is the same as my example.