Oh gosh, this is so me in a nutshell! I have to admit, I was cracking up at the Guild Wars screenshot because that's pretty much what mine looks like as well! Only problem is, I keep deleting characters to make places for new ones, so even though I have played Guild Wars for 2 years, I have yet to finish a single campaign. But I have reached max level on half my characters though, but that isn't exactly such a big achievement. And even in Eve Online, a game where you can do everything in 1 character, I still have an obsession with alts, and I still have to make 1 alt for each race, even though the beginning part is pretty much the same for each race... Just different NPCs.
As for why I'm an altoholic, it's mainly because I want to experience everything a game has to offer, especially in games with a huge amount of professions and races. It's not because I'm bored with the game...far from it in fact. I'm just more interested in the different experiences rather than the race to get to the finishing line. Though this has gotten me bored with the steering areas and plot lines though, but it has yet to make me want to leave.
Oh gosh, this is so me in a nutshell! I have to admit, I was cracking up at the Guild Wars screenshot because that's pretty much what mine looks like as well! Only problem is, I keep deleting characters to make places for new ones, so even though I have played Guild Wars for 2 years, I have yet to finish a single campaign. But I have reached max level on half my characters though, but that isn't exactly such a big achievement. And even in Eve Online, a game where you can do everything in 1 character, I still have an obsession with alts, and I still have to make 1 alt for each race, even though the beginning part is pretty much the same for each race... Just different NPCs. As for why I'm an altoholic, it's mainly because I want to experience everything a game has to offer, especially in games with a huge amount of professions and races. It's not because I'm bored with the game...far from it in fact. I'm just more interested in the different experiences rather than the race to get to the finishing line. Though this has gotten me bored with the steering areas and plot lines though, but it has yet to make me want to leave.
I'm sorry, I hear this kind of statement quite often but I don't understand it because its full of contradictions. As I stated above, I am a monochar precisely because I want to experience all the content a game has to offer. Achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch, above, I can understand. I think they are sad and laughable, but at least I can understand their argument. If thats what they get out of gaming then so be it.
But if you are like me, just interested in experiencing the most, then I submit that you are going about it the wrong way. Very little content is ever gated behind class/race choices. Sure, there are the starter areas, and for that I can understand people creating alts just to play through the different starter areas. But particularly in the games which you cited, no content is gated behind classes or races.
And yet you claim that you have never finished a campaign. So you definitely haven't experienced all the content using your method of playing despite that being your goal. And its not about getting to the finish line. I level one character in the time it takes people like BlackWatch to level three characters. But I take my time and explore everything, partake of all optional content and really get to experience as much as possible. Whereas, in reality, you probably end up doing a lot of the same content over and over with small chunks of new content appearing to break the doldrum.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding and you are actually just wanting to try out different play-styles (classes). In which case, I can understand that that is the only way for you to do that. I tend to enjoy only one or two play-styles, but I can understand how other people might enjoy more.
But I often do wonder if altoholics aren't really just in love with the act of "beginning". (Of course, excluding the achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch).
I liked the article, though dividing it into several sections and giving them headlines wouldn't have hurt either. I enjoy creating many characters as well, which makes it pretty annoying if games like Rift or AoC have only one or two starting zones, since I get then bored much faster, than with games like FE or WoW.
I'm sorry, I hear this kind of statement quite often but I don't understand it because its full of contradictions. As I stated above, I am a monochar precisely because I want to experience all the content a game has to offer. Achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch, above, I can understand. I think they are sad and laughable, but at least I can understand their argument. If thats what they get out of gaming then so be it.
But if you are like me, just interested in experiencing the most, then I submit that you are going about it the wrong way. Very little content is ever gated behind class/race choices. Sure, there are the starter areas, and for that I can understand people creating alts just to play through the different starter areas. But particularly in the games which you cited, no content is gated behind classes or races.
And yet you claim that you have never finished a campaign. So you definitely haven't experienced all the content using your method of playing despite that being your goal. And its not about getting to the finish line. I level one character in the time it takes people like BlackWatch to level three characters. But I take my time and explore everything, partake of all optional content and really get to experience as much as possible. Whereas, in reality, you probably end up doing a lot of the same content over and over with small chunks of new content appearing to break the doldrum.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding and you are actually just wanting to try out different play-styles (classes). In which case, I can understand that that is the only way for you to do that. I tend to enjoy only one or two play-styles, but I can understand how other people might enjoy more.
But I often do wonder if altoholics aren't really just in love with the act of "beginning". (Of course, excluding the achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch).
I find this post rather arrogant. People adopt different playstyles. Who is to say that one is better than the other or that one is more laughable or sadder than the other? As long as we're all having fun and it's not at the detriment of the fun of players around, then what does it matter how they play?
Though I'm not a real altoholic, I can understand their points of view about wanting to experience different character/class combos, all of the starter zones, and the like. To each their own is what I say.
<snip> I think they are sad and laughable, but at least I can understand their argument. If thats what they get out of gaming then so be it.
<snip>.
I find this post rather arrogant. People adopt different playstyles. Who is to say that one is better than the other or that one is more laughable or sadder than the other? As long as we're all having fun and it's not at the detriment of the fun of players around, then what does it matter how they play?
<snip>
I think you have failed at reading comprehension because I clearly stated (re-quoted below):
If thats what they get out of gaming then so be it.
Which is in agreement with what you are saying about "to each their own". I was merely expressing an opinion about that particular playstyle which last time I checked, I was entitled to. Before you get on your high horse, maybe you should try re-reading calmly and also scan your own post because by expressing your own judgmental opinion about my post, you have just joined the apparently "arrogant" club. Welcome!
More seriously, I was simply curious about Aladyleyna's statements because they used the exact same reason to explain why they are an altoholic which I use to explain why I'm not. Perhaps you don't find that curious, but I do.
You called them sad and laughable. If that is not arrogant I don't know what it is. Don't presume to know how people have fun in games because these are games to have fun in not a job to do. How anyone chooses to have fun whether it is redoing content over and over or progressing to the end game that is theirs to decide and not yours to deride and yes I will focus on how you labelled another because you cannot understand it.
Some of us like playing different races because they look different and start in a different place or have a different racial. I enjoy redoing a quest with a different class to see how I might approach it. I have 5 characters in Mass Effect 2 because I want to try every combination of companion and my class playing through it and you bet I am repeating content up the wazoo. Naturally it looks just repetitive but in effect I am getting dialogue from them or seeing how they interact. For a MMORPG you get to experience each class in a different group dynamic.
You called them sad and laughable. If that is not arrogant I don't know what it is. Don't presume to know how people have fun in games because these are games to have fun in not a job to do. How anyone chooses to have fun whether it is redoing content over and over or progressing to the end game that is theirs to decide and not yours to deride and yes I will focus on how you labelled another because you cannot understand it.
Some of us like playing different races because they look different and start in a different place or have a different racial. I enjoy redoing a quest with a different class to see how I might approach it. I have 5 characters in Mass Effect 2 because I want to try every combination of companion and my class playing through it and you bet I am repeating content up the wazoo. Naturally it looks just repetitive but in effect I am getting dialogue from them or seeing how they interact. For a MMORPG you get to experience each class in a different group dynamic.
I completely agree with you. Which is why its obvious you didn't read the posts I was referring to nor my previous posts without injecting your own bias. As you say, these games are to have fun in and not to be a job to do. Hence, why I expressed my opinion about the player who was treating the game like a job and strategizing for "highest success". And you just expressed the same opinion I did, but because you didn't use the words "sad and laughable" you think you can preach at me. I'm sorry but you are a hypocrite like the last person who found my post arrogant.
I do think its sad when someone takes a game so seriously that they strategize to the point of creating multiple alts, levelling them all up to max level, just so that they can achieve "highest success" at end-game raids. Keyword: game. Thats my opinion and I'm entitled to it.
My opinion means nothing to that person. Its just my opinion. Its not going to make them stop playing the way they play, nor should it. And its not going to affect my life if they never read my posts in this thread. And doubly so, because my post wasn't even directed at BlackWatch, I was curious about a statement made by another poster, Aladyleyna. Which you would know if you bothered to read it past the first paragraph (and if you did, I have no idea how that wasn't clear.)
