You just find a game with completely game play. 

I'm playing atlantica online atm.  Though that's still a themepark game but that's completely different compare to wow, aion etc.

Or just play other genre of games, single player rpg, action game etc.

Originally posted by chilliz

Yes there is a cure because all the idiots on this site that keep talkign about so called snabox games keep forgetting there are all these wounderful exciting sandbox games out there that are brilliant because they are so called snaboxes.  Why dont you try them out, because its obviuos sandboxs are great and amazing and so much more than cutting trees for 5 days.. oh wait.

 

1) Ryzom

2)Eve

3)Darkfall

4)Mortal online

5)Fallen earth

6)POTBS

7)Earthrise

8)Ultima online

9)xYSON

 

ETC ETC.  So why are you not playing any of those games, they are sandbox games like the so called hardcore, elite veran players here keep talking about.   Unless what you are really saying is you just want a gae you find fun. In a sandbox you dont need ot have fun, all you need is to cut trees.  You dont ened quests etc.  So why arnt you plathese games. So called snadbox players dont need armour, levels, abilities.  All they want is FFA pvp and cutting trees 20 hours a day naked, and mining coal another 20 hours a day.  So why arnt yoplayign these so called sandboxs.  Does anyone even know what a sandbox on this site really is?

 

Hell a sandbox probabaly has less to do in game than a normal game. YES NORMAL GAME. 

 

I play ATITD. It doesn't even have combat. I raise sheep, I spend an hour or two a day cutting wood. I make bricks. I am playing those sandbox games. But I also want a new kind, and I am making it. Assumptions make you an -------. Oh I also play link realms, which is apparently much like ultima or something.

So yes, I know what sandboxes are and I play them. Take your strawman elsewhere please.

Don't know about a cure but there is a relief method. All you have to do is to enter every new MMOs messsageboard and complain about X,Y,Z features and how it's a step back from <insert game here>

Originally posted by chilliz

Yes there is a cure because all the idiots on this site that keep talkign about so called snabox games keep forgetting there are all these wounderful exciting sandbox games out there that are brilliant because they are so called snaboxes.  Why dont you try them out, because its obviuos sandboxs are great and amazing and so much more than cutting trees for 5 days.. oh wait.

 

1) Ryzom

2)Eve

3)Darkfall

4)Mortal online

5)Fallen earth

6)POTBS

7)Earthrise

8)Ultima online

9)xYSON

 

ETC ETC.  So why are you not playing any of those games, they are sandbox games like the so called hardcore, elite veran players here keep talking about.   Unless what you are really saying is you just want a gae you find fun. In a sandbox you dont need ot have fun, all you need is to cut trees.  You dont ened quests etc.  So why arnt you plathese games. So called snadbox players dont need armour, levels, abilities.  All they want is FFA pvp and cutting trees 20 hours a day naked, and mining coal another 20 hours a day.  So why arnt yoplayign these so called sandboxs.  Does anyone even know what a sandbox on this site really is?

 

Hell a sandbox probabaly has less to do in game than a normal game. YES NORMAL GAME. 

 

5,6  are very arguably NOT sandbox MMOs, but themeparks with a few sandbox elements.

3, 4, 7, 9, all Indie games that suffer from a varying degree of lack of direction and/or poor development, and suffer from population issues because of it.

1, 8 are decent, but they are very dated and lack a sufficient player population. UO particularly, and it's also been mutated into a themepark hybrid at this point.

The only worthwhile MMO you've listed that stands up to a decent level of polish, quality, and direction for today's MMO market is Eve, which is a relatively niche game due to it's setting and theme.

So yeah, that's why many of us aren't playing these games at the moment.

When a AAA developer actually makes a decent attempt at a modern sandbox MMO, then we'll see how things go. Archeage may actually do a decent job of being a hybrid, provided it actually gets an NA/EU publisher.

Originally posted by Amaranthar

I don't think it's fatigue so much as players realizing that these games can and should be a lot more sophisticated. The current designs have played into some very basic human nature, and once seeing that people just want more than that.

I think that core game design of simplistic feeding of basic desires (dings and eye candy) needs to change and evolve into a more sphisticated sort of game, yet you don't want to lose those basic desires entirely. Just get them under control, and shift the focus of game play towards more meaningfull experiences.

