Can we get a definition of casual?

This is a casual MMORPG by design. Every single player of this game is a casual player. There is no playstyle or activity in this game that I am aware of which fairly could be called "hardcore."

I know cats that will throw themselves at a single encounter for weeks trying to complete it with 23 other people. That's hardcore.

I know folks that play in guilds that have defined raid schedules and who make their members compete with each other for raid spots for their particular class. That's hardcore.

I know of guilds that only accept folks who have already cleared 95% of a game's current content and have the gear to show for it. That's hardcore.

This game is a casual player's dream. It's why this casual gamer has been here 7 years.

My opinion if you post on the boards you are not casual
If you care what casual is, you are not casual
If you think about the game outside of the game you are not casual

Being casual is a mindset of you jump in play get out and forget about it, or put it on the back burner, its not knowing everything about an AT, Power Set, or function of the game.

The thing evil geko says is kind of true about this game but at the same time her forum handle is named after a dev, Geko that she used to, lets say disagree with alot, she maybe think the game is casual and maybe right, but at the same time doesnt that make her a little hardcore ABOUT a casual game.

I consider myself hardcore about a casual game even though i took a year break, 36+ 50s several IOed out, (Some of those use purples and some like my WP/SS tank only 3 purples but mathematically its hard to improve his build) and have invited few years ago each of the devs to do a STF in under 35 mins when it first came out, only one dev accepted the challenge it was pyshob.

To me asking if you are casual, makes you instantly not casual because a casual player wouldnt need to ask if they are casual.

And finally, i love bananas

I motion that we institute new phrases:

Hardcore-Casual

Casual-Hardcore


Hardcore-Casuals just play whatever whenever they can, and they broadcast their disdain for min/maxers, ebil marketeers, farmers, speed TF runners, AE babies, and forum celebrities. They blame these groups for nerfs, high level content, crappy RNG results, and zone lag. Some like being called Casual Players because they can hold themselves above those that "have no life outside the game." They also insist that some content can't be done with the limited time each day they have to play, ignoring the fact that many people plan ahead to do certain things that they just can't pop in and do. Some also play at odd hours of the day, due to work schedules or time zone, and spend their forum posting time lamenting about dead servers and requesting mergers. When new content is introduced, H-Cs complain about no one wanting to do the old content.


Casual-Hardcores play whatever whenever they can, but they know the ins and outs of all their powersets, they figure out how to spend just minutes a day making millions of inf in the market, they know how to throw together Pug TFs and still do speed runs, they might use AE or other forms of PLing to bypass the low levels and get characters to the "fun levels," and they read the forums and other sites to find out ways to maximize their limited time in game. They sometimes blame the Hardcore-Casuals for the general "dumbing down" of the game. Casual-Hardcores have played more in the past than they do now. Some have taken breaks from the game as they grew tired of playing the same content, waiting for new Issues, and spend money just to be able to post in the forums. When new content is introduced, C-H's run through it with all of their alts very quickly, if it is something they've been waiting for, and then spend time taking advantage of any changes in market behavior and reconnecting with old players that have come back.


Both groups are more similar than they want to think they are, and fight for distinction whenever Red Names enter conversations about future development ideas. They both also think, with some exceptions, of course, that the other side gets more attention than they do.

How's this for casual? I just got my first 50 a week or so ago. He also is my market guy and he has about 1.5 billion inf. I have about 60 alts. A few are 30 to 40. The majority are 20 and under.

I play them all at one point or another. I don't care about badges but I like when I get them. I PUG occasionally but I do it for fun. If any people in the group are aholes, I one star them and move on. I've been kicked from groups but I never quit, no matter how bad they might be. Because it's just a game and even a bad group is fun.

If I'm not having fun, I stop playing.

So. Am I casual enough?

BTW been here since issue 0. Not ready to quit anytime soon. This is my main game. I love the sucker. Call me a fanboi, I do not care. I am one.

If hitting level 50 isn't exciting anymore because you've already done it 20 times, you're probably not casual.

*Cues swanky music and turns the lights low*

Casual Player: Mythical beast capable of doing what the poster deems it should be capable of doing, and incapable of ever learning how to do anything else, based exclusively on the argument said poster is trying to pass a Gospel Truth.

*casually eats cookies in this thread, planning not to leave any crumbs*

Here is a list of words that I would love the on-line gaming community to stop using:

Casual
Hardcore
Themepark
Sandbox

These terms only serve to obfuscate. How we feel about our passions--in this case, the way we choose to play during our precious free time--cannot be adequately described or represented with single words. Perhaps a committee could get together and come up with definitions for these words that we all could agree upon? Yeah, right.