How long do MMOs keep you interested?

Nizur

Out of curiosity, how many MMOs have kept your interest longer than a month? 6 months? 1 year or longer? What was it about the MMO you played the longest that kept you there?

Don't list out all the MMOs you've played. Just list the number that fall into each category and list the one that's held your attention the longest. I'll start.

1+ month: 11

6+ months: 5

1+ year: 2

Longest: WoW (3 years)

WoW was my first MMO, so everything was new and exciting. I jumped in a couple of days after launch, so the game was new and fresh for most people. I played steadily until after BC launched. I enjoyed the world PvP, the dungeons, making alts and leveling them with friends. I was part of a really fun, semi-serious raiding guild before BC. It fell apart when BC launched, and my interest kind of fell apart with it.

Madimorga

Over a dozen - from 1 minute to 1 week

 

Five or six - from 1 week to 1 month

 

One for a year (but my computer wouldn't run much else, or I wouldn't have played that long)

 

Anarchy Online for almost 5 years.

 

Gabby-air

Day-Week: Hundreds

1+week: 20 ish

1+ month: 6

6+ months: 3

1+ year: 1

Longest: Runescape (Little over a year, also my first MMO)

emileecous

less than a week: so many I can't give an estimate

1+ month: 4-6

6+ months: 2-3

1+ year: 3

Longest played games: Ragnarok Online (almost 5 years), RF Online (a year and a half), Atlantica Online (almost 2 years)

Adamantine

As long as possible.

Lineage 2 didnt kept me for long, dont remember how long exactly. Some months, maybe half a year.

Vanguard kept me from its start to last year, so thats 2 1/2 years.


Oh, and if you consider Guild Wars a MMO (I dont), it kept me for 3 days.

whilan

 

1+ Month: just about every decent game out there. No retention value to them.

6+ Months WoW (yes i only played this for like 7 months)

1+ years: Anarchy online, Everquest 2

Longest: Everquest (5-6 years, can't remember which it was now)

BMoor

1+ Month: 6

6+ Month: 0

1+ Year: 2

Longest: Sword2 / (aka Sotnw / GE) at almost 3 years and still going.  I started this soon after it went from a subscription P2P into a F2P mostly as a stress test for a new PC and because the concept of 3 character control was new.  After being frustrated by the other game that I played for more than 1 year, I started playing this one more.  One of the things I enjoyed about it was the music but I couldn't find the official OST for it.  I also enjoyed the various costumes and the wide selection of characters too.  There were some tough times where I thought about quitting and took breaks (to try other MMOs) but I haven't found another with a community that held my interest for longer than 6 months.

Kabaal

1+ month - Too many to count

6+ months - 2

1+ year - 3 (one just over a year, another for 3 years and another for 6 years)

Longest being City of Heroes, Archlord and Age of Conan, City of heroes being the one i still go back to after 6 years and have the sub going regardless (most of the time anyway).

 

I just haven't been able to sink my teeth into any for the past few years properly. I would blame on the game that get released but i think a lot of it was to do with burning myself out with MMOs over the years. I'd like to think i'm ready to settle into a new one long term but i'll just have to wait and see if any coming out in the next year or two are any good.

Rockgod99

If I get into a mmo I stay longer than six months. My six month plus mmos are: UO, EQ, SWG, WoW, EVE, Guild Wars & Ryzom. Mmos just over three months... WAR, DAoC, AO. The rest were under a month, sadly.

Cephus404

Under 1 Month:  AoC, EvE, CoH/CoV, lots more.

Under 6 Months:  DDO, SWG, TR

Year or More:  AO, WoW, GW, UO, EQ

Lots of those games I played more than a year, I played on and off though.  AO, I played for about a year, then left and came back for about 2 years later.  GW, I still play on and off, I may go weeks or months between playing, then jump on for a couple of hours.

Cactus-Man

1 month +:  Champions(2), Warhammer(3)

6 month +:  City of Heroes(8)

1 year +:  World of Warcraft(5 and counting)

 

Everything else I played till the free trial ran out like LotRO, or uninstalled after a day, or in some cases an hour.

Murashu

1+ month: Way too many according to my wife.

6+ months: 3

1+ year: 3

Longest : EQ - the combination of a great game with great friends and excellent server community made me want to logon year after year. After almost 4 years, I still loved the PvE side of EQ, but I really wanted a game that offered me both great PvE and PvP so I moved onto SWG where I stayed about 15 months. Now 6 years later I'm still looking for a game that has both fun PvE and PvP but no one seems to get it right.

Robsolf

Almost all of them, except STO.

Many were only good for a few months, though.  AoC, WoW, and DDO come to mind.

SWG, Eve, and LotRO are the ones I've played the longest.  1-3 years, and LotRO I'm still playing.

pye088j

When buying an mmo I expekt to get 4 months worth out of it. Anything beyond that is a nice bonus. Longest in succession so far AoC with 12 months, CoX all in all 27 months then we have a huge bunch of 1 month here and there mostly out of curiosity.

