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I seriously question my ability to play any MMO (or any GAME for that matter) for longer than 1 mont
LeegOfChldrn
Member Posts: 364
Granted that I play quite "hardcore" when I start up my computer, often playing non-stop all day every day for 2 weeks and then off and on for the next 2 weeks before yawning and wishing there was more freedom, sandbox, complexity, or something to do besides repetitive combat toolbar mashing.
Often we make demands for a MMORPG which will capture us for years. Yet is that even realistic?
Perhaps I am just cursed with an ADHD personality which caters towards new things, but really...I don't see myself playing ANY game for longer than 1 month, with the amount of hours I put in a game in that month. I take my gaming serously.
I played Ultima Online off-and-on for 4 years, and Everquest off-and-on for 2 years, as well as years of my life where I never DIDNT play at least 1 MMO (if not 2, or even 3!) but these were both when I was a teenager and had a different view of the world, friends, and life in general. It was also in the beginning of MMO worlds AND the internet, which were both phenominal places, almost like being an astronaut and discovering space and new worlds for the first time.
Now the internet is decades old, video games are multi-billion dollar industries, everything is catered towards dumb kids (or the adult equivalent parasite), and although I, along with most veterans here, proudly yammer on about how "Back in my day" games were complex and kept you playing longer because you enjoyed the game, or blabbering about sandboxes and the repetitiveness of new MMO's and their themepark toolbar-mashing instanced nature.
Yet honestly, I have serious questions as to whether or not I would even want to or COULD play the "Perfect MMO" for more than 1 month, and severe doubt I would play it for more than 3 months STRAIGHT. Obviously I'd play the "perfect MMO" off and on for well over a decade, but months straight in a row? That's quite a committment, typically researved for game development, family, work, or third party activity (which includes gaming in general.)
Telling me a game could be so great that I play it for more than 3 months STRAIGHT is like telling me there is a possibility I will surrender my multitude of game-loving genres and entire gaming hobby for ONE game. I really don't see myself handing in my FPS games, RTS games, and RPG's simply for one "perfect MMO".
Doesn't everything get stale eventually? Except people, since they are ever-changing.
Of course, it really truly could be simply that leveling is too easy in MMORPG's and I get bored really quickly because I go from 1 to 30 in a matter of days, and before the month is over have about 8 alts, all below the lvl of 30. (Because honestly, the game is the same 30-50 as it was 20-30, but 1-20 provide more thrills and less stale progression).
I just have my doubts. I truly believe that it IS the problem of recent MMO's in the last 5-10 years and NOT me, simply because I loved Vanguard and truly would have played it if it wasn't a dead populous. Same for Darkfall if veteran vs newb was more balanced without a requirement to grind for 1 month just to PLAY the game.
Also, I believe it is the games and not me (although I have doubts) because I can log in to Ultima Online at any moment and have a blast. I just have a hard time getting my friends/family to consider playing it due to its age and the simple fact they aren't UO veterans (2D client forever!) like me. OH YEA...and the simple fact they ruined UO and EQ by adding Renaissance+ expansions and Planes of Power+ expansions. Herp derp!
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There is something other than game design that keeps you playing. That is who you play with. Having people in the game you have fun talking to playing with, etc really makes everything better.
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True. But some of the games I really enjoyed just seemed to lend themselves to social play DAOC for example. At launch it was pretty grindy, the pain was lessened in groups not to mention you got the best exp in a group killing purples, it was almost mandatory. That was even before you got into the RvRvR game (again where you needed to co-operate to get stuff done). Of course nowadays 'forced' grouping is a nono.
Kind of agree with the OP, though I have not given up on the idea that something might inspire me again.
You never get that feeling back you had when you where a kid period, also old days are over you eather accept that or keep crying about it is up to you.
I also started in 90s and also can't play most mmo's anymore but i accept that im now very picky in what i play and i dont pay dime if im not 100% sure its worth money.
I play mainly solo games and from time to time i try out these free 2 play mmo's so far all crap but im patience wait untill something come along if not plenty of old games to play and stick to solo games.
New generation want zero grind and instant uberness becouse they claim have no time and its unfair when hardcore gamers have it all and they dont so in last 6 years they have whined and cry so much that every developer catered towards them give them what they want thats how it works they bring in money if they get instant uberness and casuals are happy campers hehe.
Ive seen guys paying hundreds of dollars in items shops and brag about it ingame how uber they are and they dont even have played 1 min for it lol welcome to the new ERA, its beyond me but thats how it is these days, its SAD i know:P
Happy gaming OP:p
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Well you play too much.
Second thing is well maybe you cannot play anything for 1 month straight. Who knows. You know best.
I know I am able to. Actually when I find good game especially mmo I can play it for years even.
Thing is current mmorpg's have diffrent design so they cannot hold my attention for that long.
That's why I don't play any atm. Just watiing for AA as this game seem to have design and mechanics to keep me playing long-term (focused on creating separate server (virtual world) many community based thing, crafting ,exploring ,etc ), maybe will try GW2 in meantime
Most (not all) players need other players in order to enjoy a game, be it if youre a raider,pvp'er or roleplayer, you need the right type of fellow players to hang out whit. MMO's are social games in core design even if they are more focust on solo play then group play and have a severe lack of anyting else then battlegounds and generic quest these days.
the developer who incl's a good social sub-game into thier mmo will find that players stick around for years, those who dont will find that there customers will go as fast as they come.
its a shame coz its realy easy to add sub-game mechanics in a game, fishing is a very very populair thing to do in games that have it, its usaly nothing more then a mini game were folks can hangout ,try to catch a big fish and maybe have a contest if they like to arange so. its not populair coz its fun staring at a timer and to press a button at the right moment to ctach that vitural fish..no its fun coz youre hanging out whit youre friends, chatting,goofing around and have a good time. there a million little addons that can be put into games that require the coding of a very simple app yet is compleetly overlooked in todays games.
Make a website that pulls info from social media, those wholike that stuff can share and care and build a social game site linked to their RL social media, so willl use it ,some wont, but the main goal is reached, players stay longer , enjoying themself longer.
/shrug perhaps one day a developer will get the vision needed understand that mmo's aint fastfood burger but a fine meal you should sit down for and enjoy whit a glass of wine and desert.
anyway, in the end it comes down to comunity, if you like a community you stick around, if you dont you will leave for the next game.
I think most things in life get boring if you're doing it obsessively. When I start a new job, I'm motivated, enjoy my work, but after doing the same thing day in and day out, it gets old and soon after that I don't like my job anymore. I just bear it, because I have to in order to pay the bills.
Playing games in some ways are a lot like work. You are playing/working through content, but eventually doing the same thing over and over again (combat or story) gets old, because you're performing the same moves, fighting similar mobs, experiencing the same locales, and experiencing different variations of the same story (kills this, collect that, go here, go there etc).
I firmly believe that there's an X amount of time spent in game before any person gets bored. That time is drastically reduced the more time a person plays without breaks. I may bore of a game after a week or two if I'm logging in several hours a day every day, whether it's a single player game like Skyrim or a MMORPG. However, if I limit myself (takes discipline and lots of willpower) to only playing a few hours or less, then I may get a 1-2 months of enjoyment out of it. That's still not great when talking about MMORPGs, but the key is playing at casual speed, meaning around 10-15 hours a week. At that pace, I'm hardly getting my gaming fix, so I eagerly await the next time I can play. This prolongs my play time from 2 months to several months or even over a year or more.
But here's the real brain buster. Whether you play hardcore, average, or casual, most people reach the burnout phase once they've done all there is to do one time. My theory is that whereas a hardcore gamer will experience it once and burnout, an average gamer can experience everything 2-3 more times with different classes, and a casual gamer can play through it a few more times than the average gamer, due to being hungry to play all the time. But eventually, unless enough content and changes are released in a timely manner, everyone will run out of things to do and quit.
The difference between todays games and pre-WoW games is both leveling speed and things to do. There were usually more variety between classes, so replaying the game as a different class was a completely different experience. Leveling up was also the main focus of the game. Plus older games were more focused on social gameplay, whether it be building player cities or fighting against other player factions in long-term meaningful RvR (ala DAoC). In todays games, its a quick trip to level cap, and to reroll means playing through the same quests hubs that you just finished, plus there are far less classes to choose from and they're not as so diversified and interesting as older games were.
Take SWTOR's classes for instance. A melee dps of one class gets similar abilities as a ranged dps class, such as a channeled ability, a DOT ability, a stun, a stun break, an AOE, and a straight up dmg attack. Granted, SWTOR is a step better than WoW, since at least the classes have different mechanics and the ability animations look different. For example, the 4 sec stun you get as a Sith Warrior is Force Scream, whereas the 4 sec stun you get as an Imperial Agent is some kind of taser type stun. Different looks, but same result.
OP, your measure of "longer than 1 month" is totally meaningless. For some people, 1 month = 450 hours played, whereas for others 1 month = 50 hours played.
If you are fortunate enough to be in the 450 bracket, then your "1 month" is probably equal to the average player's 6 months, so you're probably quite normal, given that the average person probably doesn't play 1 game for more than 6 months exclusively.
I have no problem exclusively playing a game that I really enjoy for multiple months. I have logged just over 300 hours in Skyrim so far....
Some MMO's I can play continuously for years, as I did with SWG and EVE.
Aye unfortuently all mmo games r single player based games so u dont group often, i could play everquest forages cause i would be chatting 2 my group while farming and it wouldnt feel like a grind when lvling because of the social aspect of the game. nowaday games it feel like im grinding away lvl/rep/cash and all that from the moment u get in the gamecause its best to solo all that. Also instances are so dam prodicatable unlike EQ open world with no instances cause u never know whats going to happen since mobs would make trains if somone needed to run due to no leash lines and it always kept u on ur toes.
