One of the main reasons I like MMOs is the amount of time they take - I want a game I can play as much as I want, whenever I want. At the same time, that's why dungeons and raids are almost too irritating to be worth it, once you start one you're committed for 2 hours or more, and it's even worse if you have to plan the activity in advance or go hunt down another tank or healer. A lot of these MMOs have dungeons that would be a ton of fun if I could still get decent loot by the time I was high enough level to solo them or do them with only 1 other person. :/

I'm proud to say I'm completely sober now, of all gaming. When I did play an MMO heavily for 6 years of my life though, my philosophy was: play a single MMO for life. I liked the idea of achieving something that seemed "permanent" at the time. The last thing I would want to do is invest time in a game knowing that my hard work would be gone someday. Because of this desire to play a game and achieve permanent results, the only games I ever considered playing were MMOs. What a lie huh?

I don't play MMOs at all. I never did. I hope I'll never get into them. I don't have anything against those who play them though (like my little brother), but I'd rather get a life...

I kind of think that I would play games a lot if I had my own apartment, a console and a decent plasma TV. I really don't know..

Quote: Original post by X Abstract X
I'm proud to say I'm completely sober now, of all gaming. When I did play an MMO heavily for 6 years of my life though, my philosophy was: play a single MMO for life. I liked the idea of achieving something that seemed "permanent" at the time. The last thing I would want to do is invest time in a game knowing that my hard work would be gone someday. Because of this desire to play a game and achieve permanent results, the only games I ever considered playing were MMOs. What a lie huh?

Glad you got out of that, games are never permanent, its best to just treat them as entertainment. I still like MMOs alot since they are social games that last a long time, same goes for team based multiplayer games (Battlefield 2 is a personal favourite that i've wasted alot of time on) and heavy strategy games, (civilization etc).

I really don't like to spend 50 euro on a game that lasts 20 hours (even though thats still quite a good value for the money) or so when i could spend the same on something that lasts for years, MMOs fall a bit between when it comes to value for the money, they tend to last a long time but the ongoing fees means you could buy a new game every 2-3 months instead for the same price (The massive aspect is worth it though imo). My favourites are games like civilization, x-com, etc or fun teambased multiplayer games since they tend to have a very high replay value.

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
One of the main reasons I like MMOs is the amount of time they take - I want a game I can play as much as I want, whenever I want. At the same time, that's why dungeons and raids are almost too irritating to be worth it, once you start one you're committed for 2 hours or more, and it's even worse if you have to plan the activity in advance or go hunt down another tank or healer. A lot of these MMOs have dungeons that would be a ton of fun if I could still get decent loot by the time I was high enough level to solo them or do them with only 1 other person. :/

Well, I personally view this as sort of contradictory of what they're trying to accomplish.

For me, I enjoyed MMO's based more upon the community than what the actual game offered. I saw them as MUDs and MOOs, Ultima Online, and Everquest clones. UO wasn't my first MMO, but it was the most enjoyable for me personally, and the one I played the most, until it started to become like every other one imho.

Don't get me wrong. I see them as full of potential, and right now we're in the infancy of what can be accomplished, but no one really wants to take a gamble and make the next step when a relatively simple version (in comparison) could potentially be a cash cow.

That said, when I did play them, I tended to play more of the beta games rather than retail ones, as I primarily enjoy exploring, and it was fun playing with other people in a similar situation rather than a solved game where it just becomes monotony just to farm the next best equipment. I can probably thank World of Warcraft which lead me to an epiphany about stopping.

I've found my next MMO.

Black Prophecy

It reminds me of Freelancer but it's even sexier than Freelancer (naturally).

Quote: Original post by Nytegard

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
One of the main reasons I like MMOs is the amount of time they take - I want a game I can play as much as I want, whenever I want. At the same time, that's why dungeons and raids are almost too irritating to be worth it, once you start one you're committed for 2 hours or more, and it's even worse if you have to plan the activity in advance or go hunt down another tank or healer. A lot of these MMOs have dungeons that would be a ton of fun if I could still get decent loot by the time I was high enough level to solo them or do them with only 1 other person. :/

Well, I personally view this as sort of contradictory of what they're trying to accomplish.

For me, I enjoyed MMO's based more upon the community than what the actual game offered. I saw them as MUDs and MOOs, Ultima Online, and Everquest clones. UO wasn't my first MMO, but it was the most enjoyable for me personally, and the one I played the most, until it started to become like every other one imho.

Don't get me wrong. I see them as full of potential, and right now we're in the infancy of what can be accomplished, but no one really wants to take a gamble and make the next step when a relatively simple version (in comparison) could potentially be a cash cow.

