MMORPG.com World of Warcraft Correspondent Patrick Breeden writes this look at introducing the popular MMORPG to console-only gamers everywhere.

Console gaming has been a big part of my life as far back as I can remember. My heroes of the 1980s were characters such as Mario, Samus, and Link. But as I got older, I realized that I was into fantasy and role-playing games as well. Skip ahead a few years and eventually this led to my friends asking me to try World of Warcraft with them, and I quickly found myself lost in a fantasy world that I had never imagined could exist. I fancied myself a master of gaming, but I quickly found myself overwhelmed with so much to learn about just one game. My goal in my articles here at MMORPG.com is to help my fellow console gamers and even new players understand a little more about World of Warcraft so that their early hours are a little more focused and less tedious. In this article, I will explain the best ways to make the transition from console gamer to World of Warcraft/MMORPG gamer.

Read From Console Games to WoW

 Article starts out good with showing the differences between standard console games and WoW/MMOs but I think it trailed off in the end. I'd suggest that one of your followup articles take a more in-depth look at the Player interaction aspect since thats the defining factor of these types of games (The MMO part of the game). Guilds are the biggest thing that come to mind.

Oh.. And the Horde is not the Villains... Strictly speaking neither side is any more good or evil than the other, they just happen to not get along very well. 

The PS3 can support keyboards and mice so I'll stick with console gaming and there are alot of MMO's hitting the consoles

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Originally posted by SirBongsAlot
The PS3 can support keyboards and mice so I'll stick with console gaming and there are alot of MMO's hitting the consoles

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Such as?

Originally posted by SirBongsAlot

The PS3 can support keyboards and mice so I'll stick with console gaming and there are alot of MMO's hitting the consoles

More like there is one, maybe two hitting the consoles. And none of them coming anytime soon. FF is the only one I know of currently on the console, I think EQ also has a console version but I'm not sure if that was succesful or even launched.

Originally posted by mackdawg19

More like there is one, maybe two hitting the consoles. And none of them coming anytime soon. FF is the only one I know of currently on the console, I think EQ also has a console version but I'm not sure if that was succesful or even launched.

FFXI and EQ Online Adventures are the only 2 console-based MMOs that I know of. I don't know about the successfulness of EQOA, but it's been out since 2005, I believe, and as far as I know, is still online. 

Originally posted by mackdawg19

Originally posted by SirBongsAlot

The PS3 can support keyboards and mice so I'll stick with console gaming and there are alot of MMO's hitting the consoles

 

More like there is one, maybe two hitting the consoles. And none of them coming anytime soon. FF is the only one I know of currently on the console, I think EQ also has a console version but I'm not sure if that was succesful or even launched.

I can easily name a few.

The Agency, Champions Online, DC universe, Final Fantasy XIV, and Free Realms off the top of my head.

EQ had one for the PS2,

and Final Fantasy XI was released on PS2 and on the 360.

Originally posted by SirBongsAlot

The PS3 can support keyboards and mice so I'll stick with console gaming and there are alot of MMO's hitting the consoles

MMO games that run on consoles don't require a keyboard or mouse on the console to play as the vast majority of consoles do not have them.  What this results in is a major dumbing down of the games UI so it is playable on the controller.   With that in mind  many of us will avoid such games as they are pretty much at the bottom end of MMO's because of this.

So sticking to your console will force you to miss most of the good games out there.

Oh and the console version of EQ was NOT the MMO.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Originally posted by SirBongsAlot

The PS3 can support keyboards and mice so I'll stick with console gaming and there are alot of MMO's hitting the consoles

MMO games that run on consoles don't require a keyboard or mouse on the console to play as the vast majority of consoles do not have them.  What this results in is a major dumbing down of the games UI so it is playable on the controller.   With that in mind  many of us will avoid such games as they are pretty much at the bottom end of MMO's because of this.

So sticking to your console will force you to miss most of the good games out there.

Oh and the console version of EQ was NOT the MMO.

Actually yes EQ or the proper name Everquest online Adventures was and still is an mmo played on the ps2. Not near the people play now that did a few years back but the game is still active . You can also use a keyboard with this game and it helps out quite a bit. The ps2 xbox 360 and ps3 all support the use of keyboards and ps3 supports a mouse.

Also FF, free realms and a Massivley multiplayer shooter  MAG have been announced as coming to the ps3 not to mention sony has stated that all future mmos they work on will show up on console, I guess only time will tell.

 

Originally posted by Simsu

 Article starts out good with showing the differences between standard console games and WoW/MMOs but I think it trailed off in the end. I'd suggest that one of your followup articles take a more in-depth look at the Player interaction aspect since thats the defining factor of these types of games (The MMO part of the game). Guilds are the biggest thing that come to mind.

 

Oh.. And the Horde is not the Villains... Strictly speaking neither side is any more good or evil than the other, they just happen to not get along very well. 

Thanks for  reading and big thanks for the suggestion.  I think we're on the same wave of thought because guilds were definitely my next target of discussion.

Sorry if I threw everyone for a loop with that villain part.  They're seen as the villains due to the Burning Legion's control over the Orcs in War2.

Default WoW UI makes my eyes bleed.

It makes my eyes bleed as well.  I thought it best to get some default screens for the first article so any newer players that actually want to try aren't wondering what's up with everything being different on their end.  I'm always looking for the best add-ons, so feel free to make any suggestions.

Good article.

I do think it should address MMORPGs in general, not only WoW. A console gamer's first MMO experience isn't necessarily going to be WoW and, so, the experiences as described in the article aren't necessarily going to represent what a first-time player encounters.

Other MMOs put more or less emphasis on different areas than WoW does and so the experience described for WoW won't resemble that of other MMOs. In FFXI, for example, you don't get xp for quests or missions (Fields of Valor notwithstanding; they're more "repeatable tasks" than quests anyway), so questing wouldn't be the fastest way to go.

That said.. I find the article also touches on something a bit ironic. It's ironic because when console gamers started hitting MMOs.. WoW in particular.. the very things that the article points out as being differences to get used to are the very thing many complain about.

For example:
- They don't like having to "grind quests" to level.. or "grind mobs". Many don't like the idea of having to level at all and claim you should start off able to do end-game content (completely missing one core element of a MMO in the process, IMO).

- Many abhore the idea of having to group with other players, ever, for any reason. It started out "innocent" enough... Keep group content in there, but also provide enough they can do so they can play the game without having to look for a group... and they got their wishes.

But that wasn't good enough...
Before long people started complaining that there shouldn't be any content that requires a group.. everything should be soloable. They were given more solo content; enough to solo clear to end-game on.

But they still weren't happy...
A little while later, they started demanding that raids be made faster/easier and requiring smaller groups to complete. They were granted their wish in the form of smaller raids.

But that still wasn't enough for a number of them...
I've been seeing people demand soloable raid bosses... They feel it's "unfair" to "force them" to group up to take down an epic boss like that.

In short... It seems to me (and has for a long time now) that a sizable portion of the new "console generation" of MMO players won't be happy until MMOS play just like single-player console games. They're still trying to "win the game", they're still trying to "get the best score" (figuratively speaking)... until they get bored and are ready to move on to the next one.

MMOs are not "disposable" games. They're not intended to be "beat it once... and move on to the next" type games. They're intended to be on-going, long-term experiences with a heavy social element that brings players together... either cooperatively or competitively. It might sound arrogant of me to say this... and I don't mean it that way... but I think the idea of a MMO is lost on many newer players. They're approaching them as they would a single-player game... and in that, they're only setting themself up for frustration from the start.
 

You bring up some great points, and I'm hoping to assist my console brothers and sisters in joining the MMORPG community with minimal pain.  I too suffered from the symptoms that you listed, but a friend helped cure me of those.  I chose World of Warcraft as my medium not only because it's my game of choice when it comes to MMOs but also because that's the game they're going to hear about.  They're going to hear about WoW, they're going to see WoW when they go to other websites such as ScrewAttack.com(shameless plug - I'm a mod there), and they're viewing commercials of the revamp of Game Fuel.  At this point it's safe to say that if any console game were to play a MMO, they'd choose WoW because of advertisements alone.  Personally, my first MMORPG was Dark Age of Camelot.

A big thing I plan to preach when I talk about console gamers to WoW is comraddery because I know from experience that's the first thing they'll reject.  So, as someone previously suggested, talking about the guilds would be the next best move.

Thank you for the feedback.  With the help of readers like you, I hope to be able to create a mini-guide to stop the console conversion nonsense before it begins.