General Discussion

This week, Laura Genender looks at what can happen when players don't take the time to enjoy their MMORPG and burn out.

One of the great aspects of an MMORPG community is finding and relating to similar people. In the real world, we are confined (mostly) to our town, city, college, workplace, etc. to meet people – with the internet we can find people with similar interests, goals, and ideas through games, guilds and forums. This week on the blogs I found a kindred soul in user Interl0per.

Interl0per’s new blog Entering Pod deals with his casual gamer experience in EVE Online and other MMOs. Interl0per tells his story starting in the twilight days of SWG, where a carefree, fun-lovin’ Rebel Scout got the idea in his head to go train up pistol skills. From there, Interl0per stopped having fun and started having jobs. Said Interl0per, “Even before the NGE, after that day, the game never really seemed the same for me.”

Things changed for Interl0per though about a year and a half ago, when a google search brought him to MMORPG.com – and EVE Online. “After browsing reviews, forums, and game sites, I wound up downloading EVE Online - not the trial, I bought the game sight unseen based on its appearances.”

Read it all here.

I can relate to this article.  At the moment I am playing DAOC. I've started in a new realm and have just been basically running around, using the teleporters and horses to see all the new areas of the kingdom. Its exhilarating, running from town to town, to forest and desert looking at all the sights and slowly completing each quest. Then I got to a certain spot where I realized the mobs were giving tons of exp per kill. I stayed there and grinded for 4 levels and realized that afterwards I was having much less fun not completing quests or socializing/exploring. Thats when I realized its best to take these types of games slow and have fun.

Excellent blog post. :)

An anecdote arising from a similar outlook, although I haven't had much of the problem of actually running through the achieving-boredom cycle:
As an ESAK, I love to roleplay, explore, craft, socialise, etc. Sometimes, however, my dedication to roleplaying leads me inexorably into uncomfortable situations of having to grind in order to allow my characters to meet their goals. xD

Wow, I'm honored that Laura chose my lark to spotlight :).  I think part of the delay in experiencing EVE as a personally satisfying game has come from the corp/guild pressure that Laura references near the end of her article influencing me to try to roll characters for certain roles.  It's not that corpmates are a bad influence, it's more a matter of matching my taste in gameplay to the culture and activities of my chosen corporation.  That's why I've so far resisted joining a player corp with my current character; I want to develop a 'feel' for my character and preferences among the various choices present in EVE, then I can make an informed choice as to where to apply and hopefully find a corp that increases my enjoyment of the game.

Originally posted by katriell

Excellent blog post. :)

An anecdote arising from a similar outlook, although I haven't had much of the problem of actually running through the achieving-boredom cycle:
As an ESAK, I love to roleplay, explore, craft, socialise, etc. Sometimes, however, my dedication to roleplaying leads me inexorably into uncomfortable situations of having to grind in order to allow my characters to meet their goals. xD

That was the exact situation that led to my early grinding experience with pistols in SWG (IIRC, my Bartle score is similar to yours if not precisely the same :))  EVE almost perfectly counters that tendency by locking you into skill training time that can't be changed by gameplay choices.  For me at least, this leads to an interesting balancing act of self-determination (in selecting skills to train) and allowing my character's development to be influenced by the 'natural laws' of the game world.  Since I find the EVE universe fascinating, it's a dance I find quite entertaining :)

Is it realy so hard to make a game where it's the thing you are doing to get somewhere as much fun as the thing you are working for?

Originally posted by SonofSeth

Is it realy so hard to make a game where it's the thing you are doing to get somewhere as much fun as the thing you are working for?

In my opinion, anything can be done in excess; when you kill monsters you have fun, but when you force yourself to keep killing monsters to get a special item or a new level, it becomes work.

The article brings up an important point.  Games should be fun, not jobs.

In that respect, all those truly casual players out there who never touch Forums like this or worry about min/max-ing or never bother reading player guides and just enjoy what they are doing with no concern about the consequences - they are all better gamers than most everyone here.

They are better gamers because they never forget that is it a game, not a job. 

Originally posted by SonofSeth

Is it realy so hard to make a game where it's the thing you are doing to get somewhere as much fun as the thing you are working for?

Evidently yes, for MMORPGs it is that hard.  Other games don't seem to have any problem making themelves fun, but MMORPGs have UO's and EQ's legacy of tedious, timesink grinding to thank for the ingrained concept  that reward should only be the result of punishment and the only point to game, rather than making FUN the point to the game.

The problem is that many developers still fall into same trap described in the article but they convince themselves that getting people to pay a subscription for an online job is what it takes for 'challenging and fun' gameplay. 

This is changing, but it will happen slowly.   Someday we might actually have MMORPGs that remember they are games, not jobs.

I've always looked with amazement the way some people played the games I played. For example, some people would say "this game starts at level 30" and would grind their lives off to reach it. I, on the other hand, always took the aproach of having fun, and disconecting when I didn't. So, the game stays fresh for a real long time, and you develop a bond with your character more intense.