That said, when I did play them, I tended to play more of the beta games rather than retail ones, as I primarily enjoy exploring, and it was fun playing with other people in a similar situation rather than a solved game where it just becomes monotony just to farm the next best equipment. I can probably thank World of Warcraft which lead me to an epiphany about stopping.

The community is inarguably the unique element of MMOs compared to other genres. But community != required group combat. Required group combat is a major motivation for recruitment, and recruitment builds community. But required group combat which is annoying and difficult can destroy community too. I've seen a lot of people driven out of guilds due to screwing up a dungeon run or raid, or simply being unable to participate in the guild's runs and raids due to being unable to fit them into their schedule. And, MMOs are not omnisciently designed; the average MMO does several things which actively discourage players from forming communities, and fails to do many more easy and cheap things which would encourage community formation.

I agree with your description of community as being playing in a situation where other people are doing the same thing. The game functions as the shared interest the players discuss, and in the process form social bonds. Something as simple as the ability to watch another player fight builds community, because it spurs discussion of strategy and tactics. The economy also is a basis of community, especially in cases where players form long-term trade arrangements or commission a craftsman to make them something specific. One of the most important factors in community formation is the ability of players to be in the same location in the game, and this is something the average level-based MMO fails horribly at, because there are very few places in such a game where players more than a few levels apart can usefully do something near each other.

I do think MMOs have a lot of potential but they aren't mature yet, and they're developing rather slowly. I hope I still have the patience and interest to play them by the time one appears which could actually be described as interactive fiction.

I played WoW almost religiously on a PvP RP realm for about 2 years. I was heavily into character and development of that character, which included huge backstories and regular RP. This meant that the main focus of the game to me was RP and character, until I felt I needed to get into raiding, which my heavy RP guild didn't do. I changed realms and had to grind from 0-70 and then 70-80, I was always a step behind everyone but sacrificed the RP to get up to the top level as fast as I could so I could join in with raids. I then found that no matter what I did, I was always a step behind everyone - be it in gear, knowledge of tactics, ability to play, etc... So I quit.

I've played EVE, didn't like it - too Grindy. I played Warhammer, loved it, but no social experience for me. I played Matrix Online - crap. I played Tabula Rasa, crap - no social side. Played Age of Conan, loved it til Level 20 then quit. Played APB Beta, enjoyed the experience but it wasn't social in an RP sense.

For me the social side of an MMO is pretty much key. I play on my own for the most part and when I'm not, I'm very happy to spend time just chatting to people in character. It's an escape for me. I'm not interested in voice chat. I'm interested in stories and character. For that, the MMO needs a deep story for me to read, understand and feel a part of...

So how often do I get a new one? Well after WoW I tried a load, didn't like them as they mostly seemed like a grind fest with little or no community or role play.

Now I'm free of MMOs, perhaps until WoW releases the new expansion... and even then I doubt I'll try it.

Quote: Original post by evolutional
I played WoW almost religiously on a PvP RP realm for about 2 years. I was heavily into character and development of that character, which included huge backstories and regular RP. This meant that the main focus of the game to me was RP and character, until I felt I needed to get into raiding, which my heavy RP guild didn't do. I changed realms and had to grind from 0-70 and then 70-80, I was always a step behind everyone but sacrificed the RP to get up to the top level as fast as I could so I could join in with raids. I then found that no matter what I did, I was always a step behind everyone - be it in gear, knowledge of tactics, ability to play, etc... So I quit.

I've played EVE, didn't like it - too Grindy. I played Warhammer, loved it, but no social experience for me. I played Matrix Online - crap. I played Tabula Rasa, crap - no social side. Played Age of Conan, loved it til Level 20 then quit. Played APB Beta, enjoyed the experience but it wasn't social in an RP sense.

For me the social side of an MMO is pretty much key. I play on my own for the most part and when I'm not, I'm very happy to spend time just chatting to people in character. It's an escape for me. I'm not interested in voice chat. I'm interested in stories and character. For that, the MMO needs a deep story for me to read, understand and feel a part of...

So how often do I get a new one? Well after WoW I tried a load, didn't like them as they mostly seemed like a grind fest with little or no community or role play.

Now I'm free of MMOs, perhaps until WoW releases the new expansion... and even then I doubt I'll try it.

You sound like someone that could benefit from NWN1. You can get diamond edition for 20 dollars now. Not really an MMO, but does have persistent worlds. There are quite a few heavy RP servers. Also look for one that uses the E6 ruleset. Levels over 6 in DnD are heavily unbalanced.

I've given up on the MMO genre until they get out of the mindset that grinding is good design. [sad]