I was thinking recently about mmorpgs in general and where the addiction or, perhaps fun, might come from?

I like to play mmorpgs for the social aspect, I like interacting with people, making jokes, and lookind forward to seeing them again, similar to perhaps a friend in one of my college classes, or a customer at my liquor store.  It's not like it generally is a close personal friend, but it is nice to be able to enjoy a game while sharing the experience with others.

So I ask myself as I play TSW and am losing steam... what am I missing?  I have no "friends" on TSW, sure I have met a few people, but I feel the game has little group appeal and is more solo oriented, which is fine because each game is it's own and I am sure people enjoy solo content a lot, but also not fine because beyond "Inferno" or "Polaris" the group content is lacking, as well as social content (or perhaps some people call this fluff?  -Player housing, maybe a card game within the game?)

This solo content is what turned me away from Fallen Earth, in which there was literally nothing to do with friends, besides take on the already easy missions.  TSW is similar in ways, especially with instances for the missions.  Unless I am missing something, when I did a mission with a fellow player, when we got to the instanced part of it, we "went our seperate ways." because the instance was solo only, which I can see why I suppose.  I am not trying to gripe or whine.

It isn't the solo content though, but perhaps lack of a decent cabal?  Lack of the social interaction that I was seeking by playing online games.  Sure I get plenty social interaction in my day to day life with personal friends, work and school, but I also enjoy it with my games and I am curious..............

Do we get attached to the game, or do we get attached to the social bonds that we form with others within the game?

Let me give an example:

SWTOR -  Some people are still having a great time and enjoy the game.  Nay-say, or say whatever you will about it, there are people still enjoying it.  BUT, are they enjoying the game purely itself, or is the game more enjoyable because the community they are involved in?  They look forward to logging in not ONLY because they can slay some mobs, but because they will see Falcor Nightwynd, the guy who they shared jokes with the other week and have stuff in common.  Or perhaps Joleen Mindbender because they flirted and it is fun to flirt and such.  Or maybe the guild is holding a social event (drunk racing in everquest anyone?) and they want to come and have fun doing something besides killing mobs.

So SWTOR would be fun for the person because they have this network of friends and events that keeps the game interesting.

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I merely used SWTOR as an example because I know a lot of people were frustrated by it, but I have seen some who are still enjoying it.  You could throw in Final Fantasy or some other mmo in which didn't do exactly well. (for reasons beyond just the social/community context however.

I do understand that games like ToR or FF had fundamental flaws sorta within their game and that leads people to not want to log in, but this lack of community within the game and lack of developers even making an effort to provide some type of non-combat social interaction makes people stop playing the game.

Sure, it can get boring killing 10 boars over and over for an hour stright, but if you have 4 friends who you can talk with, make jokes, interact in a social manner (however this is achieved) I believe that killing 10 boars for an hour turns into a lot more fun.

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-So do you guys think that social interaction is important in keeping your interest piqued within any mmo type game?

-Can you at least partially agree that an mmo can get very boring despite any game mechanics without decent people to interact with while playing the game?

-Do you think that beyond obvious downfalls of certain mmos, that if they included more social aspects that helped build community, whether pointless or not would help the longevity of the game, allowing people to interact more and feel like they are acheiving something? 

(Example:  Turning in rock to help build a statue of the emperor. -- This is just an example and would be purely cosmetic, but it makes the player feel like they are contributing towards something and can look back a year from now and say:I helped build that.  Or "I was there when Lonking Mentrobot held that event in which 200 people came and we spent 4 hours running around the world in a huge train, laughing and emoting".)

It is the relationships that I think help make the game fun for many overall and without these relationships, community events/feeling like you are contributing to something that makes the lasting appeal of MMOs diminish, well and of course poor game mechanics.

(I know the post is long, so at least snip peices if you wanted to quote.) or...well...do what you want ;)

yeah social bonds is pretty key. There's lots of numbers who simply log on to irc each day. So it does show that is one hook of mmorpgs.

Game ... community is pretty much portable, and i have enough friends. Chatting in WOW is more or less the same thing as doing it in Diablo 3, or DCUO.

Community is what makes it or breaks it for me in an mmo.  For the most part all MMOs have the same gameplay or some variation of it.  In the end it's all the same.

If I can't find a good group of people to bond with and experience the game with, find things in common with, then it usually doesn't last long for me.

If the game doesn't feel right (or you're not into it anymore) but you keep playing because of the people, you should quit. You don't owe anything to anyone.

I play multiplayer games for the social aspects and teamwork. And this is not just MMOs. I played halo for the clan games, I play LoL for the arranged games and I play MMOs the same way.

I left AC when my fellowship/alliance broke apart. I left WoW when my raid guild collapsed.

