I will admit that I have reached a wall with WoW. Like most people, that means that I should probably take a break and/or fundamentally decide whether or not I should leave the game entirely. I've taken breaks from WoW before, generally to test or play games that were about to launch or had just launched.
Hopefully this next expansion will bring something 'new' to the table for WoW. Hopefully it will be something much, much different than what WoW has given us over the past 5 years. I don't necessarily believe that will be the case, but I hope that it will be.
I'm also hoping that other MMO's will step up and do something 'new' with the industry. I have high hopes for The Old Republic. Aside from Final Fantasy, I think that's really the only game in development worth caring about at this point.
The question of 'time to quit' has to be on the minds of the Dev's too. I mean, they must look at these games from a 'player retention' perspective. I'd love to hear their thoughts on this subject.
Originally posted by ProfRed they won't last forever like your real life.
hmm......
OR your real life DOSENT last forever, which is why you shouldnt waste the few years away on shitty games that bore you ha.
Haha great point. You know I played FFXI for 5+ years all while maintaining a serious relationship, going to two different tech colleges and keeping all A's or B's. I never stopped showering or playing sports. I had over 1 year playtime. (I had my afk shop up a lot though)
Honestly I don't regret one second of it. Actually, this is attached to a great time in my life, and I still have friends that I met in this game. The problem is MMO's aren't like this anymore. They don't promote community, cooperation, friendship, and they don't provide deep mysterious worlds full of danger, mystery, and lore. They are all about instant gratification, treadmills, e-peens, etc.
I guess in the right guild if you force yourself you could get an experience like this from a game like WoW, but I guarantee 99% don't.
I think ProfRed pointed out the obvious flaws of modern MMOs these days, they're too linear and only offers a "path" which is what single player games has, too many MMOs lack the open free feel that older MMOs had. Once you get your first character up to 50 or 80 or whatever then reroll a new alt, you'll probably end up doing the same quests all over again but likely 3x faster then powerleveling comes to mind for many players.
If it weren't for the NGE in SWG, I would've still been playing, and I've played it nonstop from June 2003 to November 2005, ever since after that I've been MMO hopping with City of Heroes being my longest played game since then. None of the newer MMO games has enough holding power for me to stay any longer than a month or 3 months, Tabula Rasa probably would've been my next longest played game if it didn't get shut down because I liked the combat, gameplay and the open world (despite quests being slim and content was shallow).
I myself have been down this road, and I can say that I am still looking for that "Fun MMO" to keep my interest. But I am slowly starting to realize that that "Fun MMO" doesnt necessarily need to be an MMORPG.
For Instance, the most fun I have had is playing with people I have met on a Single Player game called Neverwinter Nights, a title I am sure many of you are familiar with. But what this game had (and still does to this day, though in smaller numbers) is a great community, who knew exactly what they wanted for their online experience, and because the game came with a Content Builder and the fact that it you can create custom content for it with a widely known 3D modeling tool called "3DS MAX" made it easy for people to put their own worlds together.
Granted, the games graphics are way behind the times, but that doesnt matter when you can use your imagination! Of course this wont apply to everyone, but I feel I have found "my game" and I enjoy the time I get to spend on it.
This is a great article! I'll bookmark the article to find it back quickly, since I want to use a link to this article when responding to many complaints in other threads on this (and other) forums...
Anyway - I've seen a few broken families and careers due to World of Warcraft. When your gaming starts to interfere with Real Life stopping might become very urgent.
"Explorer style" gamers trying other games isn't really a sign to stop, though...
MMO games should focus on the social part. Item oriented games like WOW are addictive and are forcing players to play more than they really can afford. I hope the Random dungeon system will give ppl the chance to rejoin reality instead of sitting in raids 4-5 hours per night.
PVP focused MMO games are not social games. They are anti social and cater behaviour that is damaging both the the players and the game itself. Call it niche - or call it whatever you like. In the end its all about gankers and zergs. And these games are feeding the gankfest by offering better gears for the gankers to destroy the true enjoyment for other gamers.
Finally. There is one thing that is dissapearing from the MMORPG - genre. And that is true RPG. True in the sence that you can log into a game and truely feel like you are your toon - and others around you share the same enjoyment. LOTRO is probably the only game at this point that has any sort of this feel - Maybe Eve does it too. Others dont fee like RPG anymore with players chatting more about other things than actually the game and their toons. Im ofc talking in general. YOu can still be lucky and meet up with true RPG ppl that know how to play with emotes, talk in character and if not - they still respect other ppl that try to do this. Maybe the Developers need to learn something from these ppl. In the end - its the developers that are turning the genre away from true RPG - and turning it more into tournament style gameplay like WOW did with arena. PPL do not meet up there as their characters. They meet up as the looser that sits behind the computer. Thats not what RPG is about. And neither is it about payed character transfers or faction change or whatever. That takes the character out of context of the world it was living in before.
For me, the biggest reason to quit playing an MMO, or all of them, is because I've discovered that when I do I come back 3 months or more later very much refreshed; I can enjoy the same game - or a different one - far more if I take the occasional extended break.
Have played: Everquest, Asheron's Call, Horizons, Everquest2, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Darkfall
Im not really sure what to think of the article. Clearly from the responses and from the underlying message i got from it was about addiction.
Without giving the evolution or de-evolution of the genre side by side with these, it's hard to tell whether this is just advice for some, or excuses for the Current state of MMO's.
See you in the dream.. The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
The best games I have been playing lately (with truely enjoyable gaming features) are games like Trine - Hinterland and Torhclight. But even those games are bringing nothing new to the table. They are just focusing on the improtant parts of games (for me).
This was a great article and I got so much out of the honest comments in the thread. The larger co's should take the time to read some of this stuff. I would give them better insight on how the community really feels.
I'm right there with you Frob! I played through Trine 2x to get some of the stuff I missed. That game is just fun. I bought Torchlight this weekend and am enjoying it a lot. But I didn't hear of Hinterland and it looks interesting. Thanks for the Reco!
What it seems to me that these smaller software concerns, the indie publisher and programmers have one shot to make it. They know that there is heavy and stiff competitions amongst the larger game companies. So they bring their 'A' game, putting their best foot forward. Trine and T-Light are prime examples.
If the larger game companies like Act-Blizz and EA thought like this these indie co's wouldn't stand a chance. But unfortunately the passion is no longer there and they already know they have a foothold. So they make a game and publish it however good/bad it is and they know that we will buy it because it has the 'big name logo' on it.
I didn't want to go too off topic, just add this insight.
Like a lot of you I've been playing mmo's since the very addictive EQ came out and only in the last 3-6 months I have virtually stopped playing in them bar the occasional free play in WAR/SWG/EQ/EQ2/VG etc. I think generally the age of the mmo gamer has got older and relised that gaming can become very addictive and you can become less pro-active sitting in front of a computer screen all day. This is why most of the newer worlds coming out have a stronger casual side to them, which I think is good because a lot of lives can be ruined by mmo's and I've seen it first hand the way players can take a game to serious.
Anyways I'm waiting on SW:TOR before I start playing mmo's again and even though I did think it would be released this year I was actually releaved when they announced it wont be out for another year + because I have so many things on the go in my life at the moment I know chances are I will be playing SW:TOR a lot lol. In the mean time I'm content playing the xbox360 and single player rpgs. I will mention this thread to my friends on other gaming networks so if anyone is feeling the addiction of mmo gaming then they know they are not alone.
First, in regards to the second sign, that of playing the same game a different way. In my exprience it is not always a sign that you are getting bored of a game. Players may just be getting bored of the way everyone else is playing the game. Going against the grain is hardly a sign that players are getting bored of an actual game in my opinion. Just because everyone else is rushing to max level and running heroics doesn't mean that someone who is taking thier time and couldn't care less about heroics and endgame, is not necessarily bored. Perhaps just fed up with the attitudes of players who play that way. Perhaps they are bored of quests and instead of going to a guy with a "?" above thier head to get a task to go kill 20 boarasaurs, the player may decide to just do this himself. He or she can make up the quest dialogue for themselves and use whatever reason (or no reason at all) to kill this or that or to collect a certain number of things. I thing it's more a sign of imagination and creativity than being bored of any specific game.
Second, with regards to forgetting what other games are like, I think it's healthy for any MMO player (addict) to take a break and try new or different games out. I love MMOs, but I also enjoy single and multi-player turn based strategy, FPS, and RPGs. Alot of times taking a break to play these other genres actualy makes my MMO experienc much richer. There are ways to incorporate certain attitudes or ways of playing these games into any MMO. The single player games also cause me to miss the social or grindy aspects of the MMOs so when I do decide to return it's that much sweeter.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
It is completely depressing to see most developers conform to "the MMO formula". Being tired of said formula and wanting something new and innovative and creative is not wrong, it's the natural response for a person who has played too many MMO's that are all the same game but with different visuals.
i call it quits whenever i have to look for groups to enjoy content/quests.
hence, i only last 2 or 3 months in any game, which is fine, i only play 1 mmo a year if i'm (un)lucky.
guild wars 2 will be an exception if they do it right.
age of conan WAS doing it right, but they decided to change, so i told them to F off.
I have SOME hope for the star wars mmo by bioware, but not sure yet, they haven't spoken on it too much, i'll wait for feedback before deciding to try or not.
i still would love to be able to play LOTRO, but i know there's too much content i'd have to sacrifice being a solo player, so not even going to bother with that one either.
It is completely depressing to see most developers conform to "the MMO formula". Being tired of said formula and wanting something new and innovative and creative is not wrong, it's the natural response for a person who has played too many MMO's that are all the same game but with different visuals.
Agreed. I've quit the genre until a good game comes out that isn't yet another Tank-Healer-DPS game. I'd be interested in one that wasn't loot-focused either, but that looks like it would take a miracle.
I believe that taking breaks from a game or even form the genre are essential if you want to play mmos for a long time. Most people will get bored with a game after a few months or so of playing nothing but it. I have been playing WoW for over 2 years now and have yet to play for more than 4 consecutive months. I play for a few months and when it starts to bore me or i find another game to play I take a break from it for a month or so. When I come back it is almost like new to me and I have fun again. If you do nothing but play 1 game for months and months and months, then it is only expected that you will become bored with it.
I think taking a break from mmos is a way to renew your interests in them, not a sign that you should quit them for good.
This is a great topic to talk about, most mmo gamers can relate to this in some way or another. I think it's a little extreme for someone to maintain their monthly fee just to socialize on random occasions. Isn’t that what a phone bill is for? If you chat with a person long enough to become their friend in a mmo, wouldn’t you upgrade to ventrilo or an actual phone?
A MMO can be grouped up with all those other addictions. Common sense will tell us to take it in moderation, but those plump healthy achievements say, "Get me now!" The time to quit goes in the common sense category.
I dispute the staying because your friends play it. MMO's are community games, as such the community is rather important. If everyone you enjoy playing with is playing said game you can still enjoy it even if you have become burned out. However, if something has occurred to really sour the game for you(changes to the game or to your income(thus making you have to rethink cost/worth analysis)), then perhaps even playing with friends isn't enjoyable/worth it. Such needs to be looked at on an individual basis.
For example I played The Fourth Coming for the longest time because I enjoyed logging in and spending time with the community. However, I had known for a while that I was bored of the game itself. So once I no longer regularly spent time with friends or acquaintances on the game I stopped playing. Then again I played T4C almost from(I think) 1999 until just last year so it is little surprise that I become burned out from the gameplay.
Which brings me to the sampling deal. I don't really see that as time to quit, merely it is that ones interest in a particular title wasn't strong enough. How will you know if it interests you if you don't try it first. I for example had a strong dislike towards WoW from the start, but I never actually played it for the longest time, I had just read about it. Tried it a couple years ago. Didn't like it, but I figured that it wasn't right for me to judge without testing the waters first.
I do think it is a good article and it does discuss very important points, however, I feel that in my mind it didn't go far enough into the various points. Then again I like to read articles that are miniature books, so making things my way would put a lot of people off.
As for the addiction talk. Honestly I have a hard time imagining it in the long run. Yes, when I play a game for the first time I may play several hours a day(as much free time as I can will go into it). However, after the first couple days that gets old and I play something else or read a book(I may not even ever finish the first game. . . I have a long list of unfinished games. Good games, but I do bore soo easily). That is just how I am(same is true for books, sports, people, conversations, etc. . . Anyways I suppose that just makes me lucky since Gaming addiction isn't a bit worry for me. . . though books may be another thing.