Judging from the reactions though, my opinion seems to mean a lot to you and MurlockDance. I'm sorry you feel that way. Theres certainly no reason to go on the defensive like I was attacking altoholics in general or even you personally.
As an achiever, i don't really understand altoholics. I mean, i will often roll an alt when i feel i'm "done enough" with a main, or i need a break when the "high level grind" with my main becomes too repetitive and i can't actually stand it for more than an hour.
I tend to stick with few (if any) alts though, not making more than i can level up with an acceptable pace (except for "name reserve" or "bank" characters)...
You don't quite understand why one is altoholic and think the monochar playstyle is somehow "better" way, though? Am i worng? I think Aladyane (sp) plays many alts for the same reason as I, we just love class mechanics, different race & class combinations, professions, stat distributions and so on. For me there's nothing more fun than test different abilities in different situations and explore different player roles. Most MMORPG's are just so damn simple, that to get any challenge and diversity out of it I have to learn every class. In a strategy game I may stick to once nation/race/whatever for long time as there I have stuff to learn for years even with just one nation (referring to strategy games that have very different style of gameplay and aesthetics between nations). Also experiencing the beginning isn't probably major attraction for most altoholics. I dislike the beginnings as these so few abilities available to keep me interested and I've seen the areas already many times, for example. You may enjoy the raids, socializing, world exploring etc so much more, that one char is enough and making another wouldn't add anything to the gaming experience.
Similarly can be argued, that the monochar players are the ones, that take the game too seriously, as they get so attached to one character, which they want to collect items and achievements etc for. It's just a question of do you limit your completionism to one character or several characters (also assuming, that it's almost impossible to reach the same level of completioness with many characters, this is the case with most games, I believe - so monchar player focuses squeezing out everything achievable with that one character, while altoholic player does what is generally considered "completing the game" with all characters [in MMORPG's I would say that's max level, possible alternative advancement levels, unlock abilities, "best" one set of gear, "best" one mount and perhaps few other things). That doesn't directly have anything to do with altoholic playstyle or monochar playstyle.
E: Ah, you phrased it as "act of beginning". I understood that you meant "early game experience" or something like that. I'm feeling that with that you tried to find another reason to point out how irrational it is to make many characters, but I may be horribly worng. I think yes, making new char for altoholic is fresh experience as is going to new endgame dungeon with your single character. Although I don't exactly understand what you mean by act of beginning, possibly due to my limited linguistic capabilities.
Please tell me how i should play MMO's as you are obviously an expert. I am not going to quote your walls of text (Obviously you have a lot to teach we misguided players). I especially enjoy the parts where you critique the way things are said rather than the thought behind it.
I understand though, discussions of computer game playing styles and players motives for having alts are very important. Thank you for all the clairification and insight into your superior play style.
You don't quite understand why one is altoholic and think the monochar playstyle is somehow "better" way, though? Am i worng? I think Aladyane (sp) plays many alts for the same reason as I, we just love class mechanics, different race & class combinations, professions, stat distributions and so on. For me there's nothing more fun than test different abilities in different situations and explore different player roles. Most MMORPG's are just so damn simple, that to get any challenge and diversity out of it I have to learn every class. In a strategy game I may stick to once nation/race/whatever for long time as there I have stuff to learn for years even with just one nation (referring to strategy games that have very different style of gameplay and aesthetics between nations). Also experiencing the beginning isn't probably major attraction for most altoholics. I dislike the beginnings as these so few abilities available to keep me interested and I've seen the areas already many times, for example. You may enjoy the raids, socializing, world exploring etc so much more, that one char is enough and making another wouldn't add anything to the gaming experience.
Similarly can be argued, that the monochar players are the ones, that take the game too seriously, as they get so attached to one character, which they want to collect items and achievements etc for. It's just a question of do you limit your completionism to one character or several characters (also assuming, that it's almost impossible to reach the same level of completioness with many characters, this is the case with most games, I believe - so monchar player focuses squeezing out everything achievable with that one character, while altoholic player does what is generally considered "completing the game" with all characters [in MMORPG's I would say that's max level, possible alternative advancement levels, unlock abilities, "best" one set of gear, "best" one mount and perhaps few other things). That doesn't directly have anything to do with altoholic playstyle or monochar playstyle.