Most games now days are not designed to reward long term friendship and working together with people with the exception of raid content and perhaps organized pvp content. I miss the incentives to get organized. I miss events like the AQ gate opening event, I miss the Sword of Lost Light quest. I miss reasons to work together towards a common goal as a group.

Its sad, I get more feelings of comraderie from crappy facebook games then MMOs nowdays. And that....is just sad.

Originally posted by zekeofev

I play multiplayer games for the social aspects and teamwork. And this is not just MMOs. I played halo for the clan games, I play LoL for the arranged games and I play MMOs the same way.

 

I left AC when my fellowship/alliance broke apart. I left WoW when my raid guild collapsed.

 

Most games now days are not designed to reward long term friendship and working together with people with the exception of raid content and perhaps organized pvp content. I miss the incentives to get organized. I miss events like the AQ gate opening event, I miss the Sword of Lost Light quest. I miss reasons to work together towards a common goal as a group.

 

Its sad, I get more feelings of comraderie from crappy facebook games then MMOs nowdays. And that....is just sad.

That is because no one wants to spend the effort to build long term relationship over a GAME. I would much prefer to go in and play a co-op game with no string attached. I have made enough friends (some even over MMOs & online games including EQ, WOW and Diablo 3) ... i really don't have time to maintain those "friendships". I have a real life.

I would like to play for the soical abilities of the games, however I find as a newbie, nobody wants to be friends with you. I just started playing MMOs because I have a lot of free times on my hands and nothing to during it. I like playing games, but I'm finding really hard to find a game I can play because I am a newbie and no one is willing to help me learn how to play, or take their 'precious time' (come on it's a game!) to help me get the basics down.

So I would agree soical qualities of the games make it. But they do not make easy for newbies to play any games because of that.

I'm more addicted to the game than the community. I go online to entertain myself within the game rather than reading the any random drama in it. 

That's all =)

I am definitely one of the ones who sticks around for the community. I love my guilds and my friends, and when they go - generally I do too. Most games actually bore me, I use the grind of the game to fill gaps between chatting.

The one game that seems to still retain full social interaction for me is EverQuest - a game originally designed not to be soloed. Mercs (hireable NPCs that aid you) have changed the game play considerably for the better (to help new players get in and up to high levels) and bad (too many reasons to list!). That said - I still find myself looking forward to a good grind fest in a group - who cares what you get or how long you sit there, if you are interacting it's worth it to me.

It's the silent - let's just kill and not chat groups that make me want to cry ;)

So yes - to answer your question - I play for the Community. That is my style, but not necessarily everyones cup of tea.

Originally posted by Medsi

I am definitely one of the ones who sticks around for the community. I love my guilds and my friends, and when they go - generally I do too. Most games actually bore me, I use the grind of the game to fill gaps between chatting.

The one game that seems to still retain full social interaction for me is EverQuest - a game originally designed not to be soloed. Mercs (hireable NPCs that aid you) have changed the game play considerably for the better (to help new players get in and up to high levels) and bad (too many reasons to list!). That said - I still find myself looking forward to a good grind fest in a group - who cares what you get or how long you sit there, if you are interacting it's worth it to me.

It's the silent - let's just kill and not chat groups that make me want to cry ;)

So yes - to answer your question - I play for the Community. That is my style, but not necessarily everyones cup of tea.

You need an MSN chatroom, not a game. There is more game to break up your chatting in a chatroom.

Personally i play games, not chat rooms.

I've found being in an active guild really helps make the game much more enjoyable. When I wasn't in an active guild, I didn't seem to be having as much fun. Maybe it's because it's more fun to do things with people you "know" than to just join a LFD and group with randoms.

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Medsi

I am definitely one of the ones who sticks around for the community. I love my guilds and my friends, and when they go - generally I do too. Most games actually bore me, I use the grind of the game to fill gaps between chatting.

The one game that seems to still retain full social interaction for me is EverQuest - a game originally designed not to be soloed. Mercs (hireable NPCs that aid you) have changed the game play considerably for the better (to help new players get in and up to high levels) and bad (too many reasons to list!). That said - I still find myself looking forward to a good grind fest in a group - who cares what you get or how long you sit there, if you are interacting it's worth it to me.

It's the silent - let's just kill and not chat groups that make me want to cry ;)

So yes - to answer your question - I play for the Community. That is my style, but not necessarily everyones cup of tea.

You need an MSN chatroom, not a game. There is more game to break up your chatting in a chatroom.

Personally i play games, not chat rooms.

Not entirely. I play to be social. If people aren't being social - then I"m probably better off picking up a AAA solo play game for a better in game experience. As I said - my style isn't great for everybody. But it works for me.

