Boards›Gameplay

Riot needs to address the gap between "Casual" and "Hardcore"

sayhisam1·10/11/2014, 9:02:38 PM·8 votes·3,202 views

Riot needs to address this huge gap between "Casual" players and "Hardcore" players. First, let me define the two:

"Casual" means that a player does not really care if they win or lose, or if they are good at the game. They just want to have a good time, which isn't really a bad thing, but it can be bad

"Hardcore" means that a player really cares about winning or losing, and they want to improve their skills in a game to get to a higher rank.

Just by understand what these two terms mean, you can understand the great disconnect between the two types of players; Casual players don't really care, while Hardcore players do. This isn't really a big issue in normal games, because it doesn't really effect either side at all. Normals in general are for practice and just for messing around. This becomes a HUGE issue in ranked, however. The main issue I feel is that people mistakenly refer to "Casual" gamers as trolls in ranked, because they don't really care if they win or lose, or if they afk or feed. All they want is to have fun, which is fine, but they forget that there are people that actually want to win the game too. They don't see ranked as anything different from normals. Hardcore gamers then tend to get salty and rage if anyone starts losing or feeding or afk, since it really effects them psychologically. What I am saying, is that Hardcore gamers need to matched with hardcore gamers/people who take the game seriously, and likewise for casual gamers. Myself falling into the "Hardcore" category, I feel that this is an issue, especially on weekends, since you get people who just really don't care if they drop you down 50-60 lp for a loss because they just want to screw around.

Tl;dr Riot, you need to either make ranked a bigger deal, so that people are actually motivated to try in ranked games, or you need to differentiate between "casual" and "hardcore".

29 Comments

Zaikyo10/11/2014, 9:05:07 PM6 votes

Riot's going to disagree with your definitions most likely. Most companies seems to think the amount of time being sunk into playing the game is included in labelling someone as hardcore/casual.

Blade of Justic10/11/2014, 9:32:48 PM3 votes

It's like you imply that winning can't equal fun and that casual gamers can't have fun winning.

Llanite10/12/2014, 3:02:37 AM3 votes

What you described were try-hard retards vs adults.

Everyone cares about winning, the difference is, retards raged and pass the blame on others. A competent adult would appreciate a good game, regardless the outcome. It's not 'casuals' don't care about winning, we do try, we just don't get mad at losing.

Dominick Destine10/11/2014, 9:03:50 PM3 votes

Ranked is supposed to be hardcore. Normals are for dicking around.

I would rather have a "jerk" player in ranked that knows what he's doing than a "nice" player that hard-feeds. So yeah... crackdown on the trolls please Riot.

lorewise10/12/2014, 6:17:49 AM3 votes

I don't understand your position. If you're playing ranked and you dedicate yourself to becoming a better player you will move up in rank. As you move up in rank the players you are matched with will have put in the same amount of effort you have.

Besides there's no way for you to personally know if someone on your team is necessarily a casual player. I understand you've set out a definition of both but how on earth is Riot supposed to differentiate other than doing what they already have done? They've created a system where players can use their skill to move up in rank, it's not like you can just decide to queue for the upper divisions of ranked, and unless some game breaking bug has crept in to the code I don't see how solo queue players are getting matched incorrectly.

NoMonku10/12/2014, 4:49:59 AM2 votes

I don't think there's a real difference. I feel if the person doesn't actually care about winning they shouldn't even really be playing ranked. The fact that they actually are means they should actually care to some degree and try to win, regardless of whether they are "casual" or "hardcore". There is no actual way to differentiate between "casual" or "hardcore" besides RIOT somehow being able to observe each individual player personally to determine what category they would fall under and this isn't realistic. In general, most people who start going with "I don't care" or "I'm trolling cause you no let me mid" are just immature and actually care about winning, they just didn't get to do what they want so they are making an "excuse" to "justify" how badly the game is going for them.

