Defining Casual

[VMSmith]

It's actually not all that hard to explain.

The meaning of "casual" is actually really simple, people just always try to quantify the results instead of qualifying the intent. Being casual or hardcore in wow, like in anything, is about the mindset you have.

A person who pulls their bicycle out of the garage and goes for a 10 minute ride once every few months because the mood strikes them is a casual bike rider.
A person who goes for a bike ride every night on a beat up bike they've had for two decades because they find it really de-stressing and unwinding after a long day is also a casual bike rider.
A person who goes for one bike ride every few months, but carefully maintains a top of the line racing bike, wears high-end cyclist clothing and shoes, owns several varieties of riding goggles, pads and helmets, and a cycling backpack, etc. is a hardcore bike rider.
A person who goes for a bike ride every night because they are really into biking and are trying to get the distance they can go per night as high as possible is a hardcore bike rider.
A person who goes riding every weekend to do tricks and stunts they record and put on youtube is a hardcore rider.

The commonality amongst these is the mental side. The first two are people for whom biking is a casual activity, not because of the specific amount of time spent, or the specific skill level, but because of what the activity is for them. They are just riding the bike for fun, they don't have any particular commitment to it, even the one doing it every night, they aren't trying to accomplish some set goal or reach some level, or put in a specific amount of time, or do the best (or particularly well) at anything. They just feel like riding a bike and ride a bike.

The hardcore people (regardless of the form that takes) are all people who instead view the biking as an activity with a purpose, as a really dedicated hobby, or to master new tricks, or to push themselves, or to get a good workout for some specific amount of time per week. Of course, they might also have fun doing it--they might even be doing it for the fun of pushing themselves or because they like that hobby. But their mindset is not a casual approach, it's a more dedicated mentality that thinks more about the activity of biking. The same is true of casual and hardcore artists, cooks, film and TV watchers, drug users, anything really.

And the same thing is true of wow. Someone who has 50 alts at 60 because they just like leveling stuff so they get on when they feel like playing and level a character is a casual. Someone like DoubleAgent, who is dedicatedly attempting to accomplish one specific difficult goal in leveling a single character is very much not-casual. A guild who gets together on weekends and does some attempts at normal or heroic bosses where they don't worry much about what people are playing or if everyone's DPS is perfect or consumables or whatever, they just have some good laughs and mess around as a group for the night is a casual guild. An individual who only does normal pug raids but is laser focused on improving their parse and ekeing out every last point of DPS they can at their ilevel is a hardcore player.

There is some overlap. Some people do somethings with a casual approach and others with a hardcore, some people are hardcore but taking a break from it. Some people have intents closer to casual but their personal nature as someone who has to do the best they can means that they actually play hardcore. There are hardcore players who play once a week, and casual players who play a lot every day. There are hardcore players who are still just bad at the game, and casual players who are quite skilled. There are hardcore players who only level, or who only do pet battles, or farm transmog, or stick to LFR, and well... it's hard to find a casual who's cleared mythic because the activity itself requires a higher degree of focus and intent, but you could find somewhat casual-y players who do high end mythic+.

Because it's ultimately not about time, or skill, or accomplishment, or the part of the game focused on, it's about whether or not they're mentally approaching the game casually or with a more hardcore outlook.

I wish we could give likes to posts, because this one absolutely earned some.

[potis]

Because it's ultimately not about time, or skill, or accomplishment, or the part of the game focused on, it's about whether or not they're mentally approaching the game casually or with a more hardcore outlook.

They overlap, thats what people dont understand when describing things, as it has been said before, people dont like being reminded they are not good/average at one more thing in life, especially when they put so much time on it.

Thats why you have 20000 twsited versions of the term "casual".

The end result is the mentality towards the game, that defines what you are, but there IS a secondary variable (time) with the same name, but people like to overlap them in defense of their lack of skill.

Problem with the naming is that people use the second variable, the "casual/hardcore" time based variable as the only variable, thats where they are simply wrong cause it fits their narrative.

Your bike example falls close, not fully, but falls close to this.