SnarlingWolf

1+ month - UO, DAoC, AO, LotRO, AC

 

3+ month - UO, AC

 

1+ year - AC

 

I've tried a LOT of MMOs too. EQ, WoW, EQII, AoC, GW, etc etc. some of them don't entertain me past 5 minutes (GW) some of them I try out for 2-3 hours after downloading and then never log in again. They don't have fun in them, they just have repetitive tasks with little rewards to train you to keep going, which doesn't entertain me in the least.

Tokoman

1 month +- a high abundance some which lasted only until I first logged in
Others which lasted just over 1 month.
6 month +- 2 warhammer online and conquer online
1 year +- ragnarok, wow, gw, runescape, aion. Of which Ragnarok and
Runescape were the longest played, then GW then WoW and finally
Aion.

Adam1902

The longest MMO I've been interested in (and still am, but I no longer play) is Legend of Mir. Mir2 alone kept me interested for about 5 years, if you add Mir2 and 3 together, probably about 7 or 8 years.

Next on the list is WoW, which I played on and off from release, and quit half way through TBC Tier 5 raids, me and a friend were still sharing a single Mir account whilst playing WoW. So probably about 2 years for WoW, but 14 or so actual paid subscription months.

Next would be Rohan: Blood Feud. About a year.

And then Darkfall, about 6 months.

 

If Mir still had the massive playerbase it had 5-8 years ago, I'd still be playing without a doubt. The population was so massive, it was the MMORPG that got most UK gamers hooked on MMOs, because it was shown constantly by the old game hosts (GameNetwork) satallite TV channel on Sky.

Not only was their a ton of people, the different kinds of players were insane. Some people would literally just log on to chill and talk with their mates, and would hardley ever go hunting. Some lived to PK, steal etc. Mir now, is a ItemMall based game, everyone who plays it, plays for the same reason. Grind, PvP, conquer sabuk and MudWall. Not only is the community small, and mostly full of asshats and niche little groups of friends.

I'd love an MMO to capture me as Mir once did, but I'm not getting my hopes up. No point what so ever.

Sabradin

wow - 2 years

aoc - 3 months

championsO - 1 month

war - 1 month

 

---

I remember how sucked in I got with WoW.  Can't say there was fun as there was adrenaline rush.

Aoc was a pleasure and a disappointment.

Champions online was just plain fun - 1 months worth.

War was an unsurprising disappointment.

--

Been trying to fill the void created by blizzard since 2007.  Finding other things to do with my life but enjoy talking about games though.

Nizur

There's no consistent game that gets mentioned a lot, but community seems to be a major factor so far. Not really surprising.

Do you think that's part of why a lot of newer MMOs aren't keeping people interested for long? They may have a lot of quests or fun PvP, but there's nothing in the game that fosters community?

How can an MMO foster community?

SnarlingWolf

Originally posted by Nizur

There's no consistent game that gets mentioned a lot, but community seems to be a major factor so far. Not really surprising.

Do you think that's part of why a lot of newer MMOs aren't keeping people interested for long? They may have a lot of quests or fun PvP, but there's nothing in the game that fosters community?

How can an MMO foster community?

 Oddly enough my list had nothing to do with community and everything to do with gameplay. I found AC, UO, DAoC, AO genuinely fun, so I kept logging back in to have fun. I did get to know people in AC and UO (in DAoC and AO I didn't really take the time to get to know anyone I just helped out people as I came across them and then went on my way).

 

Community IS important, and a bad community can drive me away from a game very quickly. However, having a good community will not make me stay. I will not pay $15 a month to log into a graphical chat service to keep in touch with people. If I care about them enough I'll give them and IM or e-mail, if I don't care enough I'll just move on.

 

Gameplay = most important

Community = important in the sense that a bad one will drive me away and a good one will slightly enhance the experience.

noobleto

WoW kept me interested  off and on since release. I quit last may for what I hope is the last time. Everquest was my first mmo and although I didn't play for very long I put more bulk time into it playing for 14 hour streaches more than once. No other mmos have ever matched the first two I mentioned sadly enough

viditorum

not long enough for the money spent regardless of the title

Torluk

Originally posted by Nizur

How can an MMO foster community?

 

Some mechanics that may help in creating more involved communities:

- Less solo play

- Keep information released to the community at a minimum to promote discourse

- Remove auction houses

- Remove items that bind on acquire

- Make crafting a class choice rather than a side-game

- Create event content that requires the participation of members from entire factions on a regular basis

ThomasN7

Maybe 2 months then I'm off looking to find something better.

Kaynos1972

MMO's i've played the longest and continuously, i think the word continuously is important.  For example i played WOW since launch but never for more than a month or 2 at the time.  I would play WOW for 2 months then be 6-7 months without playing it.  This doesnt count i think.

MMO's i have played continuously the longest : Asheron's Call from launch, Nov 1999 to June 2002.   Anarchy Online from June 2002 to May 2005. 

Since i left AO in 2005 i havent found an MMO to keep my interest for more than a few months.

dave6660

< 1 month: A LOT!

1+ months: 4

6+ months:  2

1+ years: 2

Longest: Eve Online... coming up on 2 years.

I just went through the game list on the sidebar and counted this for the first time.  I never realized how many games I've tried compared to how many I actually played past the free trial.  Damn, I must be really hard to please!