Just curious, I 've been playing MMO for couple years and as weird as it sounds. I have never asked the question to the healers.

edit:

why do they find it fun?

They find it fun?

No health = death

Healer = replacing health

pretty simple concept.

Because i know people dont take it to help others, so many times our healer just sit there and let everyone die in groups ;)

I have always liked helping people.  I do get tired of it sometimes, it can feel like wack-a-mole.

Sadly in the last couple of years I will only group with friends because people have gotten so rude.  It seems noone helps eachother anymore,  everyone is concerned about doing things as fast as possible to maximize profit ;D.  Then they yell at you for letting someone die due to any number of reasons.  It has kinda gotten like a high stress job.

 Because its fun, and some people actually like to help others. Ah and yea, its more challenging than tab-(F)1 gameplay :=)

I've always enjoyed playing healer/buffing classes. I played my first healer back in FFXI just so i could always gaurantee finding parties. Now i guess I just have no desire to hack and slash instead.

Originally posted by Granrey

 

 

edit:

why do they find it fun?

 

Becouse they decide who will live and who will die :P

Healing isn't the only way of helping others though :) Tanking,DPS,Utility but I still like the tried and tested roles.Hope it works out in GW2 with no healers :)

Simple...

DPS messes up = In 95% of the cases, no negatives for it.

Healer messes up = good chance your group might fail.

Dps pretty much has the least effect on success in a group. While more mechanics are being introduced to help make them more relevent on success, in the end  one dps miss step usually isn't enough to ruin it for the whole group. Healing tends to be more reactive while dps in many cases is simple rotations. Some games are making it more active but even then I usually get more of a rush to play that healer over a dps in an intense fight. 

I find all MMORPG activities pretty much the same in terms of fun.  Therefore, I have no firm personal preferences, (though I really won't do tanks, I'm just not good at them in modern MMO's) so I try to play classes that bring the most benefit to the group, guild or raid that other people may not like playing.

Normally I favor hybrid healers/buffers, but will play the pure healing role if called upon.

@OP

Why people play tanks, dps ,support ,cc , etc classes?

edit:lately games don't have dedicated cc or and support classes though :/

I enjoy healing, well mostly just the more HoT-based healing in RIft, because everything else is either too boring (standard DPS) or too stressful (Tanking in a Raid). Which is funny when you check out my sig and the fact that I'm most excited about playing Guild Wars 2. The game that will effectively destroy the Holy Trinity, with its lack of Tanks & Healers.

I like being a debuffer..

first one in, debuff then move out of the way.

 I feel like I am getting my combat fun in while at the same time helping others.

I think a healer is kinda boring tbh. Whenever I try and heal myself the time it takes for my heal to work I'm already dead.

Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a healer....

I just perfer being in a group with them :)

As for myself, I really have only ever played a healer when it was needed. I prefer to play Tanks, as I like doing a crucial role myself, being able to decide the pace of what's going on. I also like it that someone who is newer can take the role of DPS, since most of the time, there is a little more if not a lot more leniency there, so I can help them through.

I do however have a really good friend who almost exclusively plays Healer/Support. The reason he does it, as I have asked the same question is that, his gaming background is made up of mostly single player JRPG's, and didn't really get into Online gaming/MMO's until about when Aion came out. 

In his words, he loves MMORPG's, but he isn't very good at doing most things in them. He is however an amazing Healer/support player, because to him, it's easier to make someone else great, than try to be that himself. He also finds it more satisfying being the guy that caused everyone to be able to do what they have done, rather than be in the spotlight, because he is required no matter what.

Some people want to destroy things, other people want to nurture and make other people feel better.

I truly believe it's a playstyle that just enjoys putting their attention towards lifebars staying full, instead of watching lifebars go down. Everyone has to deal with setting their attention to something, and I guess being healer is better for some than puller/CC (watching incoming attacks), tanks (watching aggro) and DPS (watching numbers pop up).

This actually says pretty depressing things about this genre...

People like being social in social games. Despite MMORPGs doing their damnest to kill community any more (why?) being a healer or support is a way for people who find damage or tanking too hectic.

It's just as hectic. Healers, controllers, and the like are active in the combat but they don't have to deal with too many harmful surprises.

Tank takes crit, and you have to pop a rescue heal. That's probably the same stress as actually being the tank and seeing that spike of damage and having to switch to a more defensive / standing mechanic.

But there's a buffer from being on the front line for the players who LOVE to heal.

Games moving away from dedicated healers isn't going to be the death of this type of gameplay. Support roles have many more iterations than +500 text popping up on the game field.

I rolled a healer for a few reasons (keep in mind I am primarily a pvp player).

1. Most people who play mmorpgs are bad.  When you have a bad healer, your group dies that much faster.

2. I was sick of dying quickly because of bad healers.

3. If you want a job done right, you need to do it yourself.