E: Ah, you phrased it as "act of beginning". I understood that you meant "early game experience" or something like that. I'm feeling that with that you tried to find another reason to point out how irrational it is to make many characters, but I may be horribly worng. I think yes, making new char for altoholic is fresh experience as is going to new endgame dungeon with your single character. Although I don't exactly understand what you mean by act of beginning, possibly due to my limited linguistic capabilities.
Hi Vaen,
Thank you, finally, that someone could answer my questions, and would bother to without trying to flame me.
However, you are wrong in assuming that I think altoholics are somehow inferior. At no point did I say this.
I'd like to comment only about the last part of the article: the part where you mention you want to stay alone.
I perfectly understand this and I think it's a need that occurs to very social/helpful players. I love to socialize and I love to help. but some times I just don't want to be forced in such activities and since I don't even want to explain (I'm not even sure it's possible) I just hide under an alt.
"I'm sorry, I hear this kind of statement quite often but I don't understand it because its full of contradictions. As I stated above, I am a monochar precisely because I want to experience all the content a game has to offer. Achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch, above, I can understand. I think they are sad and laughable, but at least I can understand their argument. If thats what they get out of gaming then so be it.
But if you are like me, just interested in experiencing the most, then I submit that you are going about it the wrong way. Very little content is ever gated behind class/race choices. Sure, there are the starter areas, and for that I can understand people creating alts just to play through the different starter areas. But particularly in the games which you cited, no content is gated behind classes or races.
And yet you claim that you have never finished a campaign. So you definitely haven't experienced all the content using your method of playing despite that being your goal. And its not about getting to the finish line. I level one character in the time it takes people like BlackWatch to level three characters. But I take my time and explore everything, partake of all optional content and really get to experience as much as possible. Whereas, in reality, you probably end up doing a lot of the same content over and over with small chunks of new content appearing to break the doldrum.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding and you are actually just wanting to try out different play-styles (classes). In which case, I can understand that that is the only way for you to do that. I tend to enjoy only one or two play-styles, but I can understand how other people might enjoy more.
But I often do wonder if altoholics aren't really just in love with the act of "beginning". (Of course, excluding the achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch)."
The sentences I bolded are what to me come across as arrogant in light of the person they were originally aimed for and towards BlackWatch.
Though you seem to realize that there are many valid playstyles, the way in which you worded your entire post came across to me to mean that you somehow see these playstyles as inferior to your own and that is one of my pet peeves.
It is obvious as he cannot understand the playstyle he decides to put it down and goes a step furthur and puts his playstyle as the superior one . When called out on that the old defense of how we all do not have a good enough command of the English Language to understand his post or complete reading it is used. He can then relinquish his responsibility for the perfectly obnoxious statement and accuse us of being sensitive and taking offense. I just wish people would simply own up to their stands and not try to weasel out of it .
I think I have a sub niche of the Altoholic condition called nervous Altoholism. Generaly when I play a game for the first time I am convinced I will pick one class, put all my energy into it and never roll anything else. I read up on it obsesivly for weeks and learn everything I can about it. Whithin an hour of playing my mind always follows the same paten. I start asking myself questions like; "Did I pick the right class?" or "Hey look at that guy, he's playing that class. That looks really cool!" And it nags at me while I am playing so much it begins to distract from my enjoyment. Then the inevitable self-doubt kicks in. My brain says "Hey, you have the attention span of a drunk monkey. You are never going to finnish this game with a class you don't like. If you liked it there is no way you would be eyeing up everybody elses toons. You should re-roll." So I re-roll, and then whithin an hour the whole process starts again. And this will not stop until I have rolled every class/.charcter combo in the game. Generaly then I get very frustrated at going through the starting content 5-6 (sometimes more) times and play something else. A few days later I pick whatever class I liked the most and crack on. I find it really frustrating that I do this to myself every time I start a new mmorpg or class based game.
