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Rwsop….

You play casually if you just want to burn some time or just have fun. Take Super Mario for example. Some of us pick it up, play, and leave.

You play hardcore if you have certain goals in the game, or you’re taking the game seriously. Back to the Mario example, those who do speedruns/try to complete it in a peculiar fasion/those who do want to finish the game, could be considered hardcore.

Now I’m confused. Am I serious? Or casual? Maybe a little bit of both?

Oh, and how about those players who are in the game because of money (ammassing wealth) and not fame?

When I say achievement, I mean whatever benchmarks exist within the game world. Some will devote their effort and skill into PVP, others into PVE. Certain players will complete the most difficult quests for bragging rights, others will slay the toughest monsters. Some will amass huge fortunes in raw game currency, others weapons and armor or battle robots, vehicles or cuddly toys to furnish their pretty houses. There are those who will collect for aesthetics and those who collect for merit. All in all, achievement is quantifiable by how much the player acquires, whether its tangibles like gold and gear, or intangibles like prestige, titles, honorifics or a little glowing aura that says I’m level 99.

Casual gamers may amass these things too, but it’s the serious players that really care about getting more of it. Casual players may play for fun and may spend almost as much time as serious players, but they might not be as productive. Casuals will play a bit, chat with a buddy or two, play some more, maybe not finish that 5-level dungeon because she’s going to a movie with friends tonight. Serious players learn the ropes so they can acquire that Sword of Ultimate Radical Coolness or +100 Cyborg Kuneho Mechablender. Even a serious player who plays only an hour a day because he has school, basketball practice and guitar lessons will make that hour count for his character.

Maybe you might try finding a correlation between time spent playing and achievement levels? That would be useful for your marketing team.

On people try Aggressive, Cooperative, Laid-Back and Bandwagon-ers. And Fish-Out-of Water-ers.