In My Understanding

An old school gamer discusses the challenges facing the MMORPG community and it's leaders.

Author: jesad

Years ago, as I have mentioned in previous entries, I worked as a QA tester for a legendary software company that was on it's way out.  Although these guys were good at what they did, and they were very good, the market for the kind of software they were creating had somewhat fallen out and they were struggling to find a new title to revitalize their sagging profits.  A good title, in any studio at that time, meant the difference between job security and pimping yourself out to the highest (or in some cases, any) bidder.  The idea, even then, and this was a good 7 or 8 years ago, being that if the studio could come up with a good enough product, that it would net the employee's of the company years of time in development with the added bonus of years more in patches, expansions, and sequels.  It was that old 80's mentality of milking something until it was bone dry and then still into annoyance, and loosely translated in the soon to be famous words of "Tony Stark" (see the Iron Man trailer) "...that's how dad did it, that's how America does it, and had worked out pretty well so far".

So one day, after weeks of the entire studio brainstorming on an idea for a new title, in the middle of killing some lunch hours playing this new game that had just come out, it hit me!  I called everyone, including the studio head, down to my cubicle and had them look at what I was seeing.  On my monitor screen was the, then very publicly accessible, server list for the game I had been playing called "Everquest".  "Do you see that?" I asked.  Every one of those accounts represents a software purchase and a residual $14.95 per month.  Of course, at the time, the game was new and there were TONS of people online.  "If you want to survive" I said, "This is the wave of the future."

Now I have done some dumb things in my life.  I am notorious for pulling from the pool of common thought that all creative people share and being so caught up in my ability to reach in there and pull something out that I do not pay attention to the ramifications of doing so, but fast forward 8 years later and it is painfully clear that I was not the only one guilty of doing so.

Who doesn't have a title running right now?

MMO's are coming and going so fast that it's becoming hard to tell if they are actually real titles or just something someone came up with and generated a stylish web banner for in order to fool people into putting their credit card numbers into someone else's database.  The ideas of creativity and professionalism have given way to C++, game engines, and patches and suddenly (or not so suddenly) there is truly no longer anything new under the sun.  As the business of making MMO's has grown the risk factors of doing anything differently or new have decreased to a point that the only thing that most of us can come up with now are ways to improve upon the old model.

I'm gonna go on a rant here for a minute so skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to be subjected to it.

Is it because we are the generation that was taught evolution so thoroughly that we only know how to create sequels and upgrades of things that already exist, that we use tools that, while powerful and convenient, limit us to doing things in only the ways supported by the tool makers while those same tool makers, in tandem with their business major financers/lackeys, dictate to us how and what should be possible?  What ever happened to the garage band?  The underground rap?  The black and white comic or the hippie consciousness?  Is nothing sacred anymore?  Or are we all just looking for a way to make a dollar and get out? 

MMO's are becoming "flash in the pan" in their frequency.  On this site alone there are enough steady newcomers to keep any Prozac deficient gamer from being able to settle on any one title yet there is so little innovation from title to title that game company's barely have to do more than create a new GUI in order to say that they have done something new.  I am hard pressed to believe that there are enough gamers out there to support every title that is running right now, meanwhile, there are more "boy band" and "action movie" formulated new releases coming every day.

The other night I happened to catch the video game awards on Spike TV and was amazed as I sat there looking at the people in the audience wondering, since when did so many extremely beautiful women show up for a geek convention?!?!  That's when I realized...

Flash in the pan titles, formula created content, and (and this was the clincher) hot chicks! = Show business.  I get it now; you all just wanna be big rock stars!

But what about the other shoe?  The independent film, the concept album, the garage developer?  Never forget that the basis of our entire community spawned from the ultimate garage band of all time (Gates and Jobs) and that, even though one of them happened to be a businessman in geeks clothing, it was their risk, their rage against the machine, that made all of this possible.

I don't hate on anyone trying to make a buck.  Lord knows, with the way that things are set up right now, we all need to and then some.  But this is a call to all the guys who already have jobs paying the rent, who have already made their millions and are sitting in Florida sipping margarita's and fishing, and even those who are unemployed and struggling but who still have a love for the genre and who still have the talent, creativity, and skill, to band together and pull this thing out of the rut it is heading into with some fresh ideas and some new ways of doing things.  I call to you because it is you who are the least susceptible to corruption.  If you already have it, they can't entice you with any more, and if you never had it, you know that it will come (meaning money) and so you are our only hope against the tides of programmers, artists, producers, and etc... that are rowing these massive boats and responding to the whip cracks of CFO's to crank out yet another repetition.

