General Discussion

By that I mean that devs have added little tools to today's MMOs in order to save you time, but these tools remove that sense of adventure or "fear" as pencilrick says in the "Losing interest in MMORPGs..." thread.

Let me give you an example.  Mini-maps on the interface have become pretty standard in MMOs.  It's understandable because it saves time, but it removes an important sense of excitement from the game.  Where's the adventure when you enter into a dungeon knowing there's no possibility of getting lost?  If you take a wrong turn and get separated from the other members of your party, all you have to do is turn around and make your way back to the other dots on the mini-map.  On the other hand, if there's no mini-map, you actually have to grope your way through the halls not knowing what my lie just around the next corner.  Could be your group, could be a terrifying mob.

But obviously, in order to gain this benefit, you have to be willing to lose another.  Are you willing to do that?

I wonder where I left my graph paper.

Aye, people are too attached to the "little comforts". Not that some are bad, but others are making people lazy, lazy.

But, not sure where the line should be crossed, where to stop those "ezplay" thingies...

Once upon a time I played Everquest and I was not only without a mini-map but also without any sort of world map.

How could I survive in that horrible world of obscurity and lostness? well, you just went to the local map web page and printed/used the maps you needed.

It was a bit of a discomofort to have to alt/tab outside, so you ended up printing the ones you needed the most.... and that is why modern games have a world map and mini map feature.

The games I've played, the reasons I've played them, and what I've actually done in them say yes.

Since a map can be dowloaded in seconds, removing the minimap serves no purpose besides making the process of getting a map tedious.

Whats even better, turn the minimap OFF, so you can be as surprised as you want.  Then everyone is happy. 

Besides, there's no excitement in getting lost.  I've been lost in many games and the days of wondering around aimlessly got old over 10 years ago when I left college and realized I have a life and no time to get lost anymore.  I want to have fun and getting lost isn't fun.  Its the same reason I have a GPS in my car when I drive out of state.  Its a waste of time, not an adveneture.

Back in the days of DAoC there was no mini map, there wasn't any kind of map.  If you wanted them and I did not in most cases, you'd either have to make your own as you went or you'd have to find someone who made one and put it up on the web.

Part of the fun for me was walking through the Myrkwood with it's dark feel and a lot of fog that didn't let you see all that far and knowing that just about everything in it was aggressive and higher level then you.  Same with dungeons.

When it came to RVR and old Emain we'd use landmarks like the white Birch trees and abandoned ruins to guide friends to us so we can find one another and fight the enemy.  Lately though all that is gone.  There are sites like Thottbot.com and Wowhead.com that more or less give you the locations of everything along with a map.  I realize that I don't have to use them but when it comes to the new players breaking into the genre I would hope that they at least had the chance to experience the games as I did in the past before they alt-tab and start searching for the easy quick fixes which then leads them to blast through the game at a faster rate then designed and complain about lack of content.

Originally posted by Volkmar

Once upon a time I played Everquest and I was not only without a mini-map but also without any sort of world map.

How could I survive in that horrible world of obscurity and lostness? well, you just went to the local map web page and printed/used the maps you needed.

It was a bit of a discomofort to have to alt/tab outside, so you ended up printing the ones you needed the most.... and that is why modern games have a world map and mini map feature.

Ah, EQ1...those were the days

..I wager I could still run from Nektulos to EPL with my eyes shut

Originally posted by Czzarre  

 

Ah, EQ1...those were the days

..I wager I could still run from Nektulos to EPL with my eyes shut

This is what I was talking about.  Actual knowledge of the game environment meant something.  I find it pretty sad when you are in game and someone asks for directions and half a dozen idiots pointing him to the nearest wowhead equivalent with "wowhead is your friend NOOB!".  I can only imagine what it is like for that person right there and then perhaps playing an mmo for the first time thinking that if the rest of the game's community is like this then why bother, especially if he/she heard that the MMO genre was supposed to be about having tons of people around to group with, talk and ask questions.