Think I'm done with MMOs. For good.

[Darth Jebus]

Title says it all, really. After over three years in WoW, dabbling in EQ, CoH, GW, giving a lot of time and attention to LOTRO, and being tempted to play WAR, I think I'm finally burned out. And what made me go back to single-player games? Well, two games actually did: Mass Effect and Oblivion. I enjoyed Mass Effect immensely, but Oblivion is what reminded me of my gaming roots, so to speak.

 

Four years ago, a buddy of mine was playing the beta for WoW, and all he did was rave about it. Saying it was so epic and all of that. He knew I was a die hard RPG fan, but he also knew I loathed MMOs because I thought they were retarded.

 

I'm actually not a RPG vet like many of you here. My first experience with RPGs was not the old PnP D&Ds back in the day, but the original KotOR back in 2003. Because that game had such a profound impact on me and how I play games, it prompted me to go to Amazon and order the classics that made Bioware and Black Isle legends in the gaming industry.

 

I played BG, BG2, IWD, NWN, PS:T, Fallout (but not FO2) and never looked back. I then launched myself headfirst into the Elder Scrolls universe, tackling Morrowind and its expansions. And KotOR was single-handedly responsible for all this. I simply could not imagine myself playing a never ending game with no story whatsoever with a bunch of undoubtedly 12-year olds running around waving their epeens at how leet they were - WHILE PAYING A MONTHLY FEE.

 

The whole thing seemed so dumb to me.

 

But alas, my buddy convinced me to just try it out, and if I didn't like it, I could just quit. And thus, my journey down the dark path of planned obsolescence and perpetual grinding for loot began. Blizzard had me. And they had me good. I leveled three 70s and forgot all about single-player games. I mean, online gaming seemed to be where it was at, and where the gaming industry was going (I still believe this, by the way).

 

And then one weekend on a whim, I went out and bought Mass Effect and Oblivion. A few weeks later after I had played through both games, I went back to WoW and realized how empty the game felt to me. I kept thinking about Oblivion and how comfortable the game felt to me. How Jeremy Soule's music jolted memories of KotOR back into my mind, and how much I enjoyed playing the old DnD games into the wee hours of the morning. No, I wasn't playing those games with anyone but me. But that was the thing. Those games were unbelievably immersive. And the focus was on the story, (although Mass Effect strayed heavily from this by focusing on looks and cinematics) which allowed me to just completely lose myself in those games.

 

I missed it. And playing Oblivion reminded of how I used to feel about MMOs and why I fell in love with single-player RPGs.

 

So, when a couple friends canceled their WoW accounts to go play WAR and asked me if I wanted to go with them, I thought about it for a while and then said "Not only no, but hell no." That's like getting over a heroine addiction by smoking crack.

 

I'm done with MMOs. And I don't think I'm ever going back.

[Gorgon]

I prefer games that have an end and a beginning, but, you can get so used to a MOO you keep on trudging long after the point of it all has ceased. It's addictive, dangerously so. You have to discipline yourself to can the game and move onto something else. Some keep on because of the social element, thats fine I guess, I just find it hard to contend with all the idiots that also populate these games.

[Moatilliatta]

I've never really seen the addictive part of MMOs, but I guess that is just me. The reason I play MMOs once in a while is if my friends are playing it as that cranks up the fun in usual co-op manner. This also means I don't have to deal with the 12 year old dweebs.

[Hurlshort]

I leveled three 70s and forgot all about single-player games...

 

...A few weeks later after I had played through both games, I went back to WoW and realized how empty the game felt to me.

 

Really? You put in over 300 hours or so and the game felt empty to you? Did you play Oblivion or Mass Effect for 300 hours before you achieved this epiphany?

 

You got a ton of time out of WoW, and I seriously doubt you spent all those hours hating yourself and the experience. Why do you feel the need to trash it?

[newc0253]

I'm actually not a RPG vet like many of you here. My first experience with RPGs was not the old PnP D&Ds back in the day, but the original KotOR back in 2003.

i'm not an RPG vet either. my first experience with RPGs is Bio's Sonic Hedgehog!

Edited October 5, 2008 by newc0253

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Good for you, another one saved from the scourge of the pay-for-play MMO!

[kirottu]

I like playing WoW with friends and I like playing single player RPGs. I don

Edited October 5, 2008 by kirottu

[Nightshape]

Good for you, another one saved from the scourge of the pay-for-play MMO!

 

So true...

[SirPetrakus]

I started MMOs with Lineage 2, it looked like standard grindan jrpg, which I'm cool with, I liked the FF series to an extent and was accustomed to it. Games like Capcom's Breath of Fire were fun to play so I just saw this like one of "those" game, only I could play with friends on different parts of the gaming world and the globe. At any moment I got bored, I could just spark up some nice little chit chat and forget that I'm playing something, being myself and making friends was what it was. Then it dragged on too much. The amount of effort it took to level up was ridiculous, the resting time was obscene and the uselessness of melee type characters was getting to me, being a melee character myself. So I quit, lots of friends felt that way too, so they did the same thing.

 

We kept in touch, I kept playing single player games, they gathered on ventrilo and played Battlefield, we all hang out in the clan's forum. A friend showed me WoW a few months back. Game seemed interesting, melee types were again not that big, but much more useful than Lineage 2, resting time was minimum, large community, leveling not so tedious ... I was tempted to try it, but I wanted to try it out with my old clan, sadly, except a couple of them, none was inclined.

