Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
MMORPG's are missing the (R) aspect
Predator160
Member Posts: 128
I've played tons of MMO's... but never have I felt the excitement attachment i did with EQ1. When was the last time you were to scared to venture to far out with your warlock, or priest? When was the last time you literally shed a tear after dying to a mob?! WoW and most other games are about leveling as fast as possible to be the best geared or to gank the most people. I think people are missing the best part of what MMORPG's should be...escapism.
I can never remember a time where I've had more fun in a game then i did when I was 12. It was Everquest.
One day I was watching my older brother run around on his level 4 barbarian in the tundra's of Norrath slaying wolf pups and goblins. Eventually he aqcuired a wolf skull helmet and a set of leather armor. He certainly looked like an evil goblin slaying barbarian! I never knew was a MMORPG was before this but this game seemed so alive and intruiging to me...it was a whole world inside of a computer. I knew i had to buy Everquest.
I bought the game the next day and created my human ranger, Chazzell. I ran around Qeynos hills slaying snakes and large bats. Every now and then I would bite off more than I could chew and i would find myself running for my life...behind me a train of snakes, bats, and gnolls. Most of the time I made it to the city gates and was safe, but somtimes i was less fortunate.
I knew that if my character died I pesronally would be devastated. If my character died...a little bit of me died with him. I felt attached to my ranger. I didn't feel like I was controlling a character in a game...instead I felt I was actually in a fantasy world myself! This feeling added a whole new slew of emotions...ones that I never experienced in the real world. Like the fear of dying, or the sense of accomplishment, or the excitement discovering new lands!
But why was this game so intruiging?
Maybe I was just young then and more imaginative? Or maybe it's because it was my first MMORPG?
Or maybe verrant made a truely immersive game?
The closest i've ever come to this feeling was when I played DAOC on my 50 paladin...usually it was when I felt vulnerable in RVR.
so ask yourself, when is the last time you really felt like you were your character?
Comments
Mmos are a mass freeloader/scriptkid/????/profit markets these days. At EQ1 that wasn't really the case now was it?
Mmos changed, became 'open access' & easier, so that more people would get into them (cashshop). This wasn't just a marketing change, the whole gameplay changed.
One effect of these efforts is that with the new players a lot of new wannabe cheaters/rmters came along . I've never seen so many people bot, rmt, hack and plainly destory games since the f2p era started. The cheaters usually just anwser with 'but this is how WE have fun', and they are probably right.
If nothing changes the mmo market as we know it now will just collapse on its own failure "greed'n'cheat" model. Bring back the "worked-hard'and'you-know-it"' model.
Yeah I miss the days. Probably will never come back. Glad I was there when it counted.
Sorry you were 12.
I'm 40 now, not all the things I did when I was 12 I like to do now, with the exception of masturbation.
/thread
EQ was my first MMO as well and I loved it. But if it were to be released today, I'd probably hate it.
It's that first step into a virtual world, it is an amazing experience. Then it tends to fade.
You seem to assume cheating, hacking, and rmt didn't occur in EQ1. You are incorrect. However, I doubt the bots were around much then, but there might have been a few.
...M'thinks you need to step away from the computer for a bit and possibly try playing "The World Outside Your Basement" buddy.
Wow...
in left4dead - playing single player and knowing my npc team mates are without a clue. the game is so spooky, etc that I find myself shooting at leaves sometimes. Of course that game is not a mmo but I think you get my drift. It is the danger element, and mostly MMO's have nerfed that out.
I lol'd
This really depends on what level of immersion you mean. I often feel like the character in a good book I am reading but I never think I am that character. I try to see the situation from a viewpoint my character might have but I never think I am looking through my character's eyes.
As far as fear and adreline making thing more immersive, for me that actually has the opposite effect. It always makes me feel like I am back in elementary school and it completly breaks any immersion.
It's most likely because it was your first MMO. I also feel as if you are missing the danger that EQ brought. I've never played EQ, but I've played FFXI. It was nothing like WoW. Since you couldn't take on monsters for your level without a group, it felt dangerous. That was my main complaint when I first started playing WoW. The world just didn't feel dangerous. Of course there should be mobs you won't be afraid of, but there should be a bunch of mobs you should be afraid of.
