I can’ t speak for everyone here, but I know that personally, my time is way too valuable to be playing a game I don’t enjoy. If it’s not fun and constantly makes me feel negative or paints things in a negative light, it’s time for me to move on. I understand us gamers can be a pretty passionate bunch and some times it is perceived as us feeling negative about a game when in actuality we’re just really really passionate, but I also think there’s a way to convey that passion without getting all up in arms. Unfortunately not everyone feels the same way.
I suppose I’m feeling a bit nostalgic these days. Blame it on age. I long for the days where we all had an MMO ‘home’ and didn’t jump around from game to game. I have recently started playing EverQuest 2 again – even though I had stopped playing for a few years. It’s a comforting game and a few of my friends still play even with the lure of other shinies in the distance. I envy them and their dedication.
I wonder some times what things would have been like had I just stuck to one game. What if I was still playing EverQuest as my only game of choice? What character would be my main, what would my gear and aa look like. I don’t regret the fact that I play so many games because I have met some lovely people, experienced many game components, and have had fun in each and every one of them, but still. There are those days where I can’t help but think back.
I get very nostalgic for my first MMO (EQ2), we had such stupid amounts of fun. There were also dreadful times when our guild wasn’t even getting enough people logging in to run a group instance but it’s the fun times that are remembered, and we had a lot of them. Our guild dissolved for a number of reasons, but the biggest influence was that people’s real life circumstances changed (for the better thankfully :)). EQ2 was kinda over for me once the guild was over.
I do still pop back and I do still have some friends playing there, but I don’t think it will ever have the same hold over me that it once did.
Understand this completely! Your first paragraph is me and LotRO. I miss it SO much but what’s holding me back on downloading and reinstalling is that I did leave because it wasn’t fun anymore. Still trying to decide if I want to put up with the things that led to me leaving just so I can experience the story and whatnot.
Well written and so timely for me!
As soon as I get bored in a game, I jump to another. That’s why I call myself an mmo jumper cause they tend to get boring really fast now a days. I guess we tire of the same stuff. It felt more new in the first years, but after 10-15 years of playing mmo’s they are bound to get boring. I too wish I had a “Home” like I did in WoW 5 years ago, but that’s just over now I think. I still try tho, and hope I will find a place to stick with for more then 3 months.
For me the reason that many MMOs fall by the wayside is due to reasons linked in your first paragraph, they aren’t fun any more and why waste my limited time.
But I understand what you mean, the advent of the F2P MMO has meant everyone’s focus is spread over multiple games now rather than solely focus on one. For me the subscription model at least gave motivation to stick with one game.