On the Road as Our Journey Begins
Posted by marcusvarrus on November 26, 2007
Finding something worth saying seems to be the most important point of it all and I hope I am able to regularly accomplish that. Even if I end up being the only one that reads these. Lets get some of my background out of the way; I have had a fair amount of both console and pc gaming experience and know that my posts might range across the entire spectrum of computer gaming. Being in my mid thirties I have grown up with the evolution of computer and console gaming. As they have developed I have become more drawn to games that immerse you into a story. Single player roleplaying games were the first to embrace the concept but they are seemed to fall short because even the best AI couldn’t react as well a real person. Then along comes the first Multiplayer Online game that really attempted to do this. The venerable Ultima Online, to my shame I only dabbled in it. I also didnt get involved with the true mother to modern MMO design, Everquest. I played only for a few months and quit mostly because of the age of my pc which at the time was not what it needed to be. So many bloggers out there seem to be from the early days of MMOs or they at least imply that they were. I wanted to give a more middle of the road perspective and as I have gained experience in more MMOs I have started to wonder really how the shape of the future MMO market will look. Our median age of MMO players is rising, coupled with the fact that real life becomes more demanding as you get older until retirement I dont see how the “raid” content that is the current favorite end game model will survive. I know I can never dedicate the time required to get deeply involved in that type gameplay and while the fun is there for me and many others the effort involved is not worth the payoff. WoW had its sucess not from its raid content but from the engrossing and casual leveling. Guild Wars had no grid worth commenting of yet it held many players with their PvP. We might as well also get our terms out of the way here at the start. If a game has no single player and you log into a central server(s) to join up to play with or against a large group of other players it is a MMO. Guild Wars -MMO, Battlefield - Not MMO. Every time I have seen a game be questioned whether it is or not an MMO I have found it is in my opinion. Well nothing really of note here but as a first post not bad, hope to get it the swing of things as this becomes more comfortable for me.
Luck to you in your gaming,
Marcus
November 29, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I look forward to seeing more of your thoughts here because a different perspective is a great way to gain a better overall view on any subject.
While it is true that I probably fit into the roll of someone who was an early MMO’er (I didn’t play UO and I wasn’t there for the launch of EQ, but I picked it up a few months before the second expansion), my approach has always been a little different to these games. I’ve always loved raiding, but for me, these games have always been more about the journey and less about the destination. I have spent much more time learning the stories and lore than I have raiding and acquiring items.
November 29, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Thanks for the comments rao. I have to admit I really began this from getting more and more blogs I read and podcasts I listen to. It did seem to me that the “mature” gamer comments come from players with almost a decade of MMO experience. I think that is really a good thing but I also saw where my “noobness” to the genre in comparison could actually be a good thing.