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What ruins YOUR immersion the most, in an MMO?
Explorium
Member Posts: 395
As title says...what ruins your immersion the most, in an MMO? Bugs? Bad graphics? Community? Something else?
For me, having to use vent or voice program really ruins my immersion in an MMO. Hearing a little kid is not my idea of fun at all. Or hearing anyone at all in a game, really...I don't want to hear peoples voices when I play a game, MMO or not. I just say I have really bad hearing, so I don't have to use it...most of the time the raid group works around it, and I still do a great job raiding. I'm usually a healer, so its not that hard to look at peoples health bar or know what to do in a fight. Raids are easy, in any MMO I've played...I've never had any problems with them.
But thats minor for me, compared to...
Riding a mount, and your character looks like a statue riding it...the character doesn't bob up and down, but instead remains straight and unmoving. This is horrible, and MMOs that have this problem...I don't even bother riding a mount. When I first saw this in a particular MMO, it was so horrible looking I logged off in disgust. Mount and Blade has really good mount animations.
The second thing is rivers...I don't care how good the water looks, but if I see a 60-70 degree slope, and see there is no movement in the water...but remains stagnant and unmoving...this is horrible. I would rather have bad looking water, that actually flows realistically. Not water that doesn't move at a steep slope.
So mainly little graphics things ruin my immersion, and using voice programs. Bugs of course kind of ruin it, but I tend to ignore them.
So what about you?
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Comments
There is no immersion left in any MMO, in my oppinion. They are just games to consume and forget now.
I finally stopped worrying about immersion.
An honest review of SW:TOR 6/10 (Danny Wojcicki)
Inability to travel to other parts of the game, regional lockdown ruins immersion for me. If I have to get stronger just to walk across an imaginary boundary line the game feels like one big puzzle.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
The UI. The games that immersed me the most are Oblivion and Morrowind. And that probably has got something to do with the lack of skillbars, icons and minimaps littering the screen.
The other players.
1. global chat
2. UI/graphics I personally dont agree with. I am careful being specific here because its not a technical things its purely a personal perference thing. for example I could not get into WoW graphics no matter how hard I try, yet for Morrowind I fall into the world instantly
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
The pictures.
Seriously, reading a book is so much more immersive... or playing a P&P RPG.
My imagination kicks the ass of pretty much every video game's graphics, ever.
Text based is definitely the way to go! I can only hope more MMOs will move in this direction.
I agree on the vent thing. Whyyyy would I wanna hear some kid scream at the top of his lungs about anything, or hear a dude's voice come out of a female toon? I like the way coh did it, everybody just made a beep when they spoke.
I agree with the OP's opinion on vent/Team speak/etc. It's damn annoying. Though I've seen it work just fine in APB. That's an exception though.
I can also agree on the UI. I only say that after playing Vindictus where there is no skill buttons other than the 5 inventory slots for potions etc, and 1 secondary weapon keyed to F. I find the slim design to be very intuitive instead of having a full sized Organ's worth of buttons to remember. It allows for movement prioritization instead of rotation of skills.
Over all though I'd have to say community is immersion breaking. wtfpwnnoobsauce, epeen comparisons, and all that idiocy just makes me /facepalm.
Agreed regarding books being way more immersive.
What ruins immersion for me these days is the McDonalds drive thru service version of playing.
Things are made too easy. I'm not saying I want a hard grind game that you'd have to be masochistic to enjoy, but I'm sick of games that make it so easy to do everything you don't even have to think. Worried about aggro? We have a threat meter, don't want to run to town to train? You can do it right out in the middle of the fight. Want to PvP? Why go looking for a fight, we have battle grounds that have nothing to do with the game packaged up in a happy meal for you.
Tired of down time because you have to manage your mana? we'll speed it up so you don't have to use any strategy. Tired of carrying too much junk? We'll take away encumberance and let you carry 18 sets of armor around.
Don't wanna go to a players house to buy stuff from him? we have an auction house so you don't actually have to interact with anyone or see any part of the game other than the auction house.
Somewhere in all that making it easier for players to do everything, something was lost. I don't want to grind out like a Korean game, but many of the small things that created community and immersion have been stripped down. Instead of a T-bone steak, now we get a Big Mac that's been sitting under the heat lamp for 6 hours. Is it fast? Yes. Is it easy? Yes. Is it fun? Sometimes. Is there immersion? not so much.
Thing that breaks immersion real fast for me is seeing "Ipawnyou" as a player name or some other thing related to it.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Anachronistic weapons and machines always get to me. That is helicopters/guns etc. in fantasy games, and swords or their like in modern genres. Although I might make an exception for the Lightsaber.
The chat. I don't need to hear about the bieber or the sheen in my fantasy MMO.
"I am the harbinger of hope. I am the sword of the righteous. And to all who hear my words, I say this: What you give to this Empire, I shall give back unto you."
-Empress Jamyl Sarum I
Techical glitches... lag spikes, mob desync, getting stuck IN a door when I'm trying to walk through the doorway.
Blatant art screw ups is another. I've been playing a game a few years old, and there's part of a bridge that's in plain view from the road, and it's not even close to being planted correctly in the terrain. 3 years old and nobody bothered to fix it? You can see up inside the bridge where it's hollow.
Same here. I don't like to hear other people through VoIP. And when I play, there are usually other family members around and it feels stupid to yell suddenly aggro, incoming or heal and see surprised eyes of beloved ones.
Other thing is lag. When person, running next to you is suddenly far-far ahead. This is technical problem, caused by signal routes, but it still feels not right.
Strange animation in some games where avatars swim in 45 degree angle iex. or move like ghosts from other dimension is also immersion ruiner for me.
Ventrillo and Global Chat.
The "WoW" generation of MMO players ruin my MMO experience. (Chuck norris, "thats cute", and all their other dumb catch phrases)
People say (Oh you need ventrillo to raid/pvp)
I could run a better raid without ventrillo. I could run a better pvp group that would stomp yours without ventrillo.
All ventrillo does in MMOs is create cliques within a guild that generally causes it to rip apart.
Oh and those who refuse to allow PuG (pick up group) people into raids or pvp events because they aren't on their vent server. I can run an awesome PuG pvp raid group, we stomp and obliterate.
It just takes typing. Typing cannot be drowned out by other voices. People aren't yelling and screaming at people because they are talking while the "raid leader" is talking. You can scroll back up on chat boxes and review previous instructions, you cannot do that in ventrillo.
Raid Leader: Everyone meet at battle objective 2 (in ventrillo)...
Ventperson1: Where we meeting again?
Raid leader: Shut up and listen the first time, I said a99nwudibd (It gets cut off because one of the other 50 people in vent starts talking.
Ventperson1: I didn't hear you
Raid leader: Alright im booting ventperson1 because they are a dumbass and can't listen.
...
I have seen this way to often in ventrillo type raids/guilds. People grow way to impatient, and because the number of people in vent is so great, information is often mixed up or not gotten across properly.
(Well, in my vent everyone shuts up while the raid leader speaks) Touche' but it still is way less effective than actually typing, especially for massive raids versus maybe a 6 man group (which I could see ventrillo being more suited for).
Just my opinions. I use vent when I HAVE to, but I prefer to type. I don't play MMOs to hear JoeBlows annoying ass power tripping voice. Nor do I play to get screamed at over speakers or hear other people screaming at other people.
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
To make an mmorpg immersive you need to put something that stimulates immersion.
1. HOUSING
There was a reason the first big titles (Ultima, EQ, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot) had housing. You can EASILY build immersion by allowing players to put a little bit of themselves into the game they are playing. Letting us have guild halls and houses, is a great step toward this. However, developers are all about profit margins these days, and while few can mimic it, most use WoW as the title example for how to build an mmorpg. Hence, no housing exists any longer. Shame.
2. Believable Culture
Dark Age of Camelot taught the pre WoW world that you could actually create an entire continent for 1 race. You could level to 50 on that continent and never see 1 enemy. You could IMMERSE yourself in your culture due to this - quite obviously.
Today, the elf, human, or cimmerian you create is purely cosmetic. Today, to save money, most developers will have your quests all in the same location, regardless of your faction.
3. Keeping it Real the Community today: What is Real Role-Playing in the term mmoRPg?
What I mean by this, is I don't need my orc to dance like MC Hammer, or see endless arguments about why general chat is naturally out of character because we are not all psychics. I am tired of dude speak and penus jokes in general chat. Granted, it's the name of the game these days but I have realized lately the the further I stay from a "Sandbox" or WoW, the less likely I will see this crap. I have really enjoyed the Rift community because they really have attracted a lot of old school (mature) players. Most the heavy pot smokers of the Free For All, WoW, or Sandbox genre, can stay in their games - hopefully forever
FInally, to be a real role player, you know you merely need to avoid any real world referencing? This means you can speak in general chat all you want - just avoid modern referencing. You do NOT need to emo chat - or sound like someone wwho badly wants to sound like Shakespeare but has never had one Thespian experience, avoided a 4 year university degree, or ignored the option to perform in plays while in high school.
General Chat: Tanker: Hello everyone.
General Chat: Casterguy: Hey there
General Chat: Rogueboy: Anyone know what level we can start learning new souls?
see how easy it is
! and ?
My theme song.
I'm with you that vent is hurting the immersion in mmos. A step that devs can take to fix that is by utilising chat to text programs like Dragon.
My theme song.
Animations.
I don't care too much about the graphics as long as the animations make sense.
A natural looking movement animation, fluid attack animations, characters staggering when hit etc.
Nothing annoyes me more then characters walking without any upper body movement or characters swinging their weapons, hitting air and getting no enemy reaction at all.
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
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You know, I think you're right about that one. Ever since playing Vindictus, I just can't bring myself to play Rift/WoW/EQ/etc because when I get hit, I tumble, or stagger back, when I hit mobs, they stagger, or fly back etc. I really get into it. In the standard MMOs, that just doesn't happen. Blade & Soul is lookin good, and if CCP puts even half the effort into animations as they did avatars, then World of Darkness will be damn good in that aspect.
Number one: other players not actually playing the same game I am (PKing, botting, real-world chat, etc)
Number two: Lag/non-reactive interface (if I click a button and it doesn't immediately react, my brain switches from fantasy mode to troubleshooting mode, completely breaking immersion)
Number three: now that more games have jumping and swimming, I find that I have a very low patience for being stopped by a small shrub, a slight change of elevation or a shallow stream.
Player voice is a major issue for immersion, agree 100%. Though for me, it's also the sound quality. When you have to make it blaringly loud to understand what people are saying because it's so muffled, that takes you right out of the game, even if you're teamed with "homeless golden voice guy". And I use Alesis Monitor One's, which are professional recording studio speakers. When you have audio gear that creates brilliant, accurate game music/audio FX, then have people blaring in, sounding like the PA at a Walmart, it just blows the whole thing.
Let's see... excessive mandatory quick travel/instancing. LotRO is about the most I ever want to see. AoC's mandatory quick travel is REALLY offputting in contrast to the immersive potential of it's gfx/sound/music.
Let's see... bad flora/fauna fade-in messes with me, like FE when it launched... rubberbanding... lack of day/night/weather...
I'd say voice chat and global chat are the biggest offenders to immersion.
Hard to say what ruins it the most cause a lot of little things can do it. But if it starts at the beginning it's almost always down hill from there.
An example is AoC. I know a lot of people love Tortage, but from an immersion point of view I really didn't like that every char had to have the same origin, same starting experience and being forced to be the main char of the mandatory storyline. It never gave me a chance to develop my own char.