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After 20 years of gaming...
Kopogero
Member UncommonPosts: 1,685
Apparently, best game to occupy myself with is WOW where I go to a scheduled raid 3 times a week and do some 3v3 arena. I find daily quests, pet battles, complete waste of time and stopped doing achivements after I got battlemaster title, everything else is more time sink.
I always intent to focus on playing one MMORPG, but thats not the case anymore. WOW is not sufficient for the "hardcore" gamer and most single player games to fill the gap feel like "been there and done it" just with better graphics, voiceover rest is same structure of gameplay.
On other hand old sandbox MMORPG's like Ultima Online and SWG where the focus wasn't casual pvp and raiding kept me occupied for years full time from morning to evening. That's mostly cuz I had far more solo oriented choices for character progression with my character.
Back then also bots weren't as bad as today and economies functioned much better. Trading wasn't as simple as going to the AH. There was bargaining and deals to be cut and so on. When it came to paths I had the privilege of keeping my original name, yet pursing any career, profession or class I felt useful and fun to play (and there were far more than what we have now)
Most recent MMORPG's are too limiting, too casual, too dependant on others to progress a chr or implement some unrealistic weekly lockouts. After SWG downfall World of Warcraft which came in 2004 is the last MMORPG that I've played for prolong period and not because it's great, but because there is absolutely nothing significantly better and more rich in content and features.
I'm just really glad that the next big MMORPG will be a sandbox and SOE with EQ Next realized that as well as dozen of failed themepark MMORPG's out there who couldn't get close to WOW.
Question remains thu: Is there a promicing alternative to World of Warcraft at the moment that will still control big chuck of the MMORG market 5 years from now? I highly highly doubt.
Comments
Gaming is a time sink period!! Surprised it took you 20 years to figure that out, lol.
Words of wisdom to start the weekend
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
A gamer who frequent these "gaming forums" telling someone that gaming is a time sink period. So flattering, fresh and new...
Living could be also considered a time sink too. Why waste time living when you can go to next step in your existance now and suicide than wait so many years for it?
You have freedom to make anything in a game. You have the most freedom for creativity and innovation when creating a game. There are still some exceptional and very enjoyable games to be played out there, but they are very rare compared to back in old days.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Only 20 years, eh? 31 and counting here.
My 1st computer game was Eastern Front by Chris Crawford on an Atari 400 computer...
First RPG was Temple of Apshai followed by the original Ultima also in 1981.
To say things have changed since those days when computer gaming was a weird little hobby is a hell of an understatement.
Despite my interest in the Ultima series, UO wasn't my 1st MMO, that was Asheron's Call. The only reason I went for AC over EQ was that EQ didn't support my video card...lol. Imagine that today.
I tend to agree with you that WOW was a once in a lifetime MMO phenomenom... sort of like an MMO version of a perfect storm that came along at precisely the right time...i.e. as computer gaming was becoming mainstream.
At its release time it was a helluva good product and its popularity spread by word of mouth until everyone wanted to see what the fuss was all about... hell what other MMO has been mentioned as much in film and TV as something that the characters do for fun? There was even someone running for congress this year who had her not-so-secret life as a WOW thief outed (weird how RPG stil = devil worship in some segments of the population.) WOW is mainstream, other MMOs not so much.
I don't think that phenomenom will ever be repeated again.
But unlike others who think that it will never be repeated because more recent MMOs lack quality, I believe the answer is simpler than that: we have a helluva a lot of MMOs to choose from now and we're all spread out over a whole crap pile of them...more every day.
When I played WOW... I played WOW. Same for DAoC and Asheron's Call. There really weren't many choices so I stayed for at least months and usually years. Last 12 months? Rift, TOR, Tera, TSW and GW2. But hey, I've had as much fun playing MMOs this past year as I did most years when I played WOW... more really since a big part of the fun in gaming for me is learning new systems.
It's all good.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I started playing video games 35 years ago. Good lord haha! I feel some of the best games have yet to be made and overall, the vg industry is in an upswing with so many ways to deliver games and indie devs having such a strong presence across all platforms. But i do think its been about ten years of western game design that has hurt progress. Its harder to find the really good games, mainly because the industry is so huge now. When it was nintendo vs sega, we as consumers reaped the benefits of competition. It hasnt been that way for a while. But dev tools are getting more powerful and more affordable by the month. And i look forward to when indie games once again change the landscape like it did 40 years ago.
