I guess it didn't like the fact that I pasted my response in from Word! LOL

Having been in WoW since late beta, I know exactly what you mean. After six level 85's, the grind starts to make your eyes bleed. ^^  Once that happens, I generally find another game and unsubscribe until the next expansion.  I've been to level cap in more games than I really care to think about... I started with UO, and I've played all of the major and many of the minor games over the years (and WAY too many Asian grinders for anyones sanity... Level 125 in Cabal as an example).  

What I look for these days is a good combat system, followed by at least some story/lore.  Nice graphics are also a plus, but if the combat system is good enough, I can over look some aspects of that. One example of that is Dragon Nest. The graphics are way too cute style anime for my taste, but I like the combat system.  Over all, I play these games as a hobby. If any given game starts feeling like a second job, I'll start looking for something else to play. 

Originally posted by BadSpock

I really do think something has "changed" in MMOs though.

Before, and still in certain games, I feel like we were playing to do something greater...

We were fighting for our lands, collecting treasures and rarities for our homes, fostering and tending to friendships and really were a part of a real community we were involved in and cared about.

But now?

We fight for points, for stats, for rewards in throw-away games with no purpose or meaning outside of themselves other then to advance our own personal ego.

We collect not treasures but numbers, knowing full well it is just filler till the next batch of numbers is released.

We have no homes, just places in the world we share with the rabble of humanity - the mob.

We have no friendships or community, just pieces to a puzzle - tools to be utilized to accomplish our personal goals.

 

It just all seems so.... so transient, so fleeting... so pointless.

Why spend all night grinding through the same dungeons or raids or the same instanced PvP matches for gear that I know will be replaced in a few weeks/months?

Why try to achieve anything when it's just a number in a book and not something physical and visual we can proudly display and show of, something we can assign meaning to because it is unique and special to us...

 

You say it perfect,

I dunno when exactlly WoW just began to become more game for your OWN ego.



At Vanilla, I remembered that hardcore guild just went to down Nefarian,

And came to Stormwind to praise the victory. Everyone in the city gained the 2 hours buff.

Whole community knew this guild, and were happy.



AQ Opening Event, everyone participate, collected stuff all together to make this AQ event go open early. Community felt so connected to each other.



There was Alterac Valley for only own realm, it took 24 hours long to win the battle.

Nobody stayed there for 24 hours straight, but atleast they just came to experience it and hopefully bring the influence to result of the victory.



If you ninja'ed the item, everyone in the realm knew it. You had to be careful about your reputation.



But now,



Patch 4.2



Everyone seem to hate everyone, and wants just to solo by themself alone.



Even dailies in firelands counted to you only, not to community based.

There was no such a thing as AQ event. You just did it for your own good.



Battleground, you come it for only numbers of Honor Kills, not the victory of it.



Ragnaros down? Oh just more items for yourself to show off in SW.

No one in the community even knew that ragnaros was downed at all. They just stayed in SW and didnt notice at all.

Sad sad that Blizzard started to care about those Console-gamers and casual gamers.

I just came for the pictures. Last one was hillarious^^

25 years old here, and back in May I unsubbed from WoW (had played for 4 years off and on). I'm ashamed to say I'm actually mourning for it. I think you are absolutely right that you can never recapture that first mmo feeling. I've done way too many free trials of this that and the other, and have actually bought GW1 and Rift. And I'm looking forward to GW2 and TSW. But nothing can grip me, and I too find myself sitting around wondering if it's just WoW burnout or if it's time to move on from mmorpgs in general. Don't think that'll ever happen though :p

You know what I really want? I want the next WoW expansion to be so insanely awesome that I can resub for a year or two. Go on Blizz, please please please bring back the magic!

I'm also one of the only one work at a time player. Just dont have the time nor will to play more mmorpgs dedicated.

In Rift someday I just had the been there, done that feeling so I knew it was time to move on but still liked the T2 expert dungeons and raiding, after 1.2 they've nerfed everything nto ground so at that point quitting made sense in both ways.

Normally I'm asking the ones I was close with, to share ICQ  numbers so we're still in contact, after quitting.

The boredom feeling is really strong especially in newer more linear MMORPGS I think the reason for it is simple, theres only so much content the devs can  give you. In Ultima Online if I wewren't in the mood of killing something I just picked my tailor and decorated my house or sold some neat stuff.

In games like World of Warcraft, Rift, Aion, Warhammer ....their is no housing or useful crafting so people end up getting bored real fast.

