Length of time playing MMORPGs

Snake3yes

Im new to the forum and this site, but ive been playing MMORPGs for a good while and ive been playing computer games in general for over 22yrs.

The question im posing is what is a fair length of time to give to an MMORPG, the reason i ask this is because a normal PC game will last me less than a month in single player mode, if the multiplayer mode is good i may play it for up to 6months or if i join a clan longer.

The longest i ever played an MMORPG was with LoM which i played for well over a year and reached level 40 Warrior and 25 Toaist, the point is though at that point I was bored. Id done most of the quests, found a sizable chunk of the items and killed most of the mobs, my guild were great to chat to but the game no longer offered me anything.

I think that a lot of people unfairly rate MMORPGs because they expect them to last forever and evolve at the same rate as real life (the power players  even more unfairly so), ive just bought SWG  and im expecting it to last me about a year if I try all the character classes, for the cost invovled I think thats a fair price to pay.

What sort of time spans do other people play their MMORPGs for and what do they expect from them in that time?

 

Snake3yes

W00t!

Umbrood

I played AO on and of for 3 years, or almost, i quit just before the 3 year anniversary, allthough I did play it since beta 3. If the SL expansion had turned out to be something else I would probably still have played, and trough the AI expansion as well.

I look for nothing less then a permanent residence, that might be a bit naive but it is the goal none the less.

iddmitri

I've been playing EQ for over 2 years now. Yes it is kind of boring now couse when you high level there is no much to do. I wish game developers could've make something new when you are high level. I've heard that in WoW when you reach high level you can select Hero Class and level up it from the beginning (level 1 but with higher stats). I VERY like that idea.

∙name: EViLD0G
∙clan: [EXE]
∙playing: EQ, SIMS, AC, AC2, DAoC, FFXI, AW, RS
∙planning: WoW, GW

unaydon

time in game is not what counts fun does. i played daoc for 2yr then swg since it came out. now swg had a life of about 6-8 mth befor it was only a real nice chat room .now back to daoc just till guildwars is out . but to me most mmorpg last about one year or till your fiends leave .because that is what thay are most about playing with people u like to play the game with .

Vengi

Hi Snake, Clearly your only option is to play LoM3 as a sorcerer

I've been playing LoM2 on and off from Beta, and inbetween I've played most of the major MMORPG's out there. I normaly stop myself from getting bored by switching between games, but I always find myself back in Mir, normaly after a patch is released 

I think LoM3 will have patches to keep up with our lvl'ing speed (GN never did as they didn't pay Wemade the royalties)

Snake3yes

I dont think its naive aiming for a permanent residence, it is tough though! Id agree that the developers do oversight the high level players, what I think there should be in games is areas that you can only go to when you reach a certain level and under no other circumstances can you get there otherwise. That way you have a stream of goals and a stream of new areas, mobs and things to do as you progress through the levels.

I think half the problem is that every player can go everywhere from day 1, the main areas should be the trading hub to ensure that everyone meets up but otherwise some areas should be off limits to low level peeps.

Snake3yes

W00t!

neschria

I played UO for about 2 years and I have been playing EQ for about 5 years, with occasional breaks of up to 3 months.

EverQuest lasts longer if you don't believe that the point is to get to high levels and get flags and have better gear than everyone else. I mean, that's fun too, but there are other things to do-- side quests and triggered events and doing things just to see if they can be done. I really enjoy questing and mid-level raiding, even if I don't get anything for MY character out of it. I like to see my friends and guildies get geared up. I also play a ton of alts on 3 accounts across a few servers, so I am always working on something with somebody. I do get bored sometimes when I am at a point where I have finished major quests, and I can't figure out what to do next... but then I go over to allakhazam's and look for some dumb quest I haven't done before.

~*~
neschria

Tombs

In December 1999 a friend bought me Everquest for Christmas and ruined me for the rest of my life!

 

Four and a half years and counting.

Vengi

The biggest problem I had with SWG was that everyone (yes everyone) grinded though there professions macro'ing where ever they could. Combat  would of been a lot better if it wasn't Autolock  (They also nerf'ed CH )

In the end if you play the game casually you get more out of it, and it doesn't get boring so quickly.

 

Annekynn

Every mmrpg has a different length of play time for me. AC1 for example I played for 11 months, and still I hadnt seen and done everything. E&B on the other hand lasted exactly 30 days, after which I had seen and done 95% of the game.

Some mmrpgs, which I plan to last a while, end up lasting only a short time. SWG is a good example, where after 3 months I had a fully maxed out character, 3 at-sts (the limit), my own imperial base, and three houses full of kryat loot. The final nail in the coffin were the huge bugs in the game, like the semi perma death I got from pvp where I couldnt respawn for a full day, laying dead at the med center, until a CSR FINALLY responded to my pleas and fixed my char. When fun goes out the window, so does the game.

--------------------------------------
Played: AC1, DAoC, E&B, SWG
Tested: AC1, AC2, DAoC, Eve, Planetside, Rubies, Lineage 2

Tymora

I have been playing computer games for about 10 years now, mmorpgs for about 6. 
I played Ultima Online for over a year.  Then I moved onto Everquest which I played for just about 2 years.  I played Dark Age of Camelot for a year and a half.  I am currently playing Star Wars Galaxies, which I have been playing for a year now.  I've tried many others that I may have played for a couple of months or so each in between to see how they were (Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call 2, Anarchy Online, Horizons, Final Fantasy IX, Saga of Ryzom Beta, Lineage II, City of Heroes).