Life is too short........MMO's are a big waste of time.......Go get a life or a second job and increase your bank account.......Travel and bang broads in different countries........Learn how to fly an airplane and learn to skydive from that plane....Get a divorce from your right hand and get a real GF...There is a bazillion things a whole lot funner to do than live vicariously through an avatar in someone elses cartoon fantasy......The wife has that twinkle in her eye alot more since I quit mmo's a few years back.......time to go get some......<end lecture>
You know... reading some of the replies here... I'm half-expecting to see a follow-up article:
"Jaime Skelton Posts Article - MMO Player Population Drops By 50%"
Seriously though, very good article and I've felt those things about certain MMOs before, only to find that I just needed a break. I'd come back a few months later and all would be well again.
So... if it seems to center around one or two MMOs, it may just be a sign that you need a break
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Good article. Reminds me of the time when I quit playing seriously mmorpgs 2 years ago. I realised there were other good games around other than mmorpgs. I do play mmorpgs but without as much dedication as before because we know that in the end, its just an addiction and a waste of time(or money).
Life is too short........MMO's are a big waste of time.......Go get a life or a second job and increase your bank account.......Travel and bang broads in different countries........Learn how to fly an airplane and learn to skydive from that plane....Get a divorce from your right hand and get a real GF...There is a bazillion things a whole lot funner to do than live vicariously through an avatar in someone elses cartoon fantasy......The wife has that twinkle in her eye alot more since I quit mmo's a few years back.......time to go get some......<end lecture>
There is a place for MMOs for anyone who wants to play and moderation is the key. Your wife problably has that twinkle in her eye because you were ignoring her before. Women don't hate vidoe games, they hate that men take time away from them to play them. I'm on a different shift than my gf and I play when she is sleep and on our days off together I don't period. She enjoys console games and we play co-op games together sometimes. MMOs are fun and incredibly imaginative I don't think I'll stop anytime soon. You can play casually and still enjoy life.
Originally posted by Lathander81 Originally posted by lokiboard Life is too short........MMO's are a big waste of time.......Go get a life or a second job and increase your bank account.......Travel and bang broads in different countries........Learn how to fly an airplane and learn to skydive from that plane....Get a divorce from your right hand and get a real GF...There is a bazillion things a whole lot funner to do than live vicariously through an avatar in someone elses cartoon fantasy......The wife has that twinkle in her eye alot more since I quit mmo's a few years back.......time to go get some......<end lecture>
There is a place for MMOs for anyone who wants to play and moderation is the key. Your wife problably has that twinkle in her eye because you were ignoring her before. Women don't hate vidoe games, they hate that men take time away from them to play them. I'm on a different shift than my gf and I play when she is sleep and on our days off together I don't period. She enjoys console games and we play co-op games together sometimes. MMOs are fun and incredibly imaginative I don't think I'll stop anytime soon. You can play casually and still enjoy life.
Someone already covered that earlier in this thread, games like WoW and Lineage and EQ tend to kill marriages and social lives.
Comments
I will admit that I have reached a wall with WoW. Like most people, that means that I should probably take a break and/or fundamentally decide whether or not I should leave the game entirely. I've taken breaks from WoW before, generally to test or play games that were about to launch or had just launched.
Hopefully this next expansion will bring something 'new' to the table for WoW. Hopefully it will be something much, much different than what WoW has given us over the past 5 years. I don't necessarily believe that will be the case, but I hope that it will be.
I'm also hoping that other MMO's will step up and do something 'new' with the industry. I have high hopes for The Old Republic. Aside from Final Fantasy, I think that's really the only game in development worth caring about at this point.
The question of 'time to quit' has to be on the minds of the Dev's too. I mean, they must look at these games from a 'player retention' perspective. I'd love to hear their thoughts on this subject.
hmm......
OR your real life DOSENT last forever, which is why you shouldnt waste the few years away on shitty games that bore you ha.
I think ProfRed pointed out the obvious flaws of modern MMOs these days, they're too linear and only offers a "path" which is what single player games has, too many MMOs lack the open free feel that older MMOs had. Once you get your first character up to 50 or 80 or whatever then reroll a new alt, you'll probably end up doing the same quests all over again but likely 3x faster then powerleveling comes to mind for many players.
