I've been playing MMOs since the launch of Asheron's Call.  Since that fateful day, I've wasted more hours than I care to admit sitting in front of my monitor.  When I started down this path, I was loving every minute of it.  MMOs had a way of transporting me to some distant land and allowing me to slip free from the ho-hum of everday life for a little while each night.

Along the way, something has changed.  I can't be sure if it was me, the industry or some crazy combination, but something is definitely different.  MMOs are still my addiction, no doubt.  I come here daily, and sift through the ever expanding forums looking for any shred of new information, laughing out loud as I read through the countless flame wars, and enjoying the all the unfounded speculation.  However, I don't log into any MMO on a normal basis anymore.  Sure, I have a six month subscription to Rift, and I'll bounce around from one MMO to the next as I tire of them, but MMOs no  longer offer me the escape I once enjoyed.

I've come to realize I'm not a player anymore.  I'm a waiter.  That's pretty much all I do.  I wait on the next big MMO release, hoping and praying that it'll absorb me into it's servers, and I'll once again be content to wander a digital world of make believe and fantasy.  I don't know for sure when it all changed for me, but it has.  I want to be a player again... more than that, I want to play again.  Really play.  

Here's hoping some company out there gets it right.  At this point, I don't care if it's lightsabers, battle axes, machine guns, or frickin' lasers.  I just want a game that feels like home to a lost and weary MMO vet.

Originally posted by Deathstrike2

...MMOs no  longer offer me the escape I once enjoyed.

I've come to realize I'm not a player anymore.  I'm a waiter.  That's pretty much all I do.  I wait on the next big MMO release, hoping and praying that it'll absorb me into it's servers, and I'll once again be content to wander a digital world of make believe and fantasy.  I don't know for sure when it all changed for me, but it has.  I want to be a player again... more than that, I want to play again.  Really play.  

Here's hoping some company out there gets it right.  At this point, I don't care if it's lightsabers, battle axes, machine guns, or frickin' lasers.  I just want a game that feels like home to a lost and weary MMO vet.

Current MMOs seems to be struggle between become a game or virtual world. The repetition of questing and raiding, static contents are really stand out that make the game world not believeable and not feel as if it is alive, and feel as it's a grinding work that leads to nowhere. It make you think what is the point of playing this when everything you did in the game will be gone when the server shutdown anyway.

MMOs these day also seems to be catering toward single to limited number of players instead of catering toward all players on the server to play together at the same time, reduce the player interaction which make socialiing on the forum much more enjoyable than social interaction in game.

I'm also waiting for that MMO that will hit the spot between virtual world and game.

Originally posted by Deathstrike2

I've come to realize I'm not a player anymore.  I'm a waiter.  That's pretty much all I do.  I wait on the next big MMO release, hoping and praying that it'll absorb me into it's servers, and I'll once again be content to wander a digital world of make believe and fantasy.  I don't know for sure when it all changed for me, but it has.  I want to be a player again... more than that, I want to play again.  Really play. 

You're not alone, everyone is a waiter now. There are a couple of good games I can think of, but they're pretty niche. Everyone is just waiting for another vWoW. SWTOR, GW2, that new korean one, they won't be good games and everyone knows it. The next good MMO will be out in about 50 years.

I stopped mmorpgs for couple of years becouse they were horrible for me and now im back with lots of time to waste  but the mmorpgs are still just as bad. Even thought  I havent been subscribing to mmorpgs i've been playing other type of games and also i've lurked around and I atleast think I know exactly why games such as rift are bad games for me (more or less same reasons why I never liked wow as much as older mmorpgs I used to play). Now there are good mmorpgs still that I would really like to play but none of them have enough players to get me started or the combination of game being old + low population + bad UI + me not being familiar with the game makes me not play them.

So here I am a waiter aswell now. I'm waiting gw2, tera and archeage. The last one being most promising to me. I'm not holding my breath thought I would give it couple more years untill a good mmorpg for my taste will emerge but atleast I know that when a worthwhile game hits the shelves i'm going to stick with it.