Your reason(s) for disliking MMOs? (Poll)

Well i'm kinda bored, so i'm just curious to know why some of you dislike the MMO genre. If you select "Other" in the poll, specify your reason

Personally I love MMOs, and since I started playing them, I find it hard to play a single player game anymore. I love interacting with others and grouping together to complete objectives. Also, I love the competitive nature of the genre. I enjoy leveling up, even if grinding is involved, because once I reach the max level and start fighting huge epic bosses and PvPing it gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

That said, I'm anxiously awaiting the realease of Aion: Tower of Eternity.

I find most of them naturally devolve to the level of the worst players. By worst, I'm not referring to their skill in actually playing the game, but in their attitude and level of maturity. As devs try to broaden their revenue streams by ensuring that the games can be quickly picked up and mastered, the trend only worsens. If the game requires little thought and provides instant gratification, it's soon overrun by kids in their early teens who tend to give free reign to the worst aspects of their egos secure in the knowledge that their annonymity is protected behind a computer screen. There's nothing fun about having to share a game world with hoardes of maladjusted, partially literate teens who think the ultimate in good times is going out of their way to annoy other players.

About the only MMO I've got time for is WWII Online as it requires a fair investment of time to learn to play. That tends to weed out the twitch crowd.

EVERYBODY WHO PLAYES REGULARLY MMORPGs LOVE THEM

but the one time you stop playing it you realise "dude that time, i wasn't going out with my friends to kill a dragon"
"i payed 15$ a month for some game where i'm supposed to get regular updates and new content, but it ended up not having a update more than once a month" (that one is specialy for blizzard ... i stoped one year after the release, and at that time the new content wasn't even coming more often then every 1 month and a half)

(specialy now, i sometimes take a look at the last patch for wow ... i think it has been at patch 2.1.# for like MANY months ... of course they added 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 ... i think i'm right for that one)

I find most of them naturally devolve to the level of the level of the worst players. By worst, I'm not referring to their skill in actually playing the game, but in their attitude and level of maturity. As devs try to broaden their revenue streams by ensuring that the games can be quickly picked up and mastered, the trend only worsens. If the game requires little thought and provides instant gratification, it's soon overrun by kids in their early teens who tend to give free reign to the worst aspects of their egos secure in the knowledge that their annonymity is protected behind a computer screen. There's nothing fun about having to share a game world with hoardes of maladjusted, partially literate teens who think the ultimate in good times is going out of their way to annoy other players.

About the only MMO I've got time for is WWII Online as it requires a fair investment of time to learn to play. That tends to weed out the twitch crowd.

bogaty

Yeah I know what you mean. I used to play Final Fantasy 11 and because it took so much time and was by no means easy, there were literally no kids playing at any time. Everybody I grouped with was generally 18-24 years old, and knew what they were doing. However, I had to stop playing when I got a job because it simply took too much time. I miss the mature conversations I had in that game, and the friends I made.

And now I play Guild Wars from time to time, and 80% of the people are crazy pre-teens that appear to have bought the game just to annoy people and ruin their gaming experience. I swear, I would knock out some of these people if I met them IRL. Besides that, everybody in PvP just seems to like calling people noobs because they're simply jerks.

I try to find games that aren't like that, but those kind of games are pretty rare unfortunately.

Odd you omit what would likely be otherwise the most popular reason:

- Rather than using deep/interesting story to keep gamer's interested, levelling and loot is used as bait. (IE., "too much grinding, not enough plot")

I find most of them naturally devolve to the level of the level of the worst players. By worst, I'm not referring to their skill in actually playing the game, but in their attitude and level of maturity. As devs try to broaden their revenue streams by ensuring that the games can be quickly picked up and mastered, the trend only worsens. If the game requires little thought and provides instant gratification, it's soon overrun by kids in their early teens who tend to give free reign to the worst aspects of their egos secure in the knowledge that their annonymity is protected behind a computer screen. There's nothing fun about having to share a game world with hoardes of maladjusted, partially literate teens who think the ultimate in good times is going out of their way to annoy other players.

About the only MMO I've got time for is WWII Online as it requires a fair investment of time to learn to play. That tends to weed out the twitch crowd.

bogaty

I have to agree with this post. This is what really gets my vote.Thatjust grows old after a bit (2 seconds really).For the record though, I voted time, as it's my second choice. Sometimes it's nice to be able to just jump in and have fun for a short bit but MMOs aren't real attuned to that.

