At My Limit: Why I Don't Like MMOs

Massive Multiplayer Online games have accumulated quite a following over the years. Games like World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Guild Wars have been flooding the market since mid 2000. Over the years I've played many different MMOs: Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, EVE Online, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, DC Universe Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Perfect World, Forsaken World, and City of Heroes. I used to try to enjoy MMOs, not anymore.

I fully understand the appeal of most MMOs. For some people its enjoying a world they are familiar with on a larger scale. Others get enjoyment out of playing with friends, or competitive gaming against players around the world. But this doesn't really appeal to me anymore. I've been finding more and more MMOs to be too similar to their predecessors. Because of the lack of decent storytelling it seems like all you do is grind 24/7. It might be just me, but I don't really find grinding online so I can play competitively to be worth a monthly fee. I know, I know, there are free MMOs, but in free online games there are always an astounding number of annoying players who use the game as a really fancy chatroom. I just can't enjoy MMOs anymore.

The last MMO I tried to play was Star Wars: The Old Republic. I followed the game through out its development and was really excited for it. It was the first massive multiplayer online game that actually seemed to have as much work invested into the storytelling and role playing experience as in the competitive experience. Unfortunately, they didn't release enough new content fast enough to keep their players playing. Personally, I would have been fine with the game, but because of its emphasis on storytelling and role playing, I was actually trying to role play a character in game. I created a character on a role playing server and started to explore. I soon found that no one really role played in this game, even on the proper servers. This was a huge disappointment for me.

The Old Republic was my last hope for this genre. I really wanted it to work because there's no other game like it with a emphasis on multiplayer storytelling. I thought of it as a game where the group that I played Dungeons and Dragons with could do the same type of thing. But it didn't end up working that way. If storytelling and role playing were to become an important part of every MMO, then I would probably enjoy them much more. But I can't motivate myself to play a game and do bland quests like "Kill 5 Bears" or "Collect 10 Flowers" just so I can eventually play competitively with or against other players.

One of my problems with this type of game, is that once you buy the game you still have to pay for it month after month. I realize that many MMOs are becoming free to play, but the ones that are include micro-transactions. So basically, you have two choices: You can play something and pay for it over and over again, or you can play something and always be sub-par to the people that spend ridiculous amounts of money on it. It really bothers me that in some of these games you can even pay to level your character. What's the point of playing a game if you're going to skip half the game?

The biggest beef I have with MMOs, is the people that play them. People get so obsessive over games like this that they will hack other people's accounts to steal their gear and money. Some of these people will also use others accounts to pay actual money for in game items to send to their own account. Instances like these do happen, but are fairly rare. The game companies usually make a decent amount of security available to you to prevent these type of situations. Still, it doesn't sit right with me to have the constant worry of your hard work being taken advantage of.

As I mentioned before, the players also rarely role play in MMOs. This is something that disappoints me greatly because there is such potential for great role playing in the realm of online gaming. You have avatars, and a battle system all set up for you. All you need to do is create a character and give him a backstory and a little bit of personality and you can help create an interesting world for yourself and other players. Instead most people sit in the chat spouting out the usual random nonsense you can find anywhere on the internet. For those of us that actually tried role playing, it really ruins the immersion and believability of the world.

Its not that I don't understand the appeal of MMOs. And I'm definitely not saying that if you play them you are just ruining my experience and are stupid. This is just a long winded explanation about why you won't see me review games like Defiance or the Elder Scrolls Online. Yeah, they look really cool, but I know they aren't going to be the way I want them to be because of the reasons I listed above. I don't like MMOs. Now I'll step down from my soap box and let you continue with your daily lives. Remember to check back on Saturday for the Nerd News Update. There has been a lot of interesting goings on in the world of gaming this week!