What is casual / hardcore player?

[AmyRae]

The difference between Hardcore and Casual has nothing to do with the Time they spent on a certain Game.

Its the Grade of Efficiency.

I know Players which are on like 5-8 Hours since Release a day and just have one Class at 50. And i know Players which play less than that a day and got like 5-7 Classes at 50. Would you call someone Hardcare just by the fact he is Online 10 Hours a day? I guess not. Like i said its efficiency and what you make out of the free Time you got. So a Player with like 2-3 Hours a day could also be a Hardcore-Player if he figures a way to optimize w/e he wants to do. I would call myself Hardcore since i use the Time i have Ingame. Its rare that i "just stand around". I do Quests, EXP, Fights w/e i think is the best and beside that i have Family and 2 Jobs. So the argument that someone with Family and Job would never reach the Top is really vague. And i only play 3-5 Hours a day ( at night actually ) as its Top.

I don't think efficiency has anything to do with hardcore / casual. You could be an efficient casual player (executing as much as you can cram into 2 hours is part of the fun!) and an inefficient hardcore player (camped NM for 8 hours, another group came in and stole it the moment it popped /sigh).

I really think the only difference is time spent playing, and even then, there's no hard and fast rule that divides the two. Someone could play hardcore for 3 months and switch to playing casually for the next 5 years, for example.

[Nero]

I really think the only difference is time spent playing, and even then, there's no hard and fast rule that divides the two. Someone could play hardcore for 3 months and switch to playing casually for the next 5 years, for example.

I understand your Point, but also if we would say "Someone could play hardcore for 3 months and switch...".. what exactly does it mean: "could play hardcore"? That is actually the Mainquestion here.. while i dont have much Time to spend i would be efficient Casualgamer? So if that would be the case, what would be the difference between me and a Hardcoreplayer?

[AmyRae]

I understand your Point, but also if we would say "Someone could play hardcore for 3 months and switch...".. what exactly does it mean: "could play hardcore"? That is actually the Mainquestion here.. while i dont have much Time to spend i would be efficient Casualgamer? So if that would be the case, what would be the difference between me and a Hardcoreplayer?

As I've said before, the casual player is someone who wants to make progress in the limited time they have. If you can get a lot accomplished in a short amount of time, then you're the quintessential casual player, and the game succeeds at letting you play casually.

Hardcore players simply use what time they have to an advantage. They can reach level 50 faster and more often. They can attempt the Ifrit fight more frequently and collect the gear faster. They can play the market with superior crafting skills and opportunistic ingredient acquisition. They can create more materia, and get more forbidden materia gear either through the greater amount of money they have or crafting it themselves. Casual players can't keep up with this because these activities require substantial time commitments.

[Dragon]

You've got it backwards. Considering that casual players take their time going through the content since they progress at a slower pace, I'd venture to say it's actually the casual players who value the journey more than hardcore players.

It's not casual players spending thousands of hours doing repetitive tasks collecting endgame trinkets. That's certainly the primary activity of hardcore players, however, and there really isn't much a journey to talk about there.

The story and quests are probably the most compelling things to a casual player in an MMO. I can't imagine why you would think differently. Why else would a casual player even play? They aren't the ones in a rush to get to the oppressive endgame grinds, that's for sure.

Yeah, no wonder why it's always the casual player complaining about not being able to get to endgame quickly...

[AmyRae]

Yeah, no wonder why it's always the casual player complaining about not being able to get to endgame quickly...

Well, allow me to enlighten you.

Casual players don't normally participate in endgame. Leveling from 1 to endgame is the part they want to play.

If casual players do complain about the grind being too long, it's because they don't have the time to fall under the same spell as a hardcore player who hits all the Level Up reward pellets in a smaller time frame. Grinding is dull and tedious, and if the game (the part that happens before endgame) is mostly about grinding, then casual players are going to get bored because they'll go for longer periods without feeling rewarded for their progress.

It's not that they're in a rush to get to the endgame that they have no intention in participating in, it's that the journey there isn't satisfying.