Don't know if its age reallife responsibility or simple the same concept thrown at us over and over again. Really loved Everquest 1 styled raiding but hated the way games like World of Warcraft did it (tons of addons and too much jump and run style with voicetools) and yet I think I've grown bored of only raiding too. Don't get me wrong I still like raiding but  it simple can't be the only thing holding my attention give me AA's,  housing, custom stats and the new standard appearance tabs and make crafting interesting again (talking about minecraftlike craft).

Some friends told similar stories I think if future MMORPGS are planning on holding players interest longer they will need to be worlds instead of games again. In a game you are a  developer victim  if you run out of content good luck, in a world you  decide what you do and when to do it.

So its quite simple if you are doing the same stuff over and over and can't anything else because the game lacks depth you get  bored very quick.

"I have a friend who, through her job, is able to maintain half a dozen active game subscriptions, and she moves from game to game every few months"

The sad future of gaming right there. For many it is already a reality.

These articles are very readable.

To quickly reply: When expectations of the interactions in the game become: SAME/SET, then it's very grindy and boring or a sense of apathy at how ineffective you are at creating a "difference". That for me is time to move on. Some games have almost infinite replayability and those are the ones that could be talked about and if any of the principles in them could be applied to mmorpgs more effectively?

Dice rolls and player interactions/beers in TT games usually help in these forms for eg.

Pocket Legends, I enjoyed the gaming on a mobile and polish here, but the grind led me to move on soon enough with the taps for skills too tedious. Outer Empires is less dynamic but feels like more thinking and consequence engagement and immersion as a result.

44 years old here, and increasingly bored by the ever increasing number of MMOs that implement the same mechanics. To describe my general attitude towards MMOs, let me quote from the article:

"My problem is that I’m MMOnogamous: I only play one game at a time. My other problem is that I still expect – or at least hope – that one game can do it for me without hitting that boredom point, even though I know it’s an unrealistic hope."

That is pretty much what I feel too, but most of the time I do hit the boredom point.

Usually (with the average Free2play MMO) it happens after hitting the medium character levels, when the few novelties in that particular game have worn off and the grind kicks in for real. Typically  I go from enthusiastic to "nice pastime" to "once in a while" to "can't be bothered" in a few weeks, or months at best. There have been two exceptions so far, where things other than boredom made me leave:

1. Neocron 2, where the buggy implementation spoiled the fun while the game still had some adventures to offer I'd have liked to explore. But even so, I lasted 14 months as a paying customer. That is one game which really deserved better programmers than it  had (maybe I'm biased here, as Neocron 2 was my first MMO ).
2. Eve Online, where the endgame (PvP and conquest in unpoliced space) is not casual friendly and was too much on top of a regular 40 hour/week job. But even so, I think Eve does a lot of things right and came close to being my long-term "no boredom" choice, with over two years before unsubscribing.

Okay, I'm 58 years old, have  owned a computer to game on since my first Atari 800 in 1980, and have played various MMOs since the original Air Warrior on GEnie in 1987, which cost $6 an HOUR....Actually, I played and made a bunch of friends in TradeWars and such from about 1985, on the old BBSs, but I don't really consider those MMOs since you weren't actively with other players at the same time...

I seem to be able to move on from a particular game pretty easily if I have something else to play that keeps me entertained..It doesn't even have to be an MMO, or even an online game...Just one that I can immerse myself in completely for a while...

The only game that really caused me a lot of angst to leave, I think, was MultiPlayer BattleTech....The social structure that the players maintained was deep enough and immersive enough that it was hard to go back to "regular" social gaming...

I find I always have to explain to a few friends I've made in a game, though, once I've decided to leave, that ALL games end...and that you often run into each other again, sometimes years later, in other games...The people almost always maintain that, no, they will NEVER leave this game, and can't imagine how I could....But, then, I always hear from them a year or so later, and they have left the game in question and are playing something else now......Asheron's Call was very much an example of this...I had played it daily from closed beta and left it for PlanetSide, and I was amazed at how very many of my friends in AC were totally convinced they would always play AC...But, of course, they have all moved on to other games since.

The problem, imo, is that everything looks like a crappier version of this game or that game.  What happened to the devs that created new content and new looks and feels?  It's a slide downhill with a steadily increasing angle of descent, from what I am seeing. 

First mmo I played was EQ.  To this day, I still love the bard class jack of all trades status but I have yet to find another game with a character that has the skill set to be able to fit into just about any group and perform a needed role while not being limited to just one role.  2 years play time. 

