Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Did/Does MMORPG.COM kill your interest in trying new mmorpgs?
Hazzie
Posts: 15Member
I can't count the number of times I've been surfing around the internet, on Youtube, a general gaming website, etc. and this happens to me:
1. See a video of a mmorpg that makes me think, "hmm, cool, I might try that!",
2. Going to the official game website, and checking out some more screenshots/videos.
3. Start the games download manager,
4. Come to this site, look the game up from the Game List,
5. Read the ratings/hype,
6. Head into the General Forum of said game,
7. Instantly see the proverbial "Top 50 Reasons Jaded Veterens are Convincing You to Never Play This Game" post that describes a plethora of problems, be it bad CS, AI, Bugs, IMBA, Pay to Win, etc. ad nauseum, after which inevitably makes me:
8. See that there's no pot at the end of that rainbow, and ultimately:
9. Cancel the download in progress,
10. Become a little more jaded, and:
11. Hope for #1 to come around again, where I stop after #3 and just experience the game for myself.
It's as if you meet a really cute girl, go out on that first date, think she's the best thing since sliced bread. Immediately after the date, your brain violently fast forwards you to the point in the relationship, perhaps a couple years down the road, where you hate each others' guts and just want out of this relationship ASAP, before you even gave it a fighting chance.
What happened to the journey of self-discovery we used to have before these Costco-sized discussion sites overwhelmed us with possibly more detail then we may or may not need to make an unbiased assessment of games?
I don't know if this has been talked about before, but I find I am so conditioned to getting the lowdown on anything before trying it - even if it's checking out RottenTomatoes.Com to see the TomatoMeter % of a movie before I go to it - that I never really jump into anything anymore with that optomistic attitude I had back when I started playing Everquest 1, and had NO IDEA what I was in for.
Maybe that's really why I enjoyed it more?
Thanks for reading/enduring this.
Comments
Reviews are nearly always a downer for MMORPGs, especially since so many are going to be mixed based on player preference. In the end, though, MMORPG.com actually does more to get me interested in various MMORPGs than I normally would just through vids, screenshots, or reviews. The forums are filled with a lot of passionate players who can make games seem much more exciting than media will. Sure there will be a fair amount of trolling, but the passion always stands out much more.
Usually it's digging through the game's web site for information on a game that kills interest in it for me. The only game I can think of where negativity on this site dissuaded me from trying the game is Final Fantasy XIV, and even that is only "might have", as I probably wouldn't have played it yet even if the game had a great launch, and might yet pick it up sometime in the future.
Then again, I'm not one to jump into games with no idea what they're like. I usually spend hours reading up on a game before deciding whether to give it a shot--and sometimes spend all that time reading up on it only to decide not to play the game. Of course, there are also a lot of games that I can decide not to play within a few minutes.
What you're saying can be summarized:
Negativity is contagious, and too much message board is always bad for you.
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.
Also, if you never read a rant about how awful a game is, and think, this point, this one, and this one sound like good points about the game rather than bad points, then you're doing it wrong.
I like to read opinions and perspectives. However, with so much bias and agenda on the part of both haters and fanbois I usually treat their posts with a healthy skepticism.
As for MMORPG.com articles. Most are simply demonstration pieces rather than heavily editorial reviews. I'm glad for that. Liking a game is highly subjective (based on opinion and perspective). I pick what I like. I pick what I play. I want to know about the game, not if the reviewer liked it or not.
Forum here on MMORPG.com has taught me quite a bit. It's also opened my eyes to a much larger viewpoint than I had before. I welcome constructive criticism when I post because I like seeing different sides of issues. Reading forums here has also widened my knowledge of more obscure games. Some I'd like to try, others I'm not interested in.
Overall I treat my experiences here as positive.
I know what you mean Quiz. I have learned to try to see the value of every post whether positive or negative because every gaming experience is subjective. For instance: I read a negative post and I ask myself, "do I also not like that about a game?". So it really comes down to knowing what you like and does the game match as many of those features you would want. Let people state their likes or dislikes in their own way.
Should you just want to read mostly positive posts about games, just read all the MMORPG.com columnist posts about every new F2P that comes out.
I wish I had done my due diligence on DC Online before levelling up to level 15 and then realizing the entire world was empty and no-one plays any more... which was a shame for a game that had such potential.
See, this is what the OP was talking about. Nobody plays? Mmhmm. From 3/4 of the comments on this site you'd think that every game is on the verge of shutting down.
Absolutely not. This site sparks my interest in fact. Reviews always pretty meh, but you can get some decent info from current players ususally for many games, and it's nice to have it centralized.