I think that the time spent playing a mmorpg and having fun with it without becoming bored depends on how you play.  Players who play mostly for exploration, killing mobs, and finding loot will most likely become bored after a while without add-ons and added content.

Players who enjoy the social aspect of the game may find fullfillment for a longer period of time.  People who make friends in a mmorpg and form close bonds with other players are more inclined to stick to it and continue to have fun.

My experience with Star Wars Galaxies is similar to this.  With all the roleplayers and people creating their own events and content, the gameplay stays fresh and exciting.  The social part of the game keeps me hooked, as well and the nice economic system.

On the other hand, game mechanics and design have a lot to do with how long players can enjoy the game.  For example, Horizons was fun at first, especially crafting.  The economic system was ok at first, but now the game seems to be on a steady decline because the adventuring part of the game is not as well developed as it should be.  Crafters are making items for adventurers that are few and far between, or so it seems to me (being back for a week trial period).

A mmorpg like FFXI was a lot of fun and very deep, offering countless hours of fun.  But in the end, some design decisions caused me to cancel my account, as I could not committ all of the time it required to find a group to adventure with, farm necessary loot, etc.  Again, some players would love this sort of thing, but for me, it got old after a few months, with very little in the way for socialization (many many Japanese speaking players made it difficult, and there was little to zero roleplaying).

So the time spent in mmorpgs can really depend on a lot of things, the game itself can be a huge part, but it also comes down to players play styles and preferences.

Laneo

Meridian 59 back in 95/96

UO in 97 to 98 (When I jumped into EQ Beta)

Then EQ from 99 till present

Other games during my ON and OFFS of EQ included AC1, Horizons, Shadowbane,AC2,AO

Now I'm in SWG messing around, eagerly awaiting EQ2, DE, Vanguard

Cillasi

A game usually keeps my avid interest for about a year.  I may continue to play for another year or so, but less and less and I'm usually looking for something else to play.

I'll usually start by renewing subscriptions to other games I've played to see if I can get the old magic back, or to see what's new, or to find out what friends are still there.  I may even stay a while.

I think the genre is getting a little stale these days, even with all the improvements.  There is just very little that is "new and improved" in gameplay. 

MadCat256

I've been playing Jumpgate since December of 2000. No other game, MMORPG or not has kept my attention that long, though SW:G might stand a chance

Anofalye

*shrug*

 

I am a big baby! 

They ask money on a monthly basic, which mean, they pretend to be able to keep me motivated and at least coming back if I even quit!  A 1 time pay and get lost mentality(regulars games) are not even suggesting any time lenght they can last in their form, althought they usually say between 20 to 100 hours(40-60 for most of them).  Monthly fee is like ''I dare you to be bored with the game at any point, I am soooo sure you gonna come back and pay more and more and more''.

 

This is an unspoken promise, and the ''hardcores'' are those checking that promise the most, yet everyone does it more or less.

- "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''

tu_uilwen

idk me...i play all games on and off...i've played eq...and daoc on and off eq for 3 years daoc for like a bit over a year....

but idk....EQ seems to beable to hold my attention

jsut depends how much you play...what you do when you plkaya nd all that good stuff

Uilwen
-------
Waiting for
-------------
Everquest 2
World of warcraft
Half-life 2
Guild wars

Everquest--Uilwen 45 ranger

Wicked_Edge

/me refers to sig

---------------------------------
UO - 4 years
AC - 2 years
AC2 - 6 months
DAoC - 1 month
FFXI - 7 months
Diablo2 - 9 months
Shadowbane - Beta tested
Lineage2 - Beta tested
mmoRPG'er since October 1997

Perm2069

i think that time playing in an mmorpg is a key point to makeing a succesful game.

all of the posts ahead of me are very factual, and i agree with them.  but there isnt much focus on how things will be with new games.

in the past, the only way a player was able to get to a higher lvl was to do that nasty, time consuming grind.  killing things all over the place, most of the time by your self, and if you are lucky you find a nice group, or you are in a guild to play with.

with some of the newer games, they are thinking about takeing away the ''grind'' and makeing it more user friendly.  this could be a good thing, makeing the game seem more fun, instead of makeing like haveing to get up to go to work every morning at 6.  makeing a game like this can apeal to lots of people.

but, there is a negative side to this.  my friend pointed this out to me.  a new games' success will depend on its longevity.  as soon as he said this, a new light came to me, and i understood.  the reson games like EQ are so popular is that they have to do the grind.  and when they do the grind, they get to another lvl, and they get more skills and abilities, and new doors open up to them.  if they were to eliminate the need to grind, people will have the ability to lvl much faster, and leveling wont mean as much to them because it was so easy.

i totaly agree with my friend an this topic, and i think that game play should be a little longer than what it may be in future mmorpg's.  time playing a game is something that i think is a little overlooked when people make a game, and many people, including my self, think that it should be a little more carfully looked at. 

if a game has longevity, then it will be succefull.  how to give a game longevity with out the ''grind'', i dont know, maybe someone will come up with it in the future, but until now, we have to wait and see what the game developers will give us.

Perm2069

Furreh

I agree with alot of these points.

Having played UO, EQ, COH, err thats it , I know grinding can be a pain in the ass, but so is life sometimes. We go to these games to escape reality... into another cyber reality. But admit it, it's the grind that keeps you playing. We RPG players are a different breed of gamers. We find getting through those single player games easy and quickly forgotten. We need a challenge, and the grind is just that.

RPG= Role Playing Game. of course it could just as easily be role playing grind, but to us it's one and the same.

(Of course this has nothing to do with how long we spend on the game doing the grind. I suspect successful games that we spend the most time on have a good balance of grind and playability for us to keep coming back to)