Casual vs Hardcore

[SmilingJack]

Little late but yeah. .

It is funny when People equate Hardcore/Casual to Skill level. It is also interesting that it is often tagged onto the number of hours you play at any given time.

I have always seen it as the persons attitude, in combination with their commitment level, which yes does correlate often with how often and how much you play but it falls under "correlation does not imply causation". Meaning just because you are Hardcore does not mean you spend a hundred hours a week in the game. It also means that just because you spend a hundred hours a week in game, it does not mean you are Hardcore.

So with the above, what is Attitude and commitment?
To make it simple it can be described as such.

A Hardcore player would have the following.
A very strong attitude that is geared toward success (or failure if that is your goal, which would end up as a success anyway) in everything that they decide to do. It does not suggest THEY DO EVERYTHING in game. It means whatever it is they DO, whether it be one portion of content or ALL of it, they go and apply this attitude to it. Failure would be intolerable but it also does not mean you win all the time or lose all the time.

This is often accompanied by extreme levels of stubbornness to the point where other stubborn people would just say, "dude, it's only a game". This is where you (if you where the hardcore) would say, "NO U!" or "No, it is unacceptable to quit". You would continue to go until it is no longer possible to continue due to forces out of your control (example, you not being the raid/party lead, others quitting around you, you Die in your chair, etc).

These are two of the main attitudes but are NOTHING and/or change based on a persons commitment level. You can have a strong drive for success and be stubborn but if you have low commitment you will give up much sooner then others and often not succeed as much and as often as you COULD. That is because a Drive towards accomplishment/success and stubbornness can be influenced by the mood of the moment. It is commitment that sees you through the bad moments and makes the good ones that much more enjoyable.

That is what should constitute a Hardcore Player and below that would fall Casual and Avid players. They fall into those categories because they do not want or have the commitment to be THAT driven or Stubborn. you also can't blame them for that. I used to be Hardcore of the Hardcore. With the drive, the stubbornness the commitment as well as putting IN MASSIVE amount of time into FF11. I look back and I can only be sadden by it or laugh at myself.

There should never have been a debate between the two(3) in the first place. Especially after many MMOs had become established. Hardcore is not how much you time you have spent or gotten done or how much you can do or how far you can go. It is the stuff in the background that influences what everyone else will see.

So then at this point what I a trying to say is. Hardcore, Avid, Casual is only the degree of your drive and commitment. The place you end up at (within those 3 categories) is the place where you get your bad, good, pro, Elite label because they are titles purely designed to rate and tag skill level. Also before anyone says so. No the titles do not dictate or are directly associated with the type of person you are or how driven you are or committed. You can and have bad players who are very committed and stubborn and have Elite players who are lazy as hell and always have been and quit at the drop of a hat.

Avid players end up at it being their main hobby but not willing to put in the extreme emotion or commitment or time into the game because IT IS just a game. Casuals end up at playing the game purely for fun able to be committed and want success but don't wish to or don't have the means to go and invest more emotion or yes TIME because they value other things beyond the game. I have seen many casuals who would school the hell out of individuals who hide behind Hardcore/Elite tag. Right after the lesson is over they turn off the game, the computer and go and hang out with there real life friends/family.

Time does not = skill. Time CAN = improvement in skill, but overall it is all up to the players own ability to grow. You CAN be born ELITE. you can improve and obtain ELITE status over time but it does not MEAN it will happen, no matter how badly or closely you follow any definition of Hardcore.

I apologize for the Long post.

PS: In response to the individual who was talking about games being kept alive by the Hardcore. Sure it does, if by alive you mean the games kicking and screaming. Waiting for the sweet relief of Death. Especially when Hardcore supposedly means = lots of time played and skill level. 500k FF11 players across what? 20ish servers or so and like 20-25k players per server who all mainly comprised themselves of Hardcore? I don't remember any HNM camp with 1-5k players waiting for spawn or for that matter more then 200-400 players at any given place for anything that would have been considered important. So the loss of 200k+ players during abyssea would not have had a lot to do with just over casualization. You say a lot of casual players are fickle and easily jump away. I say those people have nothing to do with Casual players.

I leave you with this. How many Casuals and Hardcore players jumped ship when SWTOR came out or dropped in attendance because of SC2 or Diablo3? Guess what? A LOT of players from all ends of the spectrum did. That's how many. I guess they where all casuals? Also for the Elitist. After all those years you/we spent in FF11 or all other games. All the quest and titles and gear. All of the giant and vast HNMs we had slain. All of the dungeons and instances and Raids and Mog houses we conquered. What did we leave with after we quit because of things being made more casual? . . .Oh, that's right. Nothing. Casuals have always kept the game alive, "hardcores" kept only the end game going. It is now the age of casuals from a monetary standpoint. A Gaming company will never come out with something in a MMO that will make everyone happy. One person will always be pissed. DEAL WITH IT.

LONG LIVE THE CASUALS and because of them. We will get more content and often some hard and fun stuff to do.