Have you ever wondered where you fit into the MMO labels that get slapped on us? Well not only did I think about, I've spent the last few days thinking up my own labels, and the reasons it applies!

End Game, Casual, Hard Core, Raiders, Crafters, 'toons, Characters. Why can't we all just get along! If you prick us, do we not all bleed whatever pixelated blood a T rating will allow?

For me, the hardest is "casual", because technically, that's me. I don't raid anymore. Gone are the days of 2am wakeup calls as the mob spawns, 12 hour corpse runs and timing zone expirations perfectly so as to beat the other guild that’s been waiting 12 weeks to take a mob down.

Keep reading as to why I may be casual, but I'll out /play even the meanest hardcore raider out there!

I hate labels.

End Game, Casual, Hard Core, Raiders, Crafters, 'toons, Characters. Why can't we all just get along! If you prick us, do we not all bleed whatever pixelated blood a T rating will allow?

For me, the hardest is "casual", because technically, that's me. I don't raid anymore. Gone are the days of 2am wakeup calls as the mob spawns, 12 hour corpse runs and timing zone expirations perfectly so as to beat the other guild that’s been waiting 12 weeks to take a mob down.

But my playtime is not casual. Before I started here at Allakhazam my free time was mostly spent in game. A good three to four hours in the evenings, and between six and twelve on the weekends. All the hard core folks are nodding! All the casual people are mumbling "Get a life!"

Here's the part where I lose the hard cores! I could easily get a good six days /played and be level 20. That is neither label under discussion here.

I'm the one doing gray quests just to see what happens. I have to spend at least 4 hours doing one step of a quest before I give up and delete it, and even then you know I'm coming back to it later!

I'm the one getting rich because people will pay an outrageous amount of money for a stack of tier one harvested crafting materials. If you're too lazy to go pick them and are willing to pay it, I will charge you 8 gold for it. Don't like it? Either pick it yourself or don't craft! /cackle or don't buy it and some other power leveling crafting type will. Either way, I get money to buy nice clothes and outfit my pet all purdy like!

I sit by a tree and take screen shots of my character near a waterfall. I role-play with a passing squirrel. No, don't laugh. Once, in WoW, I was helping a lower level guildie do a quest, and he one shotted an innocent squirrel in the yard outside of the Stormwind Castle as we ran by. I sat there and sang a requiem, out loud, for at least 15 minutes. My guild participated in a moment of silence, though they all thought I was freakin' nutso.

I was trying to encourage him to see how easy it was to interact with the world instead of running from place to place to place and then saying "Is that it?" The guy got so irritated that I was holding up his questing he disbanded me and tried the quest by himself. I am happy to say the squirrel was avenged by Lord Gregor Lescovar. A moment of silence for thick-headed pallies, /mourn while snickering.

So what is the label for me? Hardcore casual? Ugh! I hate the term hardcore. I had almost as much in game time in EQ as some of the true hardcore raiders on my server and I was level 37 on my main. That ladies and gentlemen, is not hardcore by any stretch of the imagination. That is pure and simple fun.

I don't always role play, so that label doesn't work. One moment I'll respond in character and the next I'll complain that the quest log is a worthless piece of junk, or that my work schedule is killing me followed by a quick rundown of my weekend plans that are keeping me away from the game.

So my new label? Social butterfly with bits of adventuring and questing thrown in.
SBAQ! I now deem that a new term. Use it! I'll patent it and you can pay me royalties!

You go have fun your way, and I'll go have fun mine, and we can talk about it in guild chat. Just don't roll your eyes when I start out a conversation with "Sup!" and finish it with "Thy armor is in dire need of repair friend dwarf. Perhaps the local smith would be willing to outfit you with new gear, should you have the coin."

Or you could roll your eyes and answer "k".

Everyone else does.

By  Becky "Tovin" Simpson