I know I go a little deep on this and that I have made more than one doomsayer entry since I began this blog, and for that I apologize.  But in my guilt I realize how easy it is to be corrupted by even the simplest of things, attention, appreciation.  And in that realization I now end my 6-month run to impress you all with my writing ability and return the world I love.  The world of obscurity, subtle manipulation, and creativity that born me, and with high hopes that I might be able to join the fight in bringing about change to the genre of games that I "oh so love" to play.  It is time that I mix back into the masses and stop being the loud guy, for that is the only way that I think I am really going to be able to do more than preach, at least, that is how it is in my understanding.

Some comments are just too dang big to clog up people's chat strings with.  In an attempt to pay respects though to the people who inspired this weeks entry I would like to attract your attention to the people who started this conversation first.

Laura Genender who inspired me with her blog spotlight lead-in to another bloggers post.

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/1584

And Interl0per who inspired her thusly.

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Interl0per

Now, assuming that you have popped over and read those posts, I can begin.

When I was a kid, in my 9th grade class, we watched a film in my science class about drugs.  I remember being scared out of my wits at the depiction of some tore up teenager making a drug induced decision one day that maybe, if he got enough height on the outset by scaling a tall building in his local area, that he would be able to fly.

Needless to say, dude didn't fly, and his lack of airspeed not only served the purpose of the example that it was supposed to set, namely, "Don't use drugs and do stupid things" but it clearly drove home the overall theme of the filmstrip to me and my entire class for years to come which was simply, "Don't do drugs."  Years later, amidst smokey rooms full of unemployed adults all huddled around glowing boxes linked together by cables and routers, I would often recall that filmstrip to my friends in the middle of passing a phattie back and forth or running to get another beer and remind them that "in spite of the euphoric feelings that may be produced from the intoxicants that we are about to recieve, NONE OF YOU WILL EVER BE ABLE TO FLY!"  Of course the room would break out into uncontrollable giggles as a lot of those guys went to my same school and knew exactly what I was talking about, but the message remained the same.  It was a good one.

Fast forward passed those days of Quake and Lan parties and friends to the day that me and my now famous one friend landed in the land of Athas in the Dark Sun Online game.  Sure, for it's time it was a pretty awesome deal, to be able to get online and play an rpg along side other folks who you didn't know and could compete against in levels and in combat.  Who wouldn't jump at a chance like that? 

Little did we know though, that it would be that little obscure game, that didn't host more than a couple of hundred people at a time, that would turn into a decade long addiction that to this very day has us repeatedly scaling tall buildings and jumping off again and again in that "oh so glorious" attempt to achieve altitude.

You see, no one ever tells you that MMO's are a drug at the beginning.  Sure, you learn soon enough after you take that first hit by logging in and building your character.  Most MMO players are more than happy to elude to the "crackness" of MMO play during a casual conversation.  Even then, however, it comes off like a joke, like something to laugh at and not to be taken seriously.  It doesn't come to you with the seriousness of that 9th grade filmstrip, it comes to you with the chuckle of that smokey room full of Quake players who, in their "maturity", have decided that in spite of the seriousness of the message, that it does not truly apply to their particular situation.

It won't be for years until one discovers, after a few lost relationships, a few lost jobs, and a plethora of leaps off that building and subsequent crashes to the hard earth, that this is EXACTLY that situation and that how you handle it has everything to do with whether you are going to end up like filmstrip boy (metaphorically speaking of course) or whether you are going to be able to actually look back on the time you spent in MMO-land fondly.

My friends in Vanguard probably think that I am crazy because, after every big grind, i.e. Wardship, Cragwind, CIS, Swamp Gear, I take a few weeks off to "come down" from the experience of having climbed to such heights.  A lot of them are younger and stronger than me of course, and still in the heights of their MMO abuse and, no sooner than they are finished with one thing, are raring to go get started on the next.  I however, have finally figured out, like Laura and Interl0per, that this is simply a race to the top of a building that is inevitably going to drop me crashing to the ground in a jumbled heap PROVIDED that I do not give the construction workers time to build more floors for me to climb.  We just put up our guild house (finally!), in Vanguard, and I haven't been there consistently in weeks since. But there is raid content right around the corner and I plan to be refuled and ready for the fight as soon as it drops.

Epiphany!  If the construction workers keep building floors there is a fairly good chance that my buzz might wear off before I reach the top of the building.  That I might simply choose to NOT go to the top and subsequently NOT jump over the edge.  WOOT!  I get to keep living! 

This would be a good end to an MMO.

Just like the day that we realized that we could not walk around in a constant state of weed induced stupor or drunk off our arses all day long, there should also be a day that we realize that "this game just isn't doing it for me anymore" and on that day we should not be unhappy or spent or metaphorically (or otherwise) dead.  We should be able to look back on our journeys as good ones, good times spent with good friends that although have passed, were worth every moment.

Am I saying to not play MMO's because they are bad for you?  Of course not.  If I did that it would be the ultimate in hypocrisy.  All I am saying is what that film strip said me me years ago still applies.  Be it drugs, alcohol, epic weapons, guild houses, or even Red Bull, none of this stuff is truly going to be able to make you fly, at least, that is my understanding.

Thanksgiving is normally for giving thanks for the blessings that we have recieved over the last year.  I realize though, that sometimes we might forget some of those blessings during the busy every day rush and craziness that can sometimes become our lives.  To tell the truth, I can not really recall the last time I wrote a positive post on any forum in the last year or so.  I, like many others, am guilty of only coming out of my shell to complain or request, there's always something that could have been done better, always something that could have been done differently.

Today I would like to remedy the lack of consideration I have shown to the guys and girls who make these games that I love to play and which have given rise to so many thoughts I have had over the years.  I am out of my element here so please bear with me if any or all of this post is less witty or more boring than any of my previous entries.  So without much further adeu, I'll begin.

Thank you MMO's for...

Inspiring me to learn how to type.  Because of you I have been able to parley that skill in to many many different channels both monetarily and personally lucrative to my life.

Providing me with a heavy bag to absorb the internalized aggressions that, expressed otherwise, may have led to my incarceration or early demise throughout the years.

Giving me the chance to actually play a role playing game instead of always being the one to run them.  You may not have been the best DM for me over the years but you most certianly have been the most consistent.

Allowing me to leave my house, socialize, pick up chicks, pick up dudes who look like chicks, drop dudes who look like chicks back off before actually doing anything that might tarnish my reputation, make friends, have some really great conversations and exchanges, hang out with my ex-girlfriends and so many other things that I might have never done, without actually having to physically get out of my chair (except for bio's and food) at any time, day or night.

Giving me the power to end drama with the flick of a switch.  Only nightmares come close to your ability to let things spin drastically out of control and then to escape them reasonably unscathed and with little or no fear of re-entry tomorrow.

For the graphics.  For allowing me to see myself dreaming and to enter the dreams of others.

For actually giving me a reason to want to learn Algebra.

Taking part in the inspiration for many people to use VOIP software.  Not only has this given me a chance to get to know many different people from all over the world but it has also given them the chance to get to know me.

Monontenous repitition, because it allowed me to survive for several years in some pretty hairy customer service jobs that sucked but that ultimately paid the bills.

For the chance to be a leader, the opportunity to lay low and follow, and the wisdom to know the difference.

For putting hair on my chest.  For the Dragon's, Alien Monsters, Demon's, and even Kings that you have allowed me to fight.  All to many times, in real life, such beings are so far removed and well protected that none of us ever get to even see them as much as challenge, fight, and/or destroy them.  And thank you for making the attempt every bit as incredible and as glorious a battle as anyone would expect.  Such things do not leave us how they found us but leave us changed, more and more, with each try.

For the breasts.

Finally, for giving me something to write about that I can begin, become involved with, and end without ever getting bored.  Many a "wanna-be" writer has looked for such a thing all their life and not found it.  I, on the other hand, can crank out these posts all day.

Well, that's it.  I tried to keep it as general as possible and I invite anyone who reads this to add to the "thank-you" list in the comments section.  I wish you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING or whatever holiday you might celebrate in your country on that day and give thanks to you all for clicking on "In My Understanding" and at least running up the counter enough to inspire me to keep me going.

I've been looking at the differences between MMO's and the different books and movies that inspire the content from which they are created and I've come to a fairly dark conclusion.

We are all Orcs.

The basic story features a protagonist, an antagonist, and a particular situation that causes the two to clash.  In the best stories, the ones that inspire us and make us wish that we too could live in such worlds and take parts in such conflicts, either the protagonist, the antagonist or both are spawned from rather humble beginnings and through some strange and wonderful, or likewise horrible, twist of fate find themselves thrust into a strange new world full of incredibly unique situations of which they (the protagonist or antagonist) are key in effecting.  This is the hook that makes us keep watching/reading as the story, no matter how incredible, unfolds. 

The key element of the basic protagonist/antagonist of any story then is that he or she is special.  Even among other special beings the protagonist/antagonist of any good story, the hero, still has that little something extra that sets them apart from the rest of the pack.  A something that, as the story unfolds, will not only carry them from their humble beginnings to a place of belonging but beyond that still into the category of "Hero".  This is the theory of wonderment.  It is the gratification ultimately earned and deserved by the reader/viewer of any book that makes the time spent reading/watching, time that the reader/watcher will never get back, worth while.

It has already been stated on this blog, and in many other places, that MMO's lack the theory of wonderment.  Obstacles such as "balancing", "the gestalt formation", and the overall greed of the player base vs the overall laziness of the producers have made the word "wonderment" almost unattainable in most aspects of the games we play because, well, after all that balancing is done, after we learn that a good group needs a Tank, a Healer, and DPS at it's base, and after we all figure out which one of these things is going to bring us as close to being a key player in any configuration, we all end up just being Orcs.  Random soldiers of random battles can neither advance us individually beyond the preset caps that have been put in place to keep us gaffled nor advance our worlds in any way special or memorable beyond what the next group that comes along can do.

Luke Skywalker was not just a Jedi.  He was the Jedi that was fortold who would bring balance to the force.  Bilbo Baggins was not just a hobit, he was the first hobit willing to leave his comfortable surroundings in the shire and venture out into the world to DO something that would effect it.  Even though Frodo's story was all encompassing and infinately more involved, it was Bilbo who we most identified with because to him these things were all brand new.  There could have been no Frodo without Bilbo and so Bilbo carries the mark of the hero, the theory of wonderment.

MMO's have to find this theory again.  Put away the out-dated and commecial concepts that this is replayability suicide.  A Clue - Most people aren't lingering that long anyway.  Your best weapons for emmersion then are the weapons that are usually spent prior to the opening of the game i.e. player/development interaction in the context of role-play and world changing events.  Sure, a lot of these elements still exist but, in my opinion, they are far too few and far too long in between to really amount to an interactive world with a properly functioning theory of wonderment.

I look to the future for something different.  Something or some way to seperate us from the orcs.  The Awakening of the Sleeper, was a good concept but I think there is still WAY more to be done in this area.  You always here them asking in OOC.  "Will there be events?".  "What is the best weapon in the game?", "Which is the best character?".  To me, the answer to these questions should not be plural, meaning that they should not represent the same thing to all members of the game, they should be publicized, planned and plotted content meant to provide players with the sense of wonderment that they all came to recieve.  Sure, in a system like this "there can be only one".  But isn't that what it's really all about?  Isn't that why we cheat?  Hack? and Exploit the game?  Done properly, I think that a good event system could increase the player base of any game exponetially.  Some of the best games out there to play already know this.  I still look for more however.  More in the way of world shaping, more in the way of the ultimate power or the possibility of pinnacle of player performance.  We all rage against the levelling machine, the raiding machine, the perfomance machine, and in the end we all end up the same.  Orcs.

We don't need another hero, we need a legend.

Be it occasionally sponsered, seasonally programmed, or one-time hard coded, events are the way to go.  It can be facilitated in a variety of ways.  Give stories to some of these huge patches, start rumors about incredible weapons or items of power and then assign these items a finite number.  Already, in games that I have played, there have been nerfed items that have been left in the game after the nerfing that have provided the player base will all kinds of wonderment and differentiation.  I'm just saying, lets do more of this on purpose.  The reason we leave, the reason we roam, is because eventually, sooner or later after all the raiding is done and all the content has been consumed, we all become orcs.  In order for future games to differentiate themselves from the pack then, in my understanding, developers must harness that which is happening by mistake and give it a name, create that which causes change and name it the same, support that which promotes alliegience and call it that thrice, and an excalibur or glaive, or even R2-D2 would be nice.

Heh, time for me to stop for now.

Newton - Hey big guy, why so down?

Hardcore - Huh? Oh...who, me?

Newton - Yeah dude, why the long face?  We just killed one of the biggest mobs in the area?  We took it right from under Guild X's nose to boot!  So why are you looking so bent out of shape about it?

Hardcore - Today I spilled innocent blood.

Newton - Innocent?  Dude they weren't innocent by far!  They were trying to steal our mob!

Hardcore - Our mob that we stole from them you mean?

Newton - They left the area.

Hardcore - So did we.

Newton - They only had two people, we have six!

Hardcore - And was it not so long ago that they had six to our two?

Newton - Right, and on that day THEY took the mob.

Hardcore - Aye, but I spilled innocent blood on that day too... that is why I am not happy.  I am not happy with myself.

Newton - Dude, you are more than not happy, you're crazy.

