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MMOs and eternal unsatisfaction
Silax
Member Posts: 250
Excuse the length of the post… really tried to make it short. Here’s the argument:
Many of you seem to go about picking your games like connoisseurs at a wine convention – always looking and never quite satisfied.
You look at a game and nitpick it to death – it’s never just the graphics or the animation or the pvp or crafting or voice acting. Even if these features were perfect, you probably would find something else to complain about.
I think that most of you are trying to desperately recapture that feel for a game that you had when you first started. That virgin moment, if you will. Except since then, you have found nothing that will satisfy you.
So here’s my questions: is it possible that the original experience you had with a game was not actually because of the game itself, but perhaps because of the people you were playing the game with? Or simply for that new, shiny toy feel? Or perhaps because at the time, this was the only game in the venue (ie. Counterstrike, Ultima Online) before quality alternatives were added?
I only ask this because I vividly remember playing my first video game with my friend on his Atari. It was Joust. The game honestly sucks, but I had a blast with my friend. I certainly don’t pine for the game, but I do miss the fun of knocking my friend’s rider from his ostrich.
I think many people confuse the happiness they experienced with a game with the actual game – that somehow a new game must satisfy those same elements in order for it to be enjoyable. Isn’t it possible that the experience is user defined – not some game mechanic? How is it that those millions of people playing Farmville are actually have fun even though the game is deplorable by any current standard?
I think that the user community on these boards tends to be plagued by a never-ending search for perfection that never really existed. The MMO you played may have been a great experience, but more than likely it was because you had a good time playing with other people.
What do you think?
Comments
Different games appeal to different demographics. Farmville is a game for casual 14-80 year old women. Dudes almost invaraibly hate it.
I see a lot of players who liked a game that died, the fall of SWG, the lack of enough players for vanguard, things like that. They found a game they loved but it didn't work out for w/e reason.
Further obsession is a function of time investment. So early in the game its cool and new, thats the hook, and later in its how much time you spend there. Many times players want the feel they get from playing a game they already invested a lot in, but you just can't get those emotions out of the box.
If I played SWG for years and then they did the cu and nge, even if i got into a comparable game it might not be as cool since i have to start all over.
There are many many reasons to not be able to find a new game to enjoy, the ones you describe exist, but you are over valuing them.
You are right to a small degree but wrong overall. The majority of the MMO market has simply tried to copy most of the features of the one game that put MMOs in the mainstream which is WoW. The problem is the WoW community isn't going to leave WoW for more of the same thing they can do in WoW where they have major time investments with their characters. That is why most new MMO's are failing. They work for 3-4 months because a lot of that market is actually looking for something else, they just want something different, not more of the same. This is why most oldschool MMO players can't understand why some of the old elements of some MMO's hasn't been copied and modernized.
For instance, DaoC(Dark age of Camelot) is widely considered the best PvP mmo ever made with rich story and pve experience. The problem with DaoC is that it's old and outdated. It is almost impossible for new players to get into as well because it's so unforgiving and different and not layed out for you the first 10 or so levels. I myself am an old DaoC player and I can tell you that it is still the best pvp experience I've ever had and this is coming from someone who has done very well in WoW pvp as well(Multiple Gladiator in arena, Grand marshall). Nothing has come close to the pvp offered in DaoC which is why often times DaoC players including myself have questioned why no MMO company has attempted an MMO that clones most of DaoC rather than WoW. DaoC came before WoW and MMO's back then didn't have the mainstream appeal that they have now, so a remade DaoC would have a massive impact in the MMO market now that WoW has opened the flood gates for MMOs.
So to answer your question, I do believe some parts of old MMO's are just from it being new and first experience but there is a lot that new MMO's haven't taken from the older generation that baffles us and makes me wonder why it hasn't been done.