Just One MMO Isn’t Enough

Sometimes, one game just isn’t enough. Most of us want to invest solely in one character we love, one guild we like, and one game we find satisfying and entertaining. MMORPGs are such a social activity, and most of the rewards are long-term, so this approach is (in theory) the most rewarding. In reality, there are many, especially in the F2P realm, who bounce from title to title, picking up and moving whenever one gets boring. People like this may wish that they could stay in one place indefinitely, but the realities of the limitations of the MMO development process mean that it’s highly unlikely any one game will be able to hold the average person’s attention for very long. Unless they’ve never even played an MMO, of course. Then they’ll probably get an acute case of “MMO fever” for a year or two, maybe longer, after which their immune system will have jaded them enough to make single-minded commitment to one game nearly impossible.

CosmicBreak – A new MMO I recently Tried

The limitations of the genre today is a subject I broach upon frequently. While that’s an aspect of this issue, it isn’t the entire problem. I’ve played many, many different types of MMORPGs, some very similar, and some very different. The most unique one I’ve played is EVE Online, and that’s primarily because the game experience, driven heavily by player actions and politics, is a dynamic one that doesn’t really need a development team to squeeze out regular content updates to keep the player population from dying of boredom. This kind of approach might seem ideal, but for some people, it’s almost a little too real. The potential for getting sucked into the social intrigues of a game like EVE pose a very immediate threat to one’s ‘real-life’, and a great number of us might be simply creeped out by a game of that depth and complexity. Others still might find a game of that design the holy grail of MMORPGs. Personally, I’m on the fence.

Eve Online – One of the most in depth MMORPGs out. Too bad it’s P2P =[

In order to progress in most end-game content, no matter what game you're playing, you usually need to find a group of people (a guild, a clan, a corporation, etc.) and start coordinating. Especially in raid focused games like World of Warcraft and Runes of Magic. These days it's not usually impossible to make progress with “casual” participation, that is to say, perhaps showing up for a raid once, twice, perhaps three or four times a week at a scheduled time. Because of this, players might not always want to spend all of their time in the same game world, as much as they may enjoy the community there. Fresh stimulation calls, but with P2P games, finding new distractions to tide you over between major events in your “primary” game is expensive, and altogether impossible for a gamer on a limited budget. It's for this very reason, as no one knows when MMORPGs will suddenly make a quantum leap towards being more interesting and cool, that the F2P model is so important, and why its increasing popularity in the mainstream is a good sign.

Runes of Magic Gameplay Screenshot

If it serves no other purpose, F2P will help us all chase off the doldrums, and postpone our inevitable nervous breakdown when we are forced to step back and examine the smoking wreckage of our lives*. Thank you F2P, for helping us more easily distract ourselves from ourselves! We salute you.

*Individual wreckage subject to varying degrees of smoking. Some may experience smoldering, steaming, and in severe cases, burning. If burning persists, contact your psychotherapist immediately.

In the end, after sifting through the many, many titles out there wanting to be our primary distraction, we usually do find a game we go back to frequently. This game is not the same for everyone, as everyone, after all, is different. What’s your favorite game? How often do you switch titles, and how many different MMOs at once do you think you’ve been played with any kind of regularity? Or if you truly have stuck it out with one game for a long time, what game is that, and why? I’d like to know, so I can check it out myself!

By, B. Olivia