Editting also to point out that - I do enjoy many MMO's, but once I've been through them the first time, the repeat grind rarely holds my attention. Some games I can enjoy as they are - EQ1 is an example - I enjoy exploring content, revisiting old content and seeing how/if it has changed and learning the game lore.  SWTOR is another example - I loved the storylines that drive the characters througout. WOW is just plain pretty to look at. Etc. But what KEEPS me in a game is a good community.

Originally posted by Medsi

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Medsi

I am definitely one of the ones who sticks around for the community. I love my guilds and my friends, and when they go - generally I do too. Most games actually bore me, I use the grind of the game to fill gaps between chatting.

The one game that seems to still retain full social interaction for me is EverQuest - a game originally designed not to be soloed. Mercs (hireable NPCs that aid you) have changed the game play considerably for the better (to help new players get in and up to high levels) and bad (too many reasons to list!). That said - I still find myself looking forward to a good grind fest in a group - who cares what you get or how long you sit there, if you are interacting it's worth it to me.

It's the silent - let's just kill and not chat groups that make me want to cry ;)

So yes - to answer your question - I play for the Community. That is my style, but not necessarily everyones cup of tea.

You need an MSN chatroom, not a game. There is more game to break up your chatting in a chatroom.

Personally i play games, not chat rooms.

 

Not entirely. I play to be social. If people aren't being social - then I"m probably better off picking up a AAA solo play game for a better in game experience. As I said - my style isn't great for everybody. But it works for me.

 

Editting also to point out that - I do enjoy many MMO's, but once I've been through them the first time, the repeat grind rarely holds my attention. Some games I can enjoy as they are - EQ1 is an example - I enjoy exploring content, revisiting old content and seeing how/if it has changed and learning the game lore.  SWTOR is another example - I loved the storylines that drive the characters througout. WOW is just plain pretty to look at. Etc. But what KEEPS me in a game is a good community.

 

Us 'solo' players will play MMO's because of the amount of content involved compared to single player games. Now an against a good single player game that can last a long time comes out (like skyrim) but so many of the single player games are lineral and short.

The game gets me to play intially but the community gets me to stay.

Originally posted by Medsi

Editting also to point out that - I do enjoy many MMO's, but once I've been through them the first time, the repeat grind rarely holds my attention. Some games I can enjoy as they are - EQ1 is an example - I enjoy exploring content, revisiting old content and seeing how/if it has changed and learning the game lore.  SWTOR is another example - I loved the storylines that drive the characters througout. WOW is just plain pretty to look at. Etc. But what KEEPS me in a game is a good community.

 

The EQ world was pretty boring to me. You cannot interact with the landscape and they are not that pretty to look at. Most of the spawn points were static.

The only fun thing of EQ to me, back then, was combat & progression. And compared to today's game, combat was meh with no depth (heck, almost any modern MMO has bettern combat mechanics than EQ), and progression was filled with horrible time sinks. It is never that good a game, if you compare to modern games.

On another note, i don't care about community in games because a) i can always make new friends in new games, and b) i can bring my own friends. No one i know just play one game anyway. And there is also no point for me to just play one game. So it is pointless (to me) to focus on the community of any one game.

Originally posted by Castillle

The game gets me to play intially but the community gets me to stay.

I don't see any big value in staying.

Just move on to new games, and move with your friends. Gaming friends (hence community) are not limited to a single game.

Originally posted by SEANMCAD

 

Us 'solo' players will play MMO's because of the amount of content involved compared to single player games. Now an against a good single player game that can last a long time comes out (like skyrim) but so many of the single player games are lineral and short.

This too.

You can't find another SP/co-op game with as much combat mechanics content, classes, and dungeons as WOW. There is no reason not to play WOW as a solo game if you like that kind of content.

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Castillle

The game gets me to play intially but the community gets me to stay.

I don't see any big value in staying.

Just move on to new games, and move with your friends. Gaming friends (hence community) are not limited to a single game.

Originally posted by Medsi

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Castillle

The game gets me to play intially but the community gets me to stay.

I don't see any big value in staying.

Just move on to new games, and move with your friends. Gaming friends (hence community) are not limited to a single game.

 

You are correct - they aren't limited to a single game. But if you find a group or guild you particularily get along with and enjoy spending time- the chances of every one of them switching as well - is very close to nill. Besides - we play games for the sake of having fun. If community is fun for you - then where is the problem?

Why do you need every one to switch?

But yeah, there is no problem if you find playing the same old game just because of people you met online fun. I am just saying there is no value to ME. Friends are easy to make .. and sticking with one boring game (well, every game eventually becomes boring) too high a price to pay.