67chrome10/11/2014, 9:31:24 PM2 votes

Casual and Hardcore don't revolve around apathy.

The terms basically mean "not competitive" and "competitive".

Casual usually means stuff like Bejeweled and slot machines. Hardcore can apply to stuff like Clash of Clans.

Hardcore 100% applies to LoL. LoL is a hardcore game. If players are dicking around, same thing ultimatly happens to them that would happen in a FPS, fighting game, or RTS. They will loose.

Competitive games give a big advantage to players that actually bothered getting good at the game, players that play to win.

shadowstark810/12/2014, 1:11:59 AM2 votes

Dude it's a free to play game. If you want people who will give it there A game every time I would suggest you create a team or find friends to play with. Also further subcategorying of players will surely cause a lot of problem down the line, especially when it comes to wait times and what not. You also have to keep in mind the fact the ranked system is built around, if you play good, you will rise to the top no matter what.

Nymao10/12/2014, 2:03:46 AM2 votes

[deleted]

Gunpoint10/12/2014, 4:32:33 AM2 votes

Why don't they just ask you? Do you want to be paired with happy go lucky players who want to have fun, or mean little shits who will threaten to ddos you if you mess up their elo?

giraffiti010/12/2014, 1:23:17 PM2 votes

Riot does differentiate. It's called a tier system. If you're diamond, gold, or plat, and you don't care if you feed or afk... You won't be for long. Many casual players are stuck in bronze and while there are definitely some in silver the higher on the Elo ladder you climb the less of a problem this becomes. I am only silver 1 so I am by no means an expert, but as someone who started in bronze I can tell you that the "casual gamer problem" becomes less of an issue in higher divisions. Honestly just keep practicing, you'll climb the ladder.

I Eat Thyroids10/12/2014, 5:10:09 AM1 votes

This this this. Hardcores are ruining the game for me. I used to love league when I started with my friends, but lately games just feel sour. One of the best games I ever had was a "troll" game set up with me and my friends where we wandered around in a group of five instead of laning. did we lose? yes (still took 40 minutes though lol), but it was way more fun then anything the meta could have offered. that's not to say that the meta is anti-fun (but it can be) but hardcores in general tend to rage, especially when they lose, and just in general be irritating as hell to play with. viva la bronze 5 where teamfights happen almost randomly and there's never a non-exciting moment! In all seriousness though, hardcores should have their own game area (ranked, which I never played any more of after promotionals) and us casuals should have our own (URF mode please, give casuals URF)

SmokingPuffin10/12/2014, 4:51:43 PM1 votes

Do you realize how many games of League you have to play to get into ranked?

There are approximately zero casual ranked players. Way too much time investment to get casuals into ranked.

Some players will claim to not care about the game after feeding for ego reasons. That doesn't make it true.

Long Dong Wukong10/12/2014, 1:28:53 PM1 votes

There's nothing between casual and hardcore.

You either are playing the game for fun without being overly involved, or you're playing specifically to win and losing isn't fun.

BlazinHot610/12/2014, 4:43:33 PM1 votes

You guys can argue the fundamental difference of these "player types" forever. At the end of the day, what do you actually expect to be done about it. Do you want Riot to track the amount of time someone plays and use that to determine if they are allowed to play ranked. Or do you want Riot to punish people who are losing games. Point being, there isnt anything that can be done about this. Get yourself to a higher rank where players do care, or stop whining.

GrandMa5TR10/12/2014, 5:37:59 AM1 votes

Riot pretty much solved this issue to the best they can. All casual players can opt to play normals at any time and all hardcore players have the freedom to play ranked whenever they want. For people who don't know how to different the ranking system will separate players by skill. Generally speaking hardcore players tend to be gold and above. Bronze and silver have a 50/50 split because of ELO hell, other reasons. The next step would simply be a short description about how each game mode should be played under the name. This could lead to some people getting justification for trolling ,or raging for things that aren't exact meta however, so the wording would need to be careful.