Your like me i could play Everquest as my only game for years, but nowaday i can stay in them for more than a few months prob because i could do and see everything within a month, while everquest had like 144 zones at release and added 20+ per expansion and alot of these zones were larger than new games area take the plains of karana there were 4 of them east south west and north and each one of there were larger than the barrens in WoW. nowadays companies do the least amount of work they can get away with.
Im also hoping GW2 can hold me while i wait 4 a AAA game hoping SoE pulls it off with EQ3 since its spose 2 be alot like eq1 but its prob like 3-4 years off release maybe less but i dont mind waiting if thry do it right.
Very true, but i got tired of sifting through the myriads of semi-educated, inarticulate, socially challenged inadequates to find that 1% of intelligent, witty and team-oriented players. Nowadays I never bother any more. Life is literally too short for that crap.
I think that back in the day you had to be educated, informed, truly interested in fantasy genre to play games cause not everyone could afford or desired internet for many other things. A lot of people in UO were from pnp rpgs and single player rpgs when they were niche and playing with other people online was so cool compared to common place. And then you had all the people who played muds and text adventure games and crap. These kinds of people tended to want to team up, to love the world and play a lot so grouping was easier and also the community was small so good manners meant something.
I played the beta for a text browser game called dungeon inquisitor and if you were nice to people and social and crap you could get things done but if you were a dick people didn't "follow" you or trade human calling items or trade human prisoners or reinforce your army to kill humans with large armies. So it was easy to find people to "group" with and people followed the rules to get friends to help.
Now look at WoW and such games that are really soloable. Whats the motive to play fair? And once you have been a douchebag for long enough in a game, its hard to change even if you realize you need to.
So douchebags are so much more prevalent.
I believe that you can play an MMO for longer than one month OP if you want to. I mean, you can't even construct a giant fucking floating god damned sky fortress if you haven't played at least 6 months to a year. And you know you want to build a sky fortress. Everyone does. Look at minecraft. People LOVE building cool shit.
The only game i have really played that went past 1 month is DAOC, played it for 10 years+. I will say i am finding Final Fantasy XIV very good, nice people and a lot are on.
But seems like most are just wating for 2.0.
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I don't think it is unrealistic. The key to this that I see is diversity. Not just playing re-skinned versions of the same content over and over, but having a wide variety of options of activity.
Doing something that we're not burnt out on is a great way to get past the burn-out.
It is hard. Even harder now as I grow older. As a kid anyone older than me was so full of what seemed to be wisdom and life experiences that I could listen to them talk for hours and feel enriched. Now those same stories sound like boastful BS or ignorant ramblings. Then there are the youth who come with their own bag full of unstable emotions.
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I feel the same way. I know however that it is the games and not me. I do get bored with things pretty easily. Even great things. I thnk it just means I need to find 2 or 3 games I really like and rotate so they don't get stale.
Right now I am playing:
Starquest Online - Epic Sandbox Sci-Fi MMO ... Terrible graphics
Stalker Online - First MMO FPS game I think to do it right... Too bad it's all in russian at the moment
Star Sonata 2 - Very much like EvE online with twitch combat... this is basically part 1 with better graphics and a F2P model
I have been playing Starquest for 4 years now. Usually it's not the game I tire of but the tiny community that has long seated disputes and rivalries. The other two I just started and they are keeping me busy while I make repairs and of course let my enemies make repairs on SQO.
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"
I get bored with games very quickly too,
For example I thought Skyrim was a really good game but I only put 20 hours into it before I got bored and never played it again, and I know people that sunk 100s of hours into that game.
I just need constant novelty for things to keep my interest, or conitively my brain just turns off.
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I thnk that's why SQO has kept me playing so long. I can invent new things to do. I am constanly coming up with new techniques, and discovering new ways to play this game. If something starts to feel stale to me I move on to another aspect.
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"
I play games for years the key is play it like a hobby not hardcore obsessive like it matters. I am lucky to get 40 hours a month in game even this past weekend when i was off I don't think I spent more than 4 hours on an mmo. I try to keep two or three games in my playmix and normally only one of them is an mmo. I have never felt a need to rush to the end because at the end only raiding remains so really what is the point of rushing if those people are all that is waiting.
If stupid game companies would just make a sandbox game with more than 1 boring easy mode activity this wouldn't be a problem. GW2 is headed in the right direction and will allow for other games to go farther if it does well.
This. /Thread.
There is no problem here.
I do not understand the obsession of having a game that one can play for years. Everything turns boring sooner or later.
It is not like there is a lack of games to play.
So just be happy and hop around games.
I suffer from the same the OP is expressing.
I am bored within two weeks...heck my guild mates take bets every time we try a new game "lets see how long Duke will last on this one, I say 5 days who else?"..it is quite rediculus that no game as of late is able to capture one's immagination and interest.
Sad Sad.
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ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard