my life is pretty busy these days. a beautiful wife, 2 kids, a full-time job, and trying to find a new job which corresponds with my IT degree take a lot of time. and when i'm not spending my time husbanding, parenting, working, and sending out resumes, i game (which can take a lot of time by itself, but fortunately i need very little sleep). so some might say i game a lot.
::shrug::
it takes my mind off of the rejection letters i keep getting.
i currently have 3 games i've been going between, all of which are single-player RPGs, so we're talking a lot of content in each. i'll probably complete most, if not all, of the content in all of them eventually, but i've come to the realization that my personality houses a bit of a paradox. i like to complete things, but i get bored when i do the same thing repeatedly.
this is exactly why i've grown stale on MMOs. it's impossible to complete an MMO, and you inevitably end up doing the exact same thing ad infinitum. it never starts that way, mind you. you get a shiny new universe with a shiny new avatar and a shiny new set of powers, with (more importantly) a shiny new set of abilities and/or gear to work towards. that last one is the hook, what the game developers hope will keep you coming back (and paying next month's subscription fee). so you begin happily enough, and they throw enough new stuff at you early on so that you've got new things to do and new spells/powers/skills to use while doing those new things to keep you very pleasantly occupied. after a while, though, the acquisition of your character's new upgrades decreases, and you become more aware of the repetition of the tasks you're doing in-game. the more MMOs you play, the quicker you hit this particular speed bump. i can't begin to count how many times i've killed x number of y to acquire z number of whatever to turn into some NPC.
seriously... no idea. hundreds? probably. i bet i've slaughtered generations of virtual rats, skeletons, zombies, and numerous other woodland creatures and denizens of evil. we're talking millions. that's a lot of virtual blood on my hands.
fortunately, i've got lots of virtual soap. and no virtual conscience whatsoever.
but what's it all for? some people are quite satisfied by the boundless extermination of mobs in search for some piece of leet gear or the xp required for that next level. but repetition like that only produces one result in yours truly:
boredom.
so, in the past, i'd burn out on a game and then find myself thinking, "hey! time for a new game."
that works a few times well enough, but i've played a lot of MMOs by now, and it's always the same.
"yay! new game! yay! new level! yay! new power!... yay... next level... yay... new gear... yay... next level... yawn..."
i find i really enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. intrinsic to this sense of accomplishment is the idea that i'm closer to my goal than i was before i began. my goal, of course, is to finish. to get to that point when you know you've done everything there is to be done and say, "aha! i've done it all!" MMOs, however, are not to be completed. even if you take every possible character class in the game to the level cap and stock them with all the best possible gear and work up every possible skill and craft and hobby and whatever else is available, there's an imminent update, adding more classes, skills, etc. somewhere along the journey of attempting such a feat, you may notice that you're physically spending your time doing this:
1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, oh! low health! 7! 7!... 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6...
yeah... monotony for the lose.
there will never be an online game created that actually offers players the opportunity to achieve a point of absolute completion. it would directly oppose the idea that a game should continue to make money. i understand this, but for a long time i deluded myself into thinking this wasn't the case. i thought, "maybe this game is the one i've been looking for, the one which will provide my kind of fun." my kind of fun, it turns out, isn't MMO-friendly.
some aspects of MMOs i really miss, though. the social possibilities, however limited they might seem to an outsider, is one of those aspects. sure, most of the people you meet in-game might not be that great, but occasionally you'll run across someone who's actually pretty cool (see? just like real life). but paying $15 a month to maybe meet someone cool in a universe where you're strumming out the same numerical string on your keyboard over and over (and over and over and...) is pretty silly.
i still like games. i probably always will. i'm also willing to admit that they're almost completely a waste of time. sure, you gain a bit of spacial recognition, and shave a few seconds off your reflex time, and the endorphin rush has been found to help prevent Alzheimer's. but if i had spent half the time i've gamed on something less ethereal, like playing guitar or sculpting? yeah, i'd probably be a world famous artist or musician or something by now. and i like real world hobbies as well, but that doesn't detract from my appreciation of a good game. late at night, when the kids are asleep and the wife's watching TV on the couch next to you, it's not a good idea to try practicing the flute; logging onto a game, however, is a lot less likely to get you punched by your beloved.
i'll still try to get into beta testing for some of the upcoming MMOs which look like they might not suck after the first hour of play. what's better than free server time on a game that isn't yet available to the general public for a specifically allotted time? nothing, i tell you. NOTHING is better than that!