Lol, nice description. I can really relate to this one. A bit of the "grass is always greener" syndrome, I suppose. Or something. I always feel extremely pleased when I finally settle down to the class I'm going to play the most, which these days seems to be ranger/rogue archetype. Strange that, I've gone full circle because my first character in an mmo (Kalonline anyone?) was an archer.
Well, I've moved from monochar type approach to an altoholic, and then, in Rift, back to monochar (I think!). In my first mmo I was so overwhelmed by the whole thing (in a positive way), and so busy trying to learn how this whole mmo thing worked that I couldn't have coped with more than one character (if they were different classes, that is). So I picked an archer and stuck with her throughout my time of playing that game (about 10 months or so). I came to gaming in general very late in life, and mmo's even later, so it was all brand new to me back then (and extremely exciting and immersive).
My next mmo was WoW and I tried a druid because it really appealed, but then reverted to the hunter. What was great about WoW was that there were so many different starting areas, and you weren't limited to the starting area of your race. You could go where you want (if you could safely get there, that is). Also the different zone choices throughout the journey through Azeroth made me start wanting to experiment with alts, so I did. Only after taking my main character up to the then max level of 60, though. So the alts were to do with experiencing a different journey, different landscapes and quests etc.
Later on, when I became an mmo wanderer seeking, but never finding for very long, a new home I began to become an altoholic. One reason, I think, was that I was getting bored with playing the same types of classes (ranged dps) so I started to experiment with them all, and the other reason was that, having got the hang of mmo's, I was starting to become a bit bored, and so the alts added a bit of variety and challenge. I liked having high level chars and low level chars because the game experience is so different between them (as Isabella pointed out).
Another funny thing (again echoed in Isabella's post) I started to notice in the past couple of years is that I began to really enjoy start-game rather than end-game. The beginning of a game feels much cleaner and simpler to me these days. I hate to log into a high level character (especially if I've been away for a while) and open the bags to see tons of items, and loads of quests in the quest log (which I've completely lost the plot about in that game). So my pattern in recent mmo's has been to start lots of low level alts while I get a feel for the game and which class appeals.
I'm sort of hoping that Rift might take me back to my initial experience of playing mainly one character, but already I'm planning a Guardian alt who is normal pve, and a Defiant who is RP pve, so who knows?
In games like Rift or the Secret World, it seems like there will always be certain builds that people will look for. You CAN play however you want but I don't see that as ever making everyone happy. Some people just can't stand the idea of hybrid builds or, god forbid, enjoying the game with the character you want to play. Rift is a cool game and I'm really enjoying my ranger/marksman/bard but when I group people don't really see me as being anything but DPS, even though I can support or DPS with the best of them depending on my build. Its honestly kind of frustrating.
I sort of hate to admit how many characters I use to have on Daoc and Wow.
My main problem is, I think, wanting to know all characters stregths and weaknesses.
It might be easier to beat a skald with an insta mez if you know how long it takes for the insta to come back up.
Another thing that comes into play is the fact that getting to the end game was never as important as the trip along the way. Might as well walk if you can't enjoy the ride.
Comments
As for why I'm an altoholic, it's mainly because I want to experience everything a game has to offer, especially in games with a huge amount of professions and races. It's not because I'm bored with the game...far from it in fact. I'm just more interested in the different experiences rather than the race to get to the finishing line. Though this has gotten me bored with the steering areas and plot lines though, but it has yet to make me want to leave.
Main characters:
Jinn Gone Quiet (Guild Wars)
Princess Pudding (Guild Wars)
I'm sorry, I hear this kind of statement quite often but I don't understand it because its full of contradictions. As I stated above, I am a monochar precisely because I want to experience all the content a game has to offer. Achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch, above, I can understand. I think they are sad and laughable, but at least I can understand their argument. If thats what they get out of gaming then so be it.
But if you are like me, just interested in experiencing the most, then I submit that you are going about it the wrong way. Very little content is ever gated behind class/race choices. Sure, there are the starter areas, and for that I can understand people creating alts just to play through the different starter areas. But particularly in the games which you cited, no content is gated behind classes or races.
