IGN published a new Q&A on game design. Three practitioners of the art share their personal perspectives and insights on various aspects of their profession. Here's a snippet:
First you have to define what you mean by hardcore and casual. The typical MMO player puts in 20 hours a week, most of which appears to be at the expense of watching television (in other words, it's filling time rather than watching re-runs). That's pretty hardcore by the usual industry definitions. But when MMO players talk about someone being hardcore, they generally are speaking relatively, about people putting in 40-plus hours a week. Obviously, you can make a game for both ends of that spectrum, because that's what we have. But it can be a tricky balance, especially in a live environment, because the super-hardcore are the most visible members of the community, and the ones who are most insistent on being served in order to retain them.
