Why some people play MMOs alone

Octagon7711

An interesting video about the loner who likes to play MMOs and why they may prefer being alone.  


In this classic GDC 2011 talk, BioWare Austin's Damion Schubert discusses the rationale for solo playstyles in MMORPGs, the need to cater to this playstyle from a business point of view, and the design intricacies of providing solo play without invalidating the 'massive' parts of your game design. 

15 Things ONLY SOLO Players Will Understand

With all the games that emphasize finding friends and communicating, it's not easy being a solo player. Whether you're playing alone in a multiplayer title, locked out of activities meant for pre-made teams or just trying to find an ending that won't disappoint you in single-player titles.

Gruug

It is pretty simple for me. When I played mmo's I could not always play with friends or family due to work hours or such. Therefore, I found myself playing alone and liking it at times. Not to say I did not like to play with others but it was usually the most fun when I could play with people I know. When I hit things playing solo that I could not do alone, I either waited for my friends or stopped playing.

Riotact007

DMKano said:

Many play MMOs to just relax and escape all human drama, hence no talking or socializing with other players. 

If you spend all day dealing with people, its nice to escape people after work 

Single player games are better suited to these people. Why play an MMO if you want to avoid people? I only ever solo on an mmo if I can't commit for a long period at a time.

AlBQuirky

I solo MMOs most of the time these days. I did a lot in the past, too, but these days my desire to "interact" has dwindled greatly.

I enjoyed grouping when fights were tough and you had downtime between major pulls. Players actually talked! (gasp) This no longer exists in MMORPGs.

I sign onto an MMO and like the choice of interacting or not. I enjoy run-by healing. I enjoy asking if someone needs help with a fight. I despise the "get the end as quickly as possible and on to the next one" mentality that is so pervasive now. How can anyone "enjoy" constant speed running?

If I feel like "avoiding people", MMOs are not the game I start up

Pesky

I'm an extreme introvert! I love being alone!

My aversion to people means I would much prefer to play single player games. But single player games (ones that I actually want to play) are becoming very rare these days.

So in desperation, I'm forced to play MMOs. But I try to make them as much like a single player game as I can. I turn off all chat functions so that nobody can speak to me, I check all options that allow me to automatically decline group/guild/trade/whatever invitations (ArcheAge is one of the best games for this).

And I religiously avoid games that try to force me to group or play with others. This includes games that set the difficulty so high, that you can't complete content solo.

But I think I'm at the extreme end of the anti-social gamer spectrum. Oddly enough though (from reading the comments on MMOs that try to force grouping), I think there are more people who would rather play solo, than with other people.

Interitus

Riotact007 said:

DMKano said:

Many play MMOs to just relax and escape all human drama, hence no talking or socializing with other players. 

If you spend all day dealing with people, its nice to escape people after work 

Single player games are better suited to these people. Why play an MMO if you want to avoid people? I only ever solo on an mmo if I can't commit for a long period at a time.

I like to play with friends. But because of the worlds created. If there were MMO's that were identical to their online counterpart, simply scaled for a single person, I would be all over that. Very few single player games come close to the expansive world of many MMO's out there.  Or the customisation. 

AlBQuirky

Interitus said:

Riotact007 said:

DMKano said:

Many play MMOs to just relax and escape all human drama, hence no talking or socializing with other players. 

If you spend all day dealing with people, its nice to escape people after work 

Single player games are better suited to these people. Why play an MMO if you want to avoid people? I only ever solo on an mmo if I can't commit for a long period at a time.

I like to play with friends. But because of the worlds created. If there were MMO's that were identical to their online counterpart, simply scaled for a single person, I would be all over that. Very few single player games come close to the expansive world of many MMO's out there.  Or the customisation. 

...Or the world interaction, other than fight and kill.  MMOs have emotes. Single player games don't.

Another thought I had while reading this thread again:
I don't play online board games, either, even though I love board games. My Steam library and X-Box 360 have quite a few board game adaptations yet I never "log into" their lobbies to play a match. I've always envied players that don't even think twice and just log in, find opponents, and play.

Online differs so much for me compared to face to face. Am I "alone" here, too?

deniter

Most of the time i like to play solo, but will group up for some quests or mobs. I'd say it's maybe 80-20 for playing solo.

I don't think 'solo only' or 'forced grouping' -kind of MMOs work very well. Versatility is one of the strengths of a good MMO game.

Allerleirauh

Riotact007 said:

DMKano said:

Many play MMOs to just relax and escape all human drama, hence no talking or socializing with other players. 

If you spend all day dealing with people, its nice to escape people after work 

Single player games are better suited to these people. Why play an MMO if you want to avoid people? I only ever solo on an mmo if I can't commit for a long period at a time.

I'm a solo player, well, mostly solo. I usually play with a couple people I know in RL; I like playing MMOs over a solo game because I like showing off my achievements, gear, cosmetic items, etc. Achievements are just not as enjoyable in a single player game, at least for me.

Iselin

I do both. As a matter of fact my habitual way of playing MMOs is to do both in roughly equal quantities. In games that have LFG PUGging I play my PvE by solo questing while queued. The only downside of that is that I used to outlevel my solo questing zones quite often but these days with scalable content in many MMOs that's no longer an issue.

And the reason I play that way has very little to do with how I feel about other players and people in general and everything to do with efficiency and challenge as well as using the full range of my skills. Soloing means you never have to wait for anyone else to be ready so you can just move along at whatever pace feels right for you - that's a good thing. But the downside is that you never get to use the skills and synergies that are only there for group play so that's where grouping comes in and the main reason I do that.

I'm also quite fond of informal grouping by proximity the way many MMOs have started doing (Warhammer Online, Rift, GW2, ESO, etc.) That, IMO, is MMOs at their best. You work as a group or don't when and if you feel like it as you drive by events. No fuss, no muss. No "what crappy spec are you using for your DPS to suck so bad?" nor "your tanking sucks, dude;" no raid leader deciding who gets to roll on loot. In other words, none of the obnoxious bossy shit that turns so many people off to formal grouping.

IMO, the soloers, whether they do nothing but solo or those like me who like to mix it up, are the normal ones. It's the "it's an MMO so you MUST GROUP" people (including developers) who are the weirdo psycopaths that need therapy.

Sovrath

Iselin said:

IMO, the soloers, whether they do nothing but solo or those like me who like to mix it up, are the normal ones. It's the "it's an MMO so you MUST GROUP" people (including developers) who are the weirdo psycopaths that need therapy.

I think I lean toward this.

I'm an extrovert, I get energy off of large groups of people. Love large parties (read: "large parties" not "large, loud drunkfests") can hang in a group of people I don't know and be perfectly comfortable.

But the idea that I must always be in the company of people is absurd. In real life I do enjoy my personal time and don't reel like I always have to be "with" people.

There's something a bit too intense for my liking about the "you always have to be with someone" group.

I wonder if they are trying to fill some void, or compensate for something?

Panther2103

Sovrath said:

Iselin said:

IMO, the soloers, whether they do nothing but solo or those like me who like to mix it up, are the normal ones. It's the "it's an MMO so you MUST GROUP" people (including developers) who are the weirdo psycopaths that need therapy.

I think I lean toward this.

I'm an extrovert, I get energy off of large groups of people. Love large parties (read: "large parties" not "large, loud drunkfests") can hang in a group of people I don't know and be perfectly comfortable.

But the idea that I must always be in the company of people is absurd. In real life I do enjoy my personal time and don't reel like I always have to be "with" people.

There's something a bit too intense for my liking about the "you always have to be with someone" group.

I wonder if they are trying to fill some void, or compensate for something?

See I learn towards this for the opposite reason. I'm an introvert and hate large groups of people, but in MMO's I get to choose whether or not I go out in a group. Sometimes I feel like soloing, sometimes I feel like getting a group together and grinding while chatting. It's not always one or the other. 

Forced grouping would be a major turn off from a game for me. 

ConstantineMerus

Forced grouping all available contents is just as lame as making all contents soloable. If you want a world, you need to have both. Your first clue would be the world... you know! 

Theocritus

Some? Don't you mean most?

Amathe

" Hi! I'm Telly Savalas. And if you're like me, you like to be near the action. And when there isn't any action, then you gotta make your own. That's why I carry the Players with Yourself Card."

- SNL, 1988

You can't always get a group, you don't always have time for one, and some groups suck. 

Sovrath

ConstantineMerus said:

Forced grouping all available contents is just as lame as making all contents soloable. If you want a world, you need to have both. Your first clue would be the world... you know! 

I just don't believe in the idea of "forced" anything in games.

Player buys "a game" then they abide by the rules. It's not forced unless someone is "forcing them to purchase the game and to play it."