I also liked the fact that you couldn't truly gauge a mobs level in FFXI. With all the recent MMOs you know what level a monster is, so you won't ever second guess yourself. You know that if your level 20, you should take on mobs around level 20. If you don't want to take any risks at all, you just fight mobs a level or 2 below you. Sure, you can go out to a zone a bit higher than your level, but it's not the same. I like the feeling of not knowing what could happen, which is why I prefer PvP MMOs over PvE.
Well, atleast if you're scared by video games we don't have to worry about you drinking and driving or something stupid to get a rush.
...M'thinks you need to step away from the computer for a bit and possibly try playing "The World Outside Your Basement" buddy.
I haven't heard of that game yet!!! When is the release date?!
I don't mean when do you actually think you ARE the character...that's just psycho...
What I mean is...when the world is SO immersive that you totally forget your even playing a video game!
MMORPG's are infested with programs like team speak and ventrilo and most of them are also in 3rd person... all of this makes it really hard to imagine yourself being in the world.
Its like flying a model airplane vs. flying in a real airplane
I really do love the dipsticks who want to bash the op for a cheap laugh when most of those same people have likely complained about immersion in the past. Gotta love the internets.
I also love the people who like to justify the sad state of the mmo industry by claiming that the only reason you can't get immersed in a game now is because it's not your first game. What a bunch of balony. Obviously, your first love (or your first game) will always be special, but if what they claim is true than no second love could ever compare to your first. That's just simply not true. If it was, barely anyone would ever find someone worth marrying. After all, we're all so focused on our first love that no other could ever compare.
The simple fact of the matter is that mmos these days are not built to be mmos. They're built to be online games. Admittedly, they do fit the base definition of a mmo, but the immersion factor has all but disappeared. This is an intangible factor that is tough to measure, but it exists all the same. Those new to mmos have absolutely no idea what they missed, and though the graphics get better and the games can do more stuff, that intangible immersion factor is missing. It's like a really hot girl who can't hold a conversation. You want to show her to all your friends, you want to screw her at every opportunity, but you know in your heart that you could never spend the rest of your life with such a boring chick.
Admittedly, I did use women excessively as an example, and no I don't consider a mmo as a replacement for a good girlfriend/wife. However, it is not uncommon for people to spend more time with their mmo than their significant other, so I do believe these are proper analogies.
I agree, there is no danger factor in WoW...also there is no penalty for dying.
If you die in WoW or most mmo's you respawn relatively close to where you died and recieve almost no penalty except maybe rez sickness?
In EQ you lost a TON of hard earned xp ....also you had to go find your body to get your items back...and if you were on a pvp server like i was, you might even lose all your money too!
So there was a big danger factor in EQ...most games are missing that.
I often do not explain things to clearly or well,but you explained pretty much the way it is.I think the F2P may be a good scapegoat,because it was those Korean F2P games that made the cheating /botting more visible and more players grasped the idea for themselves.
The worked hard model,sense of accomplishment is/was FFXI,however that game became a haven for RMT as well,it totally ruined the game ,and they botted the best drops in the game as well,so all the best parts of the game were ruined.Square made many fixes to combat the RMT/botting but instead also attacked the legit players by making the game worse for all.
WOW was the game that created a "FAKE" fanbois setup based around instancing/raiding.It was already around in other games,but those games did not flaunt it or make a major deal of it,because those games were about a "GAME" not a niche or simplistic idea..
Square Enix is the closest to creating the PROPER game,a team based game that asks players to help each other and not COMPETE against each other.The game fell short in some ways,but at least it made the best attempt at it.I think the mature gamers,not just the older gamers,do not care about need/greed/cheating,we just want a game to have fun and get along with other players.You will stil lalways get the immature gamer that nees t oset themselves on a pedestal to brag before all others,like those that load up damage programs to show how l33t their damage is.
When i originally playe Everquest,these people were doing the need/greed thing for drops,i dis not understand it nor did i care,i was just happy to play and have some fun.If i came away with some decent drops when i looked after the end of the day ,it was a bonus.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Well i played the original EQ for a year or so too (starting from beta, actually) and it is not very fun camping mobs and taking a number to kill the boss. I wont do it if not for the drop.