Profile: Centhan
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• • For those of us in limbo…

  • This is a thread for those of us in limbo at the moment. I define limbo as the state we MMO gamers get when nothing currently released looks good, and nothing coming up gets us overly excited. I am also not currently playing a MMO game at the moment. However, I suppose you can be subscribed to one, just going through the gaming motions, and still be in the state of limbo.

    So what has caused us to get to this state? Here are some things that came to mind…

    Are we still hoping for the comeback of the “good ole days”?

    Do we long for the development of games like UO or EQ again? When developers were young and hungry and they seemed to lean towards what gamers would think is fun, instead of what would necessarily make the most money?

    I thought this could be the problem, and although I felt this way up until a little while ago, I don’t think this is it. This past summer, I went back to my first love, EQ, when they offered free game play for veterans. I probably logged in 3 or 4 times total, then had absolutely no desire to return. The best way I can describe it is going back to the area that you grew up in after many years of being away. Everything looks different…smaller and less magical somehow. Nothing is how you really remembered it in your mind, the fond memories are a bit diluted, and the woods you played in is now stripped bare with condos in its place. Some of the basic structures are there, but the fantasy is gone.

    
    Is it that we are simply burnt out?

    There were times when I used to live MMOs. Whether I was playing EQ, WoW, CoH or Planetside at the time, I used to play them non-stop, to a point where it did affect my real life. I never got to a point that I know some people did; those are true horror stories (divorce, child neglect, death, etc). However, I did blow off my clients for work, and resist going places socially because of it. Through the years I would take a month or two break from playing, and then come back just as strong as I have in the past. Is this not the way to play MMOs? It is my play style that I need to change? Did I simply play too much? It could be. The last game I played (WAR), I really didn’t play that way. Well, maybe I did in the first week (in beta), but after that, the desire to play really did diminish. Although I did play, it was very sporadic, and at a leisurely pace, but I still didn’t stick with it.

    Is it the community?

    Let me say first of all, that the best communities, out of all the games I have played, seemed to be EQ and EQ2. You got the occasional jerk in each of them, but the vast majority of gamers seemed to be very mature, polite, and helpful. I have found that as the MMO market grew and developed, the amount of decent people who played them seemed to go downhill very fast. However, I guess this would be true of anything that you are talking about. Whether it be an amusement park, restaurant or ice cream store. If it was once the “best kept secret” in town, as it becomes more and more popular, the quality of the service goes down, and the crowds become very different.

    In the past, for instance, when you would ask for help on a location, quest, or how to tackle a particular challenge, you would get very helpful responses, you now get responses from degenerates saying "lrn 2 ply", or “go back to WoW”, which ironically is where you hear most of those type of responses. Did the community turn me off to playing MMOs?

    
    Is the market simply too saturated with titles?

    I’m going to pick a number out of the air, but let’s say around 2001 and before, how many popular MMOs were there? Three, four? You had EQ, UO, DAoC, AC…just to think of the larger ones. My point is, the market was small, solid, and only true gamers really knew about the wonderful world of MMO gaming. As time went on, and developers saw the potential of the incredible cash-cow that MMOs could be, everyone and their uncle starting making one, and in many cases, pushed them out the door as fast as they could (sacrificing quality of course), just so they could make the fast buck. Many times, this blew up in their face, and they most likely wound up losing money on the deal. However, many other MMOs currently linger, with paltry population counts, spreading out the MMO community over multiple, mediocre titles. MMOs survive on population of course. Are the low population counts what’s causing the worlds not to feel alive anymore?

     

    What I think the issue may be for me is a combination of the above things. I have also considered the fact that the “fad” of MMOs is over for me. It was a nice nine year run, but it has run its course. There are at least a few that I will keep my eye on for the future, but again, nothing that really gets me overly excited. I am immune to hype at this point after being burned time and time again. AoC and WAR where the two final nails in the “hype coffin” for me. So what are these games that I will be tracking? They are Star Wars:TOR, Star Trek, Fallen Earth, DarkFall, and Champions. I will at least track the “vibes” of these games as they go through beta.

    So who else is currently in Limbo? What are your reasons?

  • Posted: 12/01/08 4:10 PM
    General Discussion
• • I am bored out of my shoes with MMOs :(

  • Best post I've read in a long time.  Well said, and totally agree.

    Over the past year or so, I feel like I've been constantly kicked in sensitive body parts.

    Pirates of the Burning Sea...wham! Kicked in the stomach!  I double over.

    Tabula Rasa...oof! Kicked in the chin.  I start hopping up and down on one foot.

    Age of Conan...bam!  Kicked in the head (in a slow motion fatality move no less).  I'm stunned and dazed.

    Warhammer Online...oh god!  Right in the family jewels.  And I'm down for the count.

    My body is now wrecked with pain.  I'm on the floor and gasping for air.

    The problem is...money...the true root of all evils.  The developers today simply see the bottom line.  Whatever the masses want, the masses get, as long as it brings in inconceivable amounts of money.  They will make an MMO about knitting yarn, as long as we being sheep pay $15 per month, and they get millions of subscribers.

    I get the feeling they actually develop games by first doing psychological research.  They think "what game model can we make that will be the most addictive and release the most endorphines into the brain".  I've often thought of the episode called "The Game" for any of the Star Trek TNG fans out there.  Game development today very much reminds me of that nice little story.

    In the MMO infancy years, it definitely was about "gamers making games".  They were fun, adventurous, and we were transported to another world while we played them.  Now it's about "investors making games".  They are about overwhelming profit, marketing, and pushing sales.

    Sad really...

     

     

  • Posted: 10/30/08 12:59 AM
    General Discussion
• • I'm out...

  • @ the OP...I just find this funny.  By chance, I just happened to notice another post you made.  Just yesterday you make a wise ass comment in the post below when someone gave their "I quit" thread.

    www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/209293/page/1

    Just strangely funny...that's all.

  • Posted: 10/27/08 8:28 PM
    WAR (Warhammer Online)
• • Star Wars: The Old Republic: KOTOR MMO Officially Official

  • Sounds very nice.

    See you in....2012

  • Posted: 10/21/08 7:44 PM
    General Discussion
• • I have been playing MMO's...

  • ...or, it could be that these are forums for discussion and expression, whether it be good or bad from your point of view.

    I for one like to hear both the positive and negative reactions from the gaming community.  "Everything is good, move along" is not the truth, nor something I want to hear all the time.

  • Posted: 10/11/08 11:31 PM
    WAR (Warhammer Online)