After EQ was DAoC.  IMO they have/had the right ideas about pvp/pve game control.  With the exception of a few bugs, which were fixed, you were not forced to deal with the chronic player greifers while you were grinding.  When you were ready to go out into the world of pvp, you got to chose to do so.  They started falling apart with the escalating add on abilities and chronic nerfing of classes that needed the damage output they had enjoyed to play the class as it was intended, e.g. assassin class types.  There was one fundamental flaw in their game which pushed me away from it.  Apparently, the lead designer or owner was a caster freak and had the CC set up in such a way that high damage wizardy types were pretty much running everything else on the game over.  They never corrected this which is why I left.   1.5 years play time.

Went to L2 from there which was a step into the surreal.  Having experienced the grindfest in EQ, I thought I could cope, but the amount of grinding and harvesting etc, to make a relatively low level item was insane.  Add to that you have to deal with every player greifer in the game, whether you wanted to or not.  9 months play time

From there I shuffled from WoW look-a-like game to L2 look-a-like game for a while, until DnD online came out and enjoyed a 8 month tenure with them.  However, once you have done all the missions, there is really nothing left to do but hang out in the arenas and that get's old quick.  Shuffle to more WoW look-a-like and L2 Look-a-like games.  Start getting into the more recent games and frankly, I am amazed they put this crap out attitude starts in.

I'm 24 now... I quit WoW before last summer and it pained me to do it. I felt close to my guild for a while then; the feeling wasn't exactly mutual though. We had fun together for a while... then they just dropped me from their raiding groups for little to no reason. I was one of the most reliable raiders -- on every raid night -- that half-regection was the last straw for me. I'd been feeling all the "blah" of the game's chorishness and had been playing other games on the side; only popping in to see how the guild and my professions were doing and waiting around for invites that never came on raid nights. I even considered leaving that guild for another... but it would only delay the inevitable.

After the guild benched me, indefinately, I felt it was time for me to go. So I wrote some, "I'm quiting WoW for a while... might come back" letters to my closer WoW "friends" and shoved off. Hadn't looked back since. I can't expect much from MMO friendships anymore because of how my guild -- even WoW and its calloused community -- hurt me.

I tried Rift next... got to level cap. Then I said to myself as I faced the raiding gear grind, "What's the point?" The people were quite kind and helpful in that one, but I couldn't bring myself to make any friends in-game anymore cause it was just the same old stuff all over again with a different paint job and people. I used to embrace that quality about Rift, but I just couldn't stomach the same old experience anymore than I already had through the questing. I unsubbed there too.

Now I'm just sitting here... alone with little of interest to play in the MMO sense. I've been replaying N64 classics and the like. I even considered picking up the Pokemon series again! What's up with that?! "I'm so bored that I have to go 'catch em' all' for the millionth time!" Someone needs to put something out that'll last more than a month to my boredom-fried brain; MMORPG, MMOFPS, even something completely different, I don't care. I'm sick of this rut. I want something great!

@Isabelle

For the purposes of your survey questions at the end of the article, I am in my 30's and here follows my general outlook on the subject.

I feel the exact same hesitation and introspection at leaving a game, with the same detachment process leading up to the day I realize that I haven't logged in for a month. I also form attachments to the people I meet online and play with every day, but even when I leave, I try to stay in contact with some of them, via the forums, vent or other social networks. 

Having said that, I normally spend a minimum of 2 years in a game before I even feel a hint of boredom and discontent. And expansions can easily hold it at bay for a further year or two. I rarely leave a game that survives the first 6 months, before I've thoroughly plumbed it for 3 or 4 years. (I should also mention that I avoid repetitive content like the plague and I manage to stretch my gameplay to those lengths simply by not rushing anything, taking time to perfect stuff and setting myself goals to achieve which are not necessarily related to levelling or end-game.)

But, I don't restrict myself to one game. I allow myself up to 2 at a time. More than that and I start to lose focus and then interest follows.

Oh, I also wanted to add that perfect gameplay can be completely ruined for me by a lack of community or a community which values different types of gameplay to what I'm interested in. This has lead to me leave a number of games which I initially loved, but just couldn't find my niche in.

Hello...I'm Barcrow...and I'm a WoW-coholic. I've been sober almost 10 months now...and though it gets hard at times...I just take it day by day.  Now I await refuge in SW:TOR but until then get by with  the occasional foray into RIFT or AOC and brief  dabblings in various SPGs . Thank you for listening.

I used to feel this way when I left a game. I havent subbed to a game in a long time though. The feelings of boredom and having done it all before stretches to all MMOs for me now. I simply keep hoping for something different but it doesn't look like its coming.

