I do play games that allow role-switching( New World and Guild Wars 2 are the first to spring to mind) but I always solo the game. I just can't be bothered with grouping with randoms any more. Grouping is just a pale, unsatisfying shadow of what it once was to me. I'm quite happy never grouping with or even talking to another player. That's just me though.
If you are all about solo, what brings you to MMO's? Just curious what is driving you to MMO universe instead of sticking with single player games or survival games with 80 per server.
Are there mechanics you just can't get from a single player experience you find are indispensable in MMO's?
The off chance of occasionally meeting a gamer I can relate to and actually get to know better.
There are more of course, this one is the most important reason in my book.
I have no interest in getting to know randoms these days because game populations are fleeting, transient things and why waste my time chatting to a random who could possibly vanish forever a few hours later. When I am gaming I am usually to be found using voice chat to socialise with real-life family and friends as I play. Also, at my advanced age I do NOT want to find that I've been chatting to some kid because old guys talking to kids online is invariably seen by people - myself included as it happens - as Not a Desirable Thing.
I do play games that allow role-switching( New World and Guild Wars 2 are the first to spring to mind) but I always solo the game. I just can't be bothered with grouping with randoms any more. Grouping is just a pale, unsatisfying shadow of what it once was to me. I'm quite happy never grouping with or even talking to another player. That's just me though.
If you are all about solo, what brings you to MMO's? Just curious what is driving you to MMO universe instead of sticking with single player games or survival games with 80 per server.
Are there mechanics you just can't get from a single player experience you find are indispensable in MMO's?
Lol, yes, of course! Couldn't you work it out yourself? I thought it was obvious. Other players gather resources and make stuff that I can't be bothered to do, so they are very useful to me indeed. I buy the things I need from other players, saving me lots of time and effort. Can't really do that in single player games.
Find yourself a guild of like minded players, it is not as hard as you might think, depends on the game of course. Have a think about the posters on here, there are a lot of us around who harken back to the old days and won't put up with all this nonsense MMOs put us through these days, including teenagers (from your next post).
Find yourself a guild of like minded players, it is not as hard as you might think, depends on the game of course. Have a think about the posters on here, there are a lot of us around who harken back to the old days and won't put up with all this nonsense MMOs put us through these days, including teenagers (from your next post).
I see no reason to seek out a Guild though. Other players are only useful to me because a lot of players like to gather resources or craft things and I can simply buy what I need via the Trading House, Market or whatever it's called in a particular game. That's it. I don't bother socialising in online games at all these days and I haven't done so for many years. If I am playing a game and I'm not already socialising via voice chat to RL family and friends, I am listening to music as I play. No other player required for that either.
So, to sum up, I like MMORPGs because players sell stuff I want whereas in a single-player game I have to do all the running around. I'd rather pay to get the stuff I need without all the hassle because (rather unoriginally) time is money and I'd rather spend money than waste my time. The time I save can be used for other things. I do socialise as I play games, just it's with people I know in real life rather than players in the game. If I play solo I can do what I like, when I like, how I like, all on a whim and without having to do what other people want. Win/win.
Find yourself a guild of like minded players, it is not as hard as you might think, depends on the game of course. Have a think about the posters on here, there are a lot of us around who harken back to the old days and won't put up with all this nonsense MMOs put us through these days, including teenagers (from your next post).
I see no reason to seek out a Guild though. Other players are only useful to me because a lot of players like to gather resources or craft things and I can simply buy what I need via the Trading House, Market or whatever it's called in a particular game. That's it. I don't bother socialising in online games at all these days and I haven't done so for many years. If I am playing a game and I'm not already socialising via voice chat to RL family and friends, I am listening to music as I play. No other player required for that either.
So, to sum up, I like MMORPGs because players sell stuff I want whereas in a single-player game I have to do all the running around. I'd rather pay to get the stuff I need without all the hassle because (rather unoriginally) time is money and I'd rather spend money than waste my time. The time I save can be used for other things. I do socialise as I play games, just it's with people I know in real life rather than players in the game. If I play solo I can do what I like, when I like, how I like, all on a whim and without having to do what other people want. Win/win.
