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Going it solo in the MMO world.
dakotaaoc08
Member UncommonPosts: 77
I often hear a lot of people complain about that guy, you know the one that is looking for an MMO but that says he likes to play solo most of the time. Let me toss out a few things this guy enjoys about the MMO genre.
1. The ever changing scenery, MMO's often times have dynamic events sometimes for holidays sometimes guild ran and sometimes just because. Participating in an event does not always require a group or even a second person and can often times be done all alone.
2. Making the Money, farming up enough medium leather to sell so that you have the gold to take control of that one item on the AH and control the market does not really require a group in fact a group is counter productive to what this guy would be going for.
3. You can't hear someone scream in space, some people like mmos for the social aspect but not that of grouping just that of there being a living city to participate in.
What is your reasons behind going solo in an MMO or why do you not like the mmo soloist.
Comments
For me, it is rather a temporal thing... With the old MMO's, I enjoyed going in group etc. The whole feeling to group up was there, it was more like an adventure and I enjoyed it.
Nowadays, the way MMO works, I'd rather just play solo with other players doing other stuff. First of all, most of the time players are VERY VERY bad at the game or even botting. In old MMO's, you'd simply not invite a bot and if a player was bad, the setting would usually let him become better somehow. Now, you want to clear the dungeon as fast as possible and move on.
To sum up, now I'd rather play solo mostly to not be slowed down by some clown.
This thread really has been done to death, and not only is it an ever-popular topic in MMO discussions it has a tendency to deteriorate into flame wars and deeply held feelings with no room for compromise or changing anyone else's opinion.
That said, I don't think anything should be forced. The reason I play MMOs is the dynamism of the play. One minute I'm off by myself farming a node or completing a quest line my friends completed last night when i was out on a date. Then, just as quickly someone might send me a tell that they are going to do a pickup raid and they want me along or that they had a bad day and want to hang out just grind while chatting.
I think this is the bottom line for MMOs. By providing everything they aren't taking away from the folks that want to group exclusively, but the opposite, an entirely group only game, does take away options from their players. I know i just tagged myself as a soloer to the group only fans, but I am not. I just like to have options for playing the game. If I enjoy playing a game then I enjoy it, it doesn't have to be a certain way I play it for it to be enjoyed.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
I agree, but it has changed a lot over the years. In past games, the leveling experience lasted for more than a week or two. You would be grinding solo, come across someone else doing the same thing and just join up because it increased your chance to complete your quest.
Grouping for dungeons just happened when questing took a long time because the best gear for the next 10 levels or so would come from that dungeon. That could actually lead to a solo player finding a home in a guild. If they noticed that you held your own and were a good player. You would get an invite and the solo player becomes a group player.
In today's MMO, the 10 levels might last a day or two so there is no reason to group for it or even do the dungeons because you just out level them and the gear is worthless in less than a day. So you just play solo, go through the quests, explore a bit if you can. Then once you reach end game, you either roll more characters or run dailies till you get board and look for another game.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
I'd rather group with people because I like them and want to spend time with them playing a game rather that just using them to get me what I can't get without them. The best part is I can group with them socially no matter what the gameplay is. I don't need a difficult game forcing me to group just so I can complete things I couldn't without them. That seems pretty terrible if you ask me. Who knows, you might end up spending time with jerks that don't talk or worse talk rudely and them drop out whenever they got what they needed. All in all that's a window into an all around unfun experience.
I joined a guild because I liked the members, not because I could use them to further my own goals. Now that I am an officer in that guild I would rather accept a member because they are fun to game with, not because they can provide some extra epeen for my guild.
I have no problem with slow levelling games as long as the developers provide enough original content to last that long. But make no mistake, slow leveling or fast leveling has no bearing on whether or not you should group. The only thing that matters is do you like those people enough to spend a few hours playing a game with them. That's it! And from what I have played I can and do group in every modern MMO I have played. No sweat.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
I apologize if this topic has become that of decadents, I however thought at this time it could pose as an interesting look, and help in understanding for those that are fashioned to only one way or another.