Edit to add: And diversity. Lot's of meaningfull diversity.

Not really, some times it is fun to play a game like Diablo where you stupidly go down into a dungeon and just kill everything you see.

The problem is when all games are simple and stupid. Watching an Adam Sandler movie once in a while is OK but imagine if all movies were like them *shudders*.

We nned more varied MMOs, some where you just kill stuff others more inspired by games like "thief", politics alá "A game of thrones" among others.

No matter how "sophisticated" a game is we would be tired of it if all other games were just like it.

@OP

Yeah I know what You mean by that. Despite getting invite to SWTOR beta I didn't even bother. WOW, LOTRO, Star Trek, Runes of Magic was enough to make me bored to tears before even trying yet another theme park. I mean fully voiced strory is nice but say Fallout NV or old games like Baldurs Gate  beats it badly. So I'm waiting for GW2 like many many peeps here.

Sandboxes are interesting stuff(I just love idea behind Minecraft) but main problem is most of them push heavy open PvP with looting. Why every sandbox have to be hardcore PvP I know not. I'm not against PvP itself as it can play important role in sandboxes, but it should be light - more into making peeps flag for PvP willingly to defend what bad guys are destroying(and what whole faction created, i.e. stable master or crafting facility), rather defending because they can rob You. Or by trying to control important resources or mobs.

Anyways while GW2 might be a nice pace of change from WOW style MMO I wonder which way devs will push it.  Rift had really innovative ideas but they went to raid or die schema at the end game. I hope A-NET won't go that way or make it PVP heavy game.

For now I'm trying out open beta Wakfu and have to admit that they have lots of interesting stuff implemented. Player regulated mobs spawns and resources, weather influencing crops/plants, politics, no NPCs which means solid base for crafting, 4 factions with PvP, law system that pushes peeps into doing what governor wants. Have to admit that I thought it was a kid game but it's really complex sandbox.

You do not have to play a MMO, you know. There are tons of entertainment out there: SP games, tv, movies, novels, board games ....

The cure is take a break, find a new hobby, or play a sandbox MMO. Why is that so hard to understand?

I suggest playing other games. 

Seriously.  In preparation for SWTOR, I stopped playing MMOs for about half a year or so.  I played games like Terraria, Minecraft, Fable, SPAZ, L4D2, Alien Swarm, Spiral Knights, x3, Dungeon Defenders, Magicka, Skyward Sword, Skyrim, Super mario sports mix...

But now how do I feel about SWTOR?  It feels fresh! o.O

Until Guild Wars 2 is released, a lot of people have been flocking to Tera Online, also there is a closed beta sign up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3cn5qfCbBsA

No need to thank me (>'.')>.

Edit: That link was to the EU sign up, this is for the US

http://www.tera-online.com/node/958

Originally posted by smh_alot
One of the biggest issues I have with the 'TFS' (lol), is that people who suffer from it by extensive playing MMORPG's, seem to lose the ability to be objective in their evaluation of gameplay features that they formerly used to enjoy and have fun with.

For example, mechanics like raids and dungeons and quest leveling that were perfectly alright and fun to them in the past and would probably get high marks from them back then, when they're confronted with the same mechanics now while they have developed this 'themepark fatigue', those mechanics have become insufferable to them and will get low marks.

The OP was speaking about core mechanics needing to change. Right now almost every themepark uses Raids, Dungeons for gear progression not for fun. There's a big difference between running something with complete strangers instantly teleporting there and getting what you need after a few minutes of hack n slash and actually doing something fun like exploring or getting rewards for helping npc's with a mission or two in a dungeon that doesn't require simply killing a boss to see what he drops. 

Next I'll address the questing, the purpose of questing can't change, however, the machanics of questing shouldn't be "lead you by the nose to gain that next ding" it gets old fast. The boring parts also include having to run back to talk to the same npc, not being able to drop the quest and go do something else and not simply getting rewarded for helping on a particular quest line within a zone that's in the middle of being completed. Right now most mmo's using the older system won't even let you see your friends if they are on a different sequence then you and if you can't even quest with your friends in an mmo then it becomes a solo experience.

So i think that the core mechanics shouldn't be the only things to change in these but the purposes for the player to do them should change. 

Eliminate the gear treadmill, the lead-you-by-the-nose mechanic, the cutting out of players you know and even those you don't know participating in your fun and you might just have a game worth playing. All themeparks are right now are grind fests. Then there is the part of the game where you're personal story for your character should affect everything in your world to reflect what you have done and the adventures you have. Having a home base that's static and simply sits there for you to store things in really isn't all that exciting more needs to be done here in most games.

I enjoyed showing off my home in LOTRO to my friends because i got quest rewards to place in my home that showed where i had been what i had done along the way to get to this point in the solo storyline.  I hope more games enhance this experience.

I think that many of these themepark MMORPGs might want to step back and notice that maybe kill, fetch, and activate object quests aren't enough to keep us entertained as much as they could years ago. Take a look at WoW. You got kill quests, you got fetch quests, and you got to activate things quite a bit. It is an old MMORPG quest format. In Burning Crusade they started to experiment with alternatives such as bombing runs, that one trampoline quest in Nagrand, and World PvP objective quests. In Wrath of the Lich King they introduced siege weapons and phasing in quests, which made story progression during quests much better than it previously was. In Cataclysm they went back and just changed up all the old quests to give new characters a better experience. They also found out a way to use the siege weapon UI for just quest things our characters do in certain zones, which allowed them to do some creative things with quests that they normally wouldn't have been able to do without the UI.

If I was a MMORPG developer, would I even consider going back to making a questing experience like WoW had in 2004 and 2007 if I was going head to head with WoW quests in 2012? No! Leveling in SWTOR made me feel sick.

Anyways, now I'm not playing any themepark MMOs until perhaps Guild Wars 2. I don't think I need a break from themeparks, because it is hard to disappoint me if atleast the PvP is fun to me, but I might as well as try to lessen any potential disappointment. It is not a cure for that disappointment, it is just some duct tape that holds the train to level cap together.

For me it's not really fatigue, it's more of a.. I'm now able to see past the illusion so now I can't be dazzled by it anymore. For example when I look at a feature like raiding, I don't see kill epic challenging monsters anymore but a carefully constructed skinner box that you pay monthly for to partake in. 

It's funny how many people have suddenly come down with this.  

You know, it might just be a bad game :p

Originally posted by Vhaln

It's funny how many people have suddenly come down with this.  

You know, it might just be a bad game :p

It's possible.

But it could also be that more and more gamers are finally realizing just how sick they are of bland, uninspired, themepark MMOs with game mechanics resembling the slowly dying gorilla in the room.

At least, that's my hope anyways. The more people that stop buying into the same old re-hashed crap, the sooner the MMO industry will move onto projects that are actually progressive, and not regressive like they've been over the last half decade.

Originally posted by Ceridith

Originally posted by Vhaln

It's funny how many people have suddenly come down with this.  

You know, it might just be a bad game :p

It's possible.

But it could also be that more and more gamers are finally realizing just how sick they are of bland, uninspired, themepark MMOs with game mechanics resembling the slowly dying gorilla in the room.

At least, that's my hope anyways. The more people that stop buying into the same old re-hashed crap, the sooner the MMO industry will move onto projects that are actually progressive, and not regressive like they've been over the last half decade.

I completely agree with you, but here is a video that describes the problems that developers face and why it's hard to deviate from the game mechanics that resemble said dying gorilla. xD

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-future-of-mmos

To the OP, and I swear I'm not being snarky, just walking away from them for awhile seems like a good cure! One night about six months ago, as I was suffering a particularly bad bout of TFS, a friend of mine on Steam called themparks "quest-coasters" and it kinda struck a nerve. I haven't played one since. Maybe a long break will cure me so I can enjoy them again!

This has probably been said before.  I really don't want to read through every single post in this thread.

The cure is sandbox mmo gaming.  Very simple... just sandbox mmo gaming...

Never had the syndrome yet. The run of the mill themepark games don't keep my interest for long enough to run into fatique, though I do enjoy WoW and the games like it.

Umm Stop buying Themepark MMO's...

I am fatigued of sandboxes before I even started playing them...

Then again, both Lineage 2 and Vanguard, the MMOs I actually played so far, have a lot of typical secondary sandbox properties, when you think about it. Such as noninstanced, seamless gameworld.

I am definitely not done with MMOs, still waiting/hoping for the perfect game.