Originally posted by Talthanys

So I started with UO. That was my introduction to MMOs, and such an MMO will never be again for me. Why? Community. There was a strong, vast, and wonderful role-playing dynamic in UO, and we all congregated on the now defunct Crossroads of Britannia forum site to trade stories about our characters, joke around, orchestrate events, and discuss things in general. I formed real friendships there, and even visited a few of these people irl. But, nothing lasts forever, and SWG came along to break us up a little bit while time and growing up and pending responsibilities worked to finish the job.

I have never been party to a community or guild quite as tight and personal as I had with UO. This reality (whether through my own inability at artful conversation or a disintegration of cohesive social elements within MMOs) has made it much easier to switch games for me as of late. The few bonds I do form are fleeting shadows in comparison. One friend that I've played with for more than a decade has passed away as best as I can tell (from medical reasons, I'm not THAT old).

I am back in WAR now, and in a friendly guild of good people, but I might be one of 3 on at any given time. The alliance holds more, and they are nice as well, but alliances are composed of disparate guilds and there is an artifical distance one must find the energy to surmount in order to connect meaningfully.

I always hope there'll be another MMORPG that recaptures that feeling I had with UO, but I know there won't be. Games have changed, gamers have changed, and while I tumble and flip through the winds of change and land where I will, the realization of what will never be is more than a little poignant.

I had a similar experience with EQ.   Played regularly for 3-4 years, maybe more, haven't tried to figure it out.   From just after launch until the launch of EQ2.    But we had a great group of friends.    When the community started to break up, that was the end, although it was a slow process that extended into EQ2.

I want to mention that contrary to the OP  there is such a thing as games that stay fresh for a very long time...just no MMOs so far.    Not simple games like Monoply.   But take chess or duplicate bridge.    I played chess competitively for 10 years or so, and compettive bridge for, well, from college until about age 50...roughly 30 years.    Playing chess takes a ferocious amount of energy.   Bridge is not nearly so bad because of the break between hands.    But we've lost our bridge community so that we don't play any more --- but I still read the bridge columns, LOL.

I  take exception to the last comments above quoted to the effect that the writer will never recapture the feeling that he had with UO.   Well, if he finds the community, he will.    It may not be online; but it can happen.   I have to believe that.  I am 62 and I am looking for  a community, I am sure it is just around the corner.

At the same time I am absolutely certain that so-called "social" games (i.e. Zynga) will not  produce such a community.   The interactions are too superficial.

With the collapse of any meaningful social structure or coherent community, it is a wonder people play these games any longer at all. I used to play the same MMO for years, back when making friends was easy and lasting friendships were common. Nobody gives a shit about anyone else in these games anymore beyond your RL friends or the statistics of strangers' attributes.

The story and combat are okay. I can get those in single player games, and they are generally much better. When I log into a multiplayer role-playing game, I expect to meet interesting people and make friends based on common interests. The problem is, I don't care about loot or progression, so I'm already at a huge disadvantage when trying to intereact with 95% of the current crowd. If there is such a small chance to meet people and actually have engaging interaction with them, I'll save myself the time and money by playing other games. If I want engaging online social interaction, I come to this site.

Once you get past the combat and progression, there is very little left anymore to keep people playing. I used to feel bad leaving friends behind to play another game. The idea that I could meet another player in one of my friends' groups was enough to keep me going. I guess those types of players just don't play these games anymore. Leaving an MMO has become similar to throwing the trash away after eating a meal.

Originally posted by Palebane

With the collapse of any meaningful social structure or coherent community, it is a wonder people play these games any longer at all. I used to play the same MMO for years, back when making friends was easy and lasting friendships were common. Nobody gives a shit about anyone else in these games anymore beyond your RL friends or the statistics of strangers' attributes.

 

The story and combat are okay. I can get those in single player games, and they are generally much better. When I log into a multiplayer role-playing game, I expect to meet interesting people and make friends based on common interests. The problem is, I don't care about loot or progression, so I'm already at a huge disadvantage when trying to intereact with 95% of the current crowd. If there is such a small chance to meet people and actually have engaging interaction with them, I'll save myself the time and money by playing other games. If I want engaging online social interaction, I come to this site.

 

Once you get past the combat and progression, there is very little left anymore to keep people playing. I used to feel bad leaving friends behind to play another game. The idea that I could meet another player in one of my friends' groups was enough to keep me going. I guess those types of players just don't play these games anymore. Leaving an MMO has become similar to throwing the trash away after eating a meal.

Agreed fully. This is why I no longer play MMORPGs; though I am waiting to see how Guild Wars 2 unfolds. I will likely play that, since it won't require a monthly subscription.