May 2007. World of Warcraft. The moment where my life would be forever altered. For many, WoW was their first exposure to a full virtual world. Maple Story was mines, but it didn't make tromping through Azeroth any less immersive! Before I got into MMOs, single player RPGs with memorable characters and a good long story kept my attention. I remember going as far back to my SNES days playing Illusion of Gaia, reading every single text, getting lost in the story. Same with other titles over the years such as Star Ocean 2, Xenogears, Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy 7 to 10, and later games like Skyrim, Dragon Age Series, Mass Effect Series, and even Grand Theft Auto. Of course, game-play matter, but a good story and a immersive world was more important to me.
Now I'm a certified MMOer, those things are still important, but as far as story, I prefer my own. For other gamers, playing MMOs entertains them for various reasons. I can't speak for everyone, but after playing MMORPGs for over 7 years, you get to meet people from different walks of life and they all have different motives to play. Here's my random thoughts!
For the glory!
Those achievement whores, the PvP studs, the guilds with the lame ass Latin names and their world firsts? Nothing else matters to them and they will do whatever it takes to get to the top. In World of Warcraft, players would resort to using the best spec for their class at all times for raid progression. If a class/spec wasn't performing optimally, you got benched. In PvP arenas its always about the flavor of the month team. Classes that players may not even like, but will play for the ratings. Then there are those who just want to have the latest gear. Epic lootz, so to speak. They will also stop at nothing to acquire it. From guild hopping, to straight up ninjaing. (yes, ninjaing, read a book!) Sure their reputation may or may not be tarnished, but hey, at least they'll look smashing in their overgrown shoulder pads as they parade themselves in a city full of afk players.
Generalizations aside, there are guilds who do not resort to extremes to down bosses, and there are PvP teams who refuse to ride the FoTM train and still succeed. Same with our gear fiends. In most moderns MMOs, there are many ways to get gear, so it's more easier to satisfy those types. Then there are also those unique players that go beyond killing dragons, pwning noobs, and shiny epics. Those that like to solo dungeons/raids, hit level cap without killing a single being or only using professions. The cool thing about MMOs is that even though there things that are designed for players to level up and feel a sense of glory, players discover new ways to find their own.
For the adventure!
I can't say I explored in every MMO; some worlds actually make me cringe (I'm looking at you, SWTOR). When a game get it's right, however, you can't help but want to explore the world around you. World of Warcraft got this right. While new to the game, I got excited when my character was able to enter a new zone. I used to fly on my griffin through Eastern Kingdoms looking down at the higher level zones patiently waiting for my toon to be high level enough to traverse in them. Sometimes I'll just board my mount and ride down most of Kalimdor just in awe of the diversity of the land. Exploration is something I've always enjoyed in MMOs, hey, I have the title to prove it! Games like Guild Wars 2 give you vistas around the world to encourage exploration, but all it did was encourage getting more skill points. I didn't really care about the world more than just the location of the vistas and how hard was it to reach.
Another game I think that did it right was Rift. I can hark back when I was a little cleric in the betas. They had certain areas blocked off, so that inspired me to want to ride around the zone until I saw an opening. I never did, but I did traverse some mountain tops and saw an awesome view of the land below me! When the game released I loved that there was this big land for me to explore and no limitations. Hell, even Aion had me immersed. Knowing that the land is dangerous and the enemy can kill you whenever? Coupled with the fact that mobs in the game were actually deadly and pulling more than two solo will mean certain death. But nothing was more fun than exploring the enemy territory with guildies, never knowing what was around the corner. I've had many adventures and epic battles in this game!
For the community!
We are the heart and soul of every MMORPG out there. Without us, those MMOs turn into single player RPGs with big empty worlds. There are many different types, ranging from a couple of real life friends playing together to a guild full of people from all over the country. In games where there is no cross server features, the server itself becomes it's own community. Then there are the solo players who just like that fact of being in a virtual world with other real players. Then, almost separate from the game itself, the forum community. There, the most vocal gamers come to make their home, even if they don't play the game anymore.
Some games have reputation for having an awesome/horrible community. WoW, of course, has that bad reputation. In actuality, because there is a huge player base, people are bound to find more jerks, but in between them are really cool people and I have met a lot of them. That doesn't stop the baddies from acting bad, and they are rampant. Many times in a dungeon I met the tank that just won't stop pulling mobs, damage dealers that do not target whatever the tank is hitting, and healers...not healing. In the midst of that, you have your elitists who feel they need to tell you how to play, even though you have a good grasp of what you're doing. Groups where one wipe means everyone disbands! Outside of dungeons there is the infamous trade chat. I've seen many topics from in-game, to political and other taboo topics. Yea I seen the 'N' word many times, homophobic slurs and many crude words. Compared to a game like Final Fantasy XIV, however, WoW looks a lot worse, because FF's community is overall very friendly! I've met more patient, understanding and overall polite people in dungeons. Yes I met the occasional ass-hat, and I have seen questionable shout convos, but because this game seem to caters to an older crowd (don't quote me on that), the overall vibe is more mature.
For the escape!
Anybody with a full time job, family, and/or school can relate to this. Sometimes life...sucks, and video games (MMORPGs in our case) is the one thing that can help soften that blow. Even if it's just for a small moment, we're whisked away in a wonderland where we go on with our virtual lives doing things that you couldn't do in real life.
You can't hack your boss' head off because he chewed you out in a meeting, but can kill a big ass dragon that's been raving your homeland for months. In games with open world PvP, you have other players at your disposal. Had a really crazy day? Go kill some players in a PvP match, or just gank them! You may hate fishing in real life, but love it in game. Even mindlessly grinding can help relieve the stress of life. For me and I'm sure for many others, I need a mix of real and virtual world in order to keep me sane. You can say MMORPGs is our prescription to the real world. There's something about running a dungeon, doing quests, and just interacting with other like-minded people that makes our world not too bad.
Well that concludes my thoughts. We play our MMOs for many reasons. That said, we also have a similar goal... and that's to simply have fun. Thanks for reading and see you out there!
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