Why Do You Play MMORPGs?

Since it's my post, I'll tell you why I play, and then you can join in after!

I started out in Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), back when AOL was the only internet I knew.  Don't snicker!  Internet connection costs of $484 a month were enough to make my parents ground me for weeks.  But then came Ultima Online (UO).

I once played on the Sonoma server of UO, back when it first launched. For a while I played Tovin, an anti-pk. Then Tovin became a role playing tailor. She mostly stayed in town and, one day, was scammed. I was outraged and reported the scam via in game reporting and a Counselor appeared. Dressed in a pretty blue robe he explained to me that though I had technically gotten the short end of the stick, the guy had used no real bug or exploit, but had just been smarter than I had been. I decided then and there that I loved that blue robe. So I went out to find counselors.

I hung out at the counselor’s hall for days, and found no "smurfs" for a long while. But the Counselor’s Hall became my home. I met players, helped them with answers and, more importantly, showed them where they could go to answer their own questions. I placed games and books and food. I GM'd healing and spirit speak so I could assist the ghosts that came in and couldn't figure out how to get a rez.

I placed chairs, made clothes for people and gave out gold, food, advice and reagents in amazing numbers. There were few counselors during that time and I became, of my own accord and with no blessing from the GM's or counselors, an asset to the new players of Sonoma.

One day a counselor appeared, and I felt vindicated. He explained to me that there were only 3 or 4 counselors at the time, and that they were truly outnumbered in their duties, and that my help was greatly appreciated, since there was no in game assistance for people who weren't sure how to proceed. I fell in love.

I stuck around and made the hall as homey as I could. I was often griefed. Players would steal the chairs, games, food, clothes and reagents that were left out. They'd claim to be newbies and when I'd spend my own gold to assist them, they'd don their own suit of GM'd armor and wander away with my hard earned cash. But I persevered.

One day, I wandered in and found the Hall had been renovated. Chairs were locked down. Tables heavy with food and drink that were useable but unstealable had been put down. Carpeting and decorations had been placed. My influence had been felt.

I had caused this. It was my work and dedication to the community of Sonoma that had such a great influence that the GM's decided to help me in my duty. The Counselor program expanded, bringing in more people.  As new counselors joined the server they'd stop in to wave to those of us who'd made manning the hall our game time. We were thanked for our influence and our dedication.

That's why I play. It was MINE! No one can ever take that from me. Counselor Halls, even to this day, are still decorated with my original plan for helping people. I had an impact on the community, on the game, and on my fellow players. That's a heady feeling, and one that keeps me involved in gaming even today.

I've long since left UO. But as I wander the MMO world looking for a home, thinking of my original love, it was worth it.

Every blank hour sitting there by myself and helping only one person who'd wander in and wonder how to skill up on something......Or rezzing that ghost who couldn't figure out how to come back to life.....That made my day.

Since then I've played more MMOs than I can even remember but, as the years pass, I find communities harder and harder to get into.  A trick of time, making those good old days seem better than they were, or a subtle shift in the fabric of online societies?

From the mainstream World of Warcraft, to the niche EVE Online and Star Wars Galaxies, each game has a flavor and appeal all its own.  An attraction of certain people, play styles, and cultures they harvest.

Either way, I find myself looking for that game where I can find my own niche, once again, in a world that needs me as an individual player and person, rather than treating me as just another warrior, ranger, rogue or shaman, on a quest to save the world.

Now, I help cover the industry, looking at the ups and downs of our community and the games I truly love. I hope that even one of my guides, interviews or previews has helped make one person’s gaming career a little better, easier, or nicer. That is why I play. This community we're a part of needs us.

Are you willing to step up and be a part of a community like this?  Do you play for other reasons?  For entertainment only, or maybe to just pass the time?

Why do you play?  Share your story!

 

Becky "Tovin" Simpson
Senior Editor, ZAM Network

Comments

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Thoughts of what was, and what is
# Nov 11 2008 at 8:34 PM Rating: Decent
It has been a very long journey for myself with regards to mmo games. ultima online, to eq, daoc, anarchy online, sw galaxies, to the games of today.
My passion for these games was surreal, it was pleasure, entertainment, friendships with people from different parts of the world that when you stop to think would not be possible to make those friends in any other way at the time.
My honest true love of mmo games was dark age of camelot, not to take anything away from the other ones i played. in fact i learned some good from each of them. Yes they were bugged at times, yes they were not graphicaly as the monster games there are today, but the one thing that i think all of us who were there can certainly agree on is that we contributed to the creation of a culture that funny as it seems barely exists anymore in mmo's.
The reason i say that that culture not really exists any longer is because of the generation change from what was and now what is. The reason i loved Dark age of camelot were many but one major was when they had created the co-op server of gaheris, it all came together, we as players came together, it didnt matter if you were guilded, un-guilded, new or old to the game, didnt matter what race you were, when we hosted raids they were come one come all, and it was as if you were with your online family of friends. When you were tired of the grind, or bored of going into darkenss falls, you would go to your home and that would bring you a certain pleasure, carrying that trophy you earned, and created in your backpack wanting to place it above your fire place. Watching and talking to your neighbors who are decorating their garden with pumpkins.
it was home, something you had worked for and earned in a virtual sense.

Ever since i left dark age of camelot, