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The Daily Grind: How much game time is just right?
The comments on an article earlier this month made me realize that somewhere between "too casual" and "too hardcore" lies a vast, undefined region of acceptable gaming habits. In that comment thread, one gamer who admitted to playing Lord of the Rings Online for 40 hours a week for three years was picked on for spending as much time playing as you might expect out of a full-time job. In the same thread, several people made reference to "idiot casuals" who are ruining the MMO experience in World of Warcraft, the implication being that casual play alone makes one an idiot. Both of these comments prey on ugly gaming stereotypes: the guy who plays so much that he neglects the rest of his life and the guy who plays so little that he bumbles along incompetently at the expense of skilled players. I might be naive, but I don't think either one of these guys is the norm. I've always assumed that most people out there are playing as hardcore-casuals with reasonable levels of both competence and time invested. What do you think -- how much game time is "just right" to become skilled at MMOs without degenerating into the basement-dwelling-loser archetype? Is "just right" even possible? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: How should MMOs appeal to both hardcore and casual players?
It's the eternal struggle between players and the eternal headache of developers: the hardcores vs. the casuals. On one hand, you have a group of gamers who devour content like locusts, min/max in ways that make college professors weep in envy, and spend oodles of time in MMOs as a matter of fact. On the other hand, there are those who lack the drive, the time, or the intense competitiveness, preferring instead to enjoy content at their own leisure, staying within a comfortable zone, and working on large goals in small bits at a go. With such a diverse range of players, making MMOs appeal to both crowds (and everyone in between) is enough to make one cross-eyed. Recently at WonderCon, several MMO developers were asked about this very topic, but today we'd like to get your opinion. How should MMOs be designed to best appeal to both hardcore and casual players? Is it a futile task -- should studios simply pick one or the other to go after? Is there a magic formula that games haven't tried yet, one you've figured out? Let us know! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Ready Check: Progression Recruitment and Roster Churn
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we're LF24M Yogg-Saron hard mode PST.It's interesting to watch the flow of players into and around hardcore guilds, and how it changes during farm, progress and the area in between. Why are so many of these guilds recruiting, and how does it change the meta-game?There are two reasons for a hardcore guild to recruit: to expand the roster and gain flexibility, or to replace players who are leaving the raiding squad. But what effect does it have on the guild? Let's take a look.
