For the longest time I avoided MMO (massively multiplayer online) games. The idea of such a game always sounded cool to me but seeing it in practice it looked quite different to what I would have wanted out of them. I wanted a game where you could play online with your friends, go through a real narrative experience and shape the world around you. That isn't actually what these games are about.
MMO's are more focused on creating individual characters though class, race and builds specifically designed to either battle enemies, areas or other players. While these games are surrounded by history and lore they always seemed secondary to the mechanics (and what seemed to me very daunting mechanics to learn). And that isn't a game I was interested to play but I'd have to give these a go some time, as a gamer that would be an inevitability.
A few months back a friend of mine convinced me to jump into SWtoR (Star Wars of the Old Republic). This is a world I was already familiar with and a fan. I consider the game "Knights of the Old Republic" (which SWtoR is essentially a sequel to) one of my favourite games of all time. Very quickly I fell into the story and my characters place in it. It was an RPG at heart with a strong story thread to connect it all together. Leveling up with new skills and getting new gear was a plus and seemed natural to the process. I was having fun playing an MMO for the first time. And then I started to play with my friend.
My friend had already played the game and was an experienced MMO player. When I began to play with him the game completely changed for me and it was all around a slight shift of focus. The focus of the game he played was about experience. He already knew the story and was aiming at playing in as a battle group together. This works for me in games which there is no other option (such as Gears of War, Natural Selection 2) but for myself I like to take my RPGs at a slower pace. But I was no longer playing me own story, I was sharing it and that, as in any relationship (yes I'm calling playing with a friend online a relationship) takes compromise.
While my friend was more then happy to keep the game at my pace I discovered that I wasn't able to compromise on his gaming experience. I couldn't be the one to slow him down and with limited time to play together (seeing as we both have lives to a certain extent) time was at a premier. So I played at his speed, rushed through dialogue, run to exactly where we had to go for the current quest, and focused on quests with better EXP/gear benefits. And I stopped having fun.
I no longer knew what my character was doing in this world, or for that matter, what the hell was happening in this world. Yes bad guys were trying to kill the good guys and vica versa, but why did little Timmy want to death choke little Jimmy? Yes the story in these games arn't the strongest but it's why I play games and even the silly ones can work. But take that away and I'm just pressing buttons get higher numbers to press more buttons. That to me isn't as much fun and so I stopped playing.
With my experience over and some light shed on my own idiosyncrasies playing with others overall I'm grateful I played an MMO. Finding that I was correct in my original assumption that these games are not for me I also discovered that their may be another way to play them. If I only play it on my own, go at my own pace and play as if it's a single player experience. Maybe then I could learn to love the MMO.
No comments:
Post a Comment