And yet you claim that you have never finished a campaign. So you definitely haven't experienced all the content using your method of playing despite that being your goal. And its not about getting to the finish line. I level one character in the time it takes people like BlackWatch to level three characters. But I take my time and explore everything, partake of all optional content and really get to experience as much as possible. Whereas, in reality, you probably end up doing a lot of the same content over and over with small chunks of new content appearing to break the doldrum.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding and you are actually just wanting to try out different play-styles (classes). In which case, I can understand that that is the only way for you to do that. I tend to enjoy only one or two play-styles, but I can understand how other people might enjoy more.
But I often do wonder if altoholics aren't really just in love with the act of "beginning". (Of course, excluding the achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch).
I liked the article, though dividing it into several sections and giving them headlines wouldn't have hurt either. I enjoy creating many characters as well, which makes it pretty annoying if games like Rift or AoC have only one or two starting zones, since I get then bored much faster, than with games like FE or WoW.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
I find this post rather arrogant. People adopt different playstyles. Who is to say that one is better than the other or that one is more laughable or sadder than the other? As long as we're all having fun and it's not at the detriment of the fun of players around, then what does it matter how they play?
Though I'm not a real altoholic, I can understand their points of view about wanting to experience different character/class combos, all of the starter zones, and the like. To each their own is what I say.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
I think you have failed at reading comprehension because I clearly stated (re-quoted below):
If thats what they get out of gaming then so be it.
Which is in agreement with what you are saying about "to each their own". I was merely expressing an opinion about that particular playstyle which last time I checked, I was entitled to. Before you get on your high horse, maybe you should try re-reading calmly and also scan your own post because by expressing your own judgmental opinion about my post, you have just joined the apparently "arrogant" club. Welcome!
More seriously, I was simply curious about Aladyleyna's statements because they used the exact same reason to explain why they are an altoholic which I use to explain why I'm not. Perhaps you don't find that curious, but I do.
You called them sad and laughable. If that is not arrogant I don't know what it is. Don't presume to know how people have fun in games because these are games to have fun in not a job to do. How anyone chooses to have fun whether it is redoing content over and over or progressing to the end game that is theirs to decide and not yours to deride and yes I will focus on how you labelled another because you cannot understand it.
Some of us like playing different races because they look different and start in a different place or have a different racial. I enjoy redoing a quest with a different class to see how I might approach it. I have 5 characters in Mass Effect 2 because I want to try every combination of companion and my class playing through it and you bet I am repeating content up the wazoo. Naturally it looks just repetitive but in effect I am getting dialogue from them or seeing how they interact. For a MMORPG you get to experience each class in a different group dynamic.
I completely agree with you. Which is why its obvious you didn't read the posts I was referring to nor my previous posts without injecting your own bias. As you say, these games are to have fun in and not to be a job to do. Hence, why I expressed my opinion about the player who was treating the game like a job and strategizing for "highest success". And you just expressed the same opinion I did, but because you didn't use the words "sad and laughable" you think you can preach at me. I'm sorry but you are a hypocrite like the last person who found my post arrogant.
I do think its sad when someone takes a game so seriously that they strategize to the point of creating multiple alts, levelling them all up to max level, just so that they can achieve "highest success" at end-game raids. Keyword: game. Thats my opinion and I'm entitled to it.
My opinion means nothing to that person. Its just my opinion. Its not going to make them stop playing the way they play, nor should it. And its not going to affect my life if they never read my posts in this thread. And doubly so, because my post wasn't even directed at BlackWatch, I was curious about a statement made by another poster, Aladyleyna. Which you would know if you bothered to read it past the first paragraph (and if you did, I have no idea how that wasn't clear.)
Judging from the reactions though, my opinion seems to mean a lot to you and MurlockDance. I'm sorry you feel that way. Theres certainly no reason to go on the defensive like I was attacking altoholics in general or even you personally.
As an achiever, i don't really understand altoholics. I mean, i will often roll an alt when i feel i'm "done enough" with a main, or i need a break when the "high level grind" with my main becomes too repetitive and i can't actually stand it for more than an hour.
