Almost every game has one.  Some mystery that no one has figured out.  Oftentimes its not even certain it's true, or if it really means something. But it seems to ....

My personal favorite is the Goldshire Children in WoW.  That is some seriously creepy stuff.

I also spent I don't know how many hours searching for the secret extra level rumored to be in EQ's Tower of Frozen Shadow. I'm pretty sure it's not there, but it was fun looking. :)

It seems like when a game closes shop, they should post a list of mysteries the players never solved. 

So what other games have cool unsolved mysteries in them?

I miss each level being something I spent time at having fun with cool content for that level, instead of each level zooming by in a few hours.

In my first mmo I never reached max level.  My gear was ok for the level I was, but nothing to write home about.  I got to go on some raids, but not often. All around me there were players much more powerful than I was or ever would be, who had items and abilities I lacked and always would lack.

And it was the most fun I ever had in an mmo.

I simply didn't need to be max level, or reach end game, or have the "best" of anything.  I just enjoyed fighting monsters with my friends. 

But now every game is being made according to the "formula."  Rapid leveling, achieved through questing, to reach a so called "end game" that basically consists of a lobby with doorways into grindy instances.  Almost everyone is max level.  Almost everyone is doing something they can call "end game."  You get new gear almost every day, almost all of which is called "epic."

The Devs seem to think people need that.  They believe we need rapid advancement, constant rewards, and for there to not be as great a gap between the "haves" and the "have nots."  In other words, they think we hate being ordinary. Even if you try to be ordinary, they will keep heaping rewards on you until you are powerful.

Do we need that?  Is it really just that simple? 

Personally I don't have a problem with being one of a game's ordinary citizens.  I don't have to be the highest level with the best items to have fun.  I actually don't like reaching "end game" because the journey there is more fun for me (provided it lasts a long time, and isn't so absurdly easy that I reach it anyway in a matter of weeks).

I have played other mmos since where I was max level, had "epic gear," and posted high numbers on meters. And it wasn't even close to being as fun as the games where I was just one of the guys, on a journey in an immersive and alluring world.

Are there any other regular citizens out there? Or anyone who wants to be?

I hope that isn't a real screenshot.  This franchise deserves much better.

Originally posted by UOlover

EQ1 was challenging. The death penalty, the pulls, entire dungeons coming down on you, the travel time, the faction aggro, super roaming 1 hit monsters, having to look at your spell book and see nothing to know when something was going to attack you, no hp regen, night time was actually dark, gear was was actually tough to aquire, leveling took forever, debuffs that could leave you crippled, charming monsters that would then cause you to lose control of your character and get pulled deep into a dungeon. Plenty of challenge heh

Yes, these things and many others.  Nowadays people want easy games.  But for ego's sake they want to believe that their easy games are just as challenging as the old ones.  It's funny to those of us who actually played the older ones. Also, watch them scream with indignation if you suggest a newer game should have some of the features that made the old games hard.

Theoden:    Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day... a red day... ere the sun rises!

Theoden: Ride now!... Ride now!... Ride!  Ride to ruin and the world's ending!

[He stops and faces Sauron's army]

Theoden: Death!

Rohirrim: [echoing] Death!
 

Theoden: Death!
 

Rohirrim: [echoing] Death!
 

Theoden: DEATH!

Overcoming the fear of death and facing danger in spite of it is what makes an mmo experience epic.

I love mini-games.  There are nights where I can't commit to anything time consuming or that requires my total attention, and mini-games are a way of still having some fun.

I guess through there are some definitional issues with what a mini-game is.  Some things I call mini-games may not be meant as such.

Personally I liked WoW's fishing.  Over the years they kept adding more and more features to it.  So many that  I knew some players for whom fishing became their main enjoyment of the game. 

Fishing has as an added advantage that you can chat with people and while some time away, while still getting some rewards, especially if you make things with the fishies.

So what other cool mini-games are out there?

I had just started playing Everquest.  I guess I was level 6, and had started in Kelethin.  A high level character came to town and was offering what seemed to me a King's ransom for spider silk.  I told a real life friend who was around level 3 or 4 about this opportunity, and suggested we go and kill some spiders so we could sell the silk.  He agreed and off we went to an area that had a lot of spiders.

Two things about original EQ.  One is you take experience loss when you die, so you can lose levels.  Later they exempted newbs like us from xp loss, but this was before.  The other thing is that mobs higher level than you had a large aggro range and they would come from farther away than you would expect to kick your ass.

With that in mind, when we got to the area with spiders they swarmed my friend like crazy.  I swear that spiders were calling other spiders on their spidy cell phones to get in on the action.  I look over and there was this mountain of spiders with him at the bottom. I kept trying to save him but there were too many.  He died over and over.  Every time he came back they offed him again. Level 4, gone. Level 3, gone. Level 2, gone. He went all the way back to level 1.

There were a lot of ways that all could have been avoided but we were complete noobs so we didn't know any better.

Anyway, afterwards the phrase "a spidering" came to mean an invitation by one friend to another to do something profoundly dangerous and self destructive.

Many straw men gave their lives to make this article possible.  Take a proposition that is generally true, make it into an absolute by adding the word "all," and watch right become wrong - just add water.

The challenge is gone.  The community is gone.  The need for other players is mostly gone.  And role playing is long gone.

I think we need a new and more descriptive acronym. MSPGNG.  Massively Single Player Grind by Numbers Games.

I have an NcSoft account.  I had it briefly for the 2 weeks I played CO.  (Years ago I had another one for CoH, but that was tied to an old and now defunct e-mail).

So now I'm getting spammed by phishing e-mails telling me they have evidence my Aion account was used in some nefarious way.  I've never played Aion.

My e-mail is not information the spammers got from some third party site because I never gave my e-mail to any third party site. They got it from NcSoft.

That really ticks me off.

I haven't played an mmo in over a year.  I have this tiny hope remaining that one of the new games upcoming will rekindle my interest.  Otherwise I will retire for a long time and then check out what's available once I get to the old folks' home.

Thou shalt realize that if the last 25 mmos which went to market all faced some of the same issues (e.g., gold spam), you will probably also face those issues. Therefore thou shalt have a plan ready to deal with it. "OMG wtf!" is not a plan.

Very nice.  I'm equally impressed with how articulate he is. 

I support players being able to make their own homes and cities, and elect leaders for those cities like in original SWG.

But I would not want to play a game where the players made all the rules.  Some situations don't lend themselves to democratic rule. You would not want a situation, for example, where all the people in an insane asylum voted on the rules, and a patient's vote counts the same as a physician's.  There are a lot more lunatics than staff, so you end up being ruled by crazy people. 

That's sort of what I would expect if players were in control in many mmos. It would have been a good thing back when most players weren't selfish immature asshats though.

The rule of Bob and Jack.

Bob wants to be free to do whatever Bob likes in game, right up until Jack does whatever Jack wants and hurts Bob.  Then Bob want rules and order to limit Jack's freedom.  Bob still wants to be free. 

I have.  So many times lol. 

Usually it's either that my progression has hit a wall, I've been nerfed hard, or the number one reason "drum roll" ... guildmates annoyed hell out of me.

So it's confession time.  Have you quit a game (not in a studied, calm, this just isn't working out or something better came along way) but in a demonstrative anger - let them eat cake - sort of way?

Let's hear your story. :)

I think the reason for the hate is that mmorpgs occupy a unique place in gaming. They are rapidly changing and they each have a shelf life.

There are lots of games. Board games, card games, sports, games of chance, billiards, you name it. What they all have in common is they tend to settle upon some accepted rule set that doesn't change all that much over time. If you want to play 5 card stud poker, chess, pool, or whatever, you will be playing very close to the same way those games were played a hundred years ago or much longer.  So once you find a game you like, you can enjoy it in much the same form your entire life.

Mmorpgs, on the other hand, are new and rapidly evolving.  Almost every aspect of the gameplay is subject to a debate about whether that should be the method of gameplay.

So if you find a mmorpg you really like, unlike most games it can be completely shut down after a time.  Then you go to find a new game like that one, only to discover the industry has completely screwed with how it is played. 

Imagine you want to play cards and people have persuaded the people who make card decks that 12 cards is plenty, no need for 52 anymore - too hard.  Rats!!!!

That's why I think you see so much hate, because while we call these things games they are really more like online adventures without a standardized ruleset or agreed upon objective and method of winning.  Lots of people find something they like, and want to go on liking it, except it goes away or is changed to the point of being unrecognizable.

As to whether it is a success with me, my criteria are:

1. Did it hold my attention for 6 months or more?

2. Was I entertained?

3. Was the world and its story interesting and immersive?

4. Did I meet fun and interesting people?

5. Did I experience new things?

6. Was it memorable enough that I will look back on the experience fondly?

Originally posted by Tazlor

could you put a "all of the above" choice?

 I should have but I ran out of numbers.