The key seems to be keeping the time sink hidden with variety, for as long as possible.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I don't know about you, but I make a difference between quality time and just wasted time.
I've been so involved with multiplayer games, I have missed out on some great singleplayer experiences.
Now that I am playing singleplayer games more, I am having an absolute blast. Didn't realize MMORPG gameplay sucked so bad in comparison.
As do I.
I don't understand the people who believe, think, or desire it to be true, that games (especially MMO's) are timesinks simply to pass the time.
Some even believe that games are a way to "pass the time until something REAL happens."
I actually enjoy video games... and all of life... and not a single thing I do is done to "waste time", "sink time", or "pass the time." When I playing games...that IS the "something REAL" happening, because I enjoy it.
Why some people play games with their time-waste philosophy is beyond me. I assume it's because they're either young, bored, or unhappy with the rest of their lives so they use it as an "escape".
I have so much to do, I don't have TIME to be bored. (Not in any order)
1) Movies / Television- So many hours required to enjoy simpy phenominal video collections like The Walking Dead, DEXTER, Game of Thrones, Law & Order, Eureka, Terranova, or any show that comes on that perks the brain with intelligent, fantastic fantasy or drama.
2) Video Game Playing- Endless number of video games to play, test out, or just plain enjoy. Everything from highly rated singleplayer games to friendly fun multiplayer experiences. This includes other games like board games, card games, PnP RPG's, it never ends...
3) Philosophy, Thinking, Cerebral Expansion- Reading, Pondering Society, Life, Religion, Science, Psychological Research, Game Theory, Fun Theory, Sociology, Politics, or any of a plethora of other interests. Just thinking, researching, and reading reading reading is a simply phenominal, thrilling, almost breathtaking experience.
4) Game Development / Gaming Community- Working on my video game, game design theory, MMORPG forum research, game design conversation, forum talk.
5) Socializing- Whether with family members, friends, loved ones, strangers, or online lunatics- this is a requirement of mine. Spending time with the wife consumes most of my time, but we still usually pick one of the above!
6) Working- Whether it's my career field, psycholigcal thought or research, my job, game development, picking up a paycheck and grabbing lunch, getting things done, household chores, making the house better, cleaner, or newer. There's always work to be done!
7) Eating- Quality Food is a requirement of living. What do I want today? Whatever the @#$# I want. I'm endlessly hungry for such a light weight human. Drinking (non-alcoholic) such as Dr.Pepper, what juice today?, new soda to try?, is my body craving water?
I could go on and on... I don't have enough time in the world to do everything I want- because all of these things are quality time, never a second wasted, often fun, and very very entertaining.
I imagine when someone is an adult, thinks for themselves, with a thirst for intelligence, spending time with those who matter, and hedonistically devouring the entertainment industry, they don't view anything they do as a "time sink". Typically because they'll stop any actual time sinks and say to themselves, "Why am I doing this? I have better things to do!"
This is actually why I play less MMORPG's and more HIGHER QUALITY video games...which now-a-days is pretty much ANY OTHER GENRE.
Joining the older ones, I'm a gamer since mid 80's, dunno the exact date but my first memorable game was Lords of Midnight (r.i.p. Mike Singleton...) And yep, gaming is definitely not a timesink. Just saying
I'm curious though, what's wrong with AH? OP marking it, and earlier there was also a thread just about AH's fault, and I don't get it. You can still trade directly in mmo's, bargain on the trade channel, etc. You can bargain in AH too, f.e. in LotRO you set a minimal price and a buyout price, so potential buyers can do 'bidding wars' (or just simply buy out the item).
I'm not a solofication supporter, but AH is a nice feature...
wow dude, u just compared your life playing mmo's to real life and ending said life... maybe its just about time you lifted your head up, took a walk outside, and tried the Real Life MMO called realiity.
Go outside. get a girlfrien(Yes they REALLY EXIST, REAL gurlz) and lol....
The mmo community is the 'same' as it was 20 years ago, just more of us. The games can't keep up but are doing the best they can, stop trying to find a game to fill 'everything' yor lacking in a game, and just enjoy each one for what it is.(Also if u don't like the RL option, try single player games, take a break from mmo's, check in once a month, etc, no need to keep that 'wow raid sceduale' even if the raid leaders gonna blow a e-rage gaskit and boot u :P, its not worth it)