I tend to stick with few (if any) alts though, not making more than i can level up with an acceptable pace (except for "name reserve" or "bank" characters)...
divmax,
You don't quite understand why one is altoholic and think the monochar playstyle is somehow "better" way, though? Am i worng? I think Aladyane (sp) plays many alts for the same reason as I, we just love class mechanics, different race & class combinations, professions, stat distributions and so on. For me there's nothing more fun than test different abilities in different situations and explore different player roles. Most MMORPG's are just so damn simple, that to get any challenge and diversity out of it I have to learn every class. In a strategy game I may stick to once nation/race/whatever for long time as there I have stuff to learn for years even with just one nation (referring to strategy games that have very different style of gameplay and aesthetics between nations). Also experiencing the beginning isn't probably major attraction for most altoholics. I dislike the beginnings as these so few abilities available to keep me interested and I've seen the areas already many times, for example. You may enjoy the raids, socializing, world exploring etc so much more, that one char is enough and making another wouldn't add anything to the gaming experience.
Similarly can be argued, that the monochar players are the ones, that take the game too seriously, as they get so attached to one character, which they want to collect items and achievements etc for. It's just a question of do you limit your completionism to one character or several characters (also assuming, that it's almost impossible to reach the same level of completioness with many characters, this is the case with most games, I believe - so monchar player focuses squeezing out everything achievable with that one character, while altoholic player does what is generally considered "completing the game" with all characters [in MMORPG's I would say that's max level, possible alternative advancement levels, unlock abilities, "best" one set of gear, "best" one mount and perhaps few other things). That doesn't directly have anything to do with altoholic playstyle or monochar playstyle.
E: Ah, you phrased it as "act of beginning". I understood that you meant "early game experience" or something like that. I'm feeling that with that you tried to find another reason to point out how irrational it is to make many characters, but I may be horribly worng. I think yes, making new char for altoholic is fresh experience as is going to new endgame dungeon with your single character. Although I don't exactly understand what you mean by act of beginning, possibly due to my limited linguistic capabilities.
To Divmax,
Please tell me how i should play MMO's as you are obviously an expert. I am not going to quote your walls of text (Obviously you have a lot to teach we misguided players). I especially enjoy the parts where you critique the way things are said rather than the thought behind it.
I understand though, discussions of computer game playing styles and players motives for having alts are very important. Thank you for all the clairification and insight into your superior play style.
If Ya Ain't Dyin, Ya Ain't Tryin
Hi Vaen,
Thank you, finally, that someone could answer my questions, and would bother to without trying to flame me.
However, you are wrong in assuming that I think altoholics are somehow inferior. At no point did I say this.
Though I thank you for the explanation.
{Mod edit}
I'd like to comment only about the last part of the article: the part where you mention you want to stay alone.
I perfectly understand this and I think it's a need that occurs to very social/helpful players. I love to socialize and I love to help. but some times I just don't want to be forced in such activities and since I don't even want to explain (I'm not even sure it's possible) I just hide under an alt.
"I'm sorry, I hear this kind of statement quite often but I don't understand it because its full of contradictions. As I stated above, I am a monochar precisely because I want to experience all the content a game has to offer. Achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch, above, I can understand. I think they are sad and laughable, but at least I can understand their argument. If thats what they get out of gaming then so be it.
But if you are like me, just interested in experiencing the most, then I submit that you are going about it the wrong way. Very little content is ever gated behind class/race choices. Sure, there are the starter areas, and for that I can understand people creating alts just to play through the different starter areas. But particularly in the games which you cited, no content is gated behind classes or races.
And yet you claim that you have never finished a campaign. So you definitely haven't experienced all the content using your method of playing despite that being your goal. And its not about getting to the finish line. I level one character in the time it takes people like BlackWatch to level three characters. But I take my time and explore everything, partake of all optional content and really get to experience as much as possible. Whereas, in reality, you probably end up doing a lot of the same content over and over with small chunks of new content appearing to break the doldrum.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding and you are actually just wanting to try out different play-styles (classes). In which case, I can understand that that is the only way for you to do that. I tend to enjoy only one or two play-styles, but I can understand how other people might enjoy more.
