Are casual games ruining the genre
I’ve asked myself many times if I’m a Casual Gamer or a Hardcore Gamer. To work this out, one needs to know what the difference is. I’m not really sure, otherwise I’d be able to label myself, but I’ll give you my take on it. Let’s start with the Hardcore Gamer.
Ok, this dude plays a lot, 35+ hours a week. He/she plays almost every night and all weekend and loves raiding. I don’t fall into this category, I just don’t have enough time to play that much. I have played 35 hours a week and I have a personal best of 16 hours straight of gaming, but that’s a one off and even 10 hour sessions for me these days are not all that frequent. One of the WoWbois here at work claims to get in a 20 hour play session every other weekend. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Is there are correlation there I wonder?
Then we have the Casual Gamer. He/she has a job, a wife, perhaps kids, Weekends are often spent at family gatherings or social events. The Casual Gamer only gets to play a couple of hours on a weeknight, and maybe steals a few hours of gaming on the weekends. I don’t quite fit into this category either. Some weeks I might only play 10 hours or so, but then other weeks I can find 25 or more hours to play. I can squeeze in 10 hour play sessions at times and if I only have an hour or so to play, I just don’t bother. So I’m not sure what I am. I want to be a Hardcore Gamer but that just can’t happen, but I’m a bit more serious than your Casual Gamer. I am getting to a point here; it’s just taking a while.
Lately we’ve seen game developers talking about the Casual Game market and the Casual Gamer. This demographic appeals to publishers because they believe it to be the mass market of gamers out there, and they want as many subscribers as they can get. So we’ve seen games evolve over the years to be more casual friendly. Faster levelling, easy navigation, fast travel, quick and easy quests, lots of loot drops. The problem that I find with a more casual style of MMO is that a 10 hour game session just feels like 10 one hour game sessions back to back. And that gets boring fast.
Previous MMOG’s would take months and years to achieve many things; the casual game allows you to do it in weeks. Now I certainly applaud a friendlier MMO, but I question the longevity of a casual game. Have you seen all it has to offer in the first month and is there enough to bring you back as a paid subscriber beyond that? Casual games need to have more of everything in order to stand the test of time. It’s not enough to introduce grinds, which go against the casual nature of the game in any case. So it needs to have more quests, more zones, more levels, more classes; more of everything in order to last beyond the first month, particularly where the more hardcore style of gamer is concerned. And for the casual gamer, are they prepared to then start paying $15 US a month to play “casually” or will they just move on to the next game. In the end we have casual games failing due to a lack of content beyond 10 hours a week’s worth over 4-6 weeks. If the game has a particular setting, IP, or feature that you particularly like then it has a chance of surviving as a niche game.
Comments
Comment from Openedge1
Time: September 12, 2008, 8:50 am
How about this…
You play 10 hours a week. You get 40 hours a month. At 15 bucks a month that is roughly 2.60 an hour. Now for that 2.60, what are you doing. Are you adventuring in an beautiful world, looking at the sights? Are you killing the same 10 guys over and over? Are you being rewarded in a likable fashion for that hour?
If your idea of fun is playing WAR, then cool, all the more power to you. If you miss AoC (like I did) then you need to decide if it had enough to keep you playing. I have been approaching AoC differently, and as such, it has an appeal to me. But, all I know is the old ways of the MMO have grown stale to me.
I wonder if this deals with the recent discussions about LOTRO or AoC lately based on the “niche” comment…
Maybe I need you to explain a little more of what brought this post on? I am fascinated now.
It is really hard to define the nature of these niche games lately.
Luckily for you guys, I do not see WAR as niche.
I expect a huge audience. I expect hordes of WoW players who are not enamored with WoW anymore, and have played WoW for years, and just want something new, but do not want to give up that DIKU style, and the friends they have made.
You know, I better go blog about this now…you got me thinking again…
DARN YOU (lol)
Hope you guys are having fun at least.
Comment from Kyrana
Time: September 12, 2008, 5:09 pm
@Openedge: So far, so good and fingers crossed. Of course, starting our own guild has added an element of fun and interest as well. I’m feeling pretty positive about things generally. Now I can go read YOUR blog. LOL
Comment from caliga
Time: September 13, 2008, 2:31 am
I think what brought this topic on was the disatisfaction I’ve had with MMO after MMO after MMO, and I found a common link, or at least I think I did, and that is the simplicity of the game. It seems that developers are pumping out much the same game every time, or clones of other popular games, but with less content.
I understand that games like WoW and EQ2 have been around a while now and have a number of expansions under their belt. So how does a new game compete if it releases a clone of either of those games minus all the expansions, Game Updates and so on. And that’s why we’re experiencing MMO “ennui”. It’s a bit like developers saying “here, try our new game, you’ll love it. It’s a lot like WoW but with 1/4 the content.” Of course, they never say that, they promise big things but I’ve yet to see a new game deliver on its promises.
Comment from Openedge1
Time: September 13, 2008, 9:42 am
After reading your blog, and then today reading Ardwulfs, I think I may have it. We have been going about it all wrong actually.
Check my blog later this weekend or next week, as I am really throwing something out there, and it makes such PERFECT sense.
Why can no one see it…
Anyways…suspense indeed…eh?
caliga
Comment from Kyrana
Time: September 12, 2008, 7:47 am
I fall somewhere in the middle myself. I”m a wife and a mom, so my playtime is after the kids are in bed and hubby is occupied, and frequently, weekends are taken up doing family things. However, on those weekends when the kids are at the grandparents, I like to squeeze in more gaming. I’d play 20 hours a week or more if I could do it, and regardless, I get my money’s worth out of my subscription each month.
I find myself wondering what WAR will be. One thing that I actually like about WAR is that the leveling seems a bit slower. In EQ2, it’s possible to reach level 10 in an hour or two easily. I could get a character to 25 within a couple of nights. In WAR, my character hasn’t even GOTTEN to level 10 yet, but I’m not bored or feeling down about it. It’s just that I’ve found a lot to do to keep me occupied so the pace isn’t bugging me. Considering that the game only has 40 levels, then I think they’ve got the pace right.
Either way, in my opinion what makes or breaks a game is the content or lack thereof. AoC just did not have the content to keep you busy. It was too much of the same type of thing, and not enough of even that type, if that makes sense. I am keeping my fingers crossed about WAR, but so far, so good.