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OK I know I am going to sound like an old fart but so be it.
I am 64 years old and I really enjoy MMOs. My wife thinks I am in my second childhood and what few friends I have think I have lost it because I play a computer game that I pay for each month.
I have been playing MMOs since UO. I have played most of the AAA games and some of the less popular ones.
But the thing that really attracted me to MMOs was the social aspect of the games. When I played EQ and AO I really enjoyed talking with other players when we had down time. In EQ you has to stop and "med" to recover your mana between fights. The same thing happened in AO, you had to set down and use the first aid kits and mana kits before you continued your missions. When that occured you would chat with your team mates. To me that was the most enjoyabls part of the games.
Now everyone wants to hurry along and level as fast as they can. I have been in groups (when you can find one ) and no one talks at all.
I guess things change. But I really think we have lost something.
Comments
sorry i like playing my video games not an interactive chat room
I dont think anything has changed except we have vent and ts these days
sorry i like playing my video games not an interactive chat room
So, essentially you don't like the MMO part of MMORPG's?
Doesn't it really seem that way with the newer crowd brought into the genre?
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
There are plenty of friendly people willing to interact, even in games like WoW. The hard part is finding them, that's all. Instead of random strangers in a group, the social aspect has moved more towards guilds. If you can get in a good guild, you're set.
Instead of a small country hick town where everyone knows each other, you're now in a big city. Can you still make friends? Sure. But are there a lot of idiots and people who just want to be left alone? Yup. It's a little tougher now, but that's just the way it is. If they won't talk to you, then you talk to them. If they don't respond, oh well.
Developers could do things to help stimulate social interaction, though. I'd prefer non-combat mini-games or social activities rather than slowing down combat to "med" when all you want to do is kill.
Forgive me if I missunderstood something here, but you are implying that he likes the MMO part because he plays with other people, just not communicating with them? Well, isn't that kind of like playing a game with bots, just trying to complete a quest/story driven something something in a singelplayer game?
Doesn't it really seem that way with the newer crowd brought into the genre?
Hey, I didn't say that.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
I don't think it's all about the levelling.
In LotRO I've noticed loads of talking between players.
But it's not like that in all games. I guess it partly depends on how the chat is implemented.
In a lot of games the chat system is so horrible that it makes chatting more difficult than it should.
Chatting shouldn't slow my playing down to a full stop, and chatting should be easy to follow. But that is where a lot of games go wrong.
sorry i like playing my video games not an interactive chat room
So, essentially you don't like the MMO part of MMORPG's?
That's not what makes a game "MMO".
The most "MMO" game I ever played involved very little chat (Planetside, MMOFPS.) Log on, instant action, average battle was going to be 75v75 or so with frequent 200v200s and twice-weekly 200v200v200s (actually these happened basically every night, but you would get into them less frequently.) There was a moderate amount of command-related chatter, but very little "interactive chat room" commentary.
It was a game, not a chat room. And it was damn fun. Might still be.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
sorry i like playing my video games not an interactive chat room
So, essentially you don't like the MMO part of MMORPG's?
That's not what makes a game "MMO".
The most "MMO" game I ever played involved very little chat (Planetside, MMOFPS.) Log on, instant action, average battle was going to be 75v75 or so with frequent 200v200s and twice-weekly 200v200v200s (actually these happened basically every night, but you would get into them less frequently.) There was a moderate amount of command-related chatter, but very little "interactive chat room" commentary.
It was a game, not a chat room. And it was damn fun. Might still be.
Hey, thats actually a good point, and also a good game back in the day. Not sure about the population now, since I'm not actively playing it. But then again, thats another kind of MMO, wouldn't you say? A lot more actionfocused MMO, compared to the loredriven MMO's in WOW, WAR and so on and so forth.
And sorry about the other post that was a bit weird with the quote. I've been around here a long time, but haven't posted that much so I am kinda new to that.
Eh, I have always been able to find and group with people socially in MMO's. Maybe some make it too hard due to population, late in game and surrounded by elitist players. TBH if I ever stopped having a meaningful social aspect to an MMO I would just stop playing.
Luckily I'm extremely happy where I am and who I'm with in what I play. Don't give up, there is people out there that play for the ridiculous 5am, have to "be up in an hour but fuck it anyway we are having fun" type guilds/corps whatever they are called.
EDIT: Once again spelling about five seconds after I hit "save changes". Fuck.
Jam is sticky.
This is actually more true than people are giving attention to. TS/Vent does have it's good points-- raiding becomes easier if communication is facilitated more quickly verbally. Well, actually, that's the only good point I can think of. The problem with voice comms is that it kills immersion for those who want to get "in the game" and RP. Nothing deflates my mood more than finding out that Grun'Zen, the mighty orc warrior and veteran of 2 wars is really some squeaky-voiced pre-pubescent whose mother nags at him to clean his room every 20 minutes.
"You'll never win an argument with an idiot because he is too stupid to recognize his own defeat." ~Anonymous
Have you considered trying a MUD? Graphics can seriously inhibit imagination, and it is quite refreshing interacting with people that can actually write.