Guild Wars 2

“Hardcore” is just a polite, gamer’s way of saying “heavily addicted”.

But is it necessary, for an MMO to be a success, to have (what is always only going to be a relatively) small number of people heavily addicted?

Can’t an MMO be a success with a bunch of people just enjoying the game and being mildly addicted for periods, picking it up and putting it down whenever they fancy?

Well you have to be pretty into a game to make the websites and machinimas etc that advertise and support the game.

Without gw2lfg for example there would be more frustrated people :p

The core gamers create the guilds and communities that make a game more than the sum of its parts imo. I think that’s why overly casual games are more “souless” to me

That said I don’t mind the middle ground, I played EVE for years and had to quit due to the strict timetables required to get anything done :p

I would brand GW2 a success from my point of view because:
a) I can pick up and play if I have 30mins or 4 hours to kill. I might be doing dailies or hammering some dungeons/fractals/WvW in that time
b) I don’t need my friends to be online in order to play it myself
c) Although I haven’t yet, I am tempted to buy things for rl cash monies as I feel I will get a lot from them and I am not likely to drop the game next week
d) Even though I have seen the dragons spawn regularly, I still marvel at the graphics (in before graphics rage – I’m a simple fella, I like what I like) as well as all the other ‘little things’ in the game – I’d recommend reading the thread about the ‘little things’
e) There is no ‘omg leet’ build. I often find myself viewing and reviewing traits and picturing how I could change my gameplay – just to mix it up a bit

tl;dr? Short version – Yes. I agree ;P

I guess you aren’t an elementalist then Scrotbag, we have like 1 build :p

emikochan.8504:

Well you have to be pretty into a game to make the websites and machinimas etc that advertise and support the game.

Without gw2lfg for example there would be more frustrated people :p

Given that gw2lfg uses advertisement and accepts donations, this guy isn’t hardcore, he’s just doing his job. That’s the way I see it. People who work 9 to 5 aren’t hardcore, they’re doing a job.

The core gamers create the guilds and communities that make a game more than the sum of its parts imo. I think that’s why overly casual games are more “souless” to me

And yet gw2lfg is most enabling for the casuals who can’t spend hours shouting lfg in LA. While I do respect some of the larger guild and event leaders, I still don’t see those as particularly hardcore since most they do is meta-gaming. Again, many of those people accept donations.

To be hardcore, you should be playing the game itself for many hours, pursuing in-game goals, without any monetary payment. Like how Michael Jordan is just doing his job, while the kid on the field playing basketball for hours on end is hardcore. It’s a distinction but important imho.

Meta gaming is the definition of hardcore :p If you just play the game you’re not very hardcore :p

Hardcore is going on forums, hardcore is researching things out of game. Hardcore players enable casuals with their teaching and help, generally, that seems to be the biggest use of these tools. Hardcore people write the wikis.

Hardcore is about dedication, a professional isn’t any less dedicated than an amateur. Money doesn’t come into this. Donations are very different to a salary.

emikochan.8504:

Meta gaming is the definition of hardcore :p If you just play the game you’re not very hardcore :p

Hardcore is going on forums, hardcore is researching things out of game. Hardcore players enable casuals with their teaching and help, generally, that seems to be the biggest use of these tools. Hardcore people write the wikis.

Hardcore is about dedication, a professional isn’t any less dedicated than an amateur. Money doesn’t come into this. Donations are very different to a salary.

Donations however aren’t any different from people buying your product.

emikochan.8504:

I guess you aren’t an elementalist then Scrotbag, we have like 1 build :p

No, no I am not :P

marnick.4305:

Donations however aren’t any different from people buying your product.

Yes they are, donations are optional, paying for a product is not.

marnick.4305:

emikochan.8504:

Well you have to be pretty into a game to make the websites and machinimas etc that advertise and support the game.

Without gw2lfg for example there would be more frustrated people :p

Given that gw2lfg uses advertisement and accepts donations, this guy isn’t hardcore, he’s just doing his job. That’s the way I see it. People who work 9 to 5 aren’t hardcore, they’re doing a job.

The core gamers create the guilds and communities that make a game more than the sum of its parts imo. I think that’s why overly casual games are more “souless” to me

And yet gw2lfg is most enabling for the casuals who can’t spend hours shouting lfg in LA. While I do respect some of the larger guild and event leaders, I still don’t see those as particularly hardcore since most they do is meta-gaming. Again, many of those people accept donations.

To be hardcore, you should be playing the game itself for many hours, pursuing in-game goals, without any monetary payment. Like how Michael Jordan is just doing his job, while the kid on the field playing basketball for hours on end is hardcore. It’s a distinction but important imho.

Meta-gaming would actually be considered hardcore by most but not all people. As far as your example goes, I would consider MJ the hardcore one in your example, because he devoted the same hours as a kid to make into a lifestyle and career.

I don’t think hard-core = addicted. There are plenty of casuals who play long hours who could hardly be called hard-core. “Casual” is more a style of play rather than an indication of hours played.

I would consider “hard-core” to be the dedicated PvPers and daily lvl 50+ Fractal runners. Basically anyone who needs to feel really challenged in order to enjoy the game.

I’ll call a spade a spade.

“hardcore” is a term most often used by individuals who feel the need to assert some sort of superiority over others in an effort to prove to themselves that they are smart, faster, or just “more manly” than others.
“Hardcore” is “I PvP, you don’t, therefore I am better than you in RL”,
and of course there’s the large segment of the gaming community that thinks “hardcore” is forcing PvP on people who do not want to PvP.

This past month has been a deluge of threads on this forum trying to water that down and blurr it with what is actually dedication.

“Hardcore” has always been about the ego and self glorification.

Neural.1824:

I’ll call a spade a spade.

“hardcore” is a term most often used by individuals who feel the need to assert some sort of superiority over others in an effort to prove to themselves that they are smart, faster, or just “more manly” than others.
“Hardcore” is “I PvP, you don’t, therefore I am better than you in RL”,
and of course there’s the large segment of the gaming community that thinks “hardcore” is forcing PvP on people who do not want to PvP.

This past month has been a deluge of threads on this forum trying to water that down and blurr it with what is actually dedication.

“Hardcore” has always been about the ego and self glorification.

Hmm, I would respectfully disagree. I’m mostly casual myself, but I don’t think hardcore has to necessarily have a negative connotation attached to it. It’s just a crazy-high level of intensity. :P Your definition sounds more like “elitist” to me. Just my two cents though.