Behind the Curtain: Why bother?
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, EVE Online, Myst Online: URU Live, Crafting, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, Exteel, Free-to-play, Behind the Curtain, Warhammer 40k
What is it that keeps us playing, months and years after our first trip through the character generation screen?The obvious answer is that we're still having fun. Maybe you've been playing World of Warcraft since release or earlier, you've got an alt of every class, epics to make a GM weep with envy, but you still get that little tingle of excitement every time you log on, that keeps you coming back for more.
What kind of enjoyment do you get from your MMO? Hopefully you are actually having fun with it. If not, I suggest you seek help, or go play Vanguard. Just kidding, maybe.
That being said, how do you quantify 'fun'? Exactly what is it about WoW or EVE Online or any other MMO that keeps you coming back for more? The steep climb to yet another epic flying mount in WoW has pushed me perilously close to burn out over the past few weeks (the impending release of the new 40K rulebook may also be a factor) so I've been thinking, more than usual, about what keeps us going in situations like this.
Is the lore behind your game such that it still captivates your imagination? Thrall's backstory in WoW – the struggle to free his people from slavery, the fight to establish a new homeland and forge a nation from a handful of different cultures – caught my attention immediately. I know a lot of people criticise WoW for being a Warhammer rip-off (and they may be right) but the game world is so wonderfully realised, that it's hard not to get sucked in.
If you're an RP-er, lore might keep you playing past the point where other players would have jumped ship – simply mulling over the lore might be enough to keep your creative juices flowing. I sometimes wonder if that's a primary reason for Star Wars Galaxies' longevity – is it simply because it's Star Wars? There's at least one generation of gamers for whom Star Wars is an integral part of their identity, so the chance to spend time hunting thugs in the streets of Coronet, or chase Dewbacks in the deserts of Tattooine is too much to pass up.
Maybe you're a little more profit driven. Have you cornered the market for a certain kind of elixir in the Alliance Auction House? Are your blueprints the envy of other players in EVE? While that may seem rather mercenary to some people, there's really nothing inherently wrong with it. Maybe you enjoy playing your part as an enabler in-game; by providing other players with the things they need, you're opening up the game to them. Or maybe you just enjoy fleecing the next mark who stumbles into your corner of the market.
It could be that progression is your thing – you're happiest when you and a group of like-minded individuals are burning your way through end-game content, posting up world first kills, and hurtling towards your guild's sudden but inevitable drama-filled implosion. Still, I'll bet it was fun while it lasted, yes?
I suppose you could be a social animal. if so, you're probably in a large guild, with a friend list packed to capacity, and likely the type of player who enjoys and even seeks out PUGs. You freak. While surly, socially inept, solo players like myself may also be guilded, and have a few solid friends, the way you experience and play the game will lean towards a radically more social style of gaming. For you a PUG won't hold the horrors that it does for the rest of us, but will instead hold the promise of another person to crowd out your contact list. Mind you, with as many friends as you're likely to have, PUGs are probably a thing of the past. Maybe you're not as much of a freak as I thought...
Of course, you may not fit into any of these categories, and are simply playing out of habit now. In fact, you're barely playing any more, and instead are just going through the motions without even trying. You're not playing for fun any more, and you'll barely remember what it felt like to do so. Welcome to burn out.
Fortunately, there are ways around this. The easiest one is to simply take a break. While the developers no doubt bang on about every player being important to them, the sad truth is that one player isn't likely to be missed – the game will still be there when you come back. Unless you were playing Myst Online, in which case I have bad news for you.
You don't even have to stop playing MMOs – just try something different. There are bucketloads of free-to-play MMOs out there. Exteel in particular is a hoot, and while I agree with Turpster that it isn't necessarily an MMO, it's a solid game that's undeniably fun to play – I regularly spend time in there, being blown to smithereens by an array of different players.
Alternatively, stick with the same MMO, roll an alt, and and try the game from a different perspective. I don't really rate this idea too highly though; if you're feeling burnt out with a game, I don't think that going right back to the start will do much more than speed the process.
