I've logged thousands of hours playing video games.
At least.
I started tracking my gaming hours in June of 2006 using XFire (only PC games, console games not included) and I'm currently at 3,312 hours of total time spent playing video games. To some, this indicates a tremendous waste of my time (if you're of this belief, may i suggest lightening up a bit?). To others, this is only a month or two of casual gaming (seriously! check out this guy's profile). Like all things, amount of time spent gaming is a relative entity. My point is that i've gamed quite a bit in my life. In the past few years, most of that has been spent playing various MMOs.
I'll never forget the first time i logged into an MMO and began playing with other people... it was magnificent. People whom i'd never met before were somewhere else in the world unknown to me, but at that moment we all had that instant in common, united together under a common ruleset within a common server environment using super powers and earning xp towards our next level. My adrenaline and dopamine levels were at an all-time high, and i was hooked*. Looking back, there is still something incredible and indescribable about the feeling of joining a team of adventurers to tackle a feat greater than our individual abilities could accomplish alone. Quite simply, it was marvelous fun.
That feeling is still one i would like to enjoy again, but things have changed over the years. Sure, i've got more things in my life now which are a higher priority than gaming, but the crucial differences are not mine. The arena of MMOs has changed quite a bit, and it's my opinion that these changes make it more difficult for people like me (read = more to live for than the game) to enjoy gaming.
For one, the games have changed. There used to be a handful of MMOs to play, which meant that if you played an MMO, you only had a few options to choose from, and those games were all very similar in content and execution. GameOgre currently lists 47 pay-to-play and 61 free-to-play MMORPGs that are active as of the date of this publication. These games vary in content, targeted audience, style of environment, style of play, and just about every other possible facet of video games that you can conceive. According to a recent study, there are now over 47 million MMO subscriptions active in the world (10 million of whom are claimed by World of Warcraft, but of course there has been some debate regarding the accuracy of that number). When i began playing online, there were more like 5 possible MMOs and maybe 7 million total players (of course, i'm only guessing the number of players in 2005; if you can link more accurate numbers, i'd appreciate it). So not only has the industry been flooded with innumberable gaming choices, but the number of players has drastically increased. Most of these players are younger... and by "younger," i mean adolescents. Most of these games are targeted at these younger players... and by "games," i mean trite abominations. The mature player who wants to enjoy a challenging environment with other like-minded mature players in a casual manner is on the brink of extinction, if not completely annihilated already.
This is not a "boo-hoo-things-used-to-be-great-before-these-meddling-kids-ruined-it" post. Not in the slightest. Technologically speaking, the world today is a much better place than it was 5 years ago. Besides, things change; it's the nature of the universe, and i'm well aware of that (in fact, i'm quite the fan of evolution). Nonetheless, in the context of MMOs, the games just aren't being developed for players like me anymore. Casual 30-somethings aren't where the money is, i guess. It's understandable. The music industry hasn't targeted my demographic since long before i was born, so it makes sense that the gaming industry would take a similar turn. That's just the way it is.
"Well, Grey, if you're not griping, then what's the point?"
::ahem::
My point is simply that one of my favorite pasttimes is no longer. Something i used to love doing for 15-30 hours a week has become something i no longer enjoy even for an hour or two. It doesn't matter which game i'm playing, or which server i'm logged into, or what time of day i'm playing, or which guild/kinship/clan/supergroup/et al i'm a member of. The crucial elements, in fact the very foundation, of MMOs has evolved into something which just isn't fun anymore... it's become something more akin to a competitive series of chores. Whether you agree with me or not, one thing remains the same:
Greyfang is no longer a gamer.
Most of you won't even notice my absence, much less miss me. That's fine. But i miss the way it used to be, and i guess that makes me an old fogey. I'm rarely a nostalgic person, but MMOs used to be a magical opportunity for people to join together, having never met each other before, and have the time of their lives. I know of no other genre in which that is a possibility, much less a regular occurrence. To those gamers who know what i'm referring to, i say thanks for all the fun. Maybe i'll see you around somewhere. I'll be the one with the LFG tag.
*please understand that i use this term quite informally. i was never a video game addict, nor do i intend to make light of addiction in any of its varied forms.