You might as well be in a solo game though, other players are a gaming resource, mine them like you would ore and wood.
I can see why many have gone down the route you have, but I see it as becoming more insular, staying in that bubble. It is a strange development, the internet opened us up to a world of new people, but after a couple of decades pass so many have decided to retire to a bubble. It is more noticeable on social media of course, maybe it is due to age as much as anything, but are those teens talking to as many people as I was around the world on IRC, I doubt it.
I should point out I am not unaffected by this move to a bubble myself, I just try to resist it as much as I can.
Find yourself a guild of like minded players, it is not as hard as you might think, depends on the game of course. Have a think about the posters on here, there are a lot of us around who harken back to the old days and won't put up with all this nonsense MMOs put us through these days, including teenagers (from your next post).
I see no reason to seek out a Guild though. Other players are only useful to me because a lot of players like to gather resources or craft things and I can simply buy what I need via the Trading House, Market or whatever it's called in a particular game. That's it. I don't bother socialising in online games at all these days and I haven't done so for many years. If I am playing a game and I'm not already socialising via voice chat to RL family and friends, I am listening to music as I play. No other player required for that either.
So, to sum up, I like MMORPGs because players sell stuff I want whereas in a single-player game I have to do all the running around. I'd rather pay to get the stuff I need without all the hassle because (rather unoriginally) time is money and I'd rather spend money than waste my time. The time I save can be used for other things. I do socialise as I play games, just it's with people I know in real life rather than players in the game. If I play solo I can do what I like, when I like, how I like, all on a whim and without having to do what other people want. Win/win.
You might as well be in a solo game though, other players are a gaming resource, mine them like you would ore and wood.
I can see why many have gone down the route you have, but I see it as becoming more insular, staying in that bubble. It is a strange development, the internet opened us up to a world of new people, but after a couple of decades pass so many have decided to retire to a bubble. It is more noticeable on social media of course, maybe it is due to age as much as anything, but are those teens talking to as many people as I was around the world on IRC, I doubt it.
I should point out I am not unaffected by this move to a bubble myself, I just try to resist it as much as I can.
Well, you're missing the point or getting confused about letting players gather and make stuff for me to buy on the Auction House (or whatever). It's like having hundreds of unwitting minions scuttling about doing all the work. I hate work. They do it for me, and because of competition on the Auction House I often get very good bargains. I say again, NO single player game will allow me to do that and I'd have to gather all the crap myself. Hard pass.
I don't consider maintaining contact by socialising with people I know in Real Life as I play games "retiring to a bubble" though. I consider it quite the reverse. After all, keeping in contact with RL friends and family became a huge thing in the various periods of Lockdown, and it got people who had never previously used it accustomed to doing so. Sitting in a room for hours at a time on my own and chatting with randoms as I play is what I would consider being "in a bubble" though.
Well, you're missing the point or getting confused about letting players gather and make stuff for me to buy on the Auction House (or whatever). It's like having hundreds of unwitting minions scuttling about doing all the work. I hate work. They do it for me, and because of competition on the Auction House I often get very good bargains. I say again, NO single player game will allow me to do that and I'd have to gather all the crap myself. Hard pass.
Skyrim seems to fit this right? Vendors have what you want to buy, and will buy what you have to sell? Especially with Mods you can set whatever you want.
I am sure there are other games like Skyrim that offer a similar experience. It just depends on what it is you like farming and what you dont like and tailor your experience to games that have those things.
Although if you like the MMO experience sure that works too. However trying to make it a solo experience only, will likely result in a dead game and then it wont matter because there wont be anyone left to buy from. This is exactly what has been happening to most new MMO's.
Well, you're missing the point or getting confused about letting players gather and make stuff for me to buy on the Auction House (or whatever). It's like having hundreds of unwitting minions scuttling about doing all the work. I hate work. They do it for me, and because of competition on the Auction House I often get very good bargains. I say again, NO single player game will allow me to do that and I'd have to gather all the crap myself. Hard pass.
Skyrim seems to fit this right? Vendors have what you want to buy, and will buy what you have to sell? Especially with Mods you can set whatever you want.
I am sure there are other games like Skyrim that offer a similar experience. It just depends on what it is you like farming and what you dont like and tailor your experience to games that have those things.
Although if you like the MMO experience sure that works too. However trying to make it a solo experience only, will likely result in a dead game and then it wont matter because there wont be anyone left to buy from. This is exactly what has been happening to most new MMO's.
People still aren't getting the concept. Vendors in solo games - hell, even in MMORPGs - do NOT have what I want to buy. They sell vendor junk that is all but useless unless you are playing a brand-new character. They don't sell crafted armour that is worth wearing, they don't craft potions that are actually useful or weaponry worth using.
I don't like Farming resources. Period. I don't like Crafting either. ALL games have some sort of Crafting system but to be able to make anything worthwhile you invariably have to make crap, sell the stuff at a loss to an NPC vendor (because nobody else wants it) and then do it all over again... and again... You get my drift. So, I rely on hordes of nameless players to grind all that for me or make stuff that would take weeks of effort for me to make, which gives me more time to actually play the game the way I want to play it.
No single-player game is going to have the equivalent of hundreds of NPC traders constantly farming/crafting. A village in a single-player game might have ONE blacksmith selling vendor crap. In an MMORPG I have the choice of hundreds of player blacksmiths with good quality items for sale at the Auction House.
Your last paragraph is nonsensical. My playstyle is never going to result in a "dead game". The problem of new games dying is that they promise much but fail to deliver, which is why some of the game populations plummet to zero in a very short time.
I like both the idea of a «shared universe» where we can play and trade and if we want to, group up with others. ESO is like that. I also like the idea of games like Pantheon where soloing will always be the worse option, because when you’re forced to group - and forced to have downtime between pulls, you get the truest mmo experience. The downside is that option nr 2 is very time consuming and it will be challenging to play outside prime time
Find yourself a guild of like minded players, it is not as hard as you might think, depends on the game of course. Have a think about the posters on here, there are a lot of us around who harken back to the old days and won't put up with all this nonsense MMOs put us through these days, including teenagers (from your next post).
I see no reason to seek out a Guild though. Other players are only useful to me because a lot of players like to gather resources or craft things and I can simply buy what I need via the Trading House, Market or whatever it's called in a particular game. That's it. I don't bother socialising in online games at all these days and I haven't done so for many years. If I am playing a game and I'm not already socialising via voice chat to RL family and friends, I am listening to music as I play. No other player required for that either.
So, to sum up, I like MMORPGs because players sell stuff I want whereas in a single-player game I have to do all the running around. I'd rather pay to get the stuff I need without all the hassle because (rather unoriginally) time is money and I'd rather spend money than waste my time. The time I save can be used for other things. I do socialise as I play games, just it's with people I know in real life rather than players in the game. If I play solo I can do what I like, when I like, how I like, all on a whim and without having to do what other people want. Win/win.
You might as well be in a solo game though, other players are a gaming resource, mine them like you would ore and wood.
I can see why many have gone down the route you have, but I see it as becoming more insular, staying in that bubble. It is a strange development, the internet opened us up to a world of new people, but after a couple of decades pass so many have decided to retire to a bubble. It is more noticeable on social media of course, maybe it is due to age as much as anything, but are those teens talking to as many people as I was around the world on IRC, I doubt it.
I should point out I am not unaffected by this move to a bubble myself, I just try to resist it as much as I can.
Well, you're missing the point or getting confused about letting players gather and make stuff for me to buy on the Auction House (or whatever). It's like having hundreds of unwitting minions scuttling about doing all the work. I hate work. They do it for me, and because of competition on the Auction House I often get very good bargains. I say again, NO single player game will allow me to do that and I'd have to gather all the crap myself. Hard pass.
I don't consider maintaining contact by socialising with people I know in Real Life as I play games "retiring to a bubble" though. I consider it quite the reverse. After all, keeping in contact with RL friends and family became a huge thing in the various periods of Lockdown, and it got people who had never previously used it accustomed to doing so. Sitting in a room for hours at a time on my own and chatting with randoms as I play is what I would consider being "in a bubble" though.
We will have to differ here, playing with the same Discord group is very much staying in the same bubble to me. Also its not randoms of course, it is guild mates who vary as you play different games.
The RL friends thing can be a great boon when meshed with social media, but I would point out that outside of lockdowns don't we see them anyway? Each to their own, but I note that has a certain ring of irony here as we are becoming too much to our own, my self included.
If it can get to a Vanguard level of content at launch then it should be fine though it will look like an indy game as there is only so much they can do.
I would be completely blown away if that was the case, but its obviously extremely unlikely that such a small team would be able to create such a huge gameworld.
Which until the very end they never managed to fully fill with content.
Honestly when Brad died I thought that was honestly the end of the game.
Its certainly a substantial loss. When McQuaid returned to SOE and did a bit more Vanguard we got a lot of great new content. But I didnt expect it to be the end of the project.
Comments
So, to sum up, I like MMORPGs because players sell stuff I want whereas in a single-player game I have to do all the running around. I'd rather pay to get the stuff I need without all the hassle because (rather unoriginally) time is money and I'd rather spend money than waste my time. The time I save can be used for other things. I do socialise as I play games, just it's with people I know in real life rather than players in the game. If I play solo I can do what I like, when I like, how I like, all on a whim and without having to do what other people want. Win/win.
I can see why many have gone down the route you have, but I see it as becoming more insular, staying in that bubble. It is a strange development, the internet opened us up to a world of new people, but after a couple of decades pass so many have decided to retire to a bubble. It is more noticeable on social media of course, maybe it is due to age as much as anything, but are those teens talking to as many people as I was around the world on IRC, I doubt it.
I should point out I am not unaffected by this move to a bubble myself, I just try to resist it as much as I can.
I don't consider maintaining contact by socialising with people I know in Real Life as I play games "retiring to a bubble" though. I consider it quite the reverse. After all, keeping in contact with RL friends and family became a huge thing in the various periods of Lockdown, and it got people who had never previously used it accustomed to doing so. Sitting in a room for hours at a time on my own and chatting with randoms as I play is what I would consider being "in a bubble" though.
I am sure there are other games like Skyrim that offer a similar experience. It just depends on what it is you like farming and what you dont like and tailor your experience to games that have those things.
Although if you like the MMO experience sure that works too. However trying to make it a solo experience only, will likely result in a dead game and then it wont matter because there wont be anyone left to buy from. This is exactly what has been happening to most new MMO's.
I don't like Farming resources. Period. I don't like Crafting either. ALL games have some sort of Crafting system but to be able to make anything worthwhile you invariably have to make crap, sell the stuff at a loss to an NPC vendor (because nobody else wants it) and then do it all over again... and again... You get my drift. So, I rely on hordes of nameless players to grind all that for me or make stuff that would take weeks of effort for me to make, which gives me more time to actually play the game the way I want to play it.
No single-player game is going to have the equivalent of hundreds of NPC traders constantly farming/crafting. A village in a single-player game might have ONE blacksmith selling vendor crap. In an MMORPG I have the choice of hundreds of player blacksmiths with good quality items for sale at the Auction House.
Your last paragraph is nonsensical. My playstyle is never going to result in a "dead game". The problem of new games dying is that they promise much but fail to deliver, which is why some of the game populations plummet to zero in a very short time.
I also like the idea of games like Pantheon where soloing will always be the worse option, because when you’re forced to group - and forced to have downtime
between pulls, you get the truest mmo experience. The downside is that option nr 2 is very time consuming and it will be challenging to play outside prime time
The RL friends thing can be a great boon when meshed with social media, but I would point out that outside of lockdowns don't we see them anyway? Each to their own, but I note that has a certain ring of irony here as we are becoming too much to our own, my self included.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design