I do take breaks now and then. I like to play other types of games (civ4, TF2), read, work on my own programming / game projects. I only have about 4 – 8 hours a week to game, if that.
So I play CoX, very casual, I can log in for just a half hour and have a good time.
At this point I'm not up for any guilds that have any time requirements. I mostly play guild-less.
I think I’ll still check out WAR. Sounds like the kind of game you can just get in and play without a massive guild commitment.
I've pretty much quit playing. I try to remain up on the hot topics of the day like AoC, WAR and possibly Aion but in general I've quit.
As I put it to my wife 'Sigh. I'm getting to old to play seriously so it's back to work.'
As I put it to my brother and most regular MMO co-player 'It's the end of an Era! I'm getting tired of the the same ole same ole. At least my wife is happy now...sigh'
I quit WoW after playing since nearly retail and I do not regret it.
The draw to these types of games isn't so much the game itself, it is the community and i realized I was spending too much time on people and events who didn't affect my life beyond my pixel world and neglecting people and events in my real world.
Games are supposed to be recreation and for unwinding, not escaping life totally and that is what I was doing and I think many others do also.
It is the psychology of the whole thing. You go to work and are another number, go to school just another *weird* kid, you log on and you are THE TANK everyone has been waiting on to go conquer that next boss, or the guild sexy chick, or the mighty guild GM duh duh DUHN! etc. etc.
I guess a lot of people wouldn't put so much emphasis on MMORPGs if in real life people were kinder.
Just my two cents.
Now I just log onto LOTR after my son goes to bed, play with a couple people I like and just actually relax for a few hours before bed.
By all means, if you're letting a game take over your life, you should stop. But that's hardly an issue with MMOGs specifically, and speaks more to an addictive nature. If you're not disciplined enough to regulate your time, then that is a larger issue.
Personally, that is why I appreciate the new casual-friendly trend in MMOs. You can spend a reasonable amount of time and still feel you're getting your money's worth. What's even worse than having a game that is addicting is having a group of online friends that validate that addiction as being okay.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
mmo games are just ponzi schemes. a way for devs to get more than the $50 for the box all the while doing as little as possible to update the game. mmo's used to be more of a "indie" hobby with devs who were just as much in it to see their world come to life and see players enjoying their hard work and also make money.
now since wow hit it is just a corporate money grab. period.
I have finally almost quit MMO's for good. Playing Hellgate atm, but pretty much don't group. I like it cause I can jump in for 20 minutes and then jump out without building a bad rep for leaving my group/raid group hanging. I was really hardcore into AC and DAoC when they were first out, and it pretty much cost me a relationship back then. Got into WoW pretty good, but when my soon-to-be-wife said she was feeling left out of our relationship, I quit WoW on the spot. That was about two years ago, and with the exception of Hellgate, I haven't looked back. I check up on this site just to keep up with the times, but have NO plans on going back to a real MMO anytime soon. As sad as it is to say, I was amazed at how much time I had back to do other things that I and my friends and family were interested in.
I'm not condemning MMO's, but I, for one, am definitely done with the time eaters.
I would not be here... if I was sure that I had quit for good..... and neither would any of you.......
If you are here... you want back in the addiction.
That said I will not go back to a game that has gold farming/ rep grinding. Until I find a game that just lets me play and let's skill be the factor which decides who advances and who doesnt, as opposed to rewarding addicts who play 20 hours a day, then I won't be back.
If a game comes out that let's me log on JUST to raid and doesn't require me to log on and get gold to pay repair bills, or farm for mats for potions that I must have to raid, then I will not buy the game. I will not buy any MMO until the above requirements have been met.
Games are meant to be played and played out and then we move on. It's impossible to design a game where you can play forever without being bored or feeling jaded after a long time of playing. When I first started playing MMORPGS in 1996 with UO it was a huge blast as everything is new and innovative.. but after 10+ years (and playing dozens and dozens of games) .. I feel it gets harder and harder to satisfy my gaming taste... probably because I've pretty much seen them all.. it's kinda like a drug.. the more you use it the less thrill it gives you... and you have a hard time seeking more and more thrills as the industry simply have a hard time catching up..
