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From Hardcore to Semi-Casual to Casual: The struggle for playtime
Z3R01
Member UncommonPosts: 2,426
It seems like I've been playing MMOs forever now. From my days in UO to my recent dealings with Eve. When I first started out in the genre I could easily log 60+ hours a week in my favorite game. I've always been able to keep up with friends and be in the hardcore guilds.
As I got older I found my playtime diminishing from 60+ all the way down to 20+ at this point i started refering to myself as Semi-Casual. This was cool for a while, I could still raid and farm gold on the weekend. After about a year this started to frustrate me. seeing all my friends pass me in levels, the MMOs I once enjoyed I no longer played to due reduce playtime. I picked up a MMO called Eve which seemed to cater to casuals a bit more.
I could farm isk on the weekends and during the weekday all I needed to do was click a skill. Everything was great for around a Year plus. Then real life intervened my playtime dropped like a bad habbit, From 20+ to 5 hours a week maybe less.
Now I'm totally casual I play maybe an hour during the week and 2-4 hours on sunday (If I'm lucky). I struggled to get any enjoyment out of an MMO, Had to stop my Eve account since I couldn't Farm ISk anymore and seriously started to wonder if spending 16 bucks a month on a game I could only play maybe 10-15+ hours a month is still worth it.
The last MMO I played was Ryzom since it was Free (at that time) and was a sandbox I gave it a go. IN a months time I gained maybe 60 levels in melee and just couldn't deal with my Real life schedule.
Sad to say there is no happy ending to this, the struggle of gametime has basically ended. As much as I enjoy this genre It's virtually impossible for me to enjoy a game with extremely limited gametime.
Anyone else as casual as me and handling this limited playtime well? How do you spend your time in game? has an MMO just became a graphical chat room for you instead of a game?
Now for fun i'll post a Poll to see what you guys would do if you only had 15 hours a month to play, would you still sub to a MMO?
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
Comments
I have a little more time than you. I can usually get about 6 hours on saturday and maybe an hour or so a couple days during the week depending on when the kids go to sleep. I never worried about the hardcore people, I play to have fun and enjoy the virtual world and lore of the game. I have enough success in life not to get caught up in the epeen battle of the hardcores. So enjoy the time you get.
Going out to a club for a night costs a lot more than $15.00. That's just for a few hours.
I still would, especially if I totally like the game. If you are a true gamer, the amount of money paid is nothing compared to the gaming experiences you will get.
I was a hardcore gamer at one point. Especially in UO. By the time WoW came out, I was relatively semi-casual. Now I see myself as full blown casual MMO gamer.
Between work, school and a wife, I have little time to play MMOs. Sometimes I get lucky and steal an hour or two at night. Maybe a few hours on the weekends. And when I do play, my playtime is erratic at best. At most, I probably play anywhere between 5 - 10 hours per week, if I'm lucky.
I've adapted my play style to fit my schedule. I play the game to enjoy it. I don't rush to level cap and I don't raid. I find alternate ways of advancing my character. For example in WoW, I went on a few raids in Molten Core and Blackwing's Lair. I have not experienced the Burning Crusade raids nor do I really want to. I just don't find that play style interesting anymore. Instead, I set other goals for myself. For example, I wanted to get the Nethewing Drake flying mount. So I slowly worked towards it. I wanted gear on par with raiding gear so I farmed battlegrounds. Being on a PvP server, I'm probably better off with PvP gear anyway.
I progress a lot slower than other people but I'm in a guild with real life friends and a few co-workers so they are well aware of my schedule and help me out with harder quests if I need to. Although I try to call on them as a last resort and usually try to find alternate ways of completing a really hard quest.
Real life is always more important than games. At least to me. I fit my game time and goals around my life and have a blast. Sure, I may be missing out on some content or "phat lewts" but to me that's not really important as I see raiding as more of a chore than actual experience of content. Especially since people do it dozens and dozens of times to get gear.
Even though I'm unatached and have plenty of time I've never put in anywhere close to even 40 hours a week. I always played the games at my own pace with my own goals and things to do. I always put everything else before games anyways so if an oportunity to go hang with friends, catch a movie or go play some soccer with buddies out in the park arises I'm more inclined to just go do that anyways. I always figured games to be a nice addition to my life, and not the main important thing to do in it. I have gone weeks without touching a game I was subscribed to and sometimes I even unsubscribe for a month and come back later.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
As long as mmo's have some form of grind, time=success.
I would say maybe you could enjoy other genres more, were you can hop in for 30 minutes and have a blast befor going to bed...
I have had your problem from time to time. Not having the time to play and thinking about the cost of the game that isn't being played. So I just started to play FPS's like CoD 4,it is easier joining a server for a few games or a few minutes. The only cost is the cost of the game.