If it weren't for the NGE in SWG, I would've still been playing, and I've played it nonstop from June 2003 to November 2005, ever since after that I've been MMO hopping with City of Heroes being my longest played game since then. None of the newer MMO games has enough holding power for me to stay any longer than a month or 3 months, Tabula Rasa probably would've been my next longest played game if it didn't get shut down because I liked the combat, gameplay and the open world (despite quests being slim and content was shallow).
I myself have been down this road, and I can say that I am still looking for that "Fun MMO" to keep my interest. But I am slowly starting to realize that that "Fun MMO" doesnt necessarily need to be an MMORPG.
For Instance, the most fun I have had is playing with people I have met on a Single Player game called Neverwinter Nights, a title I am sure many of you are familiar with. But what this game had (and still does to this day, though in smaller numbers) is a great community, who knew exactly what they wanted for their online experience, and because the game came with a Content Builder and the fact that it you can create custom content for it with a widely known 3D modeling tool called "3DS MAX" made it easy for people to put their own worlds together.
Granted, the games graphics are way behind the times, but that doesnt matter when you can use your imagination! Of course this wont apply to everyone, but I feel I have found "my game" and I enjoy the time I get to spend on it.
This is a great article! I'll bookmark the article to find it back quickly, since I want to use a link to this article when responding to many complaints in other threads on this (and other) forums...
Anyway - I've seen a few broken families and careers due to World of Warcraft. When your gaming starts to interfere with Real Life stopping might become very urgent.
"Explorer style" gamers trying other games isn't really a sign to stop, though...
MMO games should focus on the social part. Item oriented games like WOW are addictive and are forcing players to play more than they really can afford. I hope the Random dungeon system will give ppl the chance to rejoin reality instead of sitting in raids 4-5 hours per night.
PVP focused MMO games are not social games. They are anti social and cater behaviour that is damaging both the the players and the game itself. Call it niche - or call it whatever you like. In the end its all about gankers and zergs. And these games are feeding the gankfest by offering better gears for the gankers to destroy the true enjoyment for other gamers.
Finally. There is one thing that is dissapearing from the MMORPG - genre. And that is true RPG. True in the sence that you can log into a game and truely feel like you are your toon - and others around you share the same enjoyment. LOTRO is probably the only game at this point that has any sort of this feel - Maybe Eve does it too. Others dont fee like RPG anymore with players chatting more about other things than actually the game and their toons. Im ofc talking in general. YOu can still be lucky and meet up with true RPG ppl that know how to play with emotes, talk in character and if not - they still respect other ppl that try to do this. Maybe the Developers need to learn something from these ppl. In the end - its the developers that are turning the genre away from true RPG - and turning it more into tournament style gameplay like WOW did with arena. PPL do not meet up there as their characters. They meet up as the looser that sits behind the computer. Thats not what RPG is about. And neither is it about payed character transfers or faction change or whatever. That takes the character out of context of the world it was living in before.
For me, the biggest reason to quit playing an MMO, or all of them, is because I've discovered that when I do I come back 3 months or more later very much refreshed; I can enjoy the same game - or a different one - far more if I take the occasional extended break.
Have played: Everquest, Asheron's Call, Horizons, Everquest2, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Darkfall
Im not really sure what to think of the article. Clearly from the responses and from the underlying message i got from it was about addiction.
Without giving the evolution or de-evolution of the genre side by side with these, it's hard to tell whether this is just advice for some, or excuses for the Current state of MMO's.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
This was a great article and I got so much out of the honest comments in the thread. The larger co's should take the time to read some of this stuff. I would give them better insight on how the community really feels.
I'm right there with you Frob! I played through Trine 2x to get some of the stuff I missed. That game is just fun. I bought Torchlight this weekend and am enjoying it a lot. But I didn't hear of Hinterland and it looks interesting. Thanks for the Reco!
What it seems to me that these smaller software concerns, the indie publisher and programmers have one shot to make it. They know that there is heavy and stiff competitions amongst the larger game companies. So they bring their 'A' game, putting their best foot forward. Trine and T-Light are prime examples.
If the larger game companies like Act-Blizz and EA thought like this these indie co's wouldn't stand a chance. But unfortunately the passion is no longer there and they already know they have a foothold. So they make a game and publish it however good/bad it is and they know that we will buy it because it has the 'big name logo' on it.
