Sunday, November 2, 2008
MMO Woe's
From the very beginning I was never a fan of MMORPGs. I always had a hard time getting my mind around buying something and then paying to play with it. I enjoyed playing Major Mud (an old text based BBS game) but that was about it. Then one day after months of suggestions a friend let me play Everquest on his account. It was rough honestly, this was early Everquest without updated graphics and in game tutorials that are now standard in MMOs. It didn't matter, I was intrigued. The very next day I went out and bought a copy. I have played the game pretty regularly ever since that day some 10 years ago. My wife also plays with me.
Thankfully my interest seemed to stop at Everquest. By this time Ultima Online was on its way out and Asherons Call seems like an Amway scam to me. As the years past lots of new MMOs sprung up. Anarchy Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Shadowbane, the list goes on and on. They would launch with lots of buzz and hype and then fade into nothingness within months. I didn't even bother to try most of them.
I have friends that have played several different MMOs. Sometimes all at once. I always found myself thinking I could never do that. Most games are around $50.00 and the average upkeep cost is $15.00. After more than a few subscriptions that adds up, as such I said to myself "One at a time".
Within the past year however I find myself in violation of this creed. It started small. After 8 or 9 years of Everquest I decided to buy a second account. Then several members of my old guild contacted to me. They no longer played Everquest, they had moved on to Everquest 2. After some prodding I found myself playing that too. Sony has a deal that allows you to play all of their games for one price so I was somewhat able to justify making the leap. I have been avoiding the new games, Conan for instance looked promising but I was glad I stayed away. Then came Warhammer Online. I decided I would try something new and perhaps I was caught up in that "new game smell". I like the game quite a bit and I play it pretty regularly now. Then World of Warcraft launched a special promotion and I found myself signed up for it as well. I've never been a fan of WoW really but it gave me a chance to play with some of my other friends.
It was only a week or so ago when I got an email about my City of Heros account ( we had only a brief tryst ) that it dawned on me that I was exactly where I said I couldn't picture myself being. I have 2 Everquest subscriptions, 1 Everquest 2 subscription, 1 Warhammer and 1 Wow subscription. That's 5 recurring MMO subscriptions at $15.99 a month. Almost $80.00 a month, when you say it like that it really starts to sink in.
Realization is half the battle, now is the time for action. I think some of the impact can be mitigated simply only renewing the subscription when I am really actively playing the game. The next step is figure out which ones I'm going to drop. I don't want to drop Everquest yet. I am rather embarrassed to say that in 10 or so years of playing I've never reach max level with any character. My wife and I made similar vows that we would play at least until we reach max level with a character. Somehow to do less seems like a waste of all that time. Until then I think I may go ahead and let my Everquest 2 and WoW accounts lapse. 2 MMOs doesn't seem that bad to me at this point. Perhaps once we reach our goal in EQ I will reevaluate the situation and go from there.
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2 comments:
I think our pocketbook will be thankful for the reduction. I've never been a big fan of playing multiple games at the same time. I like to take my time and focus on one or maybe sometimes 2 at a time. With a game like EQ, I don't know how to make time for another MMO.
My biggest beef with changing is always the time and effort it takes to learn the new interface. Usually all game play is roughly the same. I play to relax, and having to constantly question how to do what I want is definitely not relaxing.
I am interested in picking EQ up again, especially if we can get back in contact with some of our EQ friends. Even if we get to max level, I don't know that I would necessarily see that as the end. There still is so much to do. I think I'd want to look into tradeskills or some other aspect of the game. Level cap would require an upgrade though. I wish they weren't so expensive.
I'm going to take a flying leap here and guess that I am perhaps the biggest offender of the "too many cookpots" syndrome you describe here. :)
My big problem has always been that MMOs--a *lot* of them--have all got maybe a half dozen things I really like and a hundreds of things I don't. To fulfill my needs I find myself mixing and matching, like a man who buys the variety pack of cereal and chips from Aldis.
City of Heroes lets me fly around a city and beat up bad guys! How awesome is that? On the other hand, Pirates of the Burning Sea gives me another thing I've always wanted, my own ship to explore the world in. On the third hand, World of Warcraft is simple and great for those times I don't want to have to think too much. On the fourth hand (I'm turning into Shiva here), Star Wars Galaxies lets me fly in space and be a Jedi.
That list goes on for miles and frankly makes me feel like a pathetic person, so I won't continue with it. :P Suffice to say my hopping around does indeed have a reason. I'm like you lately, though. I've been trying to get it strained down to one at a time. I've succeeded for the most part; Jess has no time to play anything anymore so I can settle down and focus my energies.
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