It's like someone going into a French restaurant and saying "they're forcing me to eat french food!"

Galadourn

alone as in not grouping or what? MMOs are full of people (well, except if you are playing on a dead server). You can ignore them though.

Incomparable

I can tell you why from my point of view and may be that relates to other people as well.

Since its a simple logical explanation.

Its more efficient to organize things yourself and do solo content rather than waiting on a group patiently.

Which is why things like group finder kind of removes that excuse since a person can start their solo content while qued for group content to pick up rare drops so that they can do the solo content quicker.

The problem is ultimately that there is a grind. So people are obsessed with that grind rather than the journey.

But how can you enjoy the journey when the progress is vertical and you have to progress once zone to the next rather than horizontal where people have access to all content and just do it for the content.

Then the idea of content being more about quality would come into play.

Then at the same time the game wouldnt be as addictive for those with addictive personalities trying to do the grind as 'effecient' as possible and playing solo etc

Unfortunately thigns like wow clones are designed to be enticing and draw greater appeal not just to players wanting to play in some fantasy but also investors that follow the same formula of making a wow clone grind fest.

Then if we could may be get some nice big producers working on games with more horizonatal progrression and more fun quests and fun content then not only would the game experience be moer rewarding, imo, but also it wouldnt target those with addictive personalities to support something that is basially not of great value. Its just a business model to make more grind/mediocre content and its not really worth the time to go through that to reach 'end game'.

I am not against the journey, but if it feels like a grind to begin with, then its a bad game. A lot of games do that. The reason why they get away with it so well even though the content is mediocre is becuase of the 'beautiful' packagin. As said before its a business model that they know works, and they design a game world in such a way, and then fill it with a dead world (but beautiful enough to overshadow the static) of many quests.

ConstantineMerus

Sovrath said:

ConstantineMerus said:

Forced grouping all available contents is just as lame as making all contents soloable. If you want a world, you need to have both. Your first clue would be the world... you know! 

I just don't believe in the idea of "forced" anything in games.

Player buys "a game" then they abide by the rules. It's not forced unless someone is "forcing them to purchase the game and to play it."

It's like someone going into a French restaurant and saying "they're forcing me to eat french food!"

Well I didn't mean force in that sense. But let's go with your example: It's like going into a French restaurant alone but their force you to sit and dine with others. 

To correct what I said; a virtual world needs solo activities and group activities. Both should be meaningful and rewarding. 

I'm not saying all games should be like this of course. But this is one of the factors of a perfect MMO in my opinion. 

Gruug

t0nyd said:

 IMO, Roleplaying just doesnt work alone. Yes, there is a genre of single player rpg's but I dont actually consider them an rpg. I consider role to be acting and not combat role. When actually roleplaying I am playing a character and not a "insert class name". From decades of pen and paper play to muds to graphical rpgs, the term role playing game has changed drastically. I think we have all be in the, what is an mmo debate. I think that, what is a role playing game, is a much more interesting debate. This is probably why role playing servers exist.

 If these games where role playing games, then what is the need for role playing servers? Is it because people dont role play? If people dont role play, why do we can it an rpg? 

 I play mmorpg to attempt and fail at role play. Usually I end up making character builds and attempting content thats supposedly to difficult to solo. I enjoyed trying to solo in eq1. I enjoy difficult content that usually doesnt exist in a single player game. I enjoy PvP and player interaction. Even when I am attempting to play a grumpy hermit druid, I enjoy player interaction. I like the concept of being useful or needed by others. I enjoy the concept of needing others even though I may and will try to not need them at times.


 

 

ANY game that you play is technically a "roleplaying" game. If you roleplay a loner fighting the "good fight" it is the same if you are playing as a party doing the same thing. As the loner you may not share that role with others but you certainly share it with yourself. And makes no difference if you are doing it in a formal MMORPG or single player game.

Ccrsin

I mostly play mmos alone too.. Actually im super social irl, but i like to play alone.
Still its fun to collect achi, gear etc and my favorite thing is destroying other people in pvp.

Scot

DMKano said:

Riotact007 said:

DMKano said:

Many play MMOs to just relax and escape all human drama, hence no talking or socializing with other players. 

If you spend all day dealing with people, its nice to escape people after work 

Single player games are better suited to these people. Why play an MMO if you want to avoid people? I only ever solo on an mmo if I can't commit for a long period at a time.

Because sometimes you want to be near people but not talk to anyone. Single player games cant provide that.

Also MMOs have a particular playstyle that single player games dont have - example solo PvP/PK - cant do that in single player games.

I accept the idea that MMOs have a unique play style that can appeal to you strange solo players but the idea that you want to be near people but not talk to anyone is beyond my comprehension. I hope you are not like that at parties.

Scot

Gruug said:

t0nyd said:

 IMO, Roleplaying just doesnt work alone. Yes, there is a genre of single player rpg's but I dont actually consider them an rpg. I consider role to be acting and not combat role. When actually roleplaying I am playing a character and not a "insert class name". From decades of pen and paper play to muds to graphical rpgs, the term role playing game has changed drastically. I think we have all be in the, what is an mmo debate. I think that, what is a role playing game, is a much more interesting debate. This is probably why role playing servers exist.

 If these games where role playing games, then what is the need for role playing servers? Is it because people dont role play? If people dont role play, why do we can it an rpg? 

 I play mmorpg to attempt and fail at role play. Usually I end up making character builds and attempting content thats supposedly to difficult to solo. I enjoyed trying to solo in eq1. I enjoy difficult content that usually doesnt exist in a single player game. I enjoy PvP and player interaction. Even when I am attempting to play a grumpy hermit druid, I enjoy player interaction. I like the concept of being useful or needed by others. I enjoy the concept of needing others even though I may and will try to not need them at times.


 

 

ANY game that you play is technically a "roleplaying" game. If you roleplay a loner fighting the "good fight" it is the same if you are playing as a party doing the same thing. As the loner you may not share that role with others but you certainly share it with yourself. And makes no difference if you are doing it in a formal MMORPG or single player game.

No, this is the difference between "immersion" and roleplaying, the first you can do alone, the second needs other players. I make immersive decisions when I play a solo RPG, that's not the same as roleplaying, interaction with another role-players is a must.

Kyleran

Sovrath said:

ConstantineMerus said:

Forced grouping all available contents is just as lame as making all contents soloable. If you want a world, you need to have both. Your first clue would be the world... you know! 

I just don't believe in the idea of "forced" anything in games.

Player buys "a game" then they abide by the rules. It's not forced unless someone is "forcing them to purchase the game and to play it."

It's like someone going into a French restaurant and saying "they're forcing me to eat french food!"

Specious out of context argument, likely some sort of Latin named logic fallacy to describe it.

Assuming one desires or decides to play a particular game the concept of "forced" gameplay is relevant and easily understood.

"Just don't play" is a valid recommendation,  but irrelevant to the debate whether something is forced on a player within the context of the game's design.

Kyleran

Scot said:

DMKano said:

Riotact007 said:

DMKano said:

Many play MMOs to just relax and escape all human drama, hence no talking or socializing with other players. 

If you spend all day dealing with people, its nice to escape people after work 

Single player games are better suited to these people. Why play an MMO if you want to avoid people? I only ever solo on an mmo if I can't commit for a long period at a time.

Because sometimes you want to be near people but not talk to anyone. Single player games cant provide that.

Also MMOs have a particular playstyle that single player games dont have - example solo PvP/PK - cant do that in single player games.

I accept the idea that MMOs have a unique play style that can appeal to you strange solo players but the idea that you want to be near people but not talk to anyone is beyond my comprehension. I hope you are not like that at parties.

It's not that we don't want to interact with other players, we just are extremely selective on who (and when) we chose to do so.

I really only want to group with people when there is a real benefit to be had, in terms of significant game efficiency or interacting with others in some meaningful fashion.

Otherwise I prefer to go it alone.

Sovrath

Scot said:

DMKano said:

Riotact007 said:

DMKano said:

Many play MMOs to just relax and escape all human drama, hence no talking or socializing with other players. 

If you spend all day dealing with people, its nice to escape people after work 

Single player games are better suited to these people. Why play an MMO if you want to avoid people? I only ever solo on an mmo if I can't commit for a long period at a time.

Because sometimes you want to be near people but not talk to anyone. Single player games cant provide that.

Also MMOs have a particular playstyle that single player games dont have - example solo PvP/PK - cant do that in single player games.

I accept the idea that MMOs have a unique play style that can appeal to you strange solo players but the idea that you want to be near people but not talk to anyone is beyond my comprehension. I hope you are not like that at parties.

Do you live in a city?

I do.

There is a great energy here, a lot of hustle and bustle. But you don't really go out of your way to speak with everyone.