Tuesday, July 05, 2005

MMOverwhelming

As I was battling in the streets of the famed Paragon City, home to the heroes of "City of Heroes", I started to think about all the MMOs out there right now, and holy crap there are alot of them.
Here is a list of the currently active MMOs on store shelves or coming soon: City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, Horizons, Asheron's Call 2, Everquest 2, Star Wars Galaxies, Anarchy Online, The Matrix Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Final Fantasy Online, Planetside, Tabula Rasa, Shadowbane, Eve Online, The Saga of Ryzom, Auto Assault, Etc. This of course does not include the countless MMOs found online. For a complete list go to www.mmorpg.com.
The very nature of these games makes it impossible for any single person to possibly play each with in their own lifetime so we are stuck with picking only 1 or a few. My path has lead me to try Guild Wars, Planetside, Asheron's Call2, Horizons, Eve Online, WoW, and City of Heroes. Guild Wars, Eve Online, Horizons, and Asheron's Call 2 were both only trials lasting about 2 weeks. The rest I have actually purchased and played for an extended amount of time.
So lets see how someone should look at the MMO gameplay world.
1: Ask yourself how much free time do I have?
If the answer is little you should probably ignore MMOs altogether and just stick to the fun, quick, and readily accessible offline experience of other games like FPS or Action-Adventure games.
2: Do I like playing with others?
If no, then why are you even reading this? MMOs are for the cooperative experience, a sort of Instant Messenger with action and killing.
3: Do I have the patience for downloading?
if no, then stop reading. To be a smart buyer with MMOs always look for a free trial for the MMo you are interested in. Free Trials will usually require you to download the entire game which can be more than 1 G. Avoid buying the physical game instore because $49.95 is much more then $0 for the 14-day trial. If you can not find a trial on the games web site search the net you can usually find one.
4: Do you like to do the same thing over and over again with changing environments, enemies, and teammates?
If yes, then MMOs were built for you. MMOs have many quests but they will fit in a range of 3 to 4 types, usually: Kill, Rescue, Collection, and Travel. The one thing that can be counted on to change is whom you are killing or rescuing, what you have to collect, and where you have to go. If you can't say "I could spend hours just wandering around in that world helping people and doing random stuff" then don't get the MMO. The MMOs game world is one that you will spend hours upon hours in and you have to be interested in the world or things will get boring fast.
5: Do I understand what I am doing within the first day?
If no, drop the game. If you don't even understand more than movement and attacking within the first hour or two drop it. If the game isn't simple enough to come to you within at lest a few hours of game play it's ballacks. It's the "If you don't get it you won't get it" Philosophy.

Other then these few questions its basicallyt just feel. You have to ultimately decide whether you like it or not. Personally, I could sit on my ass for hours just flying around in City of Heroes.
Until Next.