 

AoC came out, tried it out. Pretty game, nice graphics, cool PvP, sieges, fatalities ... not that many people, few organized guilds, bugs ... we didn't last long.

 

We started WAR just a few weeks ago. Game looked like fun. Special RvR scenarios, quests on par with WoW, much less bugs than AoC, melee types matter ... this might be it!

 

I started MMOs 6 years ago. Not saying they're the best type of games, nor that the future of RPGs rests on them, but it's fun. MMOs will always miss the immersion and emotional impact of single player RPGs like The Witcher, Fallout, Baldur's Gate etc, what they will give you is the opportunity to have fun with a few friends online, but isn't that what they're all about?

[Atreides]

My friend and I were talking about WAR on a roadtrip and it went into how MMO's felt vs SP. Seems to me SPs are like reading/exploring great books - satisfying in their own way but lacking human interaction. Even when you're multiplaying NWN2 with a few buddies it's like you're exploring an interesting but empty world because there's no human interaction back.

 

MMO's on the other hand usually aren't as fleshed out with story but it's the people you interact with that bring it out. Playing for the lulz in other words. It's the crazy stuff you do with friends that makes it fun.

 

Both have their points I guess.

[Setzer]

I actually find myself preferring to play MMO's over single player games these days. I've got a stack of single player games, like The Witcher, Oblivion, Lost Odyssey, FFXII, NWN2, etc., that I haven't got around to playing/finishing because I've been spending my time playing games like WoW, LotRO and Warhammer Online. And it's not that single player games are bad but I just prefer to play a game online with RL friends who I don't get to see everyday. I have a couple of life long friends that I haven't seen in a couple of years but I get to play online with them practically every night and I couldn't do that with single player games. But if I didn't have friends playing online games then I would probably be spending all my time with single player games.

[newc0253]

as much as i dislike MMOs, i like the fact that games like WoW now offer an experience more similar to PnP D&D, where you & your friends form a party, as opposed to the old MMO model of a playing with a bunch of random freakshows you met online.

 

the core of D&D has always been party-based play and it's ironic that, in the course of replicating the old D&D party experience, single-player games like Baldur's Gate have evolved into something distinct: the story-driven CRPG with lots of NPC interaction and even romances (something which old PnP crowd would never have bothered with).

 

it's odd that the essence of D&D has become split in this way: the old PnP social interaction of friends around someone's kitchen table is now mostly online; while the authorial role of the DM in guiding and directing the adventure has been overtaken by the more immersive story possibilities offered by the single-player experience.

 

so now we get online worlds of genuine PnP-style parties of adventurers, but adventuring against something that's been designed for a lowest common demoninator mass-audience and structured accordingly. you get the on-the-fly unpredictable kind of adventure that's only possible with social interaction, but without the kind of immersive detail and focus that you get with a DM or a well-written SP game.

 

or you have a very immersive single-player experience, potentially far richer in terms of plot and story than your average PnP session, but without the essential flexibility and human interaction that comes with an individual DM and fellow party members. the better D&D CRPGs are typically the ones that do a better job of replicating the D&D party experience, even if they're never able to provide a proper substitute.

[Volourn]

"(something which old PnP crowd would never have bothered with)."

 

This is simply not true.

 

Don't think your own experience = every 'old PnP crowd'. (and, the same with my experience not being the same everybody).

 

Not all old pnp crowd campaigns were about campaigning, and leveling up. The best experiences I've had injected actual drama - including romances/relationships - into it along with the usual action, mystery, and huge epic plots THAT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD. The bestest of the best make it 'THIS TIME IT IS PERSONAL' tm as a common mantra.

[Nick_i_am]

I wouldn't give a crap about the monthly fee if I found the games to be actually worth playing.

 

This 'scourge of PC gaming' is just missing the point again.

[qt3.14159]

I actually started my game addiction with an old text mud quite a few years back... Since then I've played quite a few single player games and enjoy them quite a bit, but I tend to have a hard time finishing them. To date, the three SP RPG's I've finished are KOTOR I & II and Mass Effect. I've started a few others (and finished quite a few other types of games on my xbox) but it's easy not picking the game back up when the amount of time invested in so large and you've got so many other things going on.

 

What's nice about WoW is that I can log in for an hour, make some significant progress on some quests, do a BG or dailies and it's not a problem. I also have a boyfriend, sister and brother-in-law who play WoW and we spend a lot of Friday nights at their house around their dining room table, dungeon diving. The dynamic is really great when we're all in the same room and we all have roles that suit our personalities well. My headstrong brother-in-law is our tank (pally), I'm the healer (priest) and my sis is our cc mage and my boyfriend our hunter / dps / cc / off tank.

 

We have a blast. We have to struggle through some boss fights because there's only four of us, but being in the same room and being able to talk makes a big difference in our effectiveness.

 

Anyhow, I think people should play what they enjoy and back off when it starts getting dull. I didn't play much at all for a couple of months (except for friday night instances) from about March til August before I got interested again and started leveling my Shaman. And still, 3 nights a month, six hours of play each... that's 18 hours for $15 a month... less than a dollar an hour and that's when I wasn't playing much at all. MMO's are a GREAT value for your entertainment dollar, for sure.

Edited October 6, 2008 by qt3.14159