but i can't kid myself any longer. there simply isn't any reason for me to purchase and invest my time in an MMO any more. as fun as they are for a short while, i'm just not the kind of person who will commit for the long haul, and it's the long haul where the "fun" is in an MMO.
just not my kind of fun, i guess.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
How To Play Your Job
i just finished reading [GM]Dave's posts regarding how a person should properly play an MMO. basically, it boils down to a few key points with which anyone would be hard pressed to disagree:
1) Research your job
2) Listen to the advice of others (apply any which actually makes it through your personal filter of stupidity)
3) Don't complain
sounds simple, right?
it is... which is precisely why it's so frustrating that so many players don't do it.
let's take it step by step.
i don't know about you, but researching a game is one of my favorite things to do.
seriously.
i know, i'm a geek.
i really enjoy reading through forum posts, websites, fan pages, whatever i can get my hands on that actually divulges decent information about different aspects of the game. likewise, i really dislike going into any situation completely blind. i would never want to be the guy who gets into a group and doesn't understand exactly what could be expected from me given the class i'm playing and how to deliver appropriate results to live up to those expectations. in other words, i don't want to be the retard in the group. to avoid this unfortunate incident from taking place, i'm willing to put the time required into actually learning about the game mechanics, the differences between the classes, and thus how to play the class i've chosen given the group in which i've placed myself.
unless you're playing a healer class, the expectations can be quite varied from group to group. sometimes, for instance, i've played a tank class which was expected to provide dps. or a CC class that was expected to play off-healer. it happens. it's good to be flexible in your expectations of a group so that when you're playing a dps class and someone calls upon you to play an off-tank you don't pop a gasket and start crying.
yeah, i've seen it happen. it's not pretty.
anyway, back to the subject at hand, let's say for the sake of argument that you've taken the time to learn how to play your class and what the specific situation calls for from everyone. for instance, showing up to fight the giant Turtle in LotRO without your poison resistance gear will get you ostracized. know this before you show up. if you don't know, for the love of mud, ASK! a person who doesn't know but asks will never be looked upon as a complete dolt... a person who shows up without knowing or asking always will.
so, you've done your research, and you've asked the right questions. this is all you can do (i'll assume you're not ignorant enough to complain about the group... that "Leave Group" button is there for a reason).
now, you have no choice but to leave it up to the leadership of the group to do their job and actually provide leadership.
leading a group of any kind is no easy task. due to my casual status as a gamer, i've opted out of leading many more runs than i have opted to take responsibility for the welfare and progress of the group's accomplishments at hand. i've noticed, however, that many people do not feel the way i do about providing proper leadership. i've been in more groups than i can count where the person who's nominated himself to run the show had absolutely no clue what they were doing.
::sigh:: many, many times...
...and then a few more.
as already stated, i don't play any game enough to know everything. many games i've played i didn't know much at all beyond how to hold aggro or nuke the right mob at the right time. but i know how to follow orders.
my question is this: if you take the time to get a group together, why in the world don't you take the time to figure out what, exactly, you need from the members of this group?
okay, the main tank just left the group before the boss, and now you need someone who isn't playing a tanking class to step up and try to hold the boss aggro. the healer bailed halfway through and now we're counting on the CCer with the minor heal and a whole lot of pots. i fully understand that these things happen in a game. what i don't understand is how someone can walk into a situation with everything they need to succeed except the actual knowledge of what needs to be done by those people.
i've mentioned before that my involvement in MMOs has dwindled to nonexistent recently. most of the time, i find i either play alone or experience utter defeat in the face of someone who tries to run the show but hasn't got a clue what they're doing. quite frankly, there are three kinds of gamers: 1) the uber-1337 hardcores without a real life or any social skills beyond the keyboard, 2) the kids who have no concept of group mechanics nor the basics of teamwork, and 3) me.
sure, i've been the weak link in the group before (read = the only one who doesn't put in 40+ hours a week and hasn't run the instance 20 times previously). if given the proper leadership (read = tell me what you need), i'll do my best and everything will go smoothly. i know, it sounds unlikely, but i've seen it happen more than a few times. more than that, however, it'll be some jerk who can't believe i would rather spend time with my wife and children than running a particular raid for some coveted piece of gear or some kid who doesn't have a clue how to run the instance in the first place and expects everyone else in the group to carry him through.
