When you think of casual gamer you picture someone who plays maybe a few hours here a few hours there and a couple of days not playing at all.
I probably fall into the moderatly casual gamer catergory. When I play, I typically play for 2 -3 hours sessions typically 11 pm to 2 am est every couple of nights. Yes I’am a night owl. In previous years I was mr hardcore gamer and I think that was primerily related to an addiction to a game such as Everquest = Evercrack. Now days RL puts a stop to that lifestyle.
So when Lotro plopped itself into my sticky little hands I thought hmmm fantasy (check), Tolkien (check), Mmorpg (check), level treadmill (check) Oh crap I can feel mr hardcore gamer rearing his ugly head ….
However real life need not fear as Lotro has broken that mold of mmorpg = addiction = hardcore gamer.
Yes I know addiction is based on each individual but mmorpgs are generally just one big skinner box. So what makes Lotro less addictive, more casual and yet still fun experince ?Personally I think its because:
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There is not any real kind of endgame that I need to work towards.Its story driven questing as opposed to loot questing (re less equiment dependent)
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Its less time consuming, that is to say that I can log in for a few hours and come away feeling like I have actually achieved something in a short period of time.
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Its solo friendly especially consider the release of Shores of Evendim that fill up a solo gap in the 30′s.
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and there appears to be no kind of competitive long term goals
Now this is just my personal views and I’m sure there are other games out there that also do this, however I have tried many mmorpgs and this one just seems to hit the ‘casual’ spot. The game looks beautiful: the quests are excellent: the community filled with nice people: characters, equipment, game play & mechanics are spot on.
What do you think ?
I’m still having fun with it, myself. It is indeed very casual. But maybe a bit too much? I find myself not having the itch to play even though I like it. Instead I log in when I really want to, instead of because I feel I HAVE to. Is that good or bad for a game? I’m not sure yet. One thing that’s nice though, is that it gives me more time to play some console games and catch up on movies with the wife.
PS – Added you to my Blogroll.
I think being able to log in whenever you want is great, I feel no pressure what so ever to play …. gives me plenty of time to piddle about the house and catch up with other games and gaming news.
Added you to my blogroll as well
interesting post, will come back here, bookmarked your site
I have not been playing video games much in recent years, but saw LOTRO free-to-play advertisement online, so downloaded the game and started playing. I have become immediately addicted. I have spent so many hours playing this game in the last few weeks with definate negative impacts on my RL. So for me this game has not been casual, but I guess this is more personal choice as opposed to the nature of the game itself, as it could be played less often and for shorter periods, for example completing a quest or two, and maybe doing some crafting, then leaving it for later. But myself, I have been filling any free time I have with the game instead.
The only sense of forced play the game can create is when in a fellowship, I had situations where my wife wanted to use the computer, and I actually felt guilty having to tell the other player I had to go, this was probably because I had a situation myself where someone I was fellowshipping with went dark, and left me in the middle of a dangerous area, and I got killed. It’s just a game, so I can’t believe I was actually getting slightly emotional about such things.
Best thing about the game so far is fellowship situations. I had one session where I fellowshipped up, myself as Hunter, and paired up with a Captain. We spent about 1 hour totally kicking ass! Assisted each other completing a few quests, it was awesome!