One thing you need to remember about internet forums, and this really applies to all of them, a lot of people are posting there because something is bothering them and they need to vent, or people just don't care for something and they need to let the world know. You just have to wade through the crap to find the good pieces of information. Generally though, I find this site pretty well moderated and many of the frequent posters are honest and post useful information. It's easy to let negative things people post effect you sometimes, at least it is for me, just need fine tune your BS meter
Mob mentality is only a factor for those weak enough to fall for it. In the almost six months that I've been a member of this site (the 2-3 years before that don't count, as I only looked at news posts and didn't read comments/forums), I have been interested in four MMOs. None of them are being played/preordered, and none of those decisions had anything to do with anything on this site, rather they were all decisions made by unearthing more information about the game through previews, or simply downloading it and trying it out myself.
I only played 2 MMOs so far ... the info found on MMORPG.com was important in selecting Vanguard as the second one.
I'm just not the type who "oh there is a new MMO, lets beta / trial / buy it for a month".
I rather check a MMO throughoutly and if its OK, I'm planning for playing it for years.
Dont you know by now? All those words on the main page are just a cover.. The REAL reason people come here is....
TO FIGHT ABOUT WHICH GAME IS BETTER ARRRRRRR
*draws his lightsaber* HINT HINT :P
Completely agreed. This is one site where I can get information/links to a large number of different MMOs and and make my own choices based on that. After some time it's really easy not only to sift through subjective accounts of a game and pick out things that are fact versus what some players perceive.
If anything kills my interest in trying new games it's:
seeing that many are nothing more than the same games I've already played with a graphics update
rabid fanboism because I know haters likely won't be in the game, whereas fanbois certainly will
I've been lurking these forums forever.
99% of the players on here should never, ever be listened too.
A good percentage of mmorpg.coms articles are heavily biased so take them with a grain of salt.
Personally i pick and choose my convos and makes sure I dont only use mmorpg.com as my mmorpg news source.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
Though every game has its protagonists and antagonists, there's a lot of crap out there. Better to read up and know what you buy into before trying, in my opinion. There are plenty of games which stand out over others, even on mmorpg.com. (Even though ANY game will get flak). So I see that as a benefit, really. Don't want to waste my time on games which end up disappointing while I could have predicted why if I had done a little research.
My brand new bloggity blog.
Actually, MMORPG.com has saved me from a lot of subpar MMOs. It is a good source to do research on a game before you spend money (or time) on it. I regret the one time I bought a game without any research. Man was I pissed...
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
MMO's can be broken down into two models, for the purposes of this discussion. F2P and P2P.
If a game is F2P, why would I care what people say here? There is no cost to me, other than my time and some hard drive space.
If it is a P2P game, I tend to read/ watch many reviews from a multitude of sources before making a purchase. It's not so much spending the money as I hate getting ripped off. I hate the bad feeling of disappointment.
Its stupid to listen to this despret peaple here. Even if there would be the perfect game, the community here would bash it, maybe its just because thex hate their life ... (hmm I said "they" maybe I should say "we" ;-) )
You sould insteed go to official forums and read in the newbee section. And avoid this black hole here.
Because that time could be spent better somewhere else if the game doesn't deliver.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
I rarely ever use this site as any sorta refrense anymore gamers in general these days are a buncha pessimists they HATE every game on the market all they do is point out the flaws of a game never the good stuff ive been a member since 2003 and it gets worse every year im to the point i hate other mmoers.
When this site used to spread viral that involves a poster pretending to a be a enthusiastic player of a MMO and then drums up false hype puts me off MMO's on this site. The last viral of pretend players lately being on the Vanguard forums, they're easy to spot, but the admins of this site don't like you pointing it out since same companies pay them for ad space on here.
Just wanted to remind you guys that you can actually write your own reviews and features. We're really looking to drive awareness of this feature and we feel strongly it's something you guys would probably love to utilize.
Hate our review of a game? Write one of your own.
MMORPG.com gets me interested in games. Further research is where I become disinterested. This is just one source among many that I use when deciding which games I'm going to follow, but it's usually where the ball gets rolling.
I think my sig is the perfect explanation on why the OP is like that. :P
This site did introduce me to Perpetuum so I tried that. I do enjoy the articles (Whitetree~~ *_*) as well.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
I agree with you, everyone has the HATE these days! Everyone feels like MMO companies are ripping them off that they should play for free. That they dont listen to gamers and that they know better than gamers! It's the same crap all over every game. Graphics arent nice enough, animations arent nice enough...
Plainly said, nothing is nice enough!
I've been here a while too and i use the site for what it is good for. Keeping me up to date on new games and following up on the ones i am interested in. If you start reading all the pessimist stuff on forums it's enough to get your nerd rage on!
Folks should be happy that every year the gaming genre is growing bigger and better, i think. It beg the question, Are we better off now when we have probably hundred of MMOs then 15 years ago when all we had was UO, EQ, AO, DAOC? I'd like to think so and i am not just excited with what's coming down the pipes with TOR, TSW, GW2. Even with stuff like ArchAge, maybe that game can finally bridge the gap between east and west! But also with what's coming down that we dont even know, project Copernicus and stuff that isnt even announced like Titan. So do we really just like to bitch with the mouth full?