What justifies the "casual" label?

[Pseudopsia]

casuals sleep more than 3-4 hrs/day and play less than 60hrs/week.

I'm going with this definition because all other ones are too grey. It's official; I'm casual!

[Joshhoowah]

If you are a casual, you play infrequently. In the MMO world, that’s probably play less than 30 hours a week.

If you play casually, you have a relaxed and/or unconcerned attitude. This means that if you wipe or fail in a dungeon, chances are you’ll just give it another shot or go fishing. You might want that shiny, but you might not want it enough to grind for days/weeks/months (looking at you FFXI) to get it.

People blame casuals for the QQ that pushes developers into nerfing content. I think casuals are more likely to complain about grinding rather than content difficulty.

[Blazn]

Casual player is someone who enjoys gaming but enjoys the real world more.
Hardcore player is someone who has 0 interactions (possibly has a job but most likely living with mom unemployed) in real life and substitutes friends and a real life with increased time spent gaming.

[nucleo]

Casual player is someone who enjoys gaming but enjoys the real world more.
Hardcore player is someone who has 0 interactions (possibly has a job but most likely living with mom unemployed) in real life and substitutes friends and a real life with increased time spent gaming.

Hahaha then I am casual for sure!

But for real I am casual, I like the games a lot but I can only spend so many hours in front of a computer before I go nuts. If I had to play hardcore (regular scheduled raid times etc..) it would actually kill all the fun for me. Trade off of course is you are never the first to do anything lol.

[Mythrella]

I thought it worked like this:

If you play more or progress more than me, you are an elitist hardcore.

If you play less or progress less than me, you are a filthy casual.

Of course, substituting "me" for yourself. Has that changed? ♥

[LloydShade]

I see this term being used loosely and thrown around a lot on these forums.

Is it just a label based on how much time you spend in the game? I work full-time but I try to get in a few hours any night I can.

Or, is it based on how you USE your time in the game? I imagine there are lots of people who don't even bother with leveling their class/job and focus on crafting/gathering/making gil.

Help me understand because it's a term that I hear being used derogatively quite often.

A true player does not attempt to label himself.
A true player plays his favourite game because he likes to.
A true player plays the way he wants to.
A player is first and foremost human, that is how he can be at his truest.

My opinion,
Lloyd Shade

[seekerofpower]

The big question is this: what constitutes "accomplishing" something in-game.

Role-players may take months to get to 50 in a class and may not ever do endgame, but they enjoy what they are doing and play how they want to play.

Some people play this game for the crafting and gathering. Sure they may have a DoW/DoM class at 50 to unlock leves, but they focus on crafting and gathering instead of progression.

Does that mean either of these folks "accomplish" any less in their play sessions than someone who is in a FC that is on turn 4 of Binding Coil? No. They are having fun doing what they enjoy and "accomplishing" what they choose to, even if it doesn't align with what you think constitutes "accomplishment." Labels are just to make certain folks feel superior to other folks and all they do is degrade our community. There is no place for them here.

No matter what you do, it doesn't make you better at the game than someone else, or more hardcore than someone else, it just means that you enjoy the game differently.

[Kyri]

After years in FFXI where I felt my 18Hrs a day camping and claiming every single day of the week while ignoring RL completely were still not good enough to lot things because someone else plays 20 hrs a day and can bring a bot to the table I decided I didn't play MMO's to have a unpaid full time job. I welcome the more relaxed casualness FFXIV has allowed me. So when I log on, its not to sit in a spot all day waiting to claim a mob while I play a different game to pass my time. I like to gather and craft, roleplay is a blast! I love SE for letting me put some of my playtime to various activities.

(Side note I loved FFXI, maybe not the HMLS side but when I let it go for more fun people it was always a great time.)

[Tahldon]

Personally, I dislike labels. Labeling people is just a way to cordon off people according to what they do.

For some reason society continues to try to segment people off into different factions and people continue to willingly perpetuate it. Reading through this thread, I think some of us (if not most of us) can agree that people have different definitions for the label of "casual". It's been used in all sorts of manners from being an insult to being a badge. The only meaning that I, myself, can give the term "casual" is that it's only someone else's opinion.

There are all kinds of varying shades of gray when it comes to labels. This one is just the same.

People play at different paces and doing the things they have fun doing. Some people work full time and play when they are off trying to do end game content when they're able. Some people work full time and play only an hour or two, gathering or crafting or socializing, when they are able. Some people have a large amount of free-time and happen to play a lot more than others. Everyone has their own styles of play and people play the way they're comfortable. I don't see a need to look down on someone because they aren't playing at your pace be it too fast or too slow. There are always players playing at whichever pace people are most suited to. But that doesn't stop one type of player from not understanding the way the other player likes to play.

If anything, these "hardcore" players are more like "trailblazers" who play end game content and trickle down information and things about it to the "hikers" who happen to follow after them. Even then, some "hikers" like to stop and take in their surroundings rather than dash down the path that's been carved out for them. The path still doesn't die as long as there are hikers along the trail. Nonetheless... Nothing wrong with either of these, but each group contribute to the game all the same.

[Gray_Spy]

You may be casual if
- It is not your day job
- You do not play it like a second job
- You play less than 15 hours a week
- You watch cut scenes every time just to upset speed runners and other DF players
- You are below level 30 still
- You play Madden on PS3 more than FFXIV