Hardcore - Let me tell you a story.  It started a long time ago when I was just a boy.  A friend and I had just entered new lands and we were wide eyed and amazed at the sights we did see.  As we walked around from place to place, we happened upon one of the denziens of the land and sought to make his acquaintence.  I was the first to salutate him, thinking that I was the better speaker of my friend and me.  "Greetings!" I said trying to be as friendly as possible.  A minute later both my friend and I lay waylaid in the desert as a stinging swarm potion ate the skin from our very bones.  Of course we survived the attack, that one and several others that would come that day, but by the end of the day we both vowed that never again would we be mistaken as weak.  We set out on a path of destruction that rained fire down from the very gods themselves, who, when we happend upon them, were also slain accordingly.

Newton - Dude that's awesome!

Hardcore - Not so.  You see, as we grew in strength and destructive power, so did we meet others who had grown likewise and were more than ready to meet our challenge.  One by one as we defeated them we learned their ways, their habits, their exploits, until a time came where there was no one else to challenge us.  We reigned supreme.  Keep in mind however, this was but a small land, not nearly as big as the one we now inhabit.  The after effect of our deeds, however, were no less pronounced.

Newton - And what was that?

Hardcore - Escalation...

Newton - Escalation?

Hardcore - Our way of doing things became the standard.  Old and very important magics became lost as those who followed in the wake of our destruction chose only our paths to follow and nothing more.  Entire classes of people began to disappear from the land and while all was focused upon attaining our heights, other heights, the heights of the noble men, who's lives had purpose, became obscured.  Worse yet, we ourselves had lost the true meaning of life in these realms as it became supplanted with competition, survival, and base ego, the kind that can only be nourished through the absolute dominance of anyone and everyone weaker than ourselves.  Not to say that we didn't meet anyone to challenge us along the way.  Only to say that none of them, not one of them, wanted what we were going after more than we did.  Black arts we did use, duping, plugging, tabbing, coding, cheats, hacks, exploits, the list was long.  But by the time we were done the pure essence of adventure had died along with our innocence.  We truly were gods of those tiny realms, and our church was the church of the cheating bastage.

Newton - So you are telling me that you are a king somewhere else?

Hardcore - Heh...Not so.  Were that we could, we would have probably sat on those thrones forever.  Alas, like all good kings go, we were dethroned by the one who wanted what he was going after more than we did.  And once the deed had been done, we were punished again and again until, like dogs from the sound of a farmers "Call Lighting" spell, we were forced to retreat from those realms and start anew somewhere else.

Newton - But...why didn't you stay and fight?!?  I would have stayed and fought!

Hardcore - Because while we fought, and we did, make no mistake.  Our lives became dictated by just that, fighting.  I ask you this young Newton, "Who is it that would fight his hardest in a battle which has no spoils?"

Newton - The spoils would be victory!

Hardcore - Victory, at least in these realms, has a cieling like everything else.  There is only so much that one can do until they find that secret formula that is equal to the best that they will ever be.  Once that secret is found, any fight between men simply becomes the luck of the draw.  The configuration of the situation.  Who stacked their deck the best today and tomorrow becomes the same loss.  In short, it sucked.  Life mutated into the same fight day after day, night after night.  Victory, Domination all became pointless.  All this beauty that you see around you now was reduced to an overblown game of parchment, rock, and shears.  And worse yet, because of the wake that we left behind, less and less people even ventured to those realms for fear of being locked in that same game of chance.

So this is why, today, having to train Guild X in order to preserve our kill I am sullen.  I am sullen not because they deserved it not, they did indeed.  But did not have to do what I did.  I have failed you and I have failed myself.  I am sullen because rest assured, as sure as I did what I did, they are right now, at this very moment, creating or contacting a person just like me to do the same to others and to us if they get the chanve.  I have shown them pandora's box, the true measure of my power when used for evil.  And that, my friend, is the beginning of the end.

Newton - Dude, I think you're over-reacting.

Hardcore - In you're understanding, you would.

Dedicated to "Elasher" A guy who wanted it more.

I have tested a lot of games.  Both professionally and for entertainment purposes I have played, exploited, studied and analyzed a whole LOT of games.  If you are reading this then there is a pretty good chance that you too have tested a lot of games as well.  So then, with that said, perhaps you (my readers) can verify for me the one major bug that seems to be apparent in most of the MMO's I have played.  This just hit me today.

Let's call it "The Delayed Gratification Bug".

The MMO community has been steadily changing over the years, some of us are getting older, others are just starting out, others still are on their second or third game.  In this mixed jumble of skills, abilities, and experience there is as much to be said in favor of communication and the transferrence of ideas as there is to be said for the lack of it.  Some people spend their entire days teaching others how to enjoy themselves and have a good time playing these games, while others grind out the hours in a sprint for first place in a race that has no finish line, therein, my friends, lies the bug.

Any old school gamer will tell you that the best game is played slowly and with attention to detail.  This is the spirit of all newbie MMO players which must be lost and then regained before one can truly call their self an "Old Schooler".  Why then, I ask you, has the industry been so lax in placing stops on adventuring levels while constantly struggling to keep up with power-levellers and organized guilds by releasing untested and/or longwinded content?

Is it because people are stupid or lazy that any person with a paying account is allowed to progress through these worlds with a steadily decreasing level of difficutly with each new release, or is it because those in charge of the checks and balances fear that challenging it's ever changing community is going to create an uproar of negative posts and press concerning the investment of time needed to play a game that forces you to stop, assess, and improve your skills every once in a while?

Here is how I see it happening.  There are several factions and subsequent fields of thought playing these games.

The Powerleveller - This person gets into a game and begins crafting instantly.  The best will craft until they hit the current cieling while other less dedicated newbies of this form will alternate back and forth between crafting and levelling.  While these crafting levels are taking place these are the people constantly scouring the databases for information on how to level as quickly and as efficiently as possible then, once the max crafting level is complete, these players will enter the field en masse and grind out their levels until their adventuring level also hits the max.  Using the uber gear that they can make for themselves along the way, these players usually skip the majority of content programmed into the game for their enjoyment and head directly towards endgame content.  And we all know how that has been turning out.

The Explorer - This person is not into crafting, is not into powerlevelling, is barely into grouping, but is ALL about running you up into some cave with no idea where they are going or why they are there and hoping that something good is going to come from the experience.  Explorers can come in a lot of different shapes and forms, the adventurer, the roleplayer, there are even powerlevelling explorers (although they could care less whether something good comes from their explorations or not) but they all have the same M.O. when you meet them.  A.D.D., running from here to there with a list of unfished quests and no idea why they are where they are.  They are explorers after all, theirs is not to question why.

The Good Veggie Kid - Usually an adult.  The good veggie kid is a professional at finishing their plate.  These are the guys that you only ever see for a mintue at a time, either coming or going, and they are always fabulously equipped with the most amazing things you have ever seen at all levels of the game.  A good "Good Veggie Kid" will reach the endgame several months after the power leveller (sometimes several months after the powerleveler has already moved on) but will always be better equipped, both mentally and materially, to handle what is to come next.  The Good Veggie Kid is a good kid but boy, can they also turn out to be the worst suck up's sometimes!

The Crap Shooter - Goes by several aliases.  Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. Indecisive, FLOTM dude, The guy who is always rerolling, etc...  These folks usually hit the wall at the first sign of struggle and, if they can't attach to someone's leg or idea before it's too late, move from guild to guild, game to game, thing to thing, until they can find that elusive leg/idea to attach to.  Usually dps characters or healers, the crap shooter is only doing what they have to do to survive, get groups, and ride their way to the top (or at least the top of what they are capable of before Heroes comes on or the next thing comes out or their husbands/wives stop playing or they actually FIND someone of the opposite (or same) sex to look at them or the character begins to suck or the game begins to suck or they get a hangnail....etc.

Of course no one can be pigeon holed into any one of these categories really but everyone shares just a little if not all of these characteristics at one time or another during their gaming life.  One can actually flow into and out of each category as they mature in these games and more often than not you will hear who they are in their opinions towards the games they play as they post on the message boards.

Here is the thing.  It is hard to purposefully delay yourself from the gratification of being at the top end of the game if you know that you can make it there.  It is even harder to get to the top end of the game when you know that you can't.  It is no wonder then that the lean is toward power levelling through the content, crafting the best gear to start the endgame with and then taking off a few months (saving you loads of cash in the process) until the rest of the population (and the developers) can catch up.  The problem is that this causes a huge sucking sound to occur in games that are increasingly becoming more vast and more intricate as the floating masses are enticed by still other newer titles and worlds before game developers are able to crank out more content to keep these people where they are.

This is a bug.  The game should not allow people to escape so easily.

Possible solutions are...

1. Solo Class quests set at (more) regular intervals.  The word "more" is included because this idea has been tried and/or incorporated in some games already.