[MoanaLisa]

They overlap, thats what people dont understand when describing things, as it has been said before, people dont like being reminded they are not good/average at one more thing in life, especially when they put so much time on it.

There is a marked tendency on this forum (and I guess with a lot of people anywhere) to present opinions or issues as a strictly binary choice. It's either X or Y with no allowance for anything in-between. It's extremely annoying because it's nearly always wrong. Opinions stated as facts are part of it too.

More generally: I like Hitei's response because that middle ground (that most people inhabit) is acknowledged and it's much more interesting to discuss that than constantly knock down these binary, too simple, ideas.

[8bithamster]

Wrong. There is misconception about it. Such players still need some sort of discipline, even if they don't play much. If their raid leader asks them to raid today, that can't say "Sorry, mate, I don't have mood now - I take rest for 2 weeks to play other game", they would be kicked from their raid then. They still have some obligations. Even if they don't feel, that such obligations are hard for them. "Hard" is subjective. And therefore they're less casual, than true casuals. They're semi-hardcore.

Wow what a bad take.. I raid casual mythic. If I want to take a 2 week break? No issues at all. Come back when Im ready again.

[Loveliest]

When refering to casuals in WoW, you are usually refering to one that does not engage in the 3 pillars of endgame content: raid, dungeons or pvp. Normal+ raid, M+ or rated pvp if you want to be specific, stuff they can't queue for.

It does not refer to the broadly accepted term of casual that we use for the rest of the world. So if you do one M+ per week and don'l log for anything else, you are not what is tagged as casual in WoW. If you spend 40 hours a week leveling alts and nothing else, you are tagged casual in WoW.

This is JUST a term to denote a separation and not sure why people WANT to blur it out. When ppl ask for "casual content" they ask for something outside of raid, dungeon, pvp, it's that simple. If you come in and say low level M+ can be done casually so it's content for casuals, you are just refusing to acknowledge a request for the sake of semantics. Coin another term or get over it.

[potis]

There is a marked tendency on this forum (and I guess with a lot of people anywhere) to present opinions or issues as a strictly binary choice. It's either X or Y with no allowance for anything in-between. It's extremely annoying because it's nearly always wrong. Opinions stated as facts are part of it too.

More generally: I like Hitei's response because that middle ground (that most people inhabit) is acknowledged and it's much more interesting to discuss that than constantly knock down these binary, too simple, ideas.

I get annoyed for the same reason, that people dont understand that someone can have multiple views for multiple reasons and they refuse to listen when you expose them but it is what it is.

I know a guy that for over 10 years (havent seen like the last 7) was paying 3 WoW accounts and he barely ever reached max level,he had maximum number of allowed characters at the 20-40 range, playing the Auction House on 10 different servers with lowbie materials, from Vanilla to MoP when i last saw him.

That dude has the most irrelevant casual mentality towards what WoW is that i have ever seen, but he used to play 12 hours a day to do that (medical reports and similar delivery guy, he would get a phone call, grab the papers, take them somewhere and back to the net cafe to mine Iron Ore, in 2014 xD)

And i have dozens other examples of -true casuals- versus what people on here claim to be.

For me the majority of complainers on here is simply people that do not have social connections or refuse to get social connections to do the bare minimum to progress, because they have been playing too long, they know what to do, they arent completely horrible therefor the content that is made for the -true casuals-, gets consumed way too fast and they complain.

It baffles me.

[Echo of Soul]

Compare it to dating and it'll make so much more sense. If you're dating a girl casually there is a lot of commitment and planning that you just won't do.

The activities are care free, simple and sporadic.

If WoW was your girlfriend and you were dating her casually you wouldn't do activities that were stressful, required planning or high effort so raiding beyond LFR, M+ and RBGs are definitely not things you would do if you were playing the game casually. Maybe you'd try to do them once in a while but there's no chance that you'd be able to get in.

[Kumorii]

It's actually not all that hard to explain.

The meaning of "casual" is actually really simple, people just always try to quantify the results instead of qualifying the intent. Being casual or hardcore in wow, like in anything, is about the mindset you have.