I didn't want to go too off topic, just add this insight.
Props for a good article...
Like a lot of you I've been playing mmo's since the very addictive EQ came out and only in the last 3-6 months I have virtually stopped playing in them bar the occasional free play in WAR/SWG/EQ/EQ2/VG etc. I think generally the age of the mmo gamer has got older and relised that gaming can become very addictive and you can become less pro-active sitting in front of a computer screen all day. This is why most of the newer worlds coming out have a stronger casual side to them, which I think is good because a lot of lives can be ruined by mmo's and I've seen it first hand the way players can take a game to serious.
Anyways I'm waiting on SW:TOR before I start playing mmo's again and even though I did think it would be released this year I was actually releaved when they announced it wont be out for another year + because I have so many things on the go in my life at the moment I know chances are I will be playing SW:TOR a lot lol. In the mean time I'm content playing the xbox360 and single player rpgs. I will mention this thread to my friends on other gaming networks so if anyone is feeling the addiction of mmo gaming then they know they are not alone.
Nice aritcle. I just have a couple comments.
First, in regards to the second sign, that of playing the same game a different way. In my exprience it is not always a sign that you are getting bored of a game. Players may just be getting bored of the way everyone else is playing the game. Going against the grain is hardly a sign that players are getting bored of an actual game in my opinion. Just because everyone else is rushing to max level and running heroics doesn't mean that someone who is taking thier time and couldn't care less about heroics and endgame, is not necessarily bored. Perhaps just fed up with the attitudes of players who play that way. Perhaps they are bored of quests and instead of going to a guy with a "?" above thier head to get a task to go kill 20 boarasaurs, the player may decide to just do this himself. He or she can make up the quest dialogue for themselves and use whatever reason (or no reason at all) to kill this or that or to collect a certain number of things. I thing it's more a sign of imagination and creativity than being bored of any specific game.
Second, with regards to forgetting what other games are like, I think it's healthy for any MMO player (addict) to take a break and try new or different games out. I love MMOs, but I also enjoy single and multi-player turn based strategy, FPS, and RPGs. Alot of times taking a break to play these other genres actualy makes my MMO experienc much richer. There are ways to incorporate certain attitudes or ways of playing these games into any MMO. The single player games also cause me to miss the social or grindy aspects of the MMOs so when I do decide to return it's that much sweeter.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
It is completely depressing to see most developers conform to "the MMO formula". Being tired of said formula and wanting something new and innovative and creative is not wrong, it's the natural response for a person who has played too many MMO's that are all the same game but with different visuals.
i call it quits whenever i have to look for groups to enjoy content/quests.
hence, i only last 2 or 3 months in any game, which is fine, i only play 1 mmo a year if i'm (un)lucky.
guild wars 2 will be an exception if they do it right.
age of conan WAS doing it right, but they decided to change, so i told them to F off.
I have SOME hope for the star wars mmo by bioware, but not sure yet, they haven't spoken on it too much, i'll wait for feedback before deciding to try or not.
i still would love to be able to play LOTRO, but i know there's too much content i'd have to sacrifice being a solo player, so not even going to bother with that one either.
Agreed. I've quit the genre until a good game comes out that isn't yet another Tank-Healer-DPS game. I'd be interested in one that wasn't loot-focused either, but that looks like it would take a miracle.
I believe that taking breaks from a game or even form the genre are essential if you want to play mmos for a long time. Most people will get bored with a game after a few months or so of playing nothing but it. I have been playing WoW for over 2 years now and have yet to play for more than 4 consecutive months. I play for a few months and when it starts to bore me or i find another game to play I take a break from it for a month or so. When I come back it is almost like new to me and I have fun again. If you do nothing but play 1 game for months and months and months, then it is only expected that you will become bored with it.
I think taking a break from mmos is a way to renew your interests in them, not a sign that you should quit them for good.
Mr. Bagguns
This is a great topic to talk about, most mmo gamers can relate to this in some way or another. I think it's a little extreme for someone to maintain their monthly fee just to socialize on random occasions. Isn’t that what a phone bill is for? If you chat with a person long enough to become their friend in a mmo, wouldn’t you upgrade to ventrilo or an actual phone?
A MMO can be grouped up with all those other addictions. Common sense will tell us to take it in moderation, but those plump healthy achievements say, "Get me now!" The time to quit goes in the common sense category.
