Should the word "casual" be abolished?

[RickJamesLich]

*Ahem* if I could be serious for a moment lol. I see it all the time these days, people use the term "casual" for things that don't really apply to casuals. WoW says it now appeals to "casuals" but what does that really mean?

Let's look at the word, now there's two meanings that I think most can agree with, the first is someone that hardly plays, like for 2 to 4 hours a week, and not all in one sitting. The second term for casual pretty much is for someone that doesn't do normal mode raids, or when they do, they typically don't do much of it. I think this term has been used so wrong in many instances, in particular, the two definitions of casual contradict each other - especially in terms of LFR.

For example, my brother in law has a lvl 20 druid, he doesn't know about professions or specs for that matter - he's a casual player. Then you take someone that does LFR every week on two alts.... that's not a casual player lol. Between the amount of time it takes to get to 90, and all the time you spend doing LFR.... there's a big big difference between these two types of players. At that point, the LFR guy has more in common with someone that could be considered a "hardcore raider" then they do with the actual casual player. A "long time non-raider" title of sorts would be much more accurate to describe the person that does LFR, but casual doesn't even begin to describe that person.


The point of it all? Using the term "casual" more often then not isn't actually describing the group of players it's intended too, and makes points moot.



I think we need a new term, anyone got suggestions?

[Resentful]

People use the word wrong nothing more.

- Terribad or bad
- Casual
- HC

They confuse Terribad with casuals like 99% of the god dam time lol

[ComputerNerd]

The word casual is typically used in derogatory fashion against players who are below some artificial, some fictitious standard.
When in reality it should refer to players who for whatever reason have fragmented, and often short duration play in a single session.
That can be due to choice, or more often due to real life constraints.
A minority of the traditional raiders make an excessive amount of noise, and choose to blame the decline of traditional raiding, and the popularity of LFR on those "dirty casuals", when in reality it is them to blame.
The content of traditional raiding is arguably as good as it has ever been, but the format is itself becoming less desirable.
The fixed scheduling requirements and likelihood of inflated entry requirements is pushing a lot of people towards the less restrictive LFR format, even if the overall experience is somewhat underwhelming.

The term is fine, as with any tool it can be abused in the wrong hands.
Changing the word will solve nothing, since those people are so reliant on that argument to shift blame they will simply adapt.