What is a "casual" player to you?

[Shuya82]

I agree that casual and hardcore shouldn't automatically designate someones skill level. I disagree about his qualifications though. I think the hardcore players are the ones who spend almost every waking moment on the game. Just woke up: log in, just got off work: log in, should be going to bed because work is in 5 hours: "Nah I can call in sick if I'm too tired"

Basically think the ones that let the game interfere with their real lives are the only ones I would classify as hardcore.

[Zaelsino]

Someone who has no long-term aim or drive to "succeed" in any aspect of the game. Logging on to spend time with fellow gamers and friends, farming some nice heroic gear or just generally not spending much time online.

It's not a bad thing, but I'd consider that casual playing.

[lizon]

Meh I raid only about 3-4 days a week myself (12-16 hours) and I consider myself casual. I don't care about getting server firsts, or world firsts or anything like that. I just want to see the content.

[Therastos]

I like like to define it based on what the player views himself as. For example, I consider myself casual at this moment, even though I play some 12 hours a day, and always aim to perfect my character and play. That's because having schedules stresses me so much that I have begun to avoid all scheduled play (which pretty much means no raiding). Most definitions would put me in the group of 'hardcores', however.

If you really had to make a non-subjective definition, I like TotalBiscuit's idea. It's very simple and clear, as opposed to things like "player is hardcore if he is good/strives to be better" (what makes a player "good"; trying to become better is as subjective as player defining himself) or "player is hardcore if he plays more than 3 hours a day" (why not 2h59min?). There is still some unclear area, but it's much smaller.

[sleekit]

one of the funny things about this discussion...the truly "hardcore"="top of the heap" players...don't play the game 24/7

i mean i know a lot of the people in the top guilds on my server and they are seldom online outside raiding hours nor do they raid anything like "6 nights a week" outside the initial progression race spurts.

they basically don't have the need to do so.

many of the big name guilds on the worldwide stage have alluded to much the same in interviews

now the people who aspire to be like them (or perhaps think they already are)...that's another matter...

[Tripping]

Casual players are in it for the social side. I was in a guild that was totally social, but we all raided specific days, had DKP and stuff. We had a laugh, relaxed about progress.

It stops being casual when you kick people for being bad

[mmff4]

Casual player is someone who plays World of Warcraft just for fun and Hardcore player is someone who plays World of Warcraft as a hobby.

[Failthal]

I think the game breaks down into several different areas when it comes to casual/hardcore. You can be a Hardcore Raider, Hardcore Quester, or Hardcore PVPer. Like someone else said, you can't break it down into just two groups.

I consider myself a casual raider, hardcore quester, and PVP nub.

[Caelia]

You can't really say that hardcores play more than casuals either.
When content is new then yes, the hardcores will play a lot more than the casuals, but when that content is cleared and on farm then it's a whole different story.. many of them will then just log on for the farm raids and when they're done they are done and go do something else and in the end many casuals play a hell of a lot more than the hardcore raiders.

So in my eyes hardcore would be those that when content is new they raid as much as 7 days a week just to compete for the firsts, whether it be world, us, eu, realm, realm faction or whatever first.
Then you have the casuals, they can play anything from 10 minutes a week to several hours a day without actually doing anything specific other than enjoying (or getting very frustrated lol) the game.

[frejborg]

Personally, as a passionate gamer of 15 years, I'd say a casual gamer is someone who doesn't really care about the games they play, and their performance therein. It's not personal or meaningful to them. To the casual, it's a silly, fun, pastime, and nothing more.

The serious gamer(I prefer instead of the term hardcore, in this instance), is more deeply involved, cares about their games, and the time they spend playing. They are more involved, personally, and their success in-game they show as a representation of themselves. It is a passionate hobby, and is part of his/her lifestyle.


Well, that's off the top of my head.

[Levi]

Lets see, this is how i look at it.

Serious Hardcore - These players put a lot of commitment into the game but only at major content release patches. They are usually in major guilds: Paragon, Method, Ensidia, FtH and there likes. These are usually very good players and once the content race is over i.e they have killed the bosses, most of them revert to playing only when needed to do a farm raid usually once or twice a week. This does extend but PvP is usually very different and these kind of players come out at towards the start of a PvP season to farm gear, play more casually in the middle and then go all out at the end of the season for rank 1. Usually also very good players. Serious Hardcore is a loose term aswell because they are only hardcore in shorter time frames then most guilds.

Semi Hardcore - Midrift of pve guilds. Say ranking from 40-300 in PvE progress. These are a mix of players from good to bad. Usually raid 5times a week most 19:00 to 24:00 server time sometimes more on Sundays. Alot more PvE players like this then PvP. Funny to say Semi Hardcore players usually spend more time ingame playing then Serious Hardcore because it takes them longer to down new content. Most of these players care about ranking but not enough to put in the time that Serious Hardcores do at the start of PvE or PvP content.

Casual - These can vary massively interms of skill and guild ranking. Say 100-400 PvE rank and pvp'ers are usually around 2k brackets hovering up and down. However can be better and can be worse. Raid usually on a maximum of 3times per week. Usually around 4-5hour raids. They don't care where they are ranked in a PvE or PvP enviroment most of the time however some do.
Outside of raid times only play for fun and when they want too.

Very Casual - These are people who play the game not to raid, but will raid if they can. Usually have jobs that cover most of their time. Play the game for enjoyment nor for ranking. The skill level in this group is very random. Can have some exceptionally good and bad players. Will find most of these are easy going in instances but some are prone to anger fits.

As you can see only one group within this post (which is not complete nor 100% accurate, it is my opinion) has a skill bracket you can assume is normally a good player. Its the only time i believe you can say all players in that group are good or atleast 99% of them are good because of what they do. Unless they are ****ing the right guy.

Add to it if you like.

[Alex86el]

too bored to see TB's vid,

my definition of a "casual player" is...
someone who doesnt do raiding, rated pvp, hc farming or any farming in general.