That's mostly because the current mess of MMOs are little more than frag-fests. "Oh look, something's moving, let's kill it!" All you have are generic character types with very little personalization, zero actual role-playing and the whole point is grinding to level 70, making a new character and doing it again. I don't blame you for being bored, it's what ultimately drove me away from MMOs years back.
There needs to be something to keep you attached to a game, to make you want to keep your character and identify with it and the current batch doesn't do that at all.
I have not logged onto any subscribed MMOs for almost a year. I have 3x life time accounts, they are collecting dusts, and the others are long gone, expired.
I have no incentive to touch the few closed beta accounts I have downloaded. I tried them for a few hours each, on and off during the year, and I think I spent less than 20 hours on them, collectively.
What will happen later this year, who knows. So many big budget hyped games due to come out, but somehow something inside me is dead. I do not feel the urge to log onto any games now, not even single player games, many of them sitting on my shelf.
There are other ways to kill time, and spare time is getting scarce.
Games are meant to be played and played out and then we move on. It's impossible to design a game where you can play forever without being bored or feeling jaded after a long time of playing.
I disagree completely. All it takes is the right kind of game development. An example of wrong game development is wow, where the game development curve is always behind the player achievement curve. This is due solely to Blizzard's dismal item distribution design. An example of the right kind of game is Diablo 2, where millions of players could play for years and never once see a specific item drop.
Long lasting games needs item distribution systems similiar to Diablo, gameplay mechanics similiar to wow, and sandbox features and world size of SWG. When a developer finally is able to combine these features, a game can be released that has a long life directly out of the box.
Anyways, I'm just saying that just because devs are currently incapable of designing games that can consume years doesn't mean that the idea of a longer lasting game is impossible.
I have finally almost quit MMO's for good. Playing Hellgate atm, but pretty much don't group. I like it cause I can jump in for 20 minutes and then jump out without building a bad rep for leaving my group/raid group hanging. I was really hardcore into AC and DAoC when they were first out, and it pretty much cost me a relationship back then. Got into WoW pretty good, but when my soon-to-be-wife said she was feeling left out of our relationship, I quit WoW on the spot. That was about two years ago, and with the exception of Hellgate, I haven't looked back. I check up on this site just to keep up with the times, but have NO plans on going back to a real MMO anytime soon. As sad as it is to say, I was amazed at how much time I had back to do other things that I and my friends and family were interested in. I'm not condemning MMO's, but I, for one, am definitely done with the time eaters.
Just out of curiosity, were you a raider at that time? I can certainly understand why you would quit wow for your gf if you were a raider, no doubt about that. But until raids start happening, wow is nicely casual and you can easily hop on for an hour or two and accomplish stuff. I personally was quite annoyed when wow changed from a spectacular game to a part time job raidfest. God I hate raiding.... :P Actually, to be fair I don't "hate" raiding. I hate forced raiding on an everyday basis. If raiding was something you did once every week or two or once a month, raiding would be a diverse part of gaming allowing customers experience an alternate form of gaming on occasion. Obviously, there's a big difference between enjoying a raid on occasion and being forced to raid nightly because it is the only end game activity.
Games are meant to be played and played out and then we move on. It's impossible to design a game where you can play forever without being bored or feeling jaded after a long time of playing.
I disagree completely. All it takes is the right kind of game development. An example of wrong game development is wow, where the game development curve is always behind the player achievement curve. This is due solely to Blizzard's dismal item distribution design. An example of the right kind of game is Diablo 2, where millions of players could play for years and never once see a specific item drop.
Long lasting games needs item distribution systems similiar to Diablo, gameplay mechanics similiar to wow, and sandbox features and world size of SWG. When a developer finally is able to combine these features, a game can be released that has a long life directly out of the box.
Anyways, I'm just saying that just because devs are currently incapable of designing games that can consume years doesn't mean that the idea of a longer lasting game is impossible.
Diablo keeps people going on, but sheer grinding for drops that are ALMOST impossible to collect, and virtually impossible to collect them all. There are huge variety in sets, in the stones to get the slotted pieces ... oh don't get me wrong; its an addictive game, but projecting that into the scale of WoW, its not going to work, imho.
I have finally almost quit MMO's for good. Playing Hellgate atm, but pretty much don't group. I like it cause I can jump in for 20 minutes and then jump out without building a bad rep for leaving my group/raid group hanging. I was really hardcore into AC and DAoC when they were first out, and it pretty much cost me a relationship back then. Got into WoW pretty good, but when my soon-to-be-wife said she was feeling left out of our relationship, I quit WoW on the spot. That was about two years ago, and with the exception of Hellgate, I haven't looked back. I check up on this site just to keep up with the times, but have NO plans on going back to a real MMO anytime soon. As sad as it is to say, I was amazed at how much time I had back to do other things that I and my friends and family were interested in. I'm not condemning MMO's, but I, for one, am definitely done with the time eaters.
Just out of curiosity, were you a raider at that time? I can certainly understand why you would quit wow for your gf if you were a raider, no doubt about that. But until raids start happening, wow is nicely casual and you can easily hop on for an hour or two and accomplish stuff. I personally was quite annoyed when wow changed from a spectacular game to a part time job raidfest. God I hate raiding.... :P Actually, to be fair I don't "hate" raiding. I hate forced raiding on an everyday basis. If raiding was something you did once every week or two or once a month, raiding would be a diverse part of gaming allowing customers experience an alternate form of gaming on occasion. Obviously, there's a big difference between enjoying a raid on occasion and being forced to raid nightly because it is the only end game activity.
OK, enough of my raid hate....
I hate forced 24/7 raid too, period. WoW was a fun game till 60, even right from start when XP was not that easy as it is now. WoW was also ridiculously easy till 60. For players not into PVP, raid is the only thing left in the game, unless you want to make 20+ alts over 3+ servers.
Raid in WoW is huge-major-big pain. Do not want to recall the days nor write them here. Suffice to say, I dropped WoW after making 10+ level 60s.
You can't 'quit' MMOGs as such, what i mean by this is that if you view MMOGs as not just merely a video gaming genre but rather as a digital representation of a deep cultural and personal desire for that 'alternative reality', the 'escape from life' if you like.
If you think about it, this 'alternative reality' has always existed in one form or another, films, sports, literature, art, religion. All these offer some sort of 'escape', some sort of 'alter-world', and offer people a 'role playing' opportunity. Of course im not saying that cultural forms such as film, sport, literature etc are only about fulffing cultural and persoanl fantasies, but to certain a degree they do create a Freudian fantasy world to fulfil our latent desires.
Why do young girls read romance novels or trashy celeb mags, isn't it part due to the desire to 'roleplay' the protaganists, the princess, the young celeb , the young and beautiful in a fantasy alternative world.
MMORPG are a natural progression caused by the evolution into the digital age. In fact i would even argue that MMORPG is the ultimate manifestation simply because MMORPGs create a persistent world that exists parallel to that of reality, whereas novels and films only closed fantasy worlds within reality and are limited by their temporal strucutre, i.e. you can't make/watch a film that lasts an entire lifetime.
Whereas its theoretically possible to 'live an entire life' within a MMORPG, 'to be born into' an MMORPG, ala Serial Experiment Lain, the Matrix etc But off course this is stretching into the realm of science fiction.
However if one reads Baudrillard, this is already happening. I mean isn't the city of Las Vegas a giant real life MMORPG game? isn't Disney World a real-life simularcrum that only differs from a MMORPG in the sense that one is made of digital material whereas the other is made of physical material?
I leave the answers to the readers. But don't just think of MMOGs as a video game genre, its something much more and goes to the heart of our culture.
You can't 'quit' MMOGs as such, what i mean by this is that if you view MMOGs as not just merely a video gaming genre but rather as a digital representation of a deep cultural and personal desire for that 'alternative reality', the 'escape from life' if you like. If you think about it, this 'alternative reality' has always existed in one form or another, films, sports, literature, art, religion. All these offer some sort of 'escape', some sort of 'alter-world', and offer people a 'role playing' opportunity. Of course im not saying that cultural forms such as film, sport, literature etc are only about fulffing cultural and persoanl fantasies, but to certain a degree they do create a Freudian fantasy world to fulfil our latent desires. Why do young girls read romance novels or trashy celeb mags, isn't it part due to the desire to 'roleplay' the protaganists, the princess, the young celeb , the young and beautiful in a fantasy alternative world. MMORPG are a natural progression caused by the evolution into the digital age. In fact i would even argue that MMORPG is the ultimate manifestation simply because MMORPGs create a persistent world that exists parallel to that of reality, whereas novels and films only closed fantasy worlds within reality and are limited by their temporal strucutre, i.e. you can't make/watch a film that lasts an entire lifetime. Whereas its theoretically possible to 'live an entire life' within a MMORPG, 'to be born into' an MMORPG, ala Serial Experiment Lain, the Matrix etc But off course this is stretching into the realm of science fiction. However if one reads Baudrillard, this is already happening. I mean isn't the city of Las Vegas a giant real life MMORPG game? isn't Disney World a real-life simularcrum that only differs from a MMORPG in the sense that one is made of digital material whereas the other is made of physical material? I leave the answers to the readers. But don't just think of MMOGs as a video game genre, its something much more and goes to the heart of our culture.
Sexy thinking! Respect.
Keeping my philosophical thoughts on the nature of reality to myself and instead going for the jugular of the orginal question:
I quit MMOs about 9 months ago, but I do occasionally dip my toes in the pool of WoW to blow my unspent Gs on crap and pimp my twinks.
I now play CoD4 daily until RSI sets in or my hand goes numb or both. I'm useless at it too, but I have fun and I mention these facts in the same breath simply to illustrate the depth of my loathing for games like WoW atm.
Roll on AoC and WAR and please don't be sh.t.
Playing: Ableton Live 8 ~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
Like many of you i have played MMOG;s for a long time.I have been frustrating myself looking and not finding a game that holds my interest.Frankly I need to dvelope a few other interests other than some college sports and general tv viewing. I.........WE don't need to be giving money to the companys turning out the mindless uncreative junk we all see today.
Yep, WAR or AOC, else I'm out of this bloated, moneypit that is the MMORPG, created long time ago as a passtime, but now is a huge, commercial success and a get-rich-quick-formula alot of people try to make. Most, if not all MMO's on the market at the moment just plain suck nowadays. Boring as hell, and as generic as a brick wall.
ya pretty much. Tried LOTRO recently, its just the same old rehashed thing. What the genre needs is something with a load new appealling classes, instead of the old repeated archetypes.
I'm still subbed to a couple MMOs and I have a few betas that I play now and then. We're lucky. My husband works primarily from home and his company foots the internet bill, plus we get some good deductions for having a home office. In any case, I have to agree that MMOs don't seem to quite as fun and motivating these days. Some of that could be attributed to how long I've been playing them and some can be blamed on the fact that so many have that "been there, done that" feeling to them. Still, I can't see either myself or my husband quiting MMOs entirely, forever. We take breaks, sometimes lengthy ones, but we always start up with something again.
We also use the internet for so much more than games. Hubby's work, keeping in touch with family when we're living in other countries, information, holiday planning, taxes, shopping, etc. It's really become ingrained in our lives. While I might be able to remove online gaming from my life, giving up the internet all together would be a hardship.
I am currently playing LOTRO and VG. Beta testing a couple of things and trialing EVE. I will continue with LOTRO and try WAR and AOC. I am a huge Conan fan so will probably land there. I am interested to see how this industry evolves and changes from both a gaming and social viewpoint so will stick with it in some way.
I was happy to see the Champaions online game pop up and may even take a crack at Chronicles of Spellborn. I
I can't imagine not playing "some" MMO. Heck, I GMed and Played (even wrote, developed, and published) RPGs for most of my life and this is just an extension of that. The genre will keep me hooked unless everything coming along is a dud and what I am playing now gets no new content.
Got burned out on raiding in WoW, so I cancelled my sub, didn't play for 3-4 months... but then I started to get the "itch."
So I played some demos and trials.. first was EQ2, loved it at first, bought the Digital Download, played a few weeks... stopped having fun. Cancelled.
Bought Tabula Rasa, really enjoyed it for a few weeks, then stopped having fun... Cancelled.
Tried many a trial, never subbed to any... most I'd play for a few hour one night then deinstall the next day.
So now I'm back with WoW.
Playing it a lot more casually, just PvPing mostly. It's something I can do solo or with a small group and can do at my own pace. I'm no longer rushing home from work to log in and catch my spot in Raid.... Thank god.
Do I miss raiding? Sure I do. I'm the kind of player who wants to see everything. Every dungeon, every raid, every everything!
I think there is a collective calm in WoW these days, people know a new expansion is coming... probably sometime this fall or early next year. Besides that, people are waiting for WAR and AoC to materialize.
If I'm not playing an MMO I'm playing a FPS or RPG on my 360.. if I'm not doing that I'm watching TV. Monday-Thursday are boring, 8-5 work schedule will do that to ya.
I don't think I'll ever completely stop playing MMOs though... I've made some great friends and great memories w/ MMOs, and I know the good times are far from over.
To "quit" mmorpgs when there hasn't bee a notable new release in over a year isn't saying much. Even if people wanted to play an mmorpg, what are they going to play that hasn't been out for years?
The true test of whether people have actually quit by choice and not by circumstance is when AoC and Warhammer are released. If those two fairly major titles aren't enough to draw person A back in then maybe they have kicked the habit.
Tried many a trial, never subbed to any... most I'd play for a few hour one night then deinstall the next day. So now I'm back with WoW. Playing it a lot more casually, just PvPing mostly. It's something I can do solo or with a small group and can do at my own pace. I'm no longer rushing home from work to log in and catch my spot in Raid.... Thank god.
I wonder howmany people went trough this same thing, me being one of them.
Comments
I do take breaks now and then. I like to play other types of games (civ4, TF2), read, work on my own programming / game projects. I only have about 4 – 8 hours a week to game, if that.
So I play CoX, very casual, I can log in for just a half hour and have a good time.
At this point I'm not up for any guilds that have any time requirements. I mostly play guild-less.
I think I’ll still check out WAR. Sounds like the kind of game you can just get in and play without a massive guild commitment.
I've pretty much quit playing. I try to remain up on the hot topics of the day like AoC, WAR and possibly Aion but in general I've quit.
As I put it to my wife 'Sigh. I'm getting to old to play seriously so it's back to work.'
As I put it to my brother and most regular MMO co-player 'It's the end of an Era! I'm getting tired of the the same ole same ole. At least my wife is happy now...sigh'
The end result is the same in either case. (sigh)
(HA HA)
I quit WoW after playing since nearly retail and I do not regret it.
The draw to these types of games isn't so much the game itself, it is the community and i realized I was spending too much time on people and events who didn't affect my life beyond my pixel world and neglecting people and events in my real world.
Games are supposed to be recreation and for unwinding, not escaping life totally and that is what I was doing and I think many others do also.
It is the psychology of the whole thing. You go to work and are another number, go to school just another *weird* kid, you log on and you are THE TANK everyone has been waiting on to go conquer that next boss, or the guild sexy chick, or the mighty guild GM duh duh DUHN! etc. etc.
I guess a lot of people wouldn't put so much emphasis on MMORPGs if in real life people were kinder.
Just my two cents.
Now I just log onto LOTR after my son goes to bed, play with a couple people I like and just actually relax for a few hours before bed.
Normal, what a concept.
By all means, if you're letting a game take over your life, you should stop. But that's hardly an issue with MMOGs specifically, and speaks more to an addictive nature. If you're not disciplined enough to regulate your time, then that is a larger issue.
Personally, that is why I appreciate the new casual-friendly trend in MMOs. You can spend a reasonable amount of time and still feel you're getting your money's worth. What's even worse than having a game that is addicting is having a group of online friends that validate that addiction as being okay.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
mmo games are just ponzi schemes. a way for devs to get more than the $50 for the box all the while doing as little as possible to update the game. mmo's used to be more of a "indie" hobby with devs who were just as much in it to see their world come to life and see players enjoying their hard work and also make money.
now since wow hit it is just a corporate money grab. period.
http://www.soesucks.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=10
I have finally almost quit MMO's for good. Playing Hellgate atm, but pretty much don't group. I like it cause I can jump in for 20 minutes and then jump out without building a bad rep for leaving my group/raid group hanging. I was really hardcore into AC and DAoC when they were first out, and it pretty much cost me a relationship back then. Got into WoW pretty good, but when my soon-to-be-wife said she was feeling left out of our relationship, I quit WoW on the spot. That was about two years ago, and with the exception of Hellgate, I haven't looked back. I check up on this site just to keep up with the times, but have NO plans on going back to a real MMO anytime soon. As sad as it is to say, I was amazed at how much time I had back to do other things that I and my friends and family were interested in.
I'm not condemning MMO's, but I, for one, am definitely done with the time eaters.
I would not be here... if I was sure that I had quit for good..... and neither would any of you.......
If you are here... you want back in the addiction.
That said I will not go back to a game that has gold farming/ rep grinding. Until I find a game that just lets me play and let's skill be the factor which decides who advances and who doesnt, as opposed to rewarding addicts who play 20 hours a day, then I won't be back.
If a game comes out that let's me log on JUST to raid and doesn't require me to log on and get gold to pay repair bills, or farm for mats for potions that I must have to raid, then I will not buy the game. I will not buy any MMO until the above requirements have been met.
There needs to be something to keep you attached to a game, to make you want to keep your character and identify with it and the current batch doesn't do that at all.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
I have not logged onto any subscribed MMOs for almost a year. I have 3x life time accounts, they are collecting dusts, and the others are long gone, expired.
I have no incentive to touch the few closed beta accounts I have downloaded. I tried them for a few hours each, on and off during the year, and I think I spent less than 20 hours on them, collectively.
What will happen later this year, who knows. So many big budget hyped games due to come out, but somehow something inside me is dead. I do not feel the urge to log onto any games now, not even single player games, many of them sitting on my shelf.
There are other ways to kill time, and spare time is getting scarce.
I'm buying a PS3.
Long lasting games needs item distribution systems similiar to Diablo, gameplay mechanics similiar to wow, and sandbox features and world size of SWG. When a developer finally is able to combine these features, a game can be released that has a long life directly out of the box.
Anyways, I'm just saying that just because devs are currently incapable of designing games that can consume years doesn't mean that the idea of a longer lasting game is impossible.
Just out of curiosity, were you a raider at that time? I can certainly understand why you would quit wow for your gf if you were a raider, no doubt about that.
But until raids start happening, wow is nicely casual and you can easily hop on for an hour or two and accomplish stuff. I personally was quite annoyed when wow changed from a spectacular game to a part time job raidfest. God I hate raiding.... :P Actually, to be fair I don't "hate" raiding. I hate forced raiding on an everyday basis. If raiding was something you did once every week or two or once a month, raiding would be a diverse part of gaming allowing customers experience an alternate form of gaming on occasion. Obviously, there's a big difference between enjoying a raid on occasion and being forced to raid nightly because it is the only end game activity.
OK, enough of my raid hate....
Long lasting games needs item distribution systems similiar to Diablo, gameplay mechanics similiar to wow, and sandbox features and world size of SWG. When a developer finally is able to combine these features, a game can be released that has a long life directly out of the box.
Anyways, I'm just saying that just because devs are currently incapable of designing games that can consume years doesn't mean that the idea of a longer lasting game is impossible.
Diablo keeps people going on, but sheer grinding for drops that are ALMOST impossible to collect, and virtually impossible to collect them all. There are huge variety in sets, in the stones to get the slotted pieces ... oh don't get me wrong; its an addictive game, but projecting that into the scale of WoW, its not going to work, imho.
Just out of curiosity, were you a raider at that time? I can certainly understand why you would quit wow for your gf if you were a raider, no doubt about that.
But until raids start happening, wow is nicely casual and you can easily hop on for an hour or two and accomplish stuff. I personally was quite annoyed when wow changed from a spectacular game to a part time job raidfest. God I hate raiding.... :P Actually, to be fair I don't "hate" raiding. I hate forced raiding on an everyday basis. If raiding was something you did once every week or two or once a month, raiding would be a diverse part of gaming allowing customers experience an alternate form of gaming on occasion. Obviously, there's a big difference between enjoying a raid on occasion and being forced to raid nightly because it is the only end game activity.
OK, enough of my raid hate....
I hate forced 24/7 raid too, period. WoW was a fun game till 60, even right from start when XP was not that easy as it is now. WoW was also ridiculously easy till 60. For players not into PVP, raid is the only thing left in the game, unless you want to make 20+ alts over 3+ servers.Raid in WoW is huge-major-big pain. Do not want to recall the days nor write them here. Suffice to say, I dropped WoW after making 10+ level 60s.
You can't 'quit' MMOGs as such, what i mean by this is that if you view MMOGs as not just merely a video gaming genre but rather as a digital representation of a deep cultural and personal desire for that 'alternative reality', the 'escape from life' if you like.
If you think about it, this 'alternative reality' has always existed in one form or another, films, sports, literature, art, religion. All these offer some sort of 'escape', some sort of 'alter-world', and offer people a 'role playing' opportunity. Of course im not saying that cultural forms such as film, sport, literature etc are only about fulffing cultural and persoanl fantasies, but to certain a degree they do create a Freudian fantasy world to fulfil our latent desires.
Why do young girls read romance novels or trashy celeb mags, isn't it part due to the desire to 'roleplay' the protaganists, the princess, the young celeb , the young and beautiful in a fantasy alternative world.
MMORPG are a natural progression caused by the evolution into the digital age. In fact i would even argue that MMORPG is the ultimate manifestation simply because MMORPGs create a persistent world that exists parallel to that of reality, whereas novels and films only closed fantasy worlds within reality and are limited by their temporal strucutre, i.e. you can't make/watch a film that lasts an entire lifetime.
Whereas its theoretically possible to 'live an entire life' within a MMORPG, 'to be born into' an MMORPG, ala Serial Experiment Lain, the Matrix etc But off course this is stretching into the realm of science fiction.
However if one reads Baudrillard, this is already happening. I mean isn't the city of Las Vegas a giant real life MMORPG game? isn't Disney World a real-life simularcrum that only differs from a MMORPG in the sense that one is made of digital material whereas the other is made of physical material?
I leave the answers to the readers. But don't just think of MMOGs as a video game genre, its something much more and goes to the heart of our culture.
Sexy thinking! Respect.
Keeping my philosophical thoughts on the nature of reality to myself and instead going for the jugular of the orginal question:
I quit MMOs about 9 months ago, but I do occasionally dip my toes in the pool of WoW to blow my unspent Gs on crap and pimp my twinks.
I now play CoD4 daily until RSI sets in or my hand goes numb or both. I'm useless at it too, but I have fun and I mention these facts in the same breath simply to illustrate the depth of my loathing for games like WoW atm.
Roll on AoC and WAR and please don't be sh.t.
Playing: Ableton Live 8
~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
Like many of you i have played MMOG;s for a long time.I have been frustrating myself looking and not finding a game that holds my interest.Frankly I need to dvelope a few other interests other than some college sports and general tv viewing. I.........WE don't need to be giving money to the companys turning out the mindless uncreative junk we all see today.
Yep, WAR or AOC, else I'm out of this bloated, moneypit that is the MMORPG, created long time ago as a passtime, but now is a huge, commercial success and a get-rich-quick-formula alot of people try to make. Most, if not all MMO's on the market at the moment just plain suck nowadays. Boring as hell, and as generic as a brick wall.
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Grammar nazi's. This one is for you.
ya pretty much. Tried LOTRO recently, its just the same old rehashed thing. What the genre needs is something with a load new appealling classes, instead of the old repeated archetypes.
I'm still subbed to a couple MMOs and I have a few betas that I play now and then. We're lucky. My husband works primarily from home and his company foots the internet bill, plus we get some good deductions for having a home office. In any case, I have to agree that MMOs don't seem to quite as fun and motivating these days. Some of that could be attributed to how long I've been playing them and some can be blamed on the fact that so many have that "been there, done that" feeling to them. Still, I can't see either myself or my husband quiting MMOs entirely, forever. We take breaks, sometimes lengthy ones, but we always start up with something again.
We also use the internet for so much more than games. Hubby's work, keeping in touch with family when we're living in other countries, information, holiday planning, taxes, shopping, etc. It's really become ingrained in our lives. While I might be able to remove online gaming from my life, giving up the internet all together would be a hardship.
Done with MMOs.... did ac2, wow, eq2, lotro (maxed toons in all).
Just too much of a time-sink. And competition/strategy is less than FPS or RTS....
I am currently playing LOTRO and VG. Beta testing a couple of things and trialing EVE. I will continue with LOTRO and try WAR and AOC. I am a huge Conan fan so will probably land there. I am interested to see how this industry evolves and changes from both a gaming and social viewpoint so will stick with it in some way.
I was happy to see the Champaions online game pop up and may even take a crack at Chronicles of Spellborn. I
I can't imagine not playing "some" MMO. Heck, I GMed and Played (even wrote, developed, and published) RPGs for most of my life and this is just an extension of that. The genre will keep me hooked unless everything coming along is a dud and what I am playing now gets no new content.
I've "quit" and come back soo many times...
Got burned out on raiding in WoW, so I cancelled my sub, didn't play for 3-4 months... but then I started to get the "itch."
So I played some demos and trials.. first was EQ2, loved it at first, bought the Digital Download, played a few weeks... stopped having fun. Cancelled.
Bought Tabula Rasa, really enjoyed it for a few weeks, then stopped having fun... Cancelled.
Tried many a trial, never subbed to any... most I'd play for a few hour one night then deinstall the next day.
So now I'm back with WoW.
Playing it a lot more casually, just PvPing mostly. It's something I can do solo or with a small group and can do at my own pace. I'm no longer rushing home from work to log in and catch my spot in Raid.... Thank god.
Do I miss raiding? Sure I do. I'm the kind of player who wants to see everything. Every dungeon, every raid, every everything!
I think there is a collective calm in WoW these days, people know a new expansion is coming... probably sometime this fall or early next year. Besides that, people are waiting for WAR and AoC to materialize.
If I'm not playing an MMO I'm playing a FPS or RPG on my 360.. if I'm not doing that I'm watching TV. Monday-Thursday are boring, 8-5 work schedule will do that to ya.
I don't think I'll ever completely stop playing MMOs though... I've made some great friends and great memories w/ MMOs, and I know the good times are far from over.
To "quit" mmorpgs when there hasn't bee a notable new release in over a year isn't saying much. Even if people wanted to play an mmorpg, what are they going to play that hasn't been out for years?
The true test of whether people have actually quit by choice and not by circumstance is when AoC and Warhammer are released. If those two fairly major titles aren't enough to draw person A back in then maybe they have kicked the habit.
I wonder howmany people went trough this same thing, me being one of them.