The Daily Grind: How do you juggle multiple games?

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 23rd 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind

So you're jumping back into playing your favorite character on, say, Champions Online, and you press the button that you're pretty sure is bound to your energy-building power. It's only a minute later as you stare at an empty gauge and watch your health slowly disintegrate that you realize you hit the button bound to your opening skill in Guild Wars, because you've been playing that more lately. So then you mentally adjust to the keybindings that are, you soon recall, for your Fighter/Monk in Dungeons and Dragons Online... and then you remember what you had bound on Champions Online, but it doesn't matter because you've died.

Everyone has done it. (Probably.) If you're reading Massively, you very likely have more than one game that you play on a regular basis. That means there's always the issue of remembering different keybindings, abilities, playstyles, et cetera. And all this doesn't even mention the problem of varied amounts of playtime. So, how do you juggle multiple games? Do you allot certain times to certain games, do you follow your interest at any given moment, or is it all more or less random? If you've tried multiple methods, what's worked the best for you?

Tags: champions-online, co, culture, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, forgetfulness, game-mechanics, guild-wars, gw, multiple-games, opinion, tdg, the-daily-grind

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

MrGutts said on 8:25AM 11-23-2009

I remember Champions really did that. Not once, but twice. The devs changed the key binds or just wiped them all together and nothing worked.

Aganazer said on 8:46AM 11-23-2009

I've never had a problem mixing up MMOG controls. They are pretty standard these days. But trying to jump back into a game like X2, the old space game, would be a real challenge.

The worst that could happen in a MMOG is that I'll hit 'I' for inventory and then try 'B' for bags instead. Damn Blizzard for screwing up decades of D&D interface experience!

Jen said on 9:09AM 11-23-2009

Guess I'm the weird one then. I only play one game at a time. It's usually WoW but I will occassionally try other games. DDO, LOTRO, Guild Wars, Vanguard SOH, and CO have all been titles I've tried but never put in more than a month or two before WoW pulls me back in.

Trodomir said on 9:32AM 11-23-2009

How do I get to Qeynos?
/q

Oh, fun with n00bz never ends.

Anyway, it's not just MMOs but console games are worse. What was it to take cover again? Oh crap! I just dropped a grenade at my feet!

There really is no standard and there will probably never be. FPS controls in MMOs only work to a point, but strafe and turn are usually switched. Devs love to do their own thing.

Bryan said on 9:34AM 11-23-2009

Depends on the game I suppose. I find it easy to go back and forth between WoW and WAR, although LOTRO is a little tough due to there strange UI and UI artstyle, but I think that's what alts are for. If I feel disoriented due to different controls, I'll make an alt, play him for a bit till I get used to the game again than go back to the character I wanted to play or continue with the alt.

I tend to jump mmorpgs a lot through out the year, especially during dryspells like we've had lately. It is very hard to jump when there is brand new content like a new game or expansion, as those usually give at least 2 -3 months worth if not more of content to go through.

As opposed to content patches, which only last about a week or 2.

UltimateQ said on 9:45AM 11-23-2009

Never really had trouble switching between games. I'd often rebind controls to match my preference. Now I'm pretty used to the WoW-Standard. As much as I hate calling it that, that's what I know it as.

Karl said on 9:52AM 11-23-2009

I tend to play games on certain days.

I flip between LoTRO, WoW, EVE, Guild Wars. The one thing I did make is a chart of how to disable the UI, for screenshots. alt-z, F12, ctrl-F9, ctrl-shift-H... I was getting it confused between each game. ;)

aurickle said on 9:59AM 11-23-2009

The nice thing about MMO's is that you can remap the keys. I do that with everything I play, the moment I log into the game for the first time. So I never have any trouble remembering which button does what.

What I have trouble with is remembering what ability does what. Not only do I have a tendency to rotate between two or three MMO's, but I also have bad altitis. Trying to remember how the different powers work together can get a little hairy at times!

Flolah said on 10:12AM 11-23-2009

I do try to rebind keys to familiar settings. For example, from my Paladin in WoW, I put items with ~10 second CDs on 1-4, stun on 5, heals on 6 and 7, and potions on ALT+6 & 7. Everything else falls into place around those, depending on how often I use them. I try to mimic this in all games that need it, but CO is just about the exception since there are very few analog powers.

Meagen said on 11:28AM 11-23-2009

I don't use a lot of keybinds, I mostly activate attacks and such by clicking with the mouse. I have to look before I click, which tells me exactly which game I'm playing and which character.

The first thing I do with every new game is rebind key controls to be consistent with other MMOs I play. R for autorun, C for target closest enemy, L for quest log/mission list/assignment charter. A and D for strafing left and right, Q and E for turning.

The biggest annoyance is switching between Guild Wars (spacebar autoattacks) and City of Heroes (spacebar jumps). I get into a Task Force with the rest of my supergroup, target a guy, and hop around in place a few times before I remember, oh yeah, I have to actually use attacks.

Neurotic said on 11:39AM 11-23-2009

Two things determine my mmog time: Money - If I can afford to, I play LoTRO or EQ/EQ2, CoX etc, and if not, DDO, RoM, Wizard101 etc - and interest. I play a title untill I make myself sick of it, then go to something else for a break.

doesntalkmuch said on 11:59AM 11-23-2009

The only trouble I have between switching games is witch mouse button moves the camera.

redrinn said on 12:02PM 11-23-2009

I never have more then 1 MMO and 1 single player game going at once. Aion is the easy MMO choice. For the single player game, it was Sacred 2 (very understimated game fyi), then Borderlands which I am about a long day from finishing, then finally Dragon Age! By 2010 I can start MW2 :p

redrinn said on 12:02PM 11-23-2009

...I also find a G13 programmable gameplad really helps so I can program the buttons so that the same fingers perform similar functions no matter what game I play, all without having to change default keypresses in each game I play.

Averice said on 2:18PM 11-23-2009

Usually doesn't take more than a couple seconds actually thinking about it to shift the keybinds around. Going through a ghost run with the key presses helps, locking the visual to the new hand coordination.

Maybe it's easier for people who have experience with musical instruments? I've played the piano for a long time and so shifting finger location based on a similar yet new setting, isn't difficult. Granted I can't do rock band drums at all... so maybe just some instruments.

JJN said on 6:36PM 11-23-2009

That's a really interesting theory. I'm a console player and only Guild Wars on my computer, so I can't really chime in to the rest of the conversation.

Anyone else a musician and can add your input as to it helping you mentally change over from one set of controls to another?

Vincent J. Murphy said on 7:09PM 11-23-2009

I have a standard set of keys that I use on my n52/g13 that I map to the same function in every game: auto-attack is always the same button, cycling through targets always the same, etc.

Gendryst said on 9:30PM 11-23-2009

I never really had a problem between MMO's, but Dragon Age naturally made me want to press and hold 'Tab' just so I can see what are the objects I can interact with in the current MMO I am trying out, CrimeCraft.

For those who have or are playing it, they will know that what that does, is to bring up the UI interface.

Prior to that, it was more of control complexity. For example, my AOC Ranger which had to constantly switch between ranged and melee weapons and hotbars. It get's really crazy when in a group, where you start switching between them more then once every few seconds. I believe the key combinations were SHIFT+R to switch weapons and CTRL+1/2, to switch between hotbars.

Switching between games in general, that's based on my mood and what kind of experience I crave for at that time.

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