[GM]Dave has fought through this frustration and continues to play (feeding people who piss him off to a large purple dragon probably helps in alleviating this frustration). i, on the other hand, have opted to go back to Oblivion for the time being and hope a new game comes out which might offer a chance to meet better people within the population. the idea of transferring characters to a new server which may or may not be different just doesn't appeal to me.
1) Research your job
2) Listen to the advice of others (apply any which actually makes it through your personal filter of stupidity)
3) Don't complain
sounds simple, right?
it is... which is precisely why it's so frustrating that so many players don't do it.
let's take it step by step.
i don't know about you, but researching a game is one of my favorite things to do.
seriously.
i know, i'm a geek.
i really enjoy reading through forum posts, websites, fan pages, whatever i can get my hands on that actually divulges decent information about different aspects of the game. likewise, i really dislike going into any situation completely blind. i would never want to be the guy who gets into a group and doesn't understand exactly what could be expected from me given the class i'm playing and how to deliver appropriate results to live up to those expectations. in other words, i don't want to be the retard in the group. to avoid this unfortunate incident from taking place, i'm willing to put the time required into actually learning about the game mechanics, the differences between the classes, and thus how to play the class i've chosen given the group in which i've placed myself.
unless you're playing a healer class, the expectations can be quite varied from group to group. sometimes, for instance, i've played a tank class which was expected to provide dps. or a CC class that was expected to play off-healer. it happens. it's good to be flexible in your expectations of a group so that when you're playing a dps class and someone calls upon you to play an off-tank you don't pop a gasket and start crying.
yeah, i've seen it happen. it's not pretty.
anyway, back to the subject at hand, let's say for the sake of argument that you've taken the time to learn how to play your class and what the specific situation calls for from everyone. for instance, showing up to fight the giant Turtle in LotRO without your poison resistance gear will get you ostracized. know this before you show up. if you don't know, for the love of mud, ASK! a person who doesn't know but asks will never be looked upon as a complete dolt... a person who shows up without knowing or asking always will.
so, you've done your research, and you've asked the right questions. this is all you can do (i'll assume you're not ignorant enough to complain about the group... that "Leave Group" button is there for a reason).
now, you have no choice but to leave it up to the leadership of the group to do their job and actually provide leadership.
leading a group of any kind is no easy task. due to my casual status as a gamer, i've opted out of leading many more runs than i have opted to take responsibility for the welfare and progress of the group's accomplishments at hand. i've noticed, however, that many people do not feel the way i do about providing proper leadership. i've been in more groups than i can count where the person who's nominated himself to run the show had absolutely no clue what they were doing.
::sigh:: many, many times...
...and then a few more.
as already stated, i don't play any game enough to know everything. many games i've played i didn't know much at all beyond how to hold aggro or nuke the right mob at the right time. but i know how to follow orders.
my question is this: if you take the time to get a group together, why in the world don't you take the time to figure out what, exactly, you need from the members of this group?
okay, the main tank just left the group before the boss, and now you need someone who isn't playing a tanking class to step up and try to hold the boss aggro. the healer bailed halfway through and now we're counting on the CCer with the minor heal and a whole lot of pots. i fully understand that these things happen in a game. what i don't understand is how someone can walk into a situation with everything they need to succeed except the actual knowledge of what needs to be done by those people.
i've mentioned before that my involvement in MMOs has dwindled to nonexistent recently. most of the time, i find i either play alone or experience utter defeat in the face of someone who tries to run the show but hasn't got a clue what they're doing. quite frankly, there are three kinds of gamers: 1) the uber-1337 hardcores without a real life or any social skills beyond the keyboard, 2) the kids who have no concept of group mechanics nor the basics of teamwork, and 3) me.
sure, i've been the weak link in the group before (read = the only one who doesn't put in 40+ hours a week and hasn't run the instance 20 times previously). if given the proper leadership (read = tell me what you need), i'll do my best and everything will go smoothly. i know, it sounds unlikely, but i've seen it happen more than a few times. more than that, however, it'll be some jerk who can't believe i would rather spend time with my wife and children than running a particular raid for some coveted piece of gear or some kid who doesn't have a clue how to run the instance in the first place and expects everyone else in the group to carry him through.
[GM]Dave has fought through this frustration and continues to play (feeding people who piss him off to a large purple dragon probably helps in alleviating this frustration). i, on the other hand, have opted to go back to Oblivion for the time being and hope a new game comes out which might offer a chance to meet better people within the population. the idea of transferring characters to a new server which may or may not be different just doesn't appeal to me.
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