And, on that slightly depressing note, I must bid you adieu. Hit the comments below and share your thoughts on what keeps us playing – where do you find your fun? I didn't really talk about PvP – maybe the rush facing actual people instead of mediocre AI keeps you logging on? Let us know.
_thumbnail.jpg "Aion Beta: Asmodian Ascension Quest")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeromai said on 1:03AM 6-13-2008
Or you could troll message boards and blog comments to get some fun...
Fun is different to different people. If you've read Raph Koster's "Theory of Fun," he mainly posits that learning the ruleset of a game + achieving mastery over it = fun. It's sort of a half-Achiever, half-Explorer outlook of fun, which most can relate to.
It's not all the fun there is though. Years ago, I went through serious WoW-like burnout (climbing a gear ladder on a MUD, grinding out levels to be able to raid this and that - why bother?) and looked real close at why I was repeating the same horrible boring pattern out of habit.
Then I listed the stuff I found personally fun in no particular order, and went looking for games that matched it.
Immersion: Feeling like being in a game world, well-written quest text is a big part of it, load screens are quite tolerable, got to be nice storylines and lore, with a leaning towards realistic graphics over cartoony.
Combat: Big part of any MMO, helps if it feels visually exciting or fluid, innovative mechanics preferred, classes should ideally deviate from holy trinity and be easy to switch skills/roles.
Leveling/XP: Ideally, multiple ways to gather xp - quests, grinding, what-have-you. Soloability a MUST. Teaming should have interesting carrots to attract people to gather together.
Novelty/Newness: Innovative systems for whatever. New MMO smell means lots unknown and not all filed away in some gigantic wiki or database. New things to learn, new sights to see, new info bits to contribute - a "pioneers on the frontier" style that I love. So this guy might have rushed to max level, but I bet he doesn't know about (insert little cool secret)...mwa ha ha, etc.
Little wonder that I had the time of my life in CoX, GW and AoC. LOTRO was a passable WoW substitute since I'm still not touching the ten ton linear grind monster with a ten foot pole. DDO/Eve/Lineage/FFXI are alas, not my cup of tea. I missed the DAoC and EQ1&2 boat, unfortunately.
Reply
Bam! said on 7:06AM 6-13-2008
Every time I make a new DDO character and go into dungeons I've done many times before, I often find a new secret door or boss that I havn't seen before. It keeps it pretty fresh.
Reply
ace_bandage said on 10:11AM 6-13-2008
I'm a big MMORPG fan. I played DAOC for years followed by WoW. For a good 12 months or so, however, I haven't been able to find much fun in the genre. Serious WoW burnout has lead me to cancel and then renew my sub at least three times. Every time I come back it's fun for a little while and then back to boredom.
I've tried EQ2, LOTRO, AoC, and even Tabula Rasa but none of them has been able to hold my attention for long. Honestly I'm wondering if I'm just burnt on the genre altogether...
So in answer to the question "why bother?" I suppose I'd have to say I still seek out some kind of satisfaction from an MMO to escape reality for a little while. But as far as the fun factor - I'm still looking to find that again.
Reply
W. Graves said on 10:39AM 6-13-2008
Community, the fun-ness and the "desire to stick with it"-ness of an MMO comes down to community. Seriously in what other type of game would it be acceptable to "Farm" or "Grind". The community makes all your achievements matter and all your defeats more real.
Complexity and good game mechanics help too ;)
Grammar nazi makes comments sad :(
Reply
Origosis said on 11:50AM 6-13-2008
I rarely make it to End game in most MMO's i usually play to almost end game or mid level 46 in Wow, 67 in EQ2, etc so for me it's the diversity of Different starting areas, Various Zones, Differences in Classes, and the Joy of the 20-40 grind for example. and i will make 2-4 characters and get them all to about the same level.
Reply
Deadmat said on 2:11PM 6-13-2008
For me...
Places to explore and community. Just for fun I have swum (swam?) around both continents to fill in my world maps.
@ Jeromai, I am curious though why AOC, COX and GW were good but WoW wasn't?
AOC and COX dont offer anything different from a leveling perspective and such.
GW, I think I can understand based on information I have heard but I have never played it so don't know for sure.
Was it just that everyone else was playing it and telling you it was the greatest thing ever and you HAD to play? If so, I understand that as well. :) I have a natural kneejerk "NO" whenever someone tells me that.
Reply
Derek K. said on 2:52PM 6-13-2008
"I sometimes wonder if that's a primary reason for Star Wars Galaxies' longevity – is it simply because it's Star Wars?"
Yes. Absolutely. I will spend hours in SWG (Well, used to - not so much any more) simply looking a pictures of things, and going "Dude! That's a Krayt! Awesome!" You can wander a town for quite some time just going "Ooooh! That's the table Han shot Greedo!" The POI's reinforce that - you can say "Huh - I wonder where Luke grew up." Then click your datapad, and go "Oh, there it is."
Many a ranger of old would spend hours just camped in the wilds, looking at scenic vistas, and watching for animals they knew. "Cu Pa. Voritor. Dewback. Bantha. Rancor. Now I just need to find a mynock in a good spot...."
And really, running around yelling "Laugh it up, Fuzzball!" to wookiees never gets old.
Reply
Derek K. said on 2:54PM 6-13-2008
Laugh it up furball.
I'm so embarrassed.
Chad Francis said on 3:35PM 6-13-2008
I can also definitely relate to staying in SWG just because of the lore. By the end of my time with that game, I hated the developed content and gameplay so much that my brother and I would simply use the game as an RP venue and make up metagames to pass the time. It's a shame...
On the whole, I feel like lore and the overall concept of the game is what appeals to me most as well as a fairly defined structure of progression and direction. It's what made my time playing WoW easier than playing EVE despite that, conceptually, EVE could not be more perfect for me.
I also love to explore and love the satisfaction of reaching places that are hard to reach or that few have found before--just living up the experience, yanno?
PS- @Ryan: Your so smart. I'd love to see some of you're work. I'm sure its great.
Reply
Mojo said on 5:42PM 6-13-2008
@Ryan: "id" have thought someone so well versed in grammar would use a capital letter at the start of each sentence. "You're" attention to detail in a five sentence comment is impressive.
Reply
Jeromai said on 1:00PM 6-14-2008
@Deadmat:
Just personal preference. That and when I was burned out and hunting for a new MMO, I was looking for something innovative with no loot at the time. CoX fit the bill.
I tried WoW recently with a trial. I really wanted to like it, because I was impressed by the polish after watching a colleague play it. I got over my cartoony graphics hump, but couldn't get over how "led around by the nose, on railroad tracks" it was for the first ten levels.
It was all a bit too simplistic and linear. I could draw little circles on the map and mark them with clearly defined level ranges. At this level, go to this zone. Do the quest that gets you killing X mobs, go back, get quest killing Y mobs in the same area, go back, get quest killing Z big boss in same area. Geesh, why not give them all to me at once? Proceed to next area. Repeat until 70. With endless jogging.
Crafting progress bars were a simple "do 'em, wait, and increment by 1." Good for someone new to MMOs as a whole, perhaps, but not for me.
Quests had too plain writing, and I had no emotional investment in the lore/story. Perhaps that was why I managed to peel it back and look right at the basic mechanics.
There was no draw in the endgame either. I wasn't fond of the sudden switch from solo easy leveling to an already-explored raid treadmill for gear. Seemed a bit...deceptive, to me. Gear's too highly stressed for me in WoW, affecting PvP performance as well.
For 2/3 the price, I could get a very similar experience with LOTRO, with a more casual "crafted gear just as good as raid gear" equivalency mindset, with more personally appealing lore and music. So I made my choice.
That's probably more detail than you ever wanted, but I type too much. :)
Some day I've got to learn how to use the WoW model viewer, because I do like the graphics now, but just don't want to grind for 3000 hours before getting a particular kewl mount or look.
Reply
Ryan Henson Creighton said on 7:56PM 6-14-2008
The word "your" means "belonging to you". If you are trying to say "you are" more briefly, the word is spelled "you're". The apostrophe indicates that two words have been combined. This is called a contraction.
i'd expect someone with a career in writing to know this.
Reply