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The fundamental absurdity of MMORGPs
Elikal
Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
I mean, one of these days playing the (wonderful) expansion pack of LOTRO - Myrkwood - it dawned to me (again) that basically what we experience and do in those MMORPGs is absolutely and totally bollocks. I mean really. What I describe is in terms of LOTRO, but really, you can fill any existing MMO and its the same.
Here we are, there is Sauron at the gates, threating to cast the entire world into darkess with his army and his Nazgul, and I, a really heroic warrior, who crossed Moria many times, which even Gandalf wetted his pants thinking about, I who prolly faced and slayn more uber monsters than ANY person in the frigging world, I am treated like some goddamn Fedex guy!
I mean look at what all I faced in those 60 levels! I helped the Dwarves and Elves of Lothlorian in SO many ways, and what do they do? When they finally "allow" me to go with their army to attack Dol Guldur. "Yeah maybe you have faced dozens of super monsters we would not dare to look at, but before we give you some shiny REAL armor we have, can you please go and kill 2000 swamp worms? Thank you, much oblieged." And here we go, in the world's darkest place, the armies of the ELVES facing the Necromancer Lord of Dul Guldur. Whoo ho hoo! WAR! YAY.
But wait, some Elf rather wants us, the greatest hero outside of Gandalf and Aragorn, to fetch some MF handbag he has lost in some damn cave! Yes, that makes sense! I mean, seriously, the world is at the brink of doom, but all some damn Hobbit worries is that his aunt has lost some pie in the backyard, can you please fetch it, thanks.
But the WORST is that faction grind. I mean, take Moria. Here we are, side by side with THE biggest endeavor the Dwarfs EVER made: the reclaim of Moria, and Valar knows, I killed all those HUGE and fukking dangerous boss mobs none of the Dwarfs would DARE to look at, but hey, maybe you do some grinding before we give you the shining uber armor we have. Can you imagine in the book/movie, Legolas to Gandalf: "oh heck, wait, I cant access the next hall, I have to grind another 200 Orks in the other hall we went through 3 days ago, do you mind we go back please, thanks a ton." Or Gandalf to Balrog: "YOU CAN NOT PASS because I have my faction armor with 250 shining on it, Balrog beware!"
I mean, yeah yeah, I know it has always been so, and yadda yadda. But seriously. These days, it strikes me so as absurd. We do all the greatest and most heroic stuff, there is some really dangerous foe at the gates, but we are send to the most insidious and mundane tasks like fetch some lost handbag or save Auntie Maes famous apple pie. I mean, yeah, maybe when Sauron takes over his Orcs can be offered some GODDAMN APPLE PIE.
God, I really hope SWTOR is serious with his heroic quests approach. I swear if any Jedi Master is going to send me for his lost handbag or his pie I gonna kill him where he stands!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
The real problem here is that Lord of the Rings Online tried to put in a lot of good story, while putting in all the time sinks that MMORPGs apparently "require" in order to make a profit over many, many months of players being subscribed to the game.
So, they made a very lore-rich game, and you go around, I assume, very happily killing Orcs, Trolls, and occaisionally a Balrog or two, and you feel all very heroic after doing this. You feel immersed.
And then you have the WoW-esque part of the game - faction grind. The idea that a faction will "like you" enough to sell you really nice stuff - honestly, they should have worked some of those quests and Balrog kills into the faction meter, amirite?
But after doing all that heroic stuff, and being immersed, telling you to grind mobs for faction gain is certain to pull you out of the book you thought you were in, and into an MMORPG again.
I think the fundamental absurdity of MMORPGs is that they have to keep the player playing for months! If someone buys an MMO for $50, but never pays for subscription because "they finished the game", well dang man, that sucks! That's not going to be profitible, because everyone knows that much fewer people buy MMOs!
I think that's a load of crap - First Person Shooters and classic RPGs have been doing fine for the last twenty years, why are we not considering initial box sales for MMOs anymore? Why are we not making fun MMOs that pull the player in because they're fun, not just because you feel obliged to level to the maximum level cap?
As you were saying before, it is absurd that you kill all of these unholiest of the unholy enemies in Moria, the greatest endevour the Dwarfs have ever attempted, and then get told to grind faction. They should have linked it to the quests, and made it a story thing, rather than another garbage purely statistical grind where some retarded marketer and game content designer combo went "they need 100 hours of gameplay!", and just filled forty hours with faction grind.
I am playing EVE and it's alright... level V skills are a bit much.
You all need to learn to spell.
Well, yes, you have described the economic reasons behind it. While I still think there COULD be other ways, I am looking at the issue form a mere players perspective.
Yes the faction grind is the worst of it. I mean, I could understand if those Dwarfs say "ok Mr Elikal, we dont know you so well, but IF you defeat this boss monster XYZ we give you a piece of our shiny super armor." What I DONT understand is, why do I have to kill him 10, 20 or 50 times to get 300 coins to exchange into ONE piece of armour. Thats absurd! It totally KILLS the idea to play the role of a hero, when you have to grind what is supposed to be a highlight.
"HELLO, welcome to our daily 'kill the huge dragon' run". Yes THAT heroic. Heroic is, when you meet a dragon ONCE and then have the story of your lifetime. But killing that huge dragon every day to collect some coins to get some fancy shining hat is NOT COOL. Its silly! Its the very incarnation of stupidity and anti-climax such a super mob should be. But it also is those many ridiculous Fedex quests which are at some point are just way below your supposed reputation. I mean, given all the wonderous stuff I have done by now being level 60, I should be a damn living legend in Middle Earth. But what do they do? Send me to fetch some lost handbag! Or kill some swamp bats because some Elven maid is irriateted about their noise! Yeah. That is just so wrong on so many levels!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
The thing is that the "grind" is really gaining xp. Gaining xp is valid in context of the rpg, and mmos wouldn't be much of a mmo if you could zip through the story and beat the big badass boss in a short amount of time. So generally speaking, xp grinds are necessary. However, ever since wow devs have tried to "hide" the xp grind through quests. Not only does this belittle what a quest should actually be, it actually creates a new host of problems, one being (as you mentioned) the absurdity of "quests". The other main problem is that between all your running around from one area to the other doing stupid stinking quests, you're actually losing time and xp running around like an idiot.
As I'm sure anyone can see, I'm not a fan of a quest grind. Quests should actually be quests, and quests should not be used to hide the xp grind and at the same time waste even more of my time. Just use a system like swg's mission terminals. We're not stupid, we know we're grinding quests to grind xp, why screw us around. Just give us some coin for killing 20 baddies, let us stock up on missions, and let us go to town. Players will get used to it (if you really think you need shitty quests to get you through grinding find another damn game), and the devs can spend more time developing endgame content rather then making more retarded time waster quests.
The fundamental absurdity of MMORGPs = delusions of grandeur
(or the absurdity that most people probably didn't catch the typo in the thread because we're so used to speed reading through quest text lol)
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
Welcome to the art of time sinks.
Ever wonder why you can't just teleport on map points, and have to catch a ride, or physically traverse the distance from point a to point b? Ever wonder why there's a time bar for crafting items? Ever wonder why when you kill a bear it may not drop ANY paws for that quest you need, even though it has for f'ing legs? Ever wonder when you're standing on a bloody mountain of a thousand enemy corpses that it's not GOOD enough, but two hundred more should prove to them that "You are on their side"? Ever wonder why your mana and health take SO log to reg... oh wait... they kinda over fixed that. Never mind.
Smoke and mirrors are a good thing. They distract from the knowledge of what you're really doing. Going from Min to Max in a game based around levels and xp. After you max, then you do equipment. After that, be the best at being the best. If you just cut to the chase... is that fun? I don't think so. Does it get old? Yes, especially if you've used the same system for years on end. Don't matter how great the game is, old stays old no matter how you dress it up.
For me, EQ was fun for a time, but I won't go back. CoX was fun for a time, but I won't go back. WoW was fun for a time, but I won't go back. Am I anti-themepark/sandbox? No, just wanting something different, yet fun.
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
It isn't just MMO's that use a lack of logic to create timesinks, the books did it too.
After all, 3 books could have been reduced to one chapter if they simply used the eagles to drop the ring into the volcano.
Instead, they make everyone walk, despite the urgency and gravity of the mission. You would think that if the world was in so much grave danger that Frodo and Sam could have gotten a lift to Mordor at the very least, if for some reason, the eagles couldn't penetrate Sauron's realm. But no, that would be too logical...
Suddenly, having to fetch a handbag doesn't seem so absurd.
I think we're just realizing that our definition of "play" is coming undone.
Maybe we need to rethink our games. Rather than finding ways to keep patrons interested in the limited number of stories we can tell, maybe we should be finding ways for players to entertain themselves.
There's a certain point of maturity people reach when they can no longer tolerate an obvious time sink and search for ways to circumvent it, or simply ignore it and move on. Most people get tired of games and look for hobbies.
There's a difference between a game and a hobby. They're both very interesting and fun to do, but games require moderation, while hobbies don't. Games can end, hobbies do not. MMORPGs should perhaps be hobbies instead of games.
Time to make some hobby software that's easy to get into, I suppose.
I don't do things in video games that I don't like. No matter what the rewards.
so faction in LOTRO? I did the dwarf faction in moria because it was just easy as the bits just filled up my inventory and only did the lothlorien and collected the leaves up to the point that I could get a white horse.
then stopped. I've never done any other faction. And will never do lothlorien faction/leaves/branches again.
I also don't do quests that I don't want to do.
So Elikal? My advice, from an Elf guardian who has probably done many of the same things as your character, is if someone asks you to do a fedex quest or look for their lost bag or bake a pie and you are not a hobbit...
Tell them you are out saving the world from Sauron and they can talk to the hand.
Or you could be more intense about it and tell them to "get bent". Because in the end, when all is said and done "homey don't play that".
If someone wants you to deliver letters or gather wood just say:
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I think that's a healthy mentality so long as you can still enjoy what is left. A game like LotRO with it's title system is something where most gamers will do a lot of things they don't like just for them, and I admit chasing the no-death before 30 one as well as a couple fedex ones. Heh, even I fall for tricksy quest motivations now and again, I think most people do though.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
I think that's a healthy mentality so long as you can still enjoy what is left. A game like LotRO with it's title system is something where most gamers will do a lot of things they don't like just for them, and I admit chasing the no-death before 30 one as well as a couple fedex ones. Heh, even I fall for tricksy quest motivations now and again, I think most people do though.
lol, yeah, title system. Where players were quitting because they couldn't get the undying title. This happened at launch.
yeah, I don't do titles either. I have "Sovrath of Lothlorien" and that's my title. If the people of middle earth want to entitle me and brag about my deeds and sell "sovrath killed the balrog but all I got was this lousy T-Shirt", er shirts then who am I to stop them.
There is quite a bit left, especially in a game like lotro. I can't tell you how many times I had to go to the misty mountains and lay down the law on those goblins.
And, if in moria, I saw a huge towering orc looking named mob and happened to charge it only to get whacked to within an inch of my life, well, running is a good solution as any. ; )
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
It pretty much nuisance in any quest giving game. I remember annoying people in the LOTRO beta by saying in general chat (or what ever the heck it was called) "Destroy the One Ring and save Middle Earth from utter darkness, Gandalf? Sod that! I have a real quest to complete! I must go rescue Filibert's snotty handkerchief from some brigands!!"
As long as the leveling treadmill is the best thing companies can come up with to retain players long enough to show a profit on their investment, no game is going to have any real immersion. Nor will our characters have any real or lasting impact on the game worlds.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
If you ask me, housing and deco is the fastest way to get players to not wanna give up their progress and walk. The effort in gaining and placing trophies and random crap becomes a giant lego castle you are too afraid to put back in the box. Doesn't have to be just housing though, any kind of effect left on the world, even if you had a statue made of you - prolly not going anywhere just to revel in it.
I guess territory conquest is one too, but that relies on the functionality of the guilds involved. Players have no problem walking away from them, so it doesn't make the best premise to players that aren't in a guild "4 life".
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
If you ask me, housing and deco is the fastest way to get players to not wanna give up their progress and walk. The effort in gaining and placing trophies and random crap becomes a giant lego castle you are too afraid to put back in the box. Doesn't have to be just housing though, any kind of effect left on the world, even if you had a statue made of you - prolly not going anywhere just to revel in it.
I guess territory conquest is one too, but that relies on the functionality of the guilds involved. Players have no problem walking away from them, so it doesn't make the best premise to players that aren't in a guild "4 life".
You know, I was going to disagree with you, until I remembered how many of my friends hated the changes to SWG but kept their accounts for this exact reason.
On the territory conquest. That is exactly what kept me playing Shadowbane bugs and all. You leveled and geared up your toon and THEN played the game. There was none of this carrot on a stick nonsense that is far to prevalent in games today.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
Not to forget the absurdity of charging for gear when you're out there fighting someone else's war because they ASKED your help. Just imagine if the Spanish republican government would have charged the volunteering International Brigades money for fighting on their side in the civil war. "Riiiight, so when's the next flight/boat back?"
My two cents? The problem is also that MMO are, surprise!, multiplayer. The second problem is, they are not that linear.
In a Single player, you can offer everyone to be a hero, because they won't come accross another player/heroes. It's a bit more difficult to singularise anyone in a MMO.
Plus, in a linear story, you always knows exactly what the player has done and can write the dialogs accordingly. In a MMO, the player is mostly free. You may be level 60 but:
- a NPC has no way of seeing your level (if the game plays it realistically). Similarly, your char don't go around with a nameplate reading "Munchkin575, slayer of x Balrogs".
- at the same time, some quests unlock only at certain levels. But you could have done anything to get there. For all the NPC "knows", you could have just played it safe and killed a gazillion low-level Orcs. Yes, that would be pure grinds, but hey, you,d be level 60 anyway, right?
Of course, the dev could add tags to your character for each quest done... and write differents dialogs for NPCs depending on what quests have been begun and which finished.
But considering the numbers of possibilities and combinations of quests in any sizeable MMO, it would take an absolute HUGE amount of texts.
In theory it's possible, but most studios don't give much credits to writers... I mean, they know they need artists that can draw, but artists of the word? Nayone can write right? Well, no, which is partly why most quests dialogs suck. And even in studios with actual writers (as in, writing is their core skill), time and money are an issue.
The numbers of texts, and thus of writers and hours, needed to have gazillion of texts is why most NPCs always say the same two snetences, whatever you have done in the world...
I know you can skip quests, LOTRO has way enough and many other MMOs too. But still, there is that sense of broken urgency. Take EQ2. You come to besieged Qeynos, the world is splintered and evil crawls out everywhere, there is an ARMY of Gnolls at the doors, and some stupid halfling has lost his comb. And I, being the Avatar, feel compelled to help them. I mean, I am maybe way too much influenced by games like Ultima, where you were more than just a warrior of the big issues, so I do the small ones. I know I did some quests even tho they were grey long ago, 40 levels below me, but there was a pleading simple person's issue. Ok, not on the pie level, but something personal in the story.
But in MMO worlds with a more heroic setting, it just so stand off in the later gameplay, when you have done so heroic things and then suddenly you are back to pie saving. Ok, you can't always do heroic things, but I loved to hear about SWTOR when they said they will NOT have kill 20 rats. I mean, did Han Solo or Luke do such things? NO, of course NOT. And neither want I. Period. Thats the whole issue, I want to be a heroic person, and I DID much heroic stuff and suddenly I have to grind. I mean that pie example is more funnily annoying, but where it REALLY starts to suck is when you have to grind heroic encounters.
Like getting the radiance armor set, where you go into the same boss mob dungeon OVER AND OVER AND OVER, and thats goddam not cool! Cool is to have this super dragon or super giant once and then have the story of your life. But when you make it with a guild as daily schedule over months and months to get those 300 coins to exchange for your radiance armor to have 120 radiance to get accesss to Raid Number X, it starts to get hilarious. I mean, what kind of person really thinks this is FUN? It's like fukking working on a rubber band and pressing the same red button over and over. I mean, masturbating to a blank screen is more exciting than that, and thats for free! Ok, you cant do that 6-8 hours a day, granted.
But still. Maybe I am looking at it that way because I come from a pen and paper background and I play such pen and paper more regular again. When I have a boss mob there, I have THE memory of a lifetime. I dont go back and grind that mob 30 times to get a chance for a rare loot. Thats just a totally ridiculous concept.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Exactly the point! I mean I am sticking out my neck in their army, and ok maybe they dont have the money to hand it out for free, but why do I have to grind damn same boss over and over to get some MF helmet? Yes its a game, but even a game has to make SOME sense.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
The problem is that static questing will by and large almost always be dull or utter nonsense. Static quests by nature cannot alter the state of the world, otherwise players who come after you cannot enjoy the content as it will be "used up", which is not good for business. Automatically, a game that relies heavily on static questing cannot give players what they really want: A way to affect and alter the world through their actions.
I think a big problem with MMOs is that they're designed to let every player "Be the Hero!". In a setup like this, quests are created which progresses the player through the world in a mostly linear fashion. The quests typically play out like a single player game but in a multiplayer setting. I think that this is the biggest fundamental absurdity in MMOs. Everyone CANNOT be the hero.
MMOs need to step back from this approach. I think that, for the most part, players who are not content with the current crop of MMOs are mature enough that they don't need to be a hero to enjoy a game. Yes, there will be heroes, as there would be in any epic story, but becoming a hero would be an achievement, an accident or a way of life (defending newbies from PKers for instance). Either way, being a hero would be something to strive for, rather than a privilege of the game.
I honestly think that static quests need to be a supplement to dynamic quests handed out and ran by live GMs. I fully believe that the next big MMO will be the one that takes a risk and charges more for subscription to be able to support a live GM team to undertake such a task.
I recall one poster making the comment that many of these "quests" are really "jobs", and should be considered as such. I agree. I think LotRO kinda half-heartedly makes an attempt to to establish this mindset via "epic quests". But even then, the absurdity is still rampant. I just completed the V2B3 mission where you collect steel and wood for barricades. Sure, the steel and wood are in dangerous places, but no one else could do this?
Thing is, I understand there are good reasons for having these mechanics... not everything you do can be a big heroic epic thing, and constant killing of stuff can get old.
One of the Lothlorien quests actually jokes about this... once you complete a quest for Boar meat:
'Ah, boar! There is nothing like it, is there? I do not think anyone could ever get tired of juicy....
'What is the matter with you, [your name]? Why do you roll your eyes every time I speak of boars?'
It's just the cold hard reality of trying to create months of content on a reasonable budget, methinx. If a game comes along that can find a solution to this, and perhaps a solution to the absurdity of Lothlorien hungry shrews being a greater challenge than, say, lvl 35 cave trolls...
Funny, while this can be considered an absurdity, I don't think that way when I'm actually doing the stuff. I'm thinking about how it will progress my character.
Even Real Life has an absurdity to it, yet we still do it. Working for example. Getting a paycheck from week to week, saving for homes, food, entertainment, kids, and its all amounts to not really making much difference once you die. I could go on about Laws created that are absurd. Or sports, what is the real purpose of sports to hold up a silver trophy that does nothing but sit there.
So you see, absurdity abounds everywhere, not just in the virtual worlds we create. I think it all comes down to perspective. What is absurd to one fellow, may be someone else's dream come true. Or something like that...
The real life argument is always flawed and really adds nothing to the discussion. Regardless, I'll bite.
I'll make an analogy. Bill Gates goes to a meeting. The board of directors asks him to do some janitorial work around Microsoft headquarters. Absolutely absurd right?
Similarly, why would a supposedly great and renowned hero be refused entry to any army, or be asked to fetch an old ladies handbag that she dropped on the path through Mirkwood?
Some quests, in the grand scheme of things, are really just lame filler, with no purpose other than "progressing your character". These quests do not fit in with the theme of the world and really are just genre tropes for the most part. Why do you need me to deliver this letter? I'm just some random stranger that you're entrusting this crucial information to. Do you not have a runner that you trust? No? Oh okay, if you're paying me, I'll do it, why not? Lame.
I see it like this. You play single player RPG's when you want true immersion and feel like a hero because you are the only person in the story.
Throw in a few hundred thousand players, and you can't really design a game to be immersive like a single player game is. So youi get the mechanic that has evolved, which so far seems to generate the greatest long term revenue stream, which is all the Developers really care about in the end. (they are not novellists)
There is an option, sandbox style games like EVE, where the questing is really just a sidebar and there real "story" is the player interaction and their impact on the game world.
Endless wars, empires rise and fall, traders make billions and lose it all, crafters create bases and ships that become legendary , that's the real story behind EVE. Some people have claimed that EVE has too much player drama. I put forth the player drama is the entertainment , the game itself just a tool to generate player interaction, competition and conflict.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Well said. What you've stated there is what so many of today's mmo players just don't understand. They think it's all about raiding and simply have no idea what they're missing out on.
Now if we could just tranfer this concept out of the ship-as-your-avatar model. Gosh, that would be one superb game...
Sense of broken urgency? You will have to explain. If you mean that the character needs to have it done soon, just internally roleplay that another character just ran up and agreed to do it. Since there are so many players around this one can be pretty much on the mark.
The idea that some of these quests are actually jobs can also ring true as well.
However, if you do not want to find the halfling's comb then don't. Problem solved. but it depends upon how you see your character.
For instance, though I'm not a role player per se, I do have a vision of what my character is and what they will do.
So in general, if my character is nice then he might be the type to say "no worries, I realize you dropped your comb in those caves inhabited by giant spiders and it has great personal value to you, so I'll go in and find it."
But there are also two motivations.
One being that I'm being a mensch and getting the comb and the other is that there really shouldn't be a cave of giant spiders next door to a hamlet and I probably should clear them out.
But, in the same breath, I have done practicaly NONE of the quests in the shire. NONE (practically). Why? Because that really isn't my domain and I'm sure others will be able to help deliver the mail or deliver pies. Not how I see my character. Heck, I started to do some of the shire quests for a trait or deed but just stopped as they really do not hold my interest at all.
Getting back to the character, another thing that I do try to hold true is that if I'm in the middle of a quest I don't break off and go back to bree or the misty mountains and then go back.
For instance, with this mirkwood expansion, when you are doing the first leg of the invasion, I was there and wasn't leaving until the initial stuff was done. When what seems to be a natural breather is interjected into the story, that's when I leave to restock, etc.
In the end we are responsible for our own fun (I firmly believe that) so if you are faced with something you dislike yet feel the need to do it because your character is being asked, just create a counter argument that allows your character off the hook.
Heck, one can even accept "I'm sorry sir halfling, I realize that your comb is very important and that the cave over there is a danger but I am on my way to Mirkwood because we are driving back an evil far greater than anything you can imagine. I will make mention of your difficulities in my travels and I am more than certain that a hero will be here shortly to aid you. In the meantime, warn everyone away from the spider cave, let the guards be on alert lest anyone venture to close to the cave and my friends will be here shortly."
Problem solved.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Sense of broken urgency? You will have to explain. If you mean that the character needs to have it done soon, just internally roleplay that another character just ran up and agreed to do it. Since there are so many players around this one can be pretty much on the mark.
The idea that some of these quests are actually jobs can also ring true as well.
However, if you do not want to find the halfling's comb then don't. Problem solved. but it depends upon how you see your character.
For instance, though I'm not a role player per se, I do have a vision of what my character is and what they will do.
So in general, if my character is nice then he might be the type to say "no worries, I realize you dropped your comb in those caves inhabited by giant spiders and it has great personal value to you, so I'll go in and find it."
But there are also two motivations.
One being that I'm being a mensch and getting the comb and the other is that there really shouldn't be a cave of giant spiders next door to a hamlet and I probably should clear them out.
But, in the same breath, I have done practicaly NONE of the quests in the shire. NONE (practically). Why? Because that really isn't my domain and I'm sure others will be able to help deliver the mail or deliver pies. Not how I see my character. Heck, I started to do some of the shire quests for a trait or deed but just stopped as they really do not hold my interest at all.
Getting back to the character, another thing that I do try to hold true is that if I'm in the middle of a quest I don't break off and go back to bree or the misty mountains and then go back.
For instance, with this mirkwood expansion, when you are doing the first leg of the invasion, I was there and wasn't leaving until the initial stuff was done. When what seems to be a natural breather is interjected into the story, that's when I leave to restock, etc.
In the end we are responsible for our own fun (I firmly believe that) so if you are faced with something you dislike yet feel the need to do it because your character is being asked, just create a counter argument that allows your character off the hook.
Heck, one can even accept "I'm sorry sir halfling, I realize that your comb is very important and that the cave over there is a danger but I am on my way to Mirkwood because we are driving back an evil far greater than anything you can imagine. I will make mention of your difficulities in my travels and I am more than certain that a hero will be here shortly to aid you. In the meantime, warn everyone away from the spider cave, let the guards be on alert lest anyone venture to close to the cave and my friends will be here shortly."
Problem solved.
My motivation in RP and RL, has always been...
"Hmmm... is it on the way? In an area that I'll be going through? Bad guys to kill nearby? Sure, I'll get your lousy comb for you..."
I remember starting LotRO and thinking, like many MMO's, that quests would become more and more scarce as I leveled and that I better get as much XP as I can. Never happened. So now I take those quests I don't want and delete 'em if I need space.