[QUOTE="bogaty"]

I find most of them naturally devolve to the level of the level of the worst players. By worst, I'm not referring to their skill in actually playing the game, but in their attitude and level of maturity. As devs try to broaden their revenue streams by ensuring that the games can be quickly picked up and mastered, the trend only worsens. If the game requires little thought and provides instant gratification, it's soon overrun by kids in their early teens who tend to give free reign to the worst aspects of their egos secure in the knowledge that their annonymity is protected behind a computer screen. There's nothing fun about having to share a game world with hoardes of maladjusted, partially literate teens who think the ultimate in good times is going out of their way to annoy other players.

About the only MMO I've got time for is WWII Online as it requires a fair investment of time to learn to play. That tends to weed out the twitch crowd.

elemental_drago

I have to agree with this post. This is what really gets my vote.Thatjust grows old after a bit (2 seconds really).For the record though, I voted time, as it's my second choice. Sometimes it's nice to be able to just jump in and have fun for a short bit but MMOs aren't real attuned to that.

And while dead true, that REALLY confuses me.

I mean, why do game devs target THAT crowd? Figure, WoW, as wildly popular as it is, has 10 million subscribers worldwide. WORLDWIDE. There are almost 6 BILLION people on the planet. If that number was US citizens alone, it would still be only 3% of the population, of which ~50% has internet access. Do publishers really thing that huge gap in numbers is TEENAGERS who aren't playing because the game doesn't allow enough immaturity to entertain them?

Seems unlikely. The greater success of the "Sims" series would seem to imply that the massive market being left on the table are 'casual gamers', who want a social networking experience - an interesting story, and a place to share it or experience it in a group - and not a repetitivelevel grind.

I guess one is probably easier to code for than the other, though. :roll:

I agree with the rationale of the posts above (devolving to the lowest common denominator for the sake of patronage and $$), but time is the reason I've never played an MMO. My gaming happens in short sharp spurts and that doesn't suit the MMO format.

I generally don't play games online either (a couple of exceptions) - call me old fashioned but a level playing field makes things enjoyable. Single player is good.

8)

the combat system in every single one. and the lack of the feeling that im in an actual world

I mean, why do game devs target THAT crowd? Figure, WoW, as wildly popular as it is, has 10 million subscribers worldwide. WORLDWIDE. There are almost 6 BILLION people on the planet. If that number was US citizens alone, it would still be only 3% of the population, of which ~50% has internet access. Do publishers really thing that huge gap in numbers is TEENAGERS who aren't playing because the game doesn't allow enough immaturity to entertain them?

Seems unlikely. The greater success of the "Sims" series would seem to imply that the massive market being left on the table are 'casual gamers', who want a social networking experience - an interesting story, and a place to share it or experience it in a group - and not a repetitivelevel grind.

I guess one is probably easier to code for than the other, though. :roll:

XanderF

I assume that a lot of it is herd mentality amongst the publishers, many of whom don't understand the market as well as they believe. They hear other devs throwing around words like "accessibility", "casual gamer market" and the like and push the devs to make a game that non-gamers can dive right into in the hopes that they can increase their customer base. They look at the demographics and see the largest market share comes from teenage males who gobble up the console games, and that's who they aim to please. Cross platform title development is also a big part of this. If they can develop a title for a variety of platforms, it stands to reason that they'd see greater sales. The trouble is, they tend to develop with the limitations of the least powerful or versatile system in mind, so you end up with games on PC which were designed around a rather limiting console controller. A less versatile controller tends to limit the ****of game you can design. The devs could fiddle and tweak the engine to optimize the game for individual platforms, but few do this as it cranks up the development cost. They also tend to shy away from games with strong stories as they have to pay more for a good writers. Further, games with complex stories require a lot more translation work for worldwide markets.

I think you're right though. Stuff like the Sims, Pogo, and Second Life are changing a lot of publisher's minds. Personally, I don't know which is worse: The anti-social "social" gaming experience of current PvP, level grinding MMOs or the banal, virtual world Facebook type stuff of Second Life. All I know is that neither one appeals to me. I'll content myself with all the other grumpy old curmudgeons in IL-2 or Combat Mission as we happily moan about incorrect flight models, over-modelled PzKwV main guns and the youth of today.

MMO's are **** because their sole purpose is to make you sit in front of the computer for as long as possible to pay them a monthly fee.

Therefore, every bit of game design is aimed towards prolonging tedious, time-consuming tasks as much as possible.

By comparison, non-MMO's need to be good so as to get as many people to buy the box as possible.

When it's within the developer's best interests to prolong the game instead of making it good, you lose.

Mainly have to do with my RL job. I use to work at 5pm and get home at 1:45 in the morning. Getting a group to play group content was nearly impossible. The only time I could get a group was on friday night or on the weekends. My RL work hours are still making me unable to play MMOs content effectively. It makes no sense to spend $15 a month if i could only play a few days a month. Considering most mmos require you to be in a group to be able to play the content made for groups.

I enjoy MMO!

why?! because i just leave my character while playing. . . :D

i can even sleep when im tired :arrow:

next thing in the morning i check looted items:P

that's the power of C.C mode in wyd :)

half of the people voted it requires a lot of time - i don't get it, oh right it's because most MMOs requires monthly payment

i play GW - happy me :D

I like MMOs (though I only play one consistantly).

But, if I had to say a reason, I would dislike MMOs because every single person that plays for 40 hours a week and is then told he or she is addicted feels like they have to come on this board and say how bad the game is just to spite it. Instead of blaming themselves, we have to sit here and listen to them vent about a game they submitted to through their wimp-like lack of self restraint, and then have to justify to them why its a good game when played in moderation

I swear, these spurned-lovers of MMOs are worse than born-again christians.

Sweet!

I'm going to make me a born-again Christian MMO.

BOOM! Raputre!

Sweet!

I'm going to make me a born-again Christian MMO.

BOOM! Raputre!

bogaty

Ya, at level 1 you get to choose from 4 classes: drunk, drug addict, wife beater, and criminal. Then, at level 10 you have what the game calls "a moment of clarity" and you get to choose from a prestige class such as Mother Against Violent Games, Christian Rock and Roll Band Member, Youth Pastor Who Thinks He is Hip, and Alchoolics Anonymous Member! Then you travel through the perilous lands of Heathenville and Satantown and resist temptation!

Send me a PM, we can make a game that will topple WoW solely by exploiting Christians, just like Cartman and Faith +1

Ya, at level 1 you get to choose from 4 classes: drunk, drug addict, wife beater, and criminal. Then, at level 10 you have what the game calls "a moment of clarity" and you get to choose from a prestige class such as Mother Against Violent Games, Christian Rock and Roll Band Member, Youth Pastor Who Thinks He is Hip, and Alchoolics Anonymous Member! Then you travel through the perilous lands of Heathenville and Satantown and resist temptation!

Send me a PM, we can make a game that will topple WoW solely by exploiting Christians, just like Cartman and Faith +1

mrbojangles25

rofl

Though the majority of Christians and Catholics I know don't fall into the sterotype, there is far too much truth in Bojangle's words!

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]Ya, at level 1 you get to choose from 4 classes: drunk, drug addict, wife beater, and criminal. Then, at level 10 you have what the game calls "a moment of clarity" and you get to choose from a prestige class such as Mother Against Violent Games, Christian Rock and Roll Band Member, Youth Pastor Who Thinks He is Hip, and Alchoolics Anonymous Member! Then you travel through the perilous lands of Heathenville and Satantown and resist temptation!

Send me a PM, we can make a game that will topple WoW solely by exploiting Christians, just like Cartman and Faith +1

Jack_Summersby

rofl

Though the majority of Christians and Catholics I know don't fall into the sterotype, there is far too much truth in Bojangle's words!

Ya, Im only joking I dont mean a shred of it. But those people do exist, and they are freaking hilarious. When I Worked at a Cafe I worked with a youth pastor and this guy was such a joke; he looked like a beach bum, talked about surfing and his band, and would always try to convert me. I would give my generic "No thanks, Im more spiritual than I am religious" reply and he would go "ahh, its cool bra'" and then go kiss the boss' ass by making him a latte with vanilla-enhanced milk foam. Then the next day he would try again, say there is a "wicked sic" party and he would give me a flyer with a cross on it.