2. Land Locks (again solo) that force players to finish semi-involved quests in order to travel to and from new lands.

3. Quest Ranks which must be met before a player can continue to level.  Of course this does completely away with the repeatable quest but then the repeatable quest is really only a power-levelling and gold-farming tool anyway.

4. Ability tests in which a player must solve several quests geared towards their class through the use of certain abilities they have learned along the way in order to progress.

These and many other ideas have been tried and given up on in the past by money hungry publishers eager to placate the cries of the lazy or uninspired but I think that it is high time that these publishers gave these and even other ideas a second look.  Game development is very expensive and time consuming and it is hardly worth the money that is being spent to create these worlds just to have them populated for less than a year or two before the customer base moves on to the next thing.  The idea that there is even more than one fantasy MMO out there is redundant and ridiculous when you think about the amount of money that it costs just to make ONE of these games so then why not spend the money wisely and make a game that really challenges it's players to play well, be involved with their ONE character and work towards that all encompassing ENDGAME that the developers of such a game would have more than enough time to develop while their customers are busy having a good time getting to it?

Of course in order to truly adapt such a concept to any game one must keep in mind that each pocket of content (the area between your last wall and your next) must be full of excitment and wonder.  So much so in fact, that one might actually not WANT to move on too quickly for fear of leaving a friend behind or missing something very important along the way.  Only in this way will the masses not see this as an intentional delaying tactic placed inside said game only to promote more monthly fee's for regurgitated content and grind.  An idea in this area that comes to mind might be level merchant houses built so that a person of a certian crafting level could set up shop selling gear made for those specific levels.

Delayed Gratification is frustrating yes, but anyone who has ever kept themselves from jumping into something headfirst or moving too fast towards anything that "seemed" like a good idea at the time can tell you, it is entirely worth it once you get to where you were trying to go.  At least, that is my understanding of it.

Do your fingers bother you?  Do you find it hard to keep from pressing the movement keys?  Maybe you just can't help yourself when that stray mob passes by while you are supposed to be waiting for the rest of your group to assemble to enter a dungeon.  If you have ever experienced any of these symptoms you may be suffering from R.F.S.  Restless Finger Syndrome. 

Restless finger syndrome has been documented to cause a variety of problems ranging from frustration to premature group break-up and is the leading cause of character death in the MMO community.

Player Testimonial...

Newton - I don't know what happend.  One moment we were just standing there and the next thing I know we were getting clobbered by these huge big ugly things!  I told the rest of the team that it wasn't me but the truth of the matter was, I just couldn't control myself!

Hardcore - I had been waiting for these guys to get their act together for over 20 minutes but some fool kept running off and pulling stuff and getting himself killed.  Finally, I just dropped the group!

Well sufferers of this horrid affliction need not worry anymore!  Thanks to "Standing Still" R.F.S. sufferers can find fast relief from nasty pickup groups which end before they ever get started, experience debt, and even character alienation.  That's right Standing Still promises not only to relieve the nasty symtoms of R.F.S. but it can even improve your gaming experience, increase your reputation, and allow you to actually get something accomplished in only a short amount of time in any group.

Newton - I can now join a group, get set up and buffed, and hammer through any situation in record time.  And people like me so much now that they don't even want to leave my groups, EVEN WHEN THEY HAVE TO WORK IN THE MORNING!

That's right!  Standing Still can improve your gaming experience too!  Just join a group, Stand Still, and  take a few minutes to wait patiently while the other players of your group get to an agreed upon location.  That's all there is too it!

Standing Still will keep you from making those messy mistakes like training your unprepared friends while they are away from the keys, falling off the edge of huge cliffs that took several minutes to reach, and even being nicknamed Leroy by your fellow group mates.

Standing still may have certain side effects such as momentary boredom, falling asleep at the keys, and wife aggro (once she looks over and see's that you are not actually doing anything).  If you experience these or any other negative symptoms discontinue use immediately and log off of the game and take care of your real life responsibilities.  If you develop a sudden urge to cook dinner, do laundry, or finish your homework contact an in game friend or member of the opposite sex immediately.

Standing Still, a cure for R.F.S. sufferers everywhere.  Ask your common sense if it's right for you.

Today I want to address a serious affliction that has reared it's ugly head in the fantasy MMO genre since it's inception.  This plague, this ugly scourge of death and destruction, if left unchecked, could be the end to life as we know it and a return to the stone age where our only quests were day to day survival and a safe place to sleep.

You know what I'm talking about, that's right, ENVY

This disease, formerly known as "DPS Envy", had to be renamed when the huge number of tanks who had rerolled their characters into Rangers, Monks, and Rogues left a gaping hole in the damage taking department of many servers.

