Something that I never thought that I would ever experience in the gaming world is all the hate that casual players tend to get. Now, do not get me wrong, it’s not like a constant flood of hate…but, it’s enough to where it can become a rather touchy subject for me as I often get ridiculed for my play-style.
As gamers, I thought we all just shared a common interest, and, different play-styles was just accepted as people are individual, levels of interest vary, dedication over obsession varies, and therefore casual gamers vs competitive never existed…or, that’s how I thought it should work. The fact that we all play differently because we enjoy different aspects of games should be common sense, right?
But, recently I found myself watching a video on YouTube from a guy named “Nixxiom” – and I really like his videos. They are light-hearted, really funny, and I especially found a lot of truth in his video about RP-servers and roleplaying on World-of-Warcraft in general. I was cracking up. Since then, I have been slowly going through all of his videos to check out some things I may not know…etc etc.
Well, this morning’s venture was taking on his video called: “The Top 10 Ways to Suck at World of Warcraft” — Now, we were all n00bs once, and, I actually likes these videos. They make me either laugh, let out of a sigh of relief, or do a mixture of the two as I recount my first few weeks starting on W.o.W (back in 2010 *cough, cough*).
But while I agreed with most of what he said, and was laughing my ass off because of it- it kinda irked me when #6 was mentioned: moving with WASD and not using key-bindings.
I know- dumb thing to get touchy over, right? I agree with you. I should not be getting so upset over something like this, but, it’s because it has been a theme lately. My gaming style has been attacked so much because it’s “not as effective” or it “sucks”. This is why I mostly stopped being social on many social-games such as MMOs because I am constantly being told how to play…and I really don’t want to. So let’s take it from the beginning…
I started replaying WoW after a year of absence. So much had changed in that time, I might as well be a n00b all over again. I started playing again mostly because I was being pestered by a friend to do so. I was avid with my playing of GW2 and, every time he came over he would say: “That’s not WoW” or: “You should play WoW”.
I don’t like to think of myself as someone that gives into peer-pressure easily, but, when this same person is over at my house, nearly every day of the week, and it gets to the point where he starts fucking with my keyboard while I am playing GW2 trying to be “funny” (never fucking touch my keyboard while I am gaming – it is not funny or cute, I will cut you tbh) well, I wanted him off my back in a way where I would not have to hurt his feelings…aaaaaand, I actually DO like WoW (I just never have the money for it), so, I gave in and started a new character on his server, and made a Troll/Warrior named Tirntzul.
Then I started to quickly remember why I had stopped playing with other people…
“Why don’t you have Legion yet?”
“When are you buying Legion?”
“You should just boost your character.”
“Why are you questing in low-level areas?”
“Why are you bothering with rep? You can do that later.”
“Maxing out your crafting is easier when you are at max-level, so do it later”
“Ugh. Darkmoon Faire is such a waste of time.”
“You should do more Dungeons.”
“Why are you playing on a different character?”
“You need to stop using WASD and start pressing numbers for your skills. You will be useless in raids if you don’t…”
I. Don’t. Fucking. Care!
I did not start playing WoW again because I wanted to be competitive. I am not the type of person that cares about the rarest gear or being on some chart somewhere. I don’t care how long it takes to complete a mission. I play for story, for substance, for questing with friends. I play because I love the World…not because I care what others think of me, or because I have this need to be the best at something. Not that I think anything to do with an online video-game gives anyone any real bragging rights outside of the internet and interested-parties anyways…
…and honestly, I am a casual gamer. I always have been.
I use WASD to move, I click my skills because I am quicker that way. Pressing buttons just takes too long…my hands are not familiar with it. To me, it’s like learning to write all over again. Don’t fix something if it’s not broken.
So this friend was still bugging about my play-style. And finally, he settled for making me a “mod” so at least my 2 main skills that I use as a combo, would be quicker for me to execute. No…I hardly use the mod. I forget it exists, and it’s really not necessary. Clicking the side buttons on my mouse, is so much more clunky, and there is so much more of a delay. Not to mention…the mouse? This guy wanted me to get some super expensive gaming mouse to keybind my shit to. NO! Why? I don’t need it. That is wasted money to me…
So then after all this issue…I finally see this video where my play-style is considered a way to “suck” at the game / and I will agree, it might not be as good for PVP or even raiding outside of ‘normal’ / but that doesn’t mean the people that use it actually suck.
Most people that still use this way of playing might be like me, and might not even care about things like PVP or raiding…cause I don’t. I only want to raid on normal to see the ending to the expansions. That’s it. I’m not in it for gear or anything else. And after the video…I went to the comment-section to see if other people had gotten kind of insulted too. It was mostly tame…and mostly trolls, but this is actually what most competitive players think of the casual crowd. And I do not see a reason for there to be such a divide. Competitive players can play how they want…and us casuals can go on casually enjoying the game like we always have.
This was more of a rant than anything…and while I hate to have to put the disclaimer: No, I’m not a “liberal snowflake” crying because I am ‘triggered’ (God, ‘triggered’ is such a dumb-fucking word that needs to be eradicated from the planet)/ and no, it has nothing to do with my being female in any way (I got told this once and I laughed because the stupidity level was over 9000)— but like I have said in the past with Pokemon and people telling me my team sucked because I like playing with my favorites rather than grinding for months to get perfect evs, ivs, and all the egg moves and special abilities- I play for FUN!
I do not play for fame, glory, bragging rights, or whatever else it is that competitive players see the game as- I play to immerse myself in a fantasy world and just relax for a little bit. Nothing more, nothing less. I just like playing to have a good time and go on adventures with my friends. And that doesn’t make me wrong…it just means my idea of fun is a little different.
So the hate on casual players should just kinda…stop? Because it can really make someone not want to play the things that used to bring them so much joy.
Anyways, thank you all so much for tuning in. As always, if you have an opinion or thought on this blog, go ahead and leave those things in the comment-section down below. More blogs will eventually pop up in the future, and so, I will see you all in the next one 😉
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