You ever asked yourself "what's the point?"?

furion1025

Hey folks,

I wanted to share this thought that's been bugging me for a while.

I've made similar posts before, but let's look at it from a different angle.

You ever thought "what's the point?" when playing your fav mmorpg?

Is it mmo burnout? Is it gaming burnout in general? How do you deal with such thoughts?

I personally am stuck in a vicious circle (been in it for a while) where you just circle through games, never finding that one "home". I do have other hobbies, yeah, but hell, I want to kick back and relax once in a while and play my fav game, raid, gather, craft and such.

Sharing is caring!

stealth977

Well, I actually do ask that question to myself, quite frequently. I am an old gamer, playing MMOs since Everquest and Asheron's Call, played most of the mainstream ones (except WoW).

Nowadays, I somehow can not find my home either. Back in the old days, I could log in, do all dailies in 15 minutes with no time of day/group restrictions (if the MMO had dailies) and all the rest was weekly dungeons, rare material/xp grinding with friends and raids with the guild, which could be done any time of the day for the former and raids with guild was scheduled for weekends.

Most addictive part for me was raiding of course. The dungeons had many bosses with multiple stages, especially in one of my favorite MMOs, the power of the guild was measured by their completion rate of the end game dungeon, like there were some 8/12 guilds, there were few 9-10/12 guilds, and only one, yes one, 12/12 guild.

We were trying to improve our gear, trying our luck every week to have a nice drop from one of the bosses (and the luck to roll highest for it)...

Well, now I will try to compare with my latest MMO:

1 - Multiple dailies which can be done at certain hours each, you almost need to be online 12 hours a day to be able to complete them and they take more than 2 hrs to complete all if you have a good party.

2 - They are not only limited to a certain time, but also you need to find a good group to do them when the time comes.

3 - Raids suck big time, dungeons with so many useless mobs but few bosses, the bosses are designed such that if one does a slight mistake you get a wipe and at the end they drop useless stuff if you are not super lucky, not to mention everything they drop are bound on pickup, so you cant even give them to someone who may need it...

So, how can I call it home? Dailies feel like a whole time job (if you do not do them every single day you are set back), the raids are not rewarding and the worst part is, almost all MMOs out there, have similar functionality to force you stay online all day (or you miss important stuff)...

I really do hope someday somehow we can see some new MMOs with less greedy producers, so we can call them home...

BajsN3rd

The issue these days is that I simply dont have time to play a fully "mmorpg" since dailies is a huge part of those games nowadays, including "time events" that only occur at certain hours.

I used to play eve online(great game with no dailies and such but just a huge time sink)
Archeage, but dailies and specific time events made me quit(p2w)

I simply dont have time when working.

delete5230

I asked myself that question a few years ago " what's the point ". 

The answer came fast, mmo's suck anymore, their not mmos !

Phry

The point, as always is to have fun, if you get to the stage where you are asking yourself what the point in playing is, then its time to take a break or play something else, it could even be a sign of other issues, so if you are asking yourself what the point is, then perhaps you need to step back and consider what else in your life are you unhappy with.

lahnmir

Phry said:

The point, as always is to have fun, if you get to the stage where you are asking yourself what the point in playing is, then its time to take a break or play something else, it could even be a sign of other issues, so if you are asking yourself what the point is, then perhaps you need to step back and consider what else in your life are you unhappy with.

Quoted for truth. Sometimes the illusion shatters and it can feel like chores or work. Take a break then and come back after said break and/or reevaluating your life/game of choice. I did, I am having more fun in MMOs then ever, I just spend a lot less time in them.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

Po_gg

Never happened, maybe one of the benefits being a hopper   Having multiple "homes" keeping it always fresh and fun, always something to do, if nothing else than chatting with your friends there.
The main thing is what @Phry said as well, to have fun. As soon as you feel it is like a chore, you're passed the border of playing. Playing should always be for the fun.

jmcdermottuk

Phry said:

The point, as always is to have fun, if you get to the stage where you are asking yourself what the point in playing is, then its time to take a break or play something else, it could even be a sign of other issues, so if you are asking yourself what the point is, then perhaps you need to step back and consider what else in your life are you unhappy with.

Exactly. I'm not currently playing anything, MMO or otherwise. Nothing really appeals right now that I haven't played to death and back again. Time to take a step back and catch up on some reading, maybe catch a movie or three.

furion1025

lahnmir said:

Phry said:

The point, as always is to have fun, if you get to the stage where you are asking yourself what the point in playing is, then its time to take a break or play something else, it could even be a sign of other issues, so if you are asking yourself what the point is, then perhaps you need to step back and consider what else in your life are you unhappy with.

Quoted for truth. Sometimes the illusion shatters and it can feel like chores or work. Take a break then and come back after said break and/or reevaluating your life/game of choice. I did, I am having more fun in MMOs then ever, I just spend a lot less time in them.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

May I ask that you describe your own "break" and "reevaluation"?

cameltosis

I ask myself "what's the point" on a daily basis.....about everything. 

The conclusion I came to as a child, that has been reaffirmed every day since, is that there is no point to life. There is no higher purpose, no goals, no right or wrong, about anything. Life is meaningless - it just is. 

That may seem like a pretty bleak outlook, but it is really rather freeing! Recognising that there is no point, it leaves you free to define your own goals. 


For me, my overriding goal throughout life is to have fun. I want to simply be happy. I've tried setting career goals, life goals, relationship goals and all that stuff, but I've never felt good when I actually achieved them (it's really depressing when you achieve your career goal at age 20, only to find out it sucks )

So, by focusing on fun, I have had a more enjoyable life. I can have fun times doing all sorts of things, but when playing games I have to be having fun. I recognise that in most games, there is usually something unpleasant you have to do before reaching the fun. For single player games, this is often the opening parts of the games where I'm at the bottom of the learning curve, or haven't invested in the story. So, I do try to push through the initial unpleasantness in order to reach the fun, but I usually set myself a time limit. 

For a single player game, I typically allow myself 2-5 hours gameplay before passing judgement. For example, when I first played Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I really didn't enjoy it. The first 2-3 hours sucked - it felt small, fairly linear and quite challenging with boring gameplay. However, I pushed through it and by hour 5, I was hooked. 

Same for MMOs. I hate the leveling process in your standard themepark, I find it dull and monotonous. But, I know that I enjoy endgame a lot, so I will force myself through the unpleasantness of leveling in order to reach the content I find enjoyable. 


It has reached a point with MMOs where there is nothing on the current market that interests me. I stopped playing in 2013 and only beta test / free trial MMOs now in a search for a new home. However, the general design direction of the genre has gone a way that I disagree with and don't find pleasure with. Rather than force myself to play MMOs "just because", I'm happier taking a back seat, monitoring the market and waiting for something more suitable. I've gone back to single player games instead. Whilst they don't provide anywhere near the joy I used to get from MMOs, every now and again a good one comes along and I'll have a great week or two playing a new game (like now, I haven't played Prison Architect since it properly released, so been having a lot of fun going back to that game and experiencing the full game). 

Loke666

I think the problem is that the point of close to all modern MMOs is first XP then loot. Your characters motivation is always exactly the same and that isn't good.

Here is where an old game really shined: DAoC. It had a rather different motivation, sure, you still wanted XP and loot but you gained those more to win the war then just for yourself and goals like that makes a game far more fun. Other older games put a lot of focus on your guild ( a few newer does this as well, games like DFO but they tend to have other problems) and building something together.

I think the MMOs need new ways to motivate players, now we usually get a "you are the hero" story but that ends rather fast and after that you get stuck in the gear hamsterwheel with greed as your only reason to continue playing.

I think we need more long term goals then that. It doesn't help that it is so fast to reach max level and complete the story a game have, while there is a bit of story to the raids I don't think it is enough to motivate that many players anymore.

Things like building a city or castle (dungeon works fine as well) together with other players is one thing that work, you have a goal and help eachother to create something. Personal owned houses, farms, mines or similar also helps.

natpick

i did untill i resubbed to final fantasy xiv and im having fun again,i must say i did have a long rest from mmos though,maybe thats all you need is to take a step back for a while,just my simple take on it.

d_20

Yes. We older gamers will probably not have that hot and heavy obsession with a game that we had when we were younger or when we first discovered that one game that started it all. And that's ok. 

I just don't expect too much. I play any game I want when I feel like it only. I also mix it up more with reading. There are some great books out there to catch up on. Hundreds, even thousands, of years worth. And music. So much good music still to discover. Not to mention other hobbies you could take up. 

I'm happy with my ESO, Civ, the oldies I still have to play in my Steam library, and I enjoy checking out the new games. Not worried about the f2p stuff any more. It's  not a new thing anymore, so I can pretty much tell which games are going to be cash grab garbage before they even come out, so I don't waste my time or money. 

I'm happy where my gaming is now.

Edit: Not to mention all the table top games out there to discover or rediscover.

lahnmir

furion1025 said:

lahnmir said:

Phry said:

The point, as always is to have fun, if you get to the stage where you are asking yourself what the point in playing is, then its time to take a break or play something else, it could even be a sign of other issues, so if you are asking yourself what the point is, then perhaps you need to step back and consider what else in your life are you unhappy with.

Quoted for truth. Sometimes the illusion shatters and it can feel like chores or work. Take a break then and come back after said break and/or reevaluating your life/game of choice. I did, I am having more fun in MMOs then ever, I just spend a lot less time in them.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

May I ask that you describe your own "break" and "reevaluation"?

Yeah, no problem.

I've always spend a lot of time on games. I used to have a lot of free time so even though I spend a shitload of time in games I would still have enough time to go out with friends, study, spend time with family and girlfriend etc.

But as I got older I had less and less time. I didn't cut back on gaming time though, I cut back on everything else. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just happened. I've always been competitive when it comes to MMORPGs so that was where it was at, I had to be nr. 1

Then, one day I was going through the motions of gathering cooking materials for that tiny buff in that one raid. Running that perfect, most efficient circle over and over for about 3 hours. And I realized that it was just work, and in less then a second years of fun had been reduced to just that, work.

I quit altogether while asking myself the question why? Not why it all of a sudden felt like work, it was just the breaking point, but why I had been gaming that much in the first place. Once I was honest about that (family trouble, Uni of choice not working out for me) and dealt with these issues I was able to reevaluate what I wanted in my normal, AND gaming life. I didn't have time to be competitive anymore so I just let it go. It gave me tons of time for everything else and once I did go back to MMORPGs there was no pressure anymore to achieve everything possible nor was there the need to be online all the time anymore.

Fast forward 10/15 years and I am happily married, got two beautiful daughters, a great job, 5 consoles under the TV and still play MMORPGs. I will never raid again on that level or spend days online, but those precious few hours I have every week to play? They are worth more then anything in all the years before. Because I am not running away from real life, I am running towards my virtual one.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

Forgrimm

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning

Phaserlight

Darkest Dungeon kept me up until midnight last night playing. Had I been asking "what's the point?" I don't think I would have been enjoying it. 

postlarval

I ask myself this about ALL games because at their core, they ARE pointless.

But so is all entertainment. It's a temporary diversion from RL. That's what it's for...time to allow people to decompress so they don 't strangle the next person they meet.

cheyane

Phaserlight said:

Darkest Dungeon kept me up until midnight last night playing. Had I been asking "what's the point?" I don't think I would have been enjoying it. 

I think the game has become very hard now I was beginning to think like my sad heroes "hopeless", "despair" and "dissolution".

SEANMCAD

the games I have elected to play over the past 3 years are the best there has ever been in the history of gaming (and I started in 1980). For those that are unhappy with their gaming experience they might want to consider being open minded about looking into some of the games that have made other people (like myself) extreemly pleased

furion1025

Lots of great shares here!

SEANMCAD

this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZoyCSffM7I

or this:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/383120/Empyrion__Galactic_Survival/

ManWithNoTan

I was asking myself this a lot last year. I actually started feeling guilty playing so much. Likely due to seeing posts from people around me working out, going to Hawaii on vacation, all the fake "look how awesome my life is" social media posts. I stopped playing for a while, then got seriously depressed. Turns out, I need the distraction that games provide from real life. Shrink says, sometimes just playing a game is an improvement for me, instead of wallowing in grief and depression from really bad stuff that's happened in life this last year. Once I stopped looking for the perfect mmo and just found one to grind away, happily distracted - things in real life got more bearable and actually happy.

Sovrath

lahnmir said:

And I realized that it was just work, and in less then a second years of fun had been reduced to just that, work.

I knew a guy who played Star Wars Galaxies and loved crafting. Until the time he realized he had a second job making stuff for people and wasn't getting paid. That's when he quit. He claims he had a better time of it in Everquest.

Hariken

What works for me now is not to take mmo's seriously anymore. No rush to lvl up and only do solo content. No mmo today is worth getting in to deep with. As an older gamer i feel like i've been playing the same game since 99/2000. he genre just hasn't really changed all that much.

Kyleran

I did once, then realized it was pointless to ask.

Back to grinding.....

Iselin

Does there need to be a point?