At the same time, I can get on and play for 20 minutes with my friend in a different city, and we have a great time on public servers. If you want to get really into it, you can. I haven't spent any additional money on it since I bought it in 2007, and it's still a riot.
Sure, there's some cultural stuff that you'll have to get used to (and will become apparent) as you play more, but it's not nearly as much of a commitment as, say, WoW. A newbie (to the game, not to FPSes) can pick it up and play immediately at a fairly decent level. At the same time, there's a rich culture and stories and little things you can discover, if you care enough to spend the time finding them. If not, you can just blow some stuff up and go about your day.
Sure, there's some cultural stuff that you'll have to get used to (and will become apparent) as you play more, but it's not nearly as much of a commitment as, say, WoW. A newbie (to the game, not to FPSes) can pick it up and play immediately at a fairly decent level. At the same time, there's a rich culture and stories and little things you can discover, if you care enough to spend the time finding them. If not, you can just blow some stuff up and go about your day.