Ya, Im only joking I dont mean a shred of it. But those people do exist, and they are freaking hilarious. When I Worked at a Cafe I worked with a youth pastor and this guy was such a joke; he looked like a beach bum, talked about surfing and his band, and would always try to convert me. I would give my generic "No thanks, Im more spiritual than I am religious" reply and he would go "ahh, its cool bra'" and then go kiss the boss' ass by making him a latte with vanilla-enhanced milk foam. Then the next day he would try again, say there is a "wicked sic" party and he would give me a flyer with a cross on it.mrbojangles25

Know the type, and don't like em. My wife's family's church is evengelical, but thankfully her family isn't all up in your grill trying to convert you. They figure they'll do what they think is right, and you can do what you think is right. It's a good policy, in general, though sometimes you need to call people out when they go too far (like the "God hates f.a.g.s and Muslims" crap or the "ALL Republicans are evil Conservative Christians trying to bring about fascist Christian nation" crap).

What i hate about MMO games is the following...

* First i pay £40+ for the game which is pretty expensive (thats about $80)

* I'm also paying around £20-£24 for an internet connection (thats about $40-$50)

* Then to top it off most MMO's want you to pay £7-£9 (thats about$13-$15)

So really i hate the fact i have paid for the game, aswell as my internet connection and ontop of it a monthly fee. I just don't agree in this "pay to play" style most MMO's go for. I'd rather download the game for free and pay a monthly fee than have to pay for the game then pay to be able to play it.

Aswell as this i've found MMO's to be pretty time consuming, most require you to spend hours playing them for you to actually achieve something. Would be a lot better if you could play for say an hour or even half an hour and come off the game with the feeling you've achieved something worthwhile. They are also rather linear in that all you do is play as some fantasy character and raid dungeons to get items or complete objectives and gain experience points along the way. This process really doesn't change as you gain levels, infact it usually becomes more boring because it takes longer to level as you gain levels. So really you end up playing for hundreds of hours doing pretty much the same thing over and over.

other: monthly fee

guild wars rocks

What i hate about MMO games is the following...

* First i pay £40+ for the game which is pretty expensive (thats about $80)

* I'm also paying around £20-£24 for an internet connection (thats about $40-$50)

* Then to top it off most MMO's want you to pay £7-£9 (thats about$13-$15)

So really i hate the fact i have paid for the game, aswell as my internet connection and ontop of it a monthly fee. I just don't agree in this "pay to play" style most MMO's go for. I'd rather download the game for free and pay a monthly fee than have to pay for the game then pay to be able to play it.

Aswell as this i've found MMO's to be pretty time consuming, most require you to spend hours playing them for you to actually achieve something. Would be a lot better if you could play for say an hour or even half an hour and come off the game with the feeling you've achieved something worthwhile. They are also rather linear in that all you do is play as some fantasy character and raid dungeons to get items or complete objectives and gain experience points along the way. This process really doesn't change as you gain levels, infact it usually becomes more boring because it takes longer to level as you gain levels. So really you end up playing for hundreds of hours doing pretty much the same thing over and over.

1005

its funny you mention pounds because about six weeks ago I was in England (London, Oxford, York, and a couple other places) and the exchange rate was horrible! It was literally DOUBLE for me. I picked a bad time to travel...damn you prosperous brits!

I find it hard to play a single player game anymore. I love interacting with others and grouping together to complete objectives.

Night_stalker01

I'm exact opposite of that, thats why i hate MMOs and add that it is time consuming so you not have time play other games make it even worse.

2 big things i hate about them

grinding and monthly fee.

going around killing enemies for hours just so u can lvl up and kill slightly bigger enemies...not fun imho..not at all. the last MMO i played (assuming were not calling GW an MMO) was everquest and i absolutely completly and utterly despise that game. its almost an anti-game imho...it drains fun away while playing it.

as for montly fees. i wouldnt mind it if all i played was the monthly fee. if all extra content and expansions were free then a monthly fee would be ok by me. id prefer to be able to jusy buy the content i want mind but id settle for that. what i cant stand is the wow, eq and ultima online model....where i have to buy the dam game...and the blasted expansions and i still have to pay a monthly fee. what a joke. thats daylight robbery imho and i just will not touch a game with such a business model.....ever.

WoW has turned into what used to be epic and fun and exciting into a rep. grind. All I find myself doing is grinding rep or just flying around outside shatt and talking in guild chat. I'm usually alt-tabbed more often now. PvP blows now...its all about the purpz. Give me 4 hour AVs, 40 man raids, and world pvp! 

My account expires on the 20th...I'm about 90% sure I'm not going to renew. F*king BC ruined WoW. I have never seen so many players transfer/quit and guilds disband in the last few weeks than I have in my 2 years of playing. GG Blizz

I honestly don't see how anyone has enough time to play MMOs unless at least one of a few conditions is met, for example:

1) You are quite young and don't have many RL responsibilities yet

2) A single game (or very small number) can satisfy you for a long time, i.e. the time you do get for gaming, you don't mind devoting it to a single game. This is a big one for me, because I like many games, and many different genres (FPS, adventure, sports, racing, etc).

3) Don't have much of a social life outside of gaming and don't really care

If you can do it, more power to you :)

But IMO, for a multiplayer fix LAN parties>online multiplayer. Yeah, it's not "massively multiplayer", but it's SUCH a fun environment, and is something that can be scheduled. But then again, I like FPS games more than RPGs anyway ;)

Someone mentioned grinding and I feel that is one of the most legitamate anti-MMO arguments out there. Even in an "easy-to-level" game such as WoW, it takes hours upon hours to get to the next level at the 50+ segment, and I Know that most other MMOs are far worse.

While blowing crap up is fun and stuff like that, I think the majority of us take satisfaction in knowing that we accomplished something. This is a decades-old concept as back in the day, it was always about getting to the next level, such as in games like Missile Command and Asteroids for example.

In MMOs that require heavy grinding (essentially all of them), this sense of satisfaction is lessened since nothing is really accomplished no matter how much time you spend. Hacking mobs up with swords and torching them with fireballs is fun, but it gets old after an hour or so.

Its like the Greek story of that guy sent to the Underworld, where Hades forces him to push the boulder up the slope and once he gets near the top, the boulder falls all the to bottom and he has to start over again.

I still like MMOs, but I definately empathize with this argument.

Cost too much for nothing when I can play a better game for only 60 bucks and no fee.
They got vomitive graphics, World of Warcraft's a very good example... ugly is the word.
Grinding, levels and all that, what about Elders Scroll series? it didn't cost 15 or 20 bucks a month.
Peoples are mostly retarded except in WWIIOL where I was surprised to see normal humans but you know what happened to it...
If you don't buy the game when it gets released well there will always be stronger/better players because they started getting higher levels/ranks before you.
All have no originality or "fun" games to play with, except WWIIOL back in the days when I tried a free trial and before we started to see everything they said were all lies.
What else? who wants to play the same game every day for hours years after years? ... got answer?
Peoples, even kids died playing WoW... wth?JDFS

And the award for 'Extensive Use of Hyperbole and Exageration and Fanboyism of WWIIOL'goes to....*drum roll* JDFS!!!

-MMOs cost, at most, 15 bucks a month
-WoW graphics are dated, but theyre not ugly (though thats subjective so ultimately a pointles argument)
-Kids die from WoW...we cant blame the game for this. Excessive WoW playing was the symptom, not the problem
-Starting a level 1 character now is as easy and fun as it was at release
-No originality? What about EVE online? What about the superfun Monster Play of LOTRO? What about the battlegrounds of WoW?
-Elder Scrolls is a pointless example as it isnt an MMO, nor does it include online play. If you want to make an obscure example, use Guild Wars (though that wont make your point either since its not an MMO).

I find most of them naturally devolve to the level of the worst players. By worst, I'm not referring to their skill in actually playing the game, but in their attitude and level of maturity. As devs try to broaden their revenue streams by ensuring that the games can be quickly picked up and mastered, the trend only worsens. If the game requires little thought and provides instant gratification, it's soon overrun by kids in their early teens who tend to give free reign to the worst aspects of their egos secure in the knowledge that their annonymity is protected behind a computer screen. There's nothing fun about having to share a game world with hoardes of maladjusted, partially literate teens who think the ultimate in good times is going out of their way to annoy other players.

About the only MMO I've got time for is WWII Online as it requires a fair investment of time to learn to play. That tends to weed out the twitch crowd.

bogaty