For those gamers who want to quit, including me, it's actually harder than it sounds.
I dispute the staying because your friends play it. MMO's are community games, as such the community is rather important. If everyone you enjoy playing with is playing said game you can still enjoy it even if you have become burned out. However, if something has occurred to really sour the game for you(changes to the game or to your income(thus making you have to rethink cost/worth analysis)), then perhaps even playing with friends isn't enjoyable/worth it. Such needs to be looked at on an individual basis.
For example I played The Fourth Coming for the longest time because I enjoyed logging in and spending time with the community. However, I had known for a while that I was bored of the game itself. So once I no longer regularly spent time with friends or acquaintances on the game I stopped playing. Then again I played T4C almost from(I think) 1999 until just last year so it is little surprise that I become burned out from the gameplay.
Which brings me to the sampling deal. I don't really see that as time to quit, merely it is that ones interest in a particular title wasn't strong enough. How will you know if it interests you if you don't try it first. I for example had a strong dislike towards WoW from the start, but I never actually played it for the longest time, I had just read about it. Tried it a couple years ago. Didn't like it, but I figured that it wasn't right for me to judge without testing the waters first.
I do think it is a good article and it does discuss very important points, however, I feel that in my mind it didn't go far enough into the various points. Then again I like to read articles that are miniature books, so making things my way would put a lot of people off.
As for the addiction talk. Honestly I have a hard time imagining it in the long run. Yes, when I play a game for the first time I may play several hours a day(as much free time as I can will go into it). However, after the first couple days that gets old and I play something else or read a book(I may not even ever finish the first game. . . I have a long list of unfinished games. Good games, but I do bore soo easily). That is just how I am(same is true for books, sports, people, conversations, etc. . . Anyways I suppose that just makes me lucky since Gaming addiction isn't a bit worry for me. . . though books may be another thing.
Life is too short........MMO's are a big waste of time.......Go get a life or a second job and increase your bank account.......Travel and bang broads in different countries........Learn how to fly an airplane and learn to skydive from that plane....Get a divorce from your right hand and get a real GF...There is a bazillion things a whole lot funner to do than live vicariously through an avatar in someone elses cartoon fantasy......The wife has that twinkle in her eye alot more since I quit mmo's a few years back.......time to go get some......<end lecture>
You know... reading some of the replies here... I'm half-expecting to see a follow-up article:
"Jaime Skelton Posts Article - MMO Player Population Drops By 50%"
Seriously though, very good article and I've felt those things about certain MMOs before, only to find that I just needed a break. I'd come back a few months later and all would be well again.
So... if it seems to center around one or two MMOs, it may just be a sign that you need a break
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Good article. Reminds me of the time when I quit playing seriously mmorpgs 2 years ago. I realised there were other good games around other than mmorpgs. I do play mmorpgs but without as much dedication as before because we know that in the end, its just an addiction and a waste of time(or money).
This article describes me completely. =(
Have Played: FFXI WoW Aion Maplestory Runescape GrandFantasia RoM JD Rohan Cabal MateriaMagica Ragnarok(2) DDO
"Please don't hurt me master"
Currently Playing: -nothing-
There is a place for MMOs for anyone who wants to play and moderation is the key. Your wife problably has that twinkle in her eye because you were ignoring her before. Women don't hate vidoe games, they hate that men take time away from them to play them. I'm on a different shift than my gf and I play when she is sleep and on our days off together I don't period. She enjoys console games and we play co-op games together sometimes. MMOs are fun and incredibly imaginative I don't think I'll stop anytime soon. You can play casually and still enjoy life.
There is a place for MMOs for anyone who wants to play and moderation is the key. Your wife problably has that twinkle in her eye because you were ignoring her before. Women don't hate vidoe games, they hate that men take time away from them to play them. I'm on a different shift than my gf and I play when she is sleep and on our days off together I don't period. She enjoys console games and we play co-op games together sometimes. MMOs are fun and incredibly imaginative I don't think I'll stop anytime soon. You can play casually and still enjoy life.
Someone already covered that earlier in this thread, games like WoW and Lineage and EQ tend to kill marriages and social lives.
"eXistenZ IS PAUUUUUUUSED!!!"
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops