Alright, so I’m still tweaking out the format of how I want to do this whole thing. But, I’m figuring we’ll be going more like this.
In any event, spurred off from my prior article on my lack of motivation to play my current game of choice, Vanguard, I would like to take a look at what actually does motivate me to play an online game. Along with this, hopefully I’ll be able to spur some insights for others as well.
MMOs are vast and varied. Well. Okay, there’s a few ways to enjoy MMOs, and there’s even a couple out there that are a bit different than other ones, anyway. Surprisingly, at least for me, it can actually be a touch difficult in pinpointing out exactly what it is about them that is actually so appealing. Why do we log into an online world just to piddle around for a few hours? Of course, that answer is going to be different for everyone. Some people just like watching their character advance, while others have an enjoyment of racing to the top ahead of everyone else. Others, still, just enjoy checking out the exotic locals that can be found in games such as these, while others just like the social aspects of being in an online space with thousands of other people.
For me, it actually wasn’t easy to really realize why I liked MMOs. I’ve jumped around a lot of them too: Dark Age of Camelot, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online, EVE Online, EverQuest 2, City of Heroes, Vanguard, and then some. Even breaking out of the MMORPG, I’ve even spent time in virtual worlds such as Second Life.
Now, I had a later start than some, beginning with Mythic’s Dark Age of Camelot. I started a month or so after release and most of my friends where already well ahead of me at the time – but, I didn’t particularly care. So, I rolled up a character, played it for a while… rolled up a new character, played it for a while, rolled up a… Well, you can get the point. I went pretty alt-a-holic, as some might say. Except I usually stopped playing the character prior to the alt every time.
That was fine though, I was able to get a good taste of the various character types, and I did eventually settle on an Albion Wizard before the guild’s move to another server and Midgard – but that was a while later. I actually stuck with that character for a while and I was pretty happy… and I soloed an awful lot. This was a mistake.
It actually was a mistake I made quite a few times. I played the game like an ‘achiever’ and a soloer (although the latter wasn’t always true), but that wasn’t what I really want in a game.
It actually wasn’t until around the time I played Final Fantasy XI that I really realized this – although Galaxies was a good step in figuring it out. In Galaxies, I kept returning because my guild of friends was there, and it felt like I was missing ‘something’ important the game had to offer for me… but I never found it. Clearly I lacked eye-sight as it was pretty obvious in retrospect.
Regardless, Final Fantasy XI did one thing that helped me quite a bit. It forced me to group. Almost literally. After the first 10, 13 levels or so, you can’t kill anything worth experience without help. At all. What this meant is that my tendency to solo was eliminated entirely. I couldn’t, so I had to group up with other players. Something else interesting happened in this game during release as well. Every single group I joined was treated like a little mini-chat room while we played. We chatted with each other amidst adventuring, got to know each other, made friends, grouped again commonly, etc… It was a fantastic social experience. I loved FFXI – although that even faded once my linkshell (guild) dropped out of existence. I had moved over with my Dark Age group of friends.
That really was it though. It was the social aspect of MMOs that interested me. While its still fun to level up in MMORPGs and all, if I’m not doing it with other people… then what’s the fun in that? I’ve actually noticed over the years from playing MMOs, I’ve become less prone to enjoying single player games. In fact, I have a rather difficult time enjoying them anymore, as it just feels like a lonely, soulless existence inside of that private world, with just me.
What I want from a game is pretty simple. It needs to have a community. I can play most online games on the market, and as long as it encourages player cooperation, and engages them to spend time together… then I’m pretty much happy.
So, why am I unhappy with Vanguard? Because that’s lacking. That’s the only thing that’s lacking. And, it really is a recent thing… which is why I was happy before, when the game had a larger player-base. That’s also why I’ve spent more time logged into Second Life than Vanguard lately. But, hey, a friend of mine is trying to tempt me into EVE Online again… A game I haven’t had the best of luck with community-wise (can’t ever seem to find a large enough corporation, and its always so hard to trust other players). But, hey, who knows. I might break and it might turn out alright.
But, this really is quite important. You really need to figure out what it is that you like about online spaces, what it is that attracts you to them. A lot of people probably have been able to figure that one out a lot faster than I did, but it certainly isn’t something to overlook.
What attracts you to online games? Why do you play them? What makes you log in and spend all of that time in a virtual space?
