Tuesday’s Takes: Hardcore On the Outside, Soft and Casual On the Inside

I play a lot. Am I hardcore (HC)? If HC means raiding, then no, I'm not hardcore. If hardcore means your /played time could be of legal driving age, then yes, I'm hardcore. I don't raid very much (I use the <1 raid/year as a test), but I love playing games hard and to the core. So what does that have to do with Vanguard: Saga of Heroes? Not much for you unless you were looking for me to join your raiding guild and then you need to keep looking. If you want someone to level a lot of characters, run lots of lower level instances for fun and loot, then I might be your guy, or orc, or dwarf.

I define hardcore in a number of ways, and not just through minutes spent in raids. I rate Hard/Soft Core time-in-game by Commitment, Blocks and Intensity.

Will you marry me, how committed are you?

There are some games that feel like a marriage, and some games that I just date. When it’s like a marriage, you slide into the relationship and it feels like a comfy shoe. You are in for the long haul. I would say most people have this type of relationship with one game, but then do some cheating on the side. Sometimes you get sick of the game you're with and fight like an old married couple, and then it’s always a hoot to make up (the ensuing instance run is steamy and fun!). Anyway, the key to keeping a marriage strong is commitment by both parties. In the game, commitment is all about character development and how you create the overall package. Through commitment you develop crafting skills, and armor sets, and lasting guild relationships. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes understands that it takes two to tango and that they will have to make both parties happy if this marriage is going to last. Those who are HC raiders and those of us who are more interested in level progression both need to feel the love. From the interrogations, err interviews, it appears that the gang at Sigil understands this and will provide enough content for a lasting relationship. They have built a significant degree of commitment though the many aspects of character development, which starts with the character creation screen and continues all the way through to the crafting system.

Do you have a big block or a small block - Is that a Hemi in there?

 The other measure of HC versus casual gamer (CG) is how many blocks of time you put into the game per week. I put a lot of blocks of time, but some are as short as fifteen minutes. Sometimes I can play for hours at a time. I have a wife, a job and two kids so my big blocks are late at night or when I travel (yes, sometimes I request additional travel days). This brings up my second measure of HC versus CG which the Sigil developers needed to think about: my Big Blocks (BBs) of time are few and far between. I may get three or four Small Blocks (SBs) of time per evening where I can jump on, do some crafting or a quick quest or two, or help a fellow guild member, or what-have-you. SBs are not very conducive to running forty person raids, but I sure can have fun and enjoy myself with the right games. Again, Sigil understands this new dynamic that has evolved since most of the online gaming community started playing Everquest. EQ required lots of BBs, but today's MMO market needs to appeal to those of us with lots of SBs, and maybe a couple BBs per week.

Who is Intense?

The Intensity of gameplay also determines when I'm going HC versus casual. When I want to go after that special armor piece, or get that tough quest done, I get a bit more intense. Those times when I'm answering the phone, making dinner, or supposedly helping the kids with their homework, I need lower intensity gameplay. These times of low intensity play are usually my crafting, guild chatting, travel, and level-my-alt times. If a game only has high intensity play and I have to log my main in to head straight for an instance to have any fun, then I would only be able to play when I have a BB of time available for a high intensity run. The reality is, I have about 50% of my time for high intensity game play, so a lot of time I need to be able to pause while I go answer the door, or go clean up the mess my kid just made, etc.

The way developers help determine how HC you need to be to have fun in their game hinges on a number of decisions they make. Questions like: how many characters can you have on a server? How hard or easy is the crafting system? How can characters get access to the good gear? The answers to these questions determine the different ways you can play, and still have fun. A well-rounded game will provide opportunities to play HC, using BBs of high intensity time. It will also provide time to play SBs of varying intensity, so that those of us with outside interruptions can still get enough involvement to have fun. To date, only a couple of games have been successful in catering to that broad range of play styles. The reality, though, is that developers don't want to be all things to all gamers: they want to appeal to a specific set of players. For me, I fall into different categories of player type depending on the day, and my daddy duties. Sigil has stated that they are bringing the difficulty level back from “super easy” to “challenging” so I anticipate some parts of the game will require BB investment. Those types of investments usually turn into long lasting commitments, though, so that can be a good thing. My concern is that I may be relegated to the crafting class, since I won't have time for corpse runs back into a huge dungeon – heck I'll probably cause the party to wipe when I go scrub crayon off of the wall before my wife comes home. Either way, we all win if it’s an entertaining and immersive experience.

In essence, if you want go HC during a BB with me, you may be out of luck. If you want to have a bunch of laughs during many SBs, then I may be your huckleberry. Are you HC? Do you think Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will cater to you as a HC or as a casual gamer? Let us know!