But I often do wonder if altoholics aren't really just in love with the act of "beginning". (Of course, excluding the achievement-driven altoholics like BlackWatch)."
The sentences I bolded are what to me come across as arrogant in light of the person they were originally aimed for and towards BlackWatch.
Though you seem to realize that there are many valid playstyles, the way in which you worded your entire post came across to me to mean that you somehow see these playstyles as inferior to your own and that is one of my pet peeves.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
It is obvious as he cannot understand the playstyle he decides to put it down and goes a step furthur and puts his playstyle as the superior one . When called out on that the old defense of how we all do not have a good enough command of the English Language to understand his post or complete reading it is used. He can then relinquish his responsibility for the perfectly obnoxious statement and accuse us of being sensitive and taking offense. I just wish people would simply own up to their stands and not try to weasel out of it .
Lol, nice description. I can really relate to this one. A bit of the "grass is always greener" syndrome, I suppose. Or something. I always feel extremely pleased when I finally settle down to the class I'm going to play the most, which these days seems to be ranger/rogue archetype. Strange that, I've gone full circle because my first character in an mmo (Kalonline anyone?) was an archer.
Another very interesting post, Isabella, thanks.
Well, I've moved from monochar type approach to an altoholic, and then, in Rift, back to monochar (I think!). In my first mmo I was so overwhelmed by the whole thing (in a positive way), and so busy trying to learn how this whole mmo thing worked that I couldn't have coped with more than one character (if they were different classes, that is). So I picked an archer and stuck with her throughout my time of playing that game (about 10 months or so). I came to gaming in general very late in life, and mmo's even later, so it was all brand new to me back then (and extremely exciting and immersive).
My next mmo was WoW and I tried a druid because it really appealed, but then reverted to the hunter. What was great about WoW was that there were so many different starting areas, and you weren't limited to the starting area of your race. You could go where you want (if you could safely get there, that is). Also the different zone choices throughout the journey through Azeroth made me start wanting to experiment with alts, so I did. Only after taking my main character up to the then max level of 60, though. So the alts were to do with experiencing a different journey, different landscapes and quests etc.
Later on, when I became an mmo wanderer seeking, but never finding for very long, a new home I began to become an altoholic. One reason, I think, was that I was getting bored with playing the same types of classes (ranged dps) so I started to experiment with them all, and the other reason was that, having got the hang of mmo's, I was starting to become a bit bored, and so the alts added a bit of variety and challenge. I liked having high level chars and low level chars because the game experience is so different between them (as Isabella pointed out).
Another funny thing (again echoed in Isabella's post) I started to notice in the past couple of years is that I began to really enjoy start-game rather than end-game. The beginning of a game feels much cleaner and simpler to me these days. I hate to log into a high level character (especially if I've been away for a while) and open the bags to see tons of items, and loads of quests in the quest log (which I've completely lost the plot about in that game). So my pattern in recent mmo's has been to start lots of low level alts while I get a feel for the game and which class appeals.
I'm sort of hoping that Rift might take me back to my initial experience of playing mainly one character, but already I'm planning a Guardian alt who is normal pve, and a Defiant who is RP pve, so who knows?
In games like Rift or the Secret World, it seems like there will always be certain builds that people will look for. You CAN play however you want but I don't see that as ever making everyone happy. Some people just can't stand the idea of hybrid builds or, god forbid, enjoying the game with the character you want to play. Rift is a cool game and I'm really enjoying my ranger/marksman/bard but when I group people don't really see me as being anything but DPS, even though I can support or DPS with the best of them depending on my build. Its honestly kind of frustrating.
I sort of hate to admit how many characters I use to have on Daoc and Wow.
My main problem is, I think, wanting to know all characters stregths and weaknesses.
It might be easier to beat a skald with an insta mez if you know how long it takes for the insta to come back up.
Another thing that comes into play is the fact that getting to the end game was never as important as the trip along the way. Might as well walk if you can't enjoy the ride.