Player skill level classifications

[Squintina]

There's no drama intended. None of these are value judgements and no one kind of player is better than another. It's just a recent post kind of showed me how different people view what is casual and what is hardcore, and I thought about it some and put up a classification list. They have a history in MMOs: Richard Bartle did his famous Achiever, Explorer, Socializer and Killer typology a long time ago. I kind of notice no one has really done any formal classification of players, and, well, thought maybe people would like something different to read and talk on.

I made sure not to add any negative descriptors to this, but tried to link it to content levels that might help show what people like. Of course there are flaws, i was hoping people would talk about them.

I kind of mentioned a flaw in my reply where I was trying to figure out how to classify myself and had issues because of the classification tying parse level and content level- where people might be playing content at a pace/difficulty lower than their parse level in order to socialize - and with players who might be able to parse very well (80+), but may not care about getting that 95+ rank even if they are good enough to join such parties if they ever decided to.

[RiyahArp]

I kind of mentioned a flaw in my reply where I was trying to figure out how to classify myself and had issues because of the classification tying parse level and content level- where people might be playing content at a pace/difficulty lower than their parse level in order to socialize - and with players who might be able to parse very well (80+), but may not care about getting that 95+ rank even if they are good enough to join such parties if they ever decided to.

Hmm. I think low hardcore fits though, its just the reverse of high midcore. I don't know how to treat overlap yet in this. But i think the mindset matters and the actions; worrying or being aware of a parse ranks you pretty hight o start with.

I love to go bowling, and actually kind of good at it. I have an average of 230, but I only like to bowl with friends despite the fact that I know I am good enough to roll with highly skilled bowlers. I simply choose not to. Meanwhile, my brother loves bowling even more than I do, and plays in a league. He WANTS to bowl with the big'uns, but is having trouble getting his average up.

Thinking about this, but I'm not sure it works as much in FFXIV. The latter part we do see. The former part though I don't. Usually the big problem is people don't play with their friends if anything, the FC divides into raid group and casual group. Usually skill sorts out, sadly. I think this does raise the idea of mindset as a strong descriptor, but then you get into issues. At some point that skill usually needs to get expressed in some way. If you know you are good enough, you do want to try. But interesting point.

[Gemina]

Thinking about this, but I'm not sure it works as much in FFXIV. The latter part we do see. The former part though I don't. Usually the big problem is people don't play with their friends if anything, the FC divides into raid group and casual group. Usually skill sorts out, sadly. I think this does raise the idea of mindset as a strong descriptor, but then you get into issues. At some point that skill usually needs to get expressed in some way. If you know you are good enough, you do want to try. But interesting point.

Exactly! You don't see the former. In the difficult content, you only see the players that want to be there, and challenge is only one of several incentives. Me playing with friends is just one example. The point being skilled players, capable of performing in high-end duties can be found everywhere, so what the OP is trying to use to evaluate player skill isn't going to work. Many do wish to put their skills to the test. But on the contrary, said players may not have a desire to express this skill because their passion lies elsewhere. However I will agree to a player who feels capable, will at the very least have a desire to try the content even if they don't actually go into it. This could be for multiple reasons.

Mindset/psyche is indeed a strong descriptor, but not a full tell tale indicator of skill level. So there are indeed issues. It can definitely contribute to a player performing very well in a duty, and then performing poorly in the exact same duty the next time they go in; or doing poorly in a simple duty, and extremely well in a more difficult one. Adding to the difficulty of determining player skill is the fact that this is a multi-player game, so not only is there an individual stat, but also this player's ability to work and coordinate with others.

[Gemina]

Let me throw out some metaphorical examples to help express my thoughts:

I love to go bowling, and actually kind of good at it. I have an average of 230, but I only like to bowl with friends despite the fact that I know I am good enough to roll with highly skilled bowlers. I simply choose not to. Meanwhile, my brother loves bowling even more than I do, and plays in a league. He WANTS to bowl with the big'uns, but is having trouble getting his average up.

Can you see where I am going with this?

The way this translates into FFXIV is that player skill cannot be defined by the amount of content they do, the content they participate in, or even the clears they have under their belt. In any content you do, you will indeed experience varying level of skill amongst all the players, and this is one of the reasons why I love and hate roulette. The game does have a basic difficulty tier in the content that is released, and I believe within those tiers you can start to divvy up the skill levels of the players that participate in it.

I am not one to find enjoyment in evaluating player skill. I much rather players strive to be better at their jobs than they were the previous day, regardless of their current skill level.

[hynaku]

I guess I'd classify as a low casual player. I only play to have fun and pass the time. For me don't ever do any savage or ultimate runs. Don't like thing that to complicated. I'm ether playing this game or watching anime.

[LunaChild]

IMO

Casual - doing stuff at my own pace, not have to have less playtime because I may just AFk and come back to do stuffs slowly.

Hardcore - spending playtime dedicated to certain content no matter how much time they have and how hard the content is.

For example, I will call my friend who is in Chocobo racing everytime I see him online as "hardcore racer". (insert LoV to be meme)

I do savage but I didn't try to beat God Kefka until few months later after I'm on 360+ then I try hard to clear him, I'm considering myself casual raider.

just my opinion on casual/hardcore.

[MattDank3eyes]

"A high midcore would beat this current savage tier but worry he is being carried, and would probably spend a lot of time trying to get better."
My heart hurts

[DevonEllwood]

I am a catsual person. I spend my time fishing because I mean I love RNG. I also never know what I’m doing.

[silentwindfr]

hardcore =/= skill, it's more a way to say that the player spend more time into the game....
naturally with more time invested skill come sooner or later to that type of player... since they can train more, they can get more skill.

then try to classify the skill of player based on them number of hours invested into the game is... funny, since some insane player are simply very good without spend countless hours into the game and same, some player can remain bad even if them spend countless hours into the game. worst, often they are not able to deal with different fight without a long training into the mechanic of this fight.

[AppleJinx]

You are either good at the game or you are not. It's that simple.