I usually hit a wall, and if I can't overcome that wall in a few days I unsubscribe,

In EQ, it was being LFG for hours. It only took a few days of that and I was done.

In WoW, it was the BGs and lack of progression through the BGs at level cap. I loved BGs until level 80. I cancelled my sub a few days after being 80, because there is no progression through BGs only. Raiding and Arena play? Sure. BGs? Nope.

In DAoC, it was the lack of action. It started to decline pretty swiftly after ToA then NF and WoW was the nail.

Went back off and on to EQ, and every time is was the slow pace of leveling coupled with the fact that you had to do it on your own, since the pop was so low. I enjoy the content until level 70. The pace is just laughably slow and boring.

DDO. I reincarnated my monk to a fighter. Found out fighters are pretty boring to level. Got to 18, and just couldn't find any quest he could solo because of his horrid saves. With all the new quest out I'm sure I could do it, but I'm just not motivated. I'll never play a fighter again.

So, anyways, I usually hit some wall that stops progression, which saps my desire to play. I unsubscribe rather quickly.

Originally posted by jdnewell

I am soon to be 38. Started playing MMO's about 10 years ago roughly.

The 1st couple of MMOs i played I stuck with for years on end, DAoC i think I played solidly every day for 3+ years and then off and on for another 2 years. Played WoW pretty solid for a few years after that.

The older I get the less I feel inclined to play anything for that long. Maybe nothing has come out that has held my attention like the old games, or maybe I am just getting older. I am also not a person who feels a game is a commitment like some do. Once the fun stops then the sub drops.

For the past 3-4 years nothing has held my interest for more than 8-10 months at a time. I just one day find myself not that interested in playing anymore and dont log in. I chalk it up to every game thats out there gives me the " been there, done that, got the T shirt " feeling.

I am looking foreward to GW2. Until then there are some great single player games coming out.

 Agree 1000%.

hmmmmmmmmmmm

I think the first time I left a great guild in WoW, it was a little tough.  It was the perfect situation because we only raided 2 nights a week, but generally completed more raid content than many guilds who raided 4+ nights a week due to our heavy use of theorycrafting and planning on the guild forums during off nights (pre-youtube).  It was also tough since I had met a number of the guildmates in RL for lunches and dinners in the Bosotn area. 

However, since then, it's never been the same.  I spent a year or so heavily invested in raiding, but after a while, I got that "been there, done that" feeling from each new tier.  Each subsequnet game since WoW also seems like much of the same.  Different graphics don't hide the fact that the game systems in the MMO genre haven't changed ery much over the past 7 years. 

Basically, MMOs were fun when they were new, but there's really very little that interests me in MMOs anymore because the genre has become very stale.  Unfortunately that mentality also permiates into how I feel about guilds.  I'm willing to work through a little adversity, but I know that I'm not going to invest 6 months to 2+ years in any MMO anymore.  I won't drop a guild at the first sign of problems like a PuG dungeon group, but I'm not going to stick it out with people who stand the fire or can't pay attention to boss emotes either ... and I'm not will to join a hardcore 4-5 night raiding group to play with competent players.

For example, I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore player, but I binge on new games.  I played Rift for 2 months and about half the first raid tier.  By the time we cleared the third boss, I was about done with the game.  New graphics, same tired content and a realtively weak playerbase.

Ok here I go. Im in the same boat as alot of you people, im currently playing Lotro.  The  Kinship I lead is basically waiting for the game that this great community  is waiting for, going through withdraws per say. That game is Shadowbane. Yes I know that the servers are down the game has been down since July 09, but it will make a come back and it is close to it. Shadowbane is and will always be the best  PVP game out there.  I basically describe it  as Risk. Total destruction  total mayham. This is definitely a NO carebear game. the game revolves around pvp ,no quest (WOW)  no story line, just straight in your face killing. Open pvp except in the starting  areas and   NPC cities, every where else is free game even in your own city. Shadowbane actually  came out before its time. If it  was to come out today with  todays MMOS it would prosper far greater than WOW  ever has. Thats why alot of people play mmos is for the PVP. So with all of this being said I would like for you to watch this clip  from a preview of the game and its just a preview alot  has been done to resurrect this great game.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bErMEbBMmgQ PS here is the website to the EMU http://www.shadowbaneemulator.com/forum/index.php

Originally posted by drizztler

Ok here I go. Im in the same boat as alot of you people, im currently playing Lotro.  The  Kinship I lead is basically waiting for the game that this great community  is waiting for, going through withdraws per say. That game is Shadowbane. Yes I know that the servers are down the game has been down since July 09, but it will make a come back and it is close to it. Shadowbane is and will always be the best  PVP game out there.  I basically describe it  as Risk. Total destruction  total mayham. This is definitely a NO carebear game. the game revolves around pvp ,no quest (WOW)  no story line, just straight in your face killing. Open pvp except in the starting  areas and   NPC cities, every where else is free game even in your own city. Shadowbane actually  came out before its time. If it  was to come out today with  todays MMOS it would prosper far greater than WOW  ever has. Thats why alot of people play mmos is for the PVP. So with all of this being said I would like for you to watch this clip  from a preview of the game and its just a preview alot  has been done to resurrect this great game.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bErMEbBMmgQ PS here is the website to the EMU http://www.shadowbaneemulator.com/forum/index.php

Well... I wish you all the best, but its been demonstrated time after time after time, that FFA PvP (with or without full loot) is a *narrow* niche market at best.  Especially in the modern western market.  The idea that there is some great, untapped audience for that type of game, is simply not demonstrated by years of market research, and also the fate of those games that have tried FFA PvP.  But if you can find enough people to sustain the game, then more power to you. 

Originally posted by drizztler

Ok here I go. Im in the same boat as alot of you people, im currently playing Lotro.  The  Kinship I lead is basically waiting for the game that this great community  is waiting for, going through withdraws per say. That game is Shadowbane. Yes I know that the servers are down the game has been down since July 09, but it will make a come back and it is close to it. Shadowbane is and will always be the best  PVP game out there.  I basically describe it  as Risk. Total destruction  total mayham. This is definitely a NO carebear game. the game revolves around pvp ,no quest (WOW)  no story line, just straight in your face killing. Open pvp except in the starting  areas and   NPC cities, every where else is free game even in your own city. Shadowbane actually  came out before its time. If it  was to come out today with  todays MMOS it would prosper far greater than WOW  ever has. Thats why alot of people play mmos is for the PVP. So with all of this being said I would like for you to watch this clip  from a preview of the game and its just a preview alot  has been done to resurrect this great game.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bErMEbBMmgQ PS here is the website to the EMU http://www.shadowbaneemulator.com/forum/index.php

 

Shadowsbane will forever be a tarnished name due to the developer company and their mishandling of the game.  It tried to make a come back once and failed miserably.  It's date material now, with a bad rep, so the likelyhood of it ever becoming a popular mmo again is very slim.  Perhaps if they change the name and retool the graphics so it looks totally different they might be able to publish it and have it go somewhere.

I guess i'm different then you, Isabelle, sincemost  MMOs I played, I played for over a year.  I also become very attached to my characters and love to watch them grow and evolve. 

Instead of learning how to play the game, what really turns me on is to have the character evolve. Have new abilities unlocked, be able to do new things, use new equipment, whatever...

I'm also a serial altaholic. Meaning that even though I do enjoy having alts, I tent to play a character until they are pretty high level or even capped before I begin giving the alt any serious thought.

I have also went back to a few games here and there, and played them for a considerable time before moving on again.

I guess it's because of this that I am very happy with the new f2p trend that is grabbing the MMO world. Before,  whenever you quit a game, you either cancelled your subscription or kept paying it even without playing the game (I think I payed for AO for close to a year before I came to the conclusion I was not going to pick it up again).  Then when you want to go back, you have to sign up again and sink money for another month.

With f2p you don't have that problem. You can jump in at any time, and in most cases, all the stuff you bought for real money is still there. So to me that makes a lot more sense.  It also makes coming back a lot easier. And if you come back and decide it's still not for you, then you lost nothing.

I've been playing MMOGs for quite awhile, like you have (12 years for me), and I really understand not wanting to quit something that you've invested a lot of time and effort in (all the characters and intentions I have in WoW alone, believe me I get it!), as well as the relationships you may have developed, but the one thing I've never understood, is why anyone should expect a game to be entertaining for the rest of their life.

What I've found, personally, is that on occasion I just need to take a break from the entire genre. Don't check out another game, don't go back and play an old one, just. quit. playing. MMOGs. Maybe for 2 months, maybe even 6, but get away from therm all.

So far, doing that has worked to bring back the thrill for me. Of course it's not the same thrill, a veteran player should never expect to get the same type of thrill  as he or she had just starting out, but there's a different thrill, and a re-kindled excitement, and an ability to enjoy things on a new level.

As far as it not mattering to the younger kids as much - maybe if you look at the personalitires instead of the age, you would understand better. A lot of the people playing MMOGs today are playing them on such a casual level that they have no meaning to them; their characters mean no more than the avatars in an arcade game. They simply have less invested ( and so get less out of) the game to begin with. The people in their guilds aren't even real (hence one of the strangest phrases ever to come out of the mouths of humanity "real life friends"). The question isn't why doesn't it bother them more to stop playing an MMOG, but why would they care if they left when they had so little invested anyway?

;)

Frankly, I've been in flux game-wise the majority of this year. WoW doesn't really meet my gaming needs anymore and DCUO did not meet up to expectations.