I do agree that MMO's need to root themselves in a a design and style that allows everything while taking away nothing. The way for companies to achieve such a system however seems to be unbeknownst to most developers, or such a challenge that requires a financial investment they are unwilling to attempt.
Shouldn't this thread be in the mmo pub section? I think people are becoming more accepting of those in the mmo crowd who want to solo. I think what we are looking at tho is the span between introverts and extroverts. It has nothing to do with gaming at all. It's how two different mindsets work.
Introverts feel drained when socializing with others.
Extroverts feel charged when socializing with others.
An introvert may still not want to feel "alone in the universe" so they might live in a city like New York or Chicago happily not socializing with anyone around them. It's about being in the middle of life not interacting directly with it.
Many .. mainly variety in IPs. For example, if I want to play a TNG era Star Trek RPG, there is no alternative but a MMO. So i play it like a SP game.
And many MMOs are decent solo ARPGs when i am want some variety of my ARPGs.
While I do group off and on, in general I am a MMO soloist. This is because I am a fairly antisocial person and I enjoy the challenge of trying to complete quests or kill mobs that are usually considered a group affair. However I still prefer MMO's more often than not because they include a huge and frequently changing world. Other people in the game no matter how annoying add a sense of realism and vitality to the world that is just unattainable in a solo game. So while in the end while I might not want to group with you, I am glad you are there.
That said, MMO is dead. It should be called MSpO or something.
I will only play grouped with friends I know in real life. Because of that I solo a lot. Why? People are mean and I am too soft to cope with it. Getting yelled at while trying to enjoy my hobby (during my precious free time) isn't exactly my idea of fun.
Also, I care about the questing and story. All anyone I've ever grouped with cares about is the loot. I play slow and like to explore. It makes people mad. So I play alone.
nah .. it is not dead .. just changed its meaning. And what is "great" is subjective. I certainly don't depend on others to have fun (in video games).
As a solo player I can say there are two reasons I play MMOs
1. The content is often much larger than a single player game. I perfer to play one game over a long term seeing my progression and exploration increase rather than playing (and learning) a series of different shorter games.
2. There is a sense of contributing to the greater community when in a world that contains other people rather than roaming around in what you know to be a single player world. It adds to the realism so to speak. Even if you dont want to be around others that much you know they are there...just like reality.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
/sigh
To weak (lack of level and stats) to join party because i may drag them down
To strong (in level) to join party because they not get any exp when i help them.
Party full and i can't get my butt in and big raid don't give much exp like normal party.
Or class unbalance so some "unique" classes can't get party because they can't "help".
That's old games
New theme park MMORPGs : everyone busy with tasks , and they easy to done alone.
Even if you want to keep party with people . Tasks and quests cut people a parts because difference play time . So when you 40 , some people you know still 38 or some ready 45.
So most time is solo , and in instance , things become more suck . When your friend list larger than party limit number , it become something like "why not do it with us ?" or something like that . Cause more solo player out here.
In this very sub-forum (The Pub) is a stickied topic about this very topic.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/263753/The-Group-Play-vs-Solo-Play-in-an-MMO-Thread.html
It is a bazillion pages long, but usually this topic gets pointed there.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
I like to solo a fair amount of time myself, but I don't think people should be rewarded for that. It's a choice you make as a player and since you aren't willing to compromise to play with other people/work together the reward shouldn't be as substantial. In Everquest I was always way behind those who grouped in terms of leveling speed and rewards. This is the way it should be. It's not easy to work with other people and you should be rewarded for the effort you have to put in. It's easy to solo as you get to keep all the loot, can leave whenever you want, and don't have to interact much at all. I don't see why some people feel they are entitled to have everything in an MMO as a solo player without succeeding in the challenge of working with other people. I'm more of a introvert in real life and accept the limitations that brings. Sometimes you can do great things alone, but most of the time people who collaborate end up achieving greater things.
There is no good reason why it should be so. We are talking about entertainment here. What entertains go. This is not real life where efforts should be rewarded.
Heck ... achievement in games is just an illusion. You don't really think whacking some monster with a virtual toon is really "effort", do you?