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Group mechanics, your view, how social are you ?
delete5230
Member EpicPosts: 7,081
MMO player Personalities have a wide range in my experience on how social players are. People are people and no one can change that. No one should be forced to do anything they don't like to do. However, we are talking about Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.
- Traditionally, players were expected to live as a community. MMO's were developed to be played for years on end. The given content was expected to be simple, and the WORLD WAS DESIGNED TO BE GIVENT TO THE PLAYERS TO DO WHAT EVER THEY SEE FIT.
- In the second generation, this was upgraded. The interacting content had more story and lore, coupled with more objectives and developers content where players can chose variable objectives scripted by developers. Everything was still optional, and I consider them as mmos because the world was given to the player to do as they please.
- The now generation mmos have changed again to something less player interactive and more developer scripted. Opening the doors for the less or not at all social player.
I promised myself I'll not go off on my usual rants that irritates others, but I will say this:
The first and second generation of mmo players are left behind with the now generation of mmos. Even the classics have changed to undesired by many, with FtP cash shops and extremely easy game play. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME GAMES AT ALL.
What generation of mmos are truly desired by players ?....Is it generation 1,2 or 3 ?......My opinion is we don't really know !....Developers made the changes. Their was never one big massive vote by the consumer.
Anyway, here is a little poll. What type of player are you. Be honest, remember you are what you are and no one can change that.
Comments
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
from my perspective, this is more about game design, player choice (solo or grouping) comes next.
When you don't want the truth, you will make up your own truth.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I'm very social (and grouped) much of the time.
When I'm not in that mood, I solo everything.
These moods last anywhere from hours to months. I reserve the right to play however I wish at any time, and without notice.
Often, after months of raids, I want nothing at all to do with other people for a while. Do I really need to explain why?
Often I play with a partner (or several partners) on an essentially full-time basis. Until I don't feel like doing that any more.
After a period of soloing, the itch to do something social grows irresistible. But those soloing periods are also essential to the maintenance of sanity. The converse is also true.
I cannot imagine any person maintaining one or the other of these options, consistently and exclusively, through years of playtime uninterrupted. No one to my knowledge ever uses just one play style forever.
The archetypes you seek don't really exist. People just aren't as simple as labels.
I'd surely have a different stance if I had a large group of friends playing with me but I don't.
So I favor games that allow auto joining and leaving without having to explain anything. ie: Warhammer or GW2.
I used to think I liked OW FFA PvP games but I quickly realized they were the most group/guild intensive of all.
No place at all for soloers in those games.
Older games you were more or less thrown into a world with very little direction, so from the start talking with people and getting on message boards was necessary. Same when it came to low level grinding/content, you constantly were forming groups (because it was basically necessary) which meant you had to talk to people even if it was the basic minimum. Because the games tended to be slower paced, it gave you ample time to chat while doing things like resting and people usually felt the need to chat because it kept you more engaged and something to do.
On top of that with the lack of cross server/mega server concepts and your need of other people to do just about anything you needed to maintain a reputation. I saw this quite often, especially on the forums where people who were particularly awful basically got rejected by the community which meant they got next to no help pushing them to change their ways or leave. The opposite was also true, people became well known as top tier and trusted crafters or sellers get the benefit of people going to them more often. This also had a bearing on top server guilds who a lot of people would want to join because they were so accomplished or leaders/high profile members who attained really difficult to get items.
Those things barely exist now mostly due to how MMOs are made aka: solo/casual/convenient/cross-server..ect and partially due to the majority of the community just getting used to those factors and treating them more like single player games with a chat box.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
I love the social aspect of MMOs. I love meeting, talking to, joking around with, helping, coordinating and strategizing, sharing in awesome victories, struggling together to pull out of a tough fight in one-piece. I always enjoy seeing folks I'd grouped with previously while in a city, or running through some zone, and being able to say "Hey! Long time no see! How ya doin?" (a big reason why I loathe cross-server anything).
All my most memorable experiences in MMOs over the past 10+ years have been primarily because of the people I was with when they occurred.
In all my experiences in gaming i would rather play with noobs than vets the difference is huge.
I do not like the feeling of heading out somewhere to finish one specific idea then everyone logs off out of the game or onto another alt.Another reason why i don't like alts,i like to personify with each and every person as if real people i don't like characterizing with 1 1a 1b 2a 2b.
It is also another reason i don't like forming a raid,it is usually specific to ONE ideal and often for one or two people.In a normal group of players/friends/guild mates,just out killing for xp,you are all in it for the same reason,all benefit the same and no real goal that ends it,you just play to have fun and enjoy each others company without any end goal.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I too, miss the games where social interaction were part of the game design (or lack of design maybe).
I've come to despise general chat in mmo's and generally just turn them off, because I really really don't want to know what brand your new shoes is, or read through a discussion about Trump when playing an mmo.
And aside from general chat, there is, usually, little to no player interaction.
No reason to group with anyone, no reason to join a Clan and absolutely no reason to help anyone (aside from gaining yet another chat bar).
Playing Black Desert now, which I actually really enjoy, but it could just as well be a single player game for me, because I have no intention or reason at all to interact with anyone in that game.
but I still would like games more focused on social interaction...
Of course, it would help if a game actually required players interact and support each other to get ahead if necessary but "developer scripted" content isnt the only reason MMO's have become all but single player games either. IMO its the oversimplified, easy game play thats sprung up over the last decade or so, where every inconvenience is programmed out of the game and every reward just given to the player for participating. Cash shops havent helped either, "get them to end game ASAP so they'll get bored and buy stuff."
I never thought of the luck factor.
In Vanguard where both I and a RL friend would duo often found this Australian guy that always seemed to be where we were, so we would play together often. We made exceptionally good friends with him.
Dungeons and Dragoon's Online, it seems like I naturally made many friends with out even trying.
Vanilla World of Warcraft for some reason I made a lot of friends naturally.
These were the highlight examples, however with just a little effort on my part I've made tons
I wouldn't like a game where grouping is my only option to progress, but at the same time i don't like MMOs where everything is easy and soloable from 1 to max.
Even in the original EQ I spent a great deal of time solo when not raiding with my guild.
I don't expect much content developed expressly to be soloed, but I don't expect any hard lock-outs preventing a skilled from working on his own during down time. I fully expect some classes to be better at this play style than others, simply due to the tools available to the classes.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Benjamin Franklin
Sorry for bumping my own post, however I think many would find the results of this intriguing no matter what type of player they are.
Results so far :
66% Seem team orientated. And enjoy traditional grouping.
14% Play a middle ground, to both solo and group.
15% Seem to play for the demographic of playing with others around them, story and lore and the overall love of roleplaying. Along with the basic UI, crafting, weapons and armor upgrades that comes along with mmos.
My View :
Many are here on this Pantheon forum because of the love of the game itself. Some for curiosity and have no intention of playing ( simply to see what's up ). Some are here to bash.
So with that I would view the poll slightly off target to the real fans of the game. If the poll were strictly for fans only, I would think " team orientated " would be much higher.
However, It still shows the need to have some solo content. Even if it's a slight window to solo the game for the ones that would like to play anyway.
Again I apologize for bumping the post.