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WHY do you play?
Wombatica
Member Posts: 5
HI!
I'm doing a magazine article about why people play MMOs, and thought that this would be a good place to post. It's a pretty elementary question right? But I'd still like to hear what folks have to say.
Thanks in advance!
WOMBATICA
*******************************************
If it's impossible to kill them all, I usually run away
Comments
I play MMORPG's to have fun and to pass time.
People say to me, "Why don't you just play single player games if thats the case?". Well playing games alone sucks. If that was the case, I wouldn't be playing games at all.
I like to play games with lots of people all the time, all around the world.
I like to play games where you have to build up your character.
I like to play games where the world is constantly evolving. (not that any mmorpg I have played recently has achieved this)
gamertag - Swaffle House
I like being in a virtual world where I can do whatever I want i guess.
Online games are an extremley good at writing off a boring afternoon at work !
I like the meeting of people and team work aspect of them.
Hmmmm ....Raids
MY main reason is the fact that im burned on single player games, been playing since i was 6 yers old when i got my first nintendo for my birthday, as im 25 now its been a long road playing singleplayer games, wich i havent the patience any more to play, with the exception of pro evolution soccer on my ps2, wich i still play with my wife, assorted house guests that drop in and family, its great fun.
MMORPG´s are non liniar for the most part, they make for a varied game experience and permit us to meet and interact with ppl from half way across the world, for those of us that dont have the inclination to watch national geographic... its almost the same thing
All ur Mountain Dew is belong to me.
I play MMORPGs for a few reasons:
1. The games are endless for the most part. There really is no "beating" the game.
2. You can interact with real people and socialize while playing a game. It's got some of that old D&D table-top feel to it.
3. MMOs for the most part offer the widest variety of gameplay. There is strategy, action, and more in many cases. The options are endless.
Simple answer: because it's fun.
But the complexities are a bit deeper than that. There are plenty of times where MMOGs are simply not fun. In elder days I would have kept at them, slogging through the rough in search of the diamonds. While I do not go about it today with that same form of brute force, I do find myself strangely addicted to the grind. Let me explain in examples.
I began my career in MMOGs with Gemstone on AOL (back in the pay-by-the-minute days...good lord was that an expensive game to play). I was a PnP RPGer for years before hand, so the idea of developing my character with levels and equipment was highly attractive, and a big bonus to do so with other players and friends. I remember a huge event where the devs came as merchants selling magical equipment in the main town...it was a tremendous lagfest, but I spirited away an expensive magical sword that empowered me beyond my level. I had my first taste of the online "uber" equipment drug...and my first taste of horror when I overcommitted to an area with a troll that stunned me, then slayed me. By the time I returned to reclaim my body all my equipment was stripped. Devestation. That all happened on the same day. But with this experience in hand, and years of playing Diablo II, I realize that I absolutely love outfitting myself with gear that empowers...one of the primary motivators for playing any MMOG, and thus an extremely important feature.
A second powerful motivator is developing character ability. Not too long after quitting Gemstone (and playing through a series of MUDs) I bought UO and played for about half a year. I absolutely loved developing my characters' skills and mastering abilities...multiple abilities, no less. I loved the idea of being the self-sustaining player: an uber-mule (or two) and a couple of combat templates to try my hand at whatever suited me. The idea was this: if I happened to obtain a piece of excellent equipment I certainly didn't want to be deprived of the trophy simply because I was the wrong class. UO wasn't the best place to experience this kind of muleage/twinkage, so I graduated to EQ where the best of both my motivators was empowered.
In EQ I soon discovered, however, that my greed for gear was second to my desire to explore. In fact, having extremely deep knowlege about fighting areas (in any game) is what is my primary motivation. Thus, it is not exploration that is key, per se, but knowledge. I didn't discover this until well into my MMOG career, but since discovering it it has never been rivaled. In EQ I was able to array myself with knowledge: what mobs were in a zone, what gear they dropped, what the relative value of the drops were, what classes were best against specific bosses/named-mobs, etc... I found a special calling in a strong guild as a strategist and raid leader, where my love of knowledge and exploration was vital to success. EQ has its faults, though, and top-tier guild politics are fraught with horrors, so I moved on.
The final motivator for me came as an aggregate of most of the games I've played, culminating in EVE Online: the hoarding of wealth. What good is there in winning gear if you get rid of it? That's what character slots, bank slots, and equipment slots are for! EVE Online has been my mainstay for over a year because as a solo player I've been slowly amassing wealth and power...multiple battleship skills, multiple battleships, blueprints to tons of equipment and ships, millions of ISKs, production facilities pumping out profits, and an ever-expanding set of credentials and wealth. I love hoarding it all and having the private knowledge that it is mine and I earned it through my efforts.
The Bartle Quotient puts me squarely in the Explorer/Achiever camp. I think that's a solid assessment.
because i can escape from reality...and live....well thats why I used to but now i play for fun
I play for a few reasons: its fun, speeds up time, escape from reality, have some type of social life, and it help blocks out my parents constant arguing over stupid stuff like "MOVE YOUR CAR BECAUSE MY CAR NEEDS TO BE IN THE SHADE!!!", and also its kind of an altnerative to drugs for me.
To experience the dynamics of an alternate reality inhabited by other players. Politics, power, greed, fear, all the emotions that you can't get from a single-player game.
When I'm at home i like to surf porn sites. Having a spreadsheet come-up whenever someone comes in the room (like at work) wouldn't be believable. Plus I use dial-up and I need to be able to explain why I'm on the internet for such long hours . . .
<j/k>
AHEM
In reality, I enjoy RPGs in general (PnP, console, and PC...online or offline). To me MMORPGs have an extra element of "immersion" that other RPGs lack becasue the world is inhabited by other PCs and also because the world continues to exist whether I log or not. Even though from a basic design perspective MMORPGs pretty much bite in every way compared to their offline counterparts, this extra bit of immersion means a lot to me. My playtime is about 2/3 online 1/3 offline games.
I don't want to write this, and you don't want to read it. But now it's too late for both of us.
I usually play MMO's free, for the sake purely of the fun. Its also basically like, say, reading a book (not on the same intellectual level albeit). At least for me, I get pretty absorbed in what I'm reading. Sort of like I'm there. MMO's sort of provide a front end for that immersive experience. Chatting is also part of it, you can usually kick back and have some brief amusing discussions with some people you normally wouldn't meet. The game provides a common thread to that, without the unstructured meandering of public chat rooms (with people you haven't met).
The fun factor often doesn't last because pressure to uber and level up fast is, in my opinion, annoying. I don't play to flog through levels or to be punished for a reward that is ultimately just transient bits on a server hard drive somewhere, thank you very much. Struggling through to a goal in real life is rewarding. I feel like an idiot when I do it in an MMO.
I'm writing a paper too.
Why do you think a paper on why people play MMO's is worth writing?
Please answer with at least 10 reasons, no less than 100 words per reason. Once you finish answering ask yourself if you found it annoying to have someone asking you why you do something.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
I'm writing a paper too.
Why do you think a paper on why people play MMO's is worth writing?
Please answer with at least 10 reasons, no less than 100 words per
reason. Once you finish answering ask yourself if you found it
annoying to have someone asking you why you do something.
Oh my! No one ask anymore questions directed to no one person in
particular! It apparently annoys one person out there to the point where
they will spend their time answering a question they dont want to answer
with a response that has nothing to do with the original question to
begin with instead of moving on to the next thread like anyone else who
doesnt want to answer the question would do! Everyone rip the -?- key
from your keyboards right now, it's a matter of life or...slightly more
interesting life!!
Anyway back to the subject that everyone but one jerk seems to have no
problem with. I play to pass the time mostly, but also because the
thought of adventuring and treasure hunting (albeit, in a virtual world)
is just appealing to me. Also its cool to meet folks from different
parts of the world, different walks of life, different backgrounds, etc.
Wheee!!! Llil touchy aren't we? I post a joke in reply to a question that pops up here almost weekly and you decide to act like I am the anti-christ. Go take a vallium already.
Sorry if I'm sick of answering this question every one or two weeks when some kid gets it into their head to write a paper about people who play MMO's. We've even had folks come ask us to fill out questinaires on a website as to why we play MMORPG's. It gets old, that's all. It's no great mystery. People play MMORPG's to escape reality. Same reason they watch Sports or Fictional TV shows. Same reason they read a book. Because it is FUN.
It's not like it is a big secreat or hard to figure out.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
You have some nerve calling someone touchy. I just didnt see the need to
criticize the OP for asking a simple question. So it's been asked
before, but it's not the same person asking, he/she just wants an answer
to a curiosity. That's no reason to be rude to them. If 5 different
random people throughout your day asked you what time it was, would you
jump on them too? THIS is the attitude that screw up communities in
MMORPG's. Not to blow the whole thing out of proportion or anything, but
it just reminds me of those folks who make fun of noobs for not having
learned the game yet, then turn them away when they ask how something
works.
Anyway, I dont mean to make any enemies here or anything, I just think
it would've been a bit less childish not to attack someone for no viable
reason. Granted my own reply could've maybe been......better phrased,
but I hate seeing people bullied in any way, shape, or form.
These questions do pop up often and it annoys me to think why people have to actually ask people why they play a video game.
Its like asking somone
"Why do you want to have fun? Duhhhh." *drools* "Matt Damon"
"I'm sorry but your mmo has been diagnosed with EA and only has X number of days to live."
PKing in solo games is pretty hard?
It's fun and it involves other people. After playing MMOs, I have found it VERY hard to get into offline games very much because it just feels so linear, contained and empty as compared to an evolving game world with lots of other folks in it running around and doing things just like you are ... it makes the "fantasy world" (whether sci fi or true high fantasy) more real when there are other people there.
Because of the social interaction. RPGs are good offline, but even better with hundreds of other people in the same position as you. Being envied by lower level players is good too :P
No problem mate. I wasn't mad I was making a joke because this gets asked a LOT
And it's not just here. Every MMO message board I've ever posted on has eventually gotten someone who comes on and asks everyone why they play MUDS (now it's MMO's) blah blah blah and, (note: I know it wasn't this time) usually, it's couched in a way that it's fairly obvious that the person asking thinks we're all totally nuts for wanting to play an online game.
I guess that over the past 18 years of seeing the question pop up I've gotten a bit jaded about it.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas