I noticed that they had a poll with the above Gamespot article as well, that said "Do you like real life?" When I originally checked it out, the score was like this:
Yes - 25854 (61%)
No - 16446 (38%)
Now, think about that. That's 16,446 "Nos". That's over 16,000 possible readers that are PATHETIC FUCKING LOSERS. And hey, if they just voted "no" to say they didn't like the article (which was amazing), then they're PATHETIC LOSERS WITH NO SENSE OF HUMOR. Ha ha, just kidding, of course!
Yeah, right. Like hell I am.
This article did a good job of reminding me why I gave up on MMORPGs. The bulk of their gameplay is just too repetitive, time consuming and routine for my tastes. Let me explain myself a bit...
I remember, from my early days of playing Everquest (back when the first one came out) that, with HOURS of time invested learning skills, buying supplies and such, I could do exciting shit like...COOK FOOD and MAKE THINGS. Wow, Amazing. What's next, a game where I can spend weeks of my life saving money so I can BUY STUFF?! C'MON, WE CAN DO THIS IN REAL LIFE, REMEMBER? I've learned that I'd much rather play games where I can do "odd-ball" or "extreme" things I can't readily do (or shouldn't do at all) in real life, like repeatedly jump on top of some walking mushrooms while wearing a cape and shooting fireballs...roll a ball containing a big-eared, shirt-wearing monkey off a cliff into a gigantic pot of stew...or how about doing 20 tricks in a row while snowboarding at 80 MPH off the top of a buliding? ...Or, my personal favorite: shoot people in the face with a rocket launcher. That's more like it. (I especially like online shooters, where I can closely simulate killing my closest friends over and over again. It gets it out my system, so I don't have to REALLY throw those grenades at their chest or run them over with my Warthog.)
Seriously though, I do understand that sometimes MMORPGs can be really fun, and they don't ALL require as much of a time investment as EQ sure did. And, I know it's not all about the time-wasting, humdrum activities that you do in MMORPGS - there's some cool stuff to do in MMORPGs as well. I'm directing most of my disgust at the LIFELESS SLOBS rotting in their parents basements: the ones that you've heard about, and that I have evidently played with at one time.
My prime example: I remember meeting a group of seemingly normal guys about the same level as me. I had fun teaming up with them, and I looked forward to joining them next time. About a day later, when I logged on to play, they were both already four levels ahead of me! Don't you people SLEEP or SEE THE SUN AT ALL? I tell you, these guys must of been SHITTING IN THEIR PANTS and playing non-stop to make such an advancement so quickly. And, they had some great armor and weapons already, too! It tooks hours and hours of killing the same stupid things over and over again to save up for, say, the best sword in EQ. It was absurd. What would take an hour in a regular RPG, could of taken a week in a game like EQ.
So, for me, basically, EQ just had this whole other level of these geek/loser/time-waster types playing (and sometimes ruining the experience, with all of cheating and glitch-exploiting going on) to the point which I was simply too disgusted and embarrassed to be associated with them or the game. Remember, I'm not talking about the "normal" people who play MMORPGs like EQ more casually, or even the hardcore gamers, as long as they still do other cool stuff OTHER THAN PLAY GAMES (on or offline)...but, to the shut-ins who DON'T DO ANYTHING BUT PLAY MMORPGs, I believe Shatner put it best when he said:
C'MON, WE CAN DO THIS IN REAL LIFE, REMEMBER? I've learned that I'd much rather play games where I can do "odd-ball" or "extreme" things
i completely agree with this. thats why i dont play those games.. and the monthly costs are absurd. I play games for fun not for an alternate life... i have the whole internet for that but I just cant get into games that i spend days upon days playing to do stuff i could just do in real life.