A person who pulls their bicycle out of the garage and goes for a 10 minute ride once every few months because the mood strikes them is a casual bike rider.
A person who goes for a bike ride every night on a beat up bike they've had for two decades because they find it really de-stressing and unwinding after a long day is also a casual bike rider.
A person who goes for one bike ride every few months, but carefully maintains a top of the line racing bike, wears high-end cyclist clothing and shoes, owns several varieties of riding goggles, pads and helmets, and a cycling backpack, etc. is a hardcore bike rider.
A person who goes for a bike ride every night because they are really into biking and are trying to get the distance they can go per night as high as possible is a hardcore bike rider.
A person who goes riding every weekend to do tricks and stunts they record and put on youtube is a hardcore rider.

The commonality amongst these is the mental side. The first two are people for whom biking is a casual activity, not because of the specific amount of time spent, or the specific skill level, but because of what the activity is for them. They are just riding the bike for fun, they don't have any particular commitment to it, even the one doing it every night, they aren't trying to accomplish some set goal or reach some level, or put in a specific amount of time, or do the best (or particularly well) at anything. They just feel like riding a bike and ride a bike.

The hardcore people (regardless of the form that takes) are all people who instead view the biking as an activity with a purpose, as a really dedicated hobby, or to master new tricks, or to push themselves, or to get a good workout for some specific amount of time per week. Of course, they might also have fun doing it--they might even be doing it for the fun of pushing themselves or because they like that hobby. But their mindset is not a casual approach, it's a more dedicated mentality that thinks more about the activity of biking. The same is true of casual and hardcore artists, cooks, film and TV watchers, drug users, anything really.

And the same thing is true of wow. Someone who has 50 alts at 60 because they just like leveling stuff so they get on when they feel like playing and level a character is a casual. Someone like DoubleAgent, who is dedicatedly attempting to accomplish one specific difficult goal in leveling a single character is very much not-casual. A guild who gets together on weekends and does some attempts at normal or heroic bosses where they don't worry much about what people are playing or if everyone's DPS is perfect or consumables or whatever, they just have some good laughs and mess around as a group for the night is a casual guild. An individual who only does normal pug raids but is laser focused on improving their parse and ekeing out every last point of DPS they can at their ilevel is a hardcore player.

There is some overlap. Some people do somethings with a casual approach and others with a hardcore, some people are hardcore but taking a break from it. Some people have intents closer to casual but their personal nature as someone who has to do the best they can means that they actually play hardcore. There are hardcore players who play once a week, and casual players who play a lot every day. There are hardcore players who are still just bad at the game, and casual players who are quite skilled. There are hardcore players who only level, or who only do pet battles, or farm transmog, or stick to LFR, and well... it's hard to find a casual who's cleared mythic because the activity itself requires a higher degree of focus and intent, but you could find somewhat casual-y players who do high end mythic+.

Because it's ultimately not about time, or skill, or accomplishment, or the part of the game focused on, it's about whether or not they're mentally approaching the game casually or with a more hardcore outlook.

This Post is the definition of casual

"Relaxed and unconcerned".

But it's for naught, this won't change people since people use casual to either further their argument or to stifle anothers. It's not used for accuracy, but as a tool.

[Mokuna]

You can't define it because it varies from people to people.

To me you're missing the point by mixing up skill levels and comittment, a casual is someone who doesn't make the game his priority but plays for fun and it has nothing to do with their gameplay level.

Some people play a few hours a week to get CE, gladiator or do high M+, others play 10 hours everyday barely raiding heroic, who's playing more casually?

As for clearing heroic or 15s it's a really minimal time investment and you can definitely do that without playing much at all, i don't see how that would disqualify anyone from being a casual, unless you consider a casual is someone who absolutely can't play the game.

[Mysterymask]

This Post is the definition of casual

"Relaxed and unconcerned".

But it's for naught, this won't change people since people use casual to either further their argument or to stifle anothers. It's not used for accuracy, but as a tool.

The unfortunate truth

Casual: This person cares less about the game than I do therefore should be shunned

Hardcore: This person cares more about the game than I do therefore should be shunned

Hitei really hit the nail on the head though and really like most things it's a spectrum...

[Zantera]

For me the difference in casual and hardcore isn't so much measured in statistics of what you achieved or not but it's more of a general vibe/feeling/approach to the game.

When I was a CE raider I considered myself hardcore because I raided 3 nights a week (sometimes 4 or 5) with a very intense mood/vibe going because everyone wanted progress, but also outside of those raids there was a whip on my back to achieve XYZ things to stay competitive or to further my ambitious goals.

Right now I'm still a mythic raider but instead of getting CE I have more modest progression (8/10m in CN, 5/10m in Sanctum, 3/11m in Sepulcher before people went on vacations) and I still get the Curve achievements so to some people I might still be considered hardcore and I put in a decent amount of hours but I definitely consider myself more of a casual because I don't get stressed out over pushing myself in the same way as before.

[Shadowferal]

*shrugs*
When I first began my journey as a night elf feral druid, I knew I wouldn't do raids, and I don't pvp, or do Dungeons, and I knew I wouldn't get the best stuff. But I was okay with that, because I knew all that before I created my account. It just never bothered me. As long as I could explore the world and do what content and quests there was, learning the lore and mysteries...it was fun for me. And that was enough.

[Celement]

I've seen this thread before... in wow casual is usually tied to a difficulty. Why? I honestly don't know but I do recall it starting around mid tbc on the official forums.

Casual is used as an insult when calling someone one and a shield from criticism when one refers to themselves as it.

In any other game it refers to if you play a lot or not.

[Jan135]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the @b1gh3x shitpost template:

• Step 1: Post some weirdly broad yet controversial take that will cause people to argue endlessly.
• Step 2: Refuse to elaborate further.
• Step 3: Leave.

OP: Casual is anybody who plays less than I do. Hardcore is anybody who plays more. There is no in between.

>He is trying to assert his dominance
>Refuses to elaborate
>Leaves

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the @b1gh3x shitpost template:

• Step 1: Post some weirdly broad yet controversial take that will cause people to argue endlessly.
• Step 2: Refuse to elaborate further.
• Step 3: Leave.

OP: Casual is anybody who plays less than I do. Hardcore is anybody who plays more. There is no in between.

It's honestly sad that same people who end up all of these bait-account threads, who argue with the same other people about the bait topic, still don't get the hint.

[HansOlo]

Casuals are the boring people in a rave party.

The classmate who let you down during the assignments.

The friend, who always shows up - casually late.

The date - who flaked on you.

The colleague - that you have to carry.

All the emotions, ambitions and positivity, you desperately want to reflect in this person - only to realize, that you are just desperate and uninteresting. If you ask me - casuals are the most annoying people ever - lost in time and space.

They should be somewhere else, doing completely different things, but one way or another - they always appear next to you(often complaining... casually).

[Adamas102]

What is a "true casual" then to you?

Someone who logs on and off whenever they want, who doesn't schedule their game time around the schedules of other people.

From what I understood of the guy you were responding to, it wasn't about being able to leave a raid if something important came up IRL. I'd imagine most guilds are very open about accommodating real life necessities.

A more accurate example would be joining a raid for 30min and then simply saying "eh, I don't really feel like playing anymore right now" and then logging off. Most raiding guilds probably wouldn't keep you on a raiding roster if that was a regular occurrence. Obviously people who approach the game like that shouldn't be burdening people who schedule their time to do things like raid or PVP as a group, but that's the "true casual" mindset. If you don't feel like playing then nothing and no one is going to make you feel obligated to do so.

[Kokolums]

wow you arent kidding 30 posts and 14 started threads

hes just a Casual poster.

[Echo of Soul]

Casuals are the boring people in a rave party.

The classmate who let you down during the assignments.

The friend, who always shows up - casually late.

The date - who flaked on you.

The colleague - that you have to carry.

All the emotions, ambitions and positivity, you desperately want to reflect in this person - only to realize, that you are just desperate and uninteresting. If you ask me - casuals are the most annoying people ever - lost in time and space.

They should be somewhere else, doing completely different things, but one way or another - they always appear next to you(often complaining... casually).

Imagine taking a video game this seriously

[HansOlo]

Imagine taking a video game this seriously

Imagine 2649 casual posts.