The older generation knew this germ and overcame it relegating those who could not to the dark corners of obscurity and solo play.  Those mighty warriors are gone now though, and in their wake a new generation of soldiers who, like their weaker predecessors, spend more time looking at what the soldier next to them is doing instead of at what they themselves are doing.

A lot of what takes place during an MMO battle is invisible.  No one ever see's the speed buffs or dps debuffs placed on the group by the enchanters or bards in the EQ games.  No one realizes that the black cloud of smoke or the fact that the majority of the team seems somewhat intangible in Cryptic's "City of Heroes" game is actually someone back there away from the front lines doing work.  What they see is only the primary and primitive layer of what's going on.  They see the DPS, they see the direct heals, and they see how much of this the tank either can put out or can take in return.  Sometimes they don't even see the latter.

This is the beginning of envy.  The beginning of the end.  But it gets worse.

It only takes one skilled player of any class to shift the masses in one direction or another.  A rogue gets a glimpse of a druid kiting three or four mobs at a time.  The next day there is one more druid in the world and one less rogue.  A tank see's a cleric capable of leading their group at the same time as keeping them healed.  Tomorrow, one less tank, one more cleric.

Multiply this effect by the amount of times this one skilled player will interact with others during the course of their day and you end up with "The Flavor of the Month", the class that everyone wants to try out because it is the "Best".

And while so many envious re-rollers are wallowing in the early game switching from character to character trying to find the path of least resistance, the smart and the old pull away and a rift is created.  By the time endgame comes many guilds are often scurrying to find that one or two classes that could never impress anyone enough along the way to develop a strong enough base and what they are left with are botted out substandard versions of some of the most important classes in the game.

It's no wonder the term "Zerg" (fighting, dying, running back, and fighting again until it's dead) was invented.  How can anyone win if no one is willing to do their job?

So here is my contribution to the Fantasy MMO genre.  A simple profile of every game we have played to this point.  You may keep this information in mind until the industry decides to change it but do not be fooled by pretenders to change, this is the way it is when it comes to classes.

The Golden Rule of MMO's - Your game experience is subject to change. (loosely quoted from the Everquest start-up screen).

This means that as the game progresses different classes will rise and fall as the dominant class of the game, thus, there is no flavor of the month, there are only good times and bad times to be who you are.

To help you decide which class you really want to play I will go one step farther and tell you now what many of us didn't know then.

Tanks - Come up hard, are very efficient in one on one combat in the early game but will ultimately serve as a whipping boy outlet for other classes damages and skills in the endgame.  In other words, no matter how hard you hit, how many hp you have, what armor you wear, the only thing that will validate you in the endgame is your ability to keep the enemy focused on you while others in your group dish out what they themselves can not take in return.

Healers - Heal.  Although as the game progresses and maybe in a pinch they may serve as good substitutes for a tank, their ultimate responsibility, the reason that people are going to invite them to groups is to heal. 

DPS classes (this includes Monks, Rangers, Rogues, and the like) Kill what the tank decides needs to be dead.  This is a big one because most DPS players can't let it go but the truth is as simple as math.

Time of the kill = 1 Mob / the strength of the entire group

Thus, in situations where there are more than one more than one mob, the length of time it takes to kill all of the enemies separately will be the exact same amount of time as it would have taken for the entire team to kill all the bad guys as a unit.  Sure, there will be times that you may be called on to branch off from the team to take care of a pesky add but for the most part this is a dangerous and risky practice as most DPS classes simply can not take what they are dishing out.

Casters have always been misunderstood but have always been built to do the same thing as the melee classes only from a distance.  I will not go into that yet as it is probably just going to cause problems that I seek to alleviate with this post but keep that in mind for the days when you feel bored and just want to try something new. 

Casters - Heal free dps is your responsibility.  Either through providing it or facilitating, what you will do at the end of the game is allow the team to put out more than it's taking in. 

With these things in mind then, we now know what their polar opposites or the "suck" version of these classes are.

Suck Tank = Tank that is more concerned with hitting things than protecting their teammates.

Suck Healer = Healer that is more concerned with hitting things (or chatting in tells which they are notorious for) than keeping their group alive.

Suck DPS = DPS that is more interested in pulling, tanking, or doing as much damage as possible than they are at keeping themselves alive.

Suck Caster = Any caster that needs to be healed. (I know that is harsh but it is the truth).

Envy is the enemy.  Everyone plays a role in the endgame and knowing now what you will ultimately become later should make the choice of your class easier to stick with no matter what stage of the game you are in, at least, that is my understanding of it.