Then for some reason, I straight away made a comparison between core and casual gamers.
I've kind of sat on the fence between the two for a while now. I've dabbled in WoW and WAR, and I've spent vast amounts of time match-3ing. I tend to go in and out between what I like and dislike between the two.
But it got me thinking - whenever I play an MMO, it feels like a job. I don't actually have fun playing games until I play a fun game. Like Portal, which I played for the first time last night.* Incredibly fun! Done with in a handful of hours. I didn't have to get anything, find anything, I didn't have someone standing nearby with an item that will take me 60 hours to pass the pre-requisites just to hold.
When I was playing MMOs, it felt like I had to have stuff. Actually, scratch that, I will go ahead and say: to play MMOs, you have to have stuff. You're forever finding upgrades to stuff that's now no longer competitive, or even serviceable. To partake in certain content, you have to have certain level gear or you just won't make it. There's some content 99.98% of a game's subscribers that won't ever see, but lordy, if you do happen to have that specific epic loot, everyone will know about it.
Core games is about stuff - the getting and having of.
And y'know, right now, I'm not about stuff. I just like... doing.
Shooting? TF2.
Punching? Freedom Force.
Growing? Plants vs. Zombies.
Wearing a tiki mask and belting a hell of a curveball with my super spear? Mario Smash Tennis.
I think I like not having to get stuff just to play a game. I just want to play the game.
In other sweet, sweet news, Margaret River Chocolate Factory has taken my tastebuds and programmed them to love nothing else but their dark chocolate buds. Mmmmmm.
-Anthony
*There was too cake!
mice are from hyrule, i don't know why
Collecting 'stuff' is a cheap way for developers to keep people playing. Just make a new art asset and plug in some different variables to the last item. That seems to be what makes MMOs viable. I haven't played a lot of MMOs, but most appear to be 80% what you own and 20% how you use it. They're character skill games as opposed to player skill games. The whole premise of a character skill game is exhaustive, but it lets average gamers feel powerful. I haven't thoroughly played an MMO since Ultima Online, which I spent ~5yrs playing and it was awesome. Definitely at the aggressive end of MMOs with Eve. But that was enough to burn me out on the concept of standard MMOs. Time sinks. Always feeling the pressure to keep up.
ReplyDeleteI dunno if I'd split hardcore/casual between genres. Or even strictly with time invested. I always thought competence played a part. Which can be split between PvE and PvP. But humans can always outsmart game AI somehow, and it's very game-specific. PvP breeds a more cunning, strategically-versitile gamer. eg. Maybe I'd call the very high end of MMO PvErs hardcore gamers. However, I wouldn't say the same for someone that's awesome at Starcraft vs computers but falls flat against players. It's made to be played primarily against other people.
Either way, here's hoping for more pick up and play games for the 'hardcore' gamer. I care not for 'job' games. I already have 18 odd yrs of game playing experience, just give me what I need to have fun from the start! Rar.
I don't think I even agree with the terms 'casual' and 'core' games, but it seems to be a definition the industry is keen to standardise. I remember when I went to EA's website and they had their catalogue split between "Sports", "Family" and "Core"... it's almost like they're allowed to get away with the blood and gore and sex if it's correctly labelled!
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with the idea of quickplay games for "core" gamers and not having to spend 40 hours to get to the fun parts.