The Daily Grind: Why do you play?
by Seraphina Brennan 
Oct 22nd 2009 at 8:00AM
Filed under: At a glance, Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind
It's a good question too, because we all have different reasons for why we play. Some of us love to explore the world, some of us love to talk and party with others, some of us want to accomplish the goals the game sets forth for us, and still others of us want to kill stuff -- lots and lots of stuff. These are traditionally known as the Bartle psychological gamer types, taken from gamer/developer/researcher Richard Bartle's paper on player culture.
So readers, please tell us why you play and feel free to discuss with your neighbors. It's interesting!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wisdomandlore said on 8:45AM 10-22-2009
I play them to combat the crushing despair of loneliness.
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Arkanaloth said on 8:48AM 10-22-2009
Exploration & story, good interesting involving story and a very pretty world to wrap it around. That said, FF14 can't get here soon enough.
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Jaremy said on 9:09AM 10-22-2009
I play MMO's to meet chicks. More specifically, chicks who cut themselves.
Everything is pain... Now leave me alone so I can suffer through this cigarette & coffee.
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Endach said on 9:11AM 10-22-2009
I rarely give a damn about the story. I enjoy fighting other players and working with groups of players to achieve objectives through PvP. To me.. Fighting against and with other players is fascinating. I grew up playing games like Wolfenstien, Doom, and Wing Commander and while I enjoyed all of those games I always felt like there was something missing and no matter what the difficulty level was set to the AI was always so predictable. Once you played the game for an hour or two you already knew how the AI would react to almost any situation and countering them was done with near mind numbing ease. Granted, video game AIs have improved significantly since then and there are times when you can guess what other players are going to do it before they do it in MMO PvP, but unlike with the AI it’s still simply a guess. I suppose I just like the ‘randomness’ that large scale PvP brings to the table. It’s uncertain, mostly unscripted, and it’s a hellva lot of fun to listen to people screaming on TS or Vent as their ship in EvE goes down in flames, their character in Darkfall is slaughtered, or their wanna be twink in WoW is pwned and their epeen is removed in one clean swipe. I’ve had my fair share of PvP catastrophes, but if I won all of the time I would get bored.
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snowleopard233 said on 9:36AM 10-22-2009
I want to explore a massive and ever-changing world with my friends, all while playing with a character that is uniquely my own.
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JP said on 9:45AM 10-22-2009
I bet there’s quite a few readers on here that’ll doubt this… but it’s the sense of community that drives it for me. I’ve all but quit console games. Other then a select few, I have little interest in any of them. In MMOGs there’s a camaraderie and collective goal that really brings a level of humanity to these games. Strategy, helpfulness, encouragement – all things I see in the games I play (and guilds I join, which I’m particular about). Different groups play for different reasons. Sure, just like the real world, there are assholes, but when you find a group of people to interact w/ on a level greater then just “npc dialogue” and you share with them and get to know them, all in a world of excitement and adventure… its magical. At least for me.
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Havok said on 10:28AM 10-22-2009
Agreed. MMOs usually aren't even good games when you compare them to others on the market, but I play because of the community. Without that I wouldn't even bother. This is the #1 reason I hate playing newer MMOs; everybody wants to solo everything (and the game lets them). BOOOORING.
Faryon said on 10:08AM 10-22-2009
Exploration and trying to kill stuff that normally need a bigger group with a few of my friends is what made MMOs fun for me... too bad most of my friends now only cares about phat lootz..
Lately I have been more focused on finding a MMO with a fun combat system that makes you feel heroic and is challenging at the same time.. no luck finding one yet... pinning all my last hopes on SWTOR.. let's hope it is as good as the developers says it is.....
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Looski said on 10:22AM 10-22-2009
I play mmos for the ability to be part of guild (hopefully with no drama). Do try and do the stupidest stuff in game, to joke around and have fun being slightly suicidal while taking down the biggest baddest boss in the game. And then to be able to pvp and pocket heal the hell outta ppl to win. I love a game where healing is a challenge, but still manageable while playing the actual pve/pvp mini-game thing.
WoW was fun but I didn't continue into WotLK. RoM was a grind at the end with no pvp or very little I should say, also the healing was so fricken easy and broken to me. Most healers spammed one spell. Currently messing around in Guild Wars until GW2 comes out. Between GW2 and SWTOR I hope to get something fun to do.
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Jess said on 10:39AM 10-22-2009
Escapism.
Not that my life sucks or anything; it's great. I am truly blessed.
But you know, epic adventures with swords and armour, monsters, castle sieges and all that jazz. Gotta love it.
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noamraz05 said on 10:40AM 10-22-2009
Agreed.
The one thing that acutally make MMORPG's better is the social part, and the new MMO's try to be "freed" from it, which is, pretty stupid thing.
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Lagwolf said on 1:20PM 10-22-2009
Don't like movies, TV tends to bore me and I get sick of reading all the time. I play MMORPGs as a break from real life that is interactive. Its a good way of getting rid of any angst, tension or frustration, its behind my laid-back attitude in real life.
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Jaiyeson said on 3:52PM 10-22-2009
Escapism.
Same reason as an earlier poster. I love my life, my job and my chic. But I like the idea of plugging in and living a movie for an hour or two. I like things in MMO's such as good stories, RP, PVP and a little bit of raiding here and there.
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