I'm like many of you in that I am nearing my 40's (39) and have a work/life balance to maintain. I've gamed for a long time and spent my longest periods in AC and AO. Primarily due to the fact that their worlds were completely original and I always find that setting most engaging. Fortunately, my wife is also a gamer and looks for ways to make whatever time I do have to invest in a game enjoyable.

I really miss the days of games like EQ and AC where going to the next town over was easier said than done and some form of fellowship was needed to meet individual players needs.

I am hopeful for the new crop of games incoming as they appear to have embraced innovation. SW:ToR, GW2, and TSW each have something very unique to offer experience wise and I'll be interested to see how their respective companies implement them.

Good article.   I started with Diablo II and Ragnarok Online about 8 years ago or so.  I played RO for about 3 years, met some awesome, awesome people.  I then found myself playing WoW, stayed there for about 4 years.  Again, met some awesome people.  Got really into raiding and making alts.  Then... most of the awesome people stopped playing, and somehow the alts just didn't have their same zing anymore.  It didn't help that WoW was going more and more toward everything being an easily-puggable token grind and less of a game where you needed a few friends to help you out occasionally. 

I then spent about 6 months moseying from game to game without really finding anything I truly loved.  I tried LotRO, AoC, Rift, and even FFXI.  I play Rift the most these days.  I raid a bit, and try to level alts, but there's... something deiniftely missing from the experience.

Both of the times when I left RO and WoW for good were not easy decisions.  I kinda felt like I needed a sense of closure in both games, and that usually came from saying goodbyes, taking final screenshots, etc.  The weird thing is though, I don't ever really consider going back to WoW.  The closure thing really seems to help me move on.   

I hope that someday I can find a game that really captures my interest again.  Gonna be giving TOR a shot, and maybe GW2. 

Yes this is what happens to me too, although it happens so much faster when there is no endgame to an MMO, cos I will make an alt or two but if getting them to cap proves fruitless why do it ?

Good Guilds have kept me in several MMORPG's far longer than I would have otherwise stayed. I have revisited a few titles once or twice in some cases after initially putting them down but usually the same issues that generally drove me away in the first place are still there.

Well I have to say boredom is what makes me move on from a game. 

I agree on many points, when you have a full complement of an alt army, and there is nothing left to do. Then yes its time to find something else.  The fact that you got your alt army maxed, means you been there and done it all.   Some games that is easy to do others not so easy.

However the number one thing that makes me move on is bad developers.  they do thinks and make the game totally unplayable.  I am facing that right now in EQ2,  we got the nge to eq2 this year with the velious xpac.  Sweeping changes to the game, its almost unrecognizable.  I am to the point where it is not fun, and at that point its time to let it go, I am just waiting for swtor as nothing else has me wanting to play it.

I am older as well...I was in the beta for the original EQ, if that gives you a clue as to how old that might be :)

I think I have played just about every MMO out there. Not at once mind you, but usually one at a time. Once in a while, two, but that is very rare.

There have been a few games that keep my interest for longer than 2 months, but only a few. Generally, those come with some form of GOOD (and trust me it's hard to find one that has a good system) crafting AND merchanting system. Crafting, keeps me "invested" into the game. A reason to come back and see if I made a profit, or if my goods were popular.

A few games that have kept me going were games like A Tale in the Desert, or the ever popular WoW-EQ-AO etc or even less known and played games like Luminary (Goonzu).

Games that give me something to invest into, keep me longer. A house, a pshop, some form of unique something...armor that shows that I made it because my name is listed on it etc. Too few games do this, so most times I find myself burning out and moving to the next game of interest after a couple months.

I am not big into PvP, but I do enjoy it here and there but I won't play forced PvP style games. Memories of the original UO comes to mind here...that game was very painful when it first came out, so I avoid most the games with conflict without choice.

I do feel sad when I leave...and I always think, I will come back one day. But it's rare that I re-visit a game once I have left.  Some days I play a game for one day and think, nope...no reason to even play further. It's missing what I want in a game. It's that one moment, when you first log on and start...that grabs you or not.

I have tons of fond memories from the friendships that were built in EQ. That game was open to making friends easily....shouting in OOC... Looking for more for the Crypt Camp...etc. Social was so much easier and no so broken down as it is in games now. So many of the item mall games make you play for that ability (which to me, is one reason so many don't play them). After EQ, I remained in contact with every single friend I had made, for years. Eventually, I lost touch.  The new friends I have made, are not really friends. We are fast groups made by the game...not by our effort. It's not the same, and to me, it's one reason why social connections are not as available, nor as fun.

I miss those moments, and I still look for them in every game I visit. But staying in a game...that...would take better social interactions easily available. More investment for me to care about...(crafting, equipment, homes etc).

Long term, games fade because it's the same thing every day. If they would just freshen up loot, add more or different styles monthly, that would help to motivate folks to stay...to constantly gain something new and different.  They don't always have to add a whole new area...just change things out, and make it fresh. And...don't tell them you are doing it. Let that group hunting it find it out and shout it to the world. :)