The last LAN party I attended was... · 11:36pm Mar 19th, 2015
...like 10 years ago. I think.
The reason I'm digging out dead tamagotchis is because I was recently thinking about how I dislike MMORPGs and why. I have nothing against people that play them, mind, and I have played them myself, but even as the years went by and the technology improved and the graphics became nicer... they all have the same problem I hate: basically, nothing you do matters at all, other than to you, and possibly guild/group members.
You go through the hardest dungeon... nobody cares. Doesn't really affect the rest of the story (if there is any, other than a metaplot) and everything in it respawns in a day or two at the most for someone else to do it again, or for you to do it again if you want an extra chance at getting that 0.00001%-chance-to-get magical item that changes your cape color.
Yeah. No.
You see, to me a game has to provide more than the basic MMORPG formula of: hack and slash, rinse, repeat. Sure, there are little side quests, and such, but again, the virtual world your character lives in is not affected at all by you completing said quests. You can kill the biggest, baddest, most hardest badass dragon-monster-tentacle-thingy that would have otherwise "consumed the world" and nothing changes. You get an item, maybe a new quest.
It's mindless mining for virtual stuff. Some people really dedicate hours, upon hours, upon hours to doing this stuff, meticulously designing, changing and using pre-designed items to make their characters look "unique". I mean, I get it: you like doing that. But again, that's really not my thing.
Thinking about that, I realized that, to me, the best multiplayer game I could experience would be much like a classic D&D session works, only in an actual video-gaming situation. Playing it sort of like you did in LAN parties with a select group of buddies. There's a world, your character (and your friends' characters) live in it, you get together and go on quests... but! It's not the whole damn world and their trolling cousin also in there. It's a group thing, you do the quests, and they actually affect the bigger plot! If you kill a good guy, your actual reputation for the rest of the game might be affected, same if you kill "the scourge of the East": it should have some consequence and actually stay there.
Additions to the game could be purchased and added, taking a few ideas of how Mass Effect sorta-did-and-didn't do some things, although the intention was there: were you a dumb-ass and lost Wrex in Virmire? He stays dead. It has consequences: the Krogan won't be united in the end or at real peace.
I guess what I'm saying is, for a game to keep my interest, my actions have to matter beyond getting a token price.
The only time I play MMORPGs is with close friends and family. They can barely keep my interest otherwise. I'd much rather play a game that I can have an influence on.
My main complaint about MMOs is how much you have to do before you even get to do anything.
"Hey player! Here's this really fun story we've got your character doing right now! Ain't it cool?"
"Yeah! It's awesome! I loved it! When do I get the next part? After I complete this next quest?"
"No! You need to complete that quest twice. Well not really, just another quest that is almost exactly the same thing, but will take twice as long! Then you need to walk from this end of the continent, do something really easy, and bring it back to the guy on the other side of the continent! Oh, then you need to kill three hundred of this generic low-level creature to get your combat level high enough that you can beat the boss of the next story quest! If you grind enough to be able to afford new weapons, armor, spells, and potions!"
"Oh... I... I think I'll just go back to reading my Kindle..."
"Wait player! If you spend a monthly fee that costs more than your Netflix subscription, we'll halve the time it will take you to do all that!"
I just don't get MMOs, if I wanted endless, boring repetition with little to no reward, I'd spend my free time at work.
That's one of the things I quite like about Elite: Dangerous. They're still tweaking the details of how it plays out, but it's entirely possible for a concerted effort by a few players to alter the political balance of a system and change its allegiance from one faction to another. It's a bit of a grind to do it, but it can be done.
Does it make much practical difference when there are thousands of inhabited systems in the core worlds? Probably not, but it can be done, and it can be made permanent. In theory it would be possible to push and push and eventually cause Earth - the capital of the federation - to flip from Federation control to something else. In theory. Practically it's impossible, but stranger things have happened...
The thing that annoys me most about MMORPGs is that they seem to actively discourage the RPG bit. You can be a necromancer dark mage who worships the evil god or whatever, but if you try and actually act the way such a character would act (backstabbing, murder, raising random armies of the undead to invade a city and so on) you get punished. It's rather silly.
You might try Storium, it's an online game thingy that addresses most of those issues.
Or maybe you shouldn't, all in all I prefer you providing pony content.
Not that I'm selfish, perish the thought.
2892804 Guild Wars 2 fixes that.
Yeah, this is pretty much the reason why I like to play JRPGs over most other games, and tend to dislike most sandbox RPGs. In my experience the JRPGs are are usually far more focused on the storyline and about how the characters you play fit into the world, while the sandbox, while it gives you freedom, it tends to break my immersion from appreciating good storytelling when it's there. That's not to say that you can't have great games in any genre which break the mold, but for the most part, I generally prefer JRPGs with a focus on characters and story. (Games like Final Fantasy / Tales of series / The Legend of Dragoon / Odin Sphere).
Warframe is attempting a simpler version of this every so often they do events they give players a choice majority wins weather something as simple as working for the grineer or corpus or blowing the shit out a bunch of ships vs protecting them.
they also have hilarious side effects like the time Sargas Ruk and Alad V flamed each other in the warframe forums. essentially amounting to a slap fight. and apparently over twitter as well apperently stll on going.
I agree heartily. I also just generally dislike the sort of systems an MMORPG uses (they always seemed really spreadsheety to me), and the addictive nature of the whole thing. They're built to keep you playing and paying, after all.
2892829 However, well, the player base is very caustic. High level Moba Caustic
So many in there seem to want to steer it towards being an action eve online.. And the insults you hear half the time tossed at anything that isnt among the stop having fun guys sorta turned my against.
But, I full agree with everything you said, its amazingly flexible and fun, if not for that rather, irking factor.
Well, if you want to comb through pages of tutorials just to not faceplant, there's EVE. Where a single mistake could cost people hundreds of dollars of virtual ships. Like where one guy forgot to pay rent for a planetary system resulted in an all out war between two competing factions trying take control.
And another where a misjump of a pricey ship also caused all out war that lasted for a day or so, with hundreds of people pulled out of their beds to help their guild.
And another where a team was hired to assasinate a guild's leader, and also looted their banks after lying their way into the command structure over the course of a year.
MMORPG is pretty much a dead genre, no two ways about it. Practically everything is a themepark, the few games that aren't are either dead, ruined, too hard to get into, or just disappointments from square one. Anyway, RS used to be a pretty fun solo questing experience, if you didn't mind having to grind the skills required to do them. Lots of big, important areas were unlocked by quests, along with a bunch of nifty unique items, shortcuts, and other stuff. Almost everything had a quest involving it, and the quests themselves were well designed (albeit not well written). Too bad it's all gone downhill.
That's why I LOVE our Tabletop Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader RPG. The GM will let the group make whatever decision we want, and make the story go from there. If we wanted to kill our leader, we could totally try. If we want to join the bad guys, we can totally try that too. We didn't finish a battle in a certain time, so someone died. Stuff like that that make our choices and actions MATTER. THAT is what makes me look forward to each session. X3 (And the story and world he made is AWESOME.)
Darn... All I wanna do is play D&D, but no dice or board and stuff.
Maybe a great way to do it would be to have simple, easily re-purposed models for everything, and make it so each time a non-repeating quest (such as 'go fetch me some healing water so I can make healing potions today. I'll give you one for free as a reward' or whatever) is completed, it's done. No more people can complete it, because it's done. The dungeon is still there, and there's potentially untriggered traps lying around, and maybe even gold and loot that hasn't been picked up by less attentive groups. And, later, there's the possibility for that major boss to be resurrected or what-have-you, and be a problem again, with the same dungeon layout but more dangerous.
It'd be a high-maintenance game, but I think the players would love it. Basic monsters would respawn regularly unless their nests are completely wiped out, which is evil in most cases because they're just wild animals and you just committed genocide. Bandits show up semi-regularly, providing a relatively constant source of income for adventurers, and major events require as many heros as are available to join forces and beat back the great foe.
I'm shocked nobody has mentioned EVE Online.
Almost everything you can do in EVE affects and is affected by other players. Anyone who has played it can tell you that the content doesn't come from endless dungeon instances. It comes from other players. Most of the in-game universe is owned by player-created alliances, not NPCs. There have been epic 4000-man battles because of some player forgetting to pay rent on a space station. This is not an exaggeration. Things like this happen with zero prompting from the developers. If something major happens in EVE Online, it's because the players decide to make it happen. I'm terrible at explaining it but I can't recommend it highly enough.
Edit: Looks like somebody did mention it. Still, check it out.
The last LAN party I attended had some fifteen men playing League Of Legends on fifteen laptops, and barely aware of each others existence beyond the occasional trash-talking.
I have never attended another LAN party.
2893034
Aww! I was gonna mention Eve Online! =/ I has a sad now. But yeah, D. Eve is more about the community than it is about the 'pew pew' (PVP) and the shiny internet spaceships. Many people will say it's "WOW in space" but it's not. There are technically missions, yet, but outside of the tutorial and the "Blood-stained Stars" epic arc, they're generally 'go to x, do y, maybe a bit of flavour of Z here and there, but otherwise once it's done, I've got 20 more of the same for you'. (Almost) Everything is made and effected by players, down to the intricacies of supply/demand on a regional basis as you try to get the best deal on a product. There's a reason the devs call their game a The Sandbox: it's because there is absolute freedom (so long as certain lines aren't crossed)! Want to scam a kid out of millions of game money (ISK)? Your choice.
Er, but yeah. All of that is nothing in comparison to the social aspect of the game. Friends and misguided trust, and social interaction drive EVERYTHING. The noob you kill today may become the one who crushes your virtual empire tomorrow. The man you thought your friend may be a greedy con out for your corporation's ships and money, or even a spy sent by an enemy faction. The bloodthirsty pirate who killed you may actually give you valuable knowledge and, who knows, become a valuable ally or comrade someday. That is Eve Online in essence; not the ships, the guns, or the exploring, but seeing how people live and deal with others WHILE doing all of that! It's like life, except, you know, better because you're an insanely space-rich demi-god the plant-side people fear as an eldritch devil in a human's skin.
Edit: Lol! Sniped twice! xD A shame I can't afford Eve at the moment. =/ (It is supscription-based but when you make a lot of space-money you can use it to buy time with game money rather than precious real-monies. Oh and trials for 14 and 21 days are free! 21 is from a referral, but there are a few youtubers who have links to them in descriptions)
I am interested in playing some games with others in free to play games like league of legends but in any case right now I don't have a pc that's good enough.
To be honest I really don't mind how much grinding a game has or whatever. I just care to play with some friends, have a good time, not have a dick-measuring competition with others e.t.c.
If anyone has something like an online skype group for DnD pathfinder or whatever you can go right ahead and pm me I'm always willing and a teamplayer.
In any case I am worried because DnD is based a lot on the rulebook which every group tweaks to their needs and it's fucking annoying as hell.
To be fair, some people (such as myself) like MMORPGs not because of the gear drops but because of the large group raids. A challenging fight that requires a group of people to complete, and is best attempted with people you work well with (ie. friends).
The thrill of successfully beating each boss in the dungeon for the first time is worth it for me. The gear simply makes the next attempt slightly easier and helps for the next one.
Unfortunately, some of the newer MMORPGs to come out in the last few years aren't as big on raids, since only the more dedicated players are usually able to compete in them. This leaves nothing but small scale dungeons like you mentioned, which I'll agree are SO boring after a few runs.
As a game developer (in training), yes, this is what a proper RPG is meant to make you do: Role-Play.
It's also quite difficult to pull off, because you have to do THAT in code and the game has to be designed for the whole thing to react appropriately. You're not just creating a game - you're creating an interactive social environment (or the semblance of one), and that's not exactly easy to do.
And yes, most RPGs nowadays almost feel like freemium games in their core game loop: cyclic. Repetitive. Proper RPGs make you feel as though you're actually this character in the world with freedom to do as you please, albeit with realistic consequences. Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is known to do this very well, the killing of certain characters actually capable of preventing you from finishing the game.
But alas, finding something so well-designed in an MMORPG, a game format designed to attract as many players as possible and let them do the interacting, is unlikely. You'll get an attractive face-value, but it'll be followed up with the opportunity to spend time and money to put yourself above the rest of the players and little else. You'll have ample opportunity to socialize with other players.
Part of what makes DND so fun is the novelty of every game. The DM can make on-the-spot decisions and is also responsible for creating a world and story that are interesting and fun. A really good DM might even orchestrate play knowing the rules of the game (the environment) but make the story and missions up as they go along, making the group feel as though the environment is reacting to them (which it technically is) and the story catered to make them feel challenged and accomplished when they overcome the difficult but possible obstacles put in their way.
AIP§
That is the nature of MMOs. I recall spending a lot of my early teens playing Runescape, but I drifted away from it in time. As I got older, I think I took a more cynical view of the genre, and my opinion only soured even more when I also got into game design. As a player, I do like to feel like I have an effect on the world, because story does form a large part of the appeal for me with games, and I often design games with the narrative in mind first. But the true weakness of MMOs is that you can't change the world or affect the story in any meaningful way, as has been discussed. You pretty much have to be a non-entity. It's almost the antithesis of what I appreciate most in games today, which is why I don't have a particularly high opinion of them anymore. I'm generalising there, of course, but I've yet to see an MMO that doesn't at least partially do that.
These days, I play single-player games almost exclusively, with Dark Souls being the only real exception.
LAN parties rule!
My bros and LAN it up all the time!
Speaking about Mass Effect; I am looking forward to the coop elements that are rumoured to be in the latest up coming journey through the galaxy, meeting randoms, and showing others who's boss! With friends!!
It's funny cuz I recently picked up (yet again...
) a Chinese fremium MMORPG called Perfect World. Is your blogpost a sign from a maleficent uberbeing that I most definitely should do something better with my life?
Could be...
Do I care?
2892923 You could use roll20.net
2894610 Done that, I don't have a fixed schedule (as in my Aunt always arrives at some random time) to do a campaign. So, I might have to get the rulebook and find some people interested...
... There were Lan parties 20 years ago??
Hmm, in other considerition, this is why I deleted all the games from my (admidditly nice) gaming laptop. They were taking up a large portion of my time and I realized I wanted to do somthing with my life and spend meaningful time with freinds instead of staring at a computer screen for hours.