The MMO experience: hardcore and casual

hey dude

Playing MMOs requires an investment of time – sometimes more of a REAL investment – but some of us don’t have a lot of that on our hands. There will always be some players who can’t afford to play as much as they would want to. The experience would be somewhat different for a hardcore player and a casual player. But just how different?

There are a lot of different definitions for “hardcore gamer” as well as “casual gamer”. Sometimes, these would classify gamers by the amount of time they spend on a game or how seriously they play it. Hardcore players are usually defined in studies as those who spend most of their leisure time playing games as opposed to casual players having limited playing time. A casual player might be one who wants to try all the characters in a game while a hardcore player would play one character. Definitions (and debates) might be endless.

Read more about hardcore and casual players after the jump.

hey dude

Playing MMOs requires an investment of time – sometimes more of a REAL investment – but some of us don’t have a lot of that on our hands. There will always be some players who can’t afford to play as much as they would want to. The experience would be somewhat different for a hardcore player and a casual player. But just how different?

There are a lot of different definitions for “hardcore gamer” as well as “casual gamer”. Sometimes, these would classify gamers by the amount of time they spend on a game or how seriously they play it. Hardcore players are usually defined in studies as those who spend most of their leisure time playing games as opposed to casual players having limited playing time. A casual player might be one who wants to try all the characters in a game while a hardcore player would play one character. Definitions  (and debates) might be endless.

Let’s start with the hardcore player. Most hardcore players would create and stick to one character to get to level cap. Or have a couple more characters – considering character slots – and have them all at high level or have at least one of them reach level cap. Concentrating on one character would limit the player’s experience to a certain race or a certain realm. Hardcore players are also “stuck” with using the same skills.

The good thing about being a hardcore player is that they are able to explore the in-game world better, especially in games that have level specific zones or maps. They would be able to fight bosses and hunt for better equipments or items. Hardcore players would have mastered their chosen characters and completed the quests specific for that character. Plus the renown or notoriety of being at level cap isn’t something to complain about.

The casual player on the other hand would have limited time or doesn’t want to focus on one character. They may chose to play all of the available characters if character slot constraints allow it. The problem is, casual players would unlikely have a character reach level cap though it is possible over a long period of time. Their characters would range between low to mid level. Areas with level restraints would be off limits and some quests would be inaccessible or impossible.

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They would be able to experience the feel of all the characters including individual (character or race specific) quests, skills, weapons, etc. They would be able to experiment with the different character builds like hybrids. And since they would likely experience every character, they would known the ins and outs of most – if not all – of the characters thus giving them a bit of an upper hand in PvP.

Players would naturally have different preferences for gameplay and game experience. Some might like PvP while some would be perfectly happy just adventuring, completing quests or general PvE. Whether you’re a hardcore or casual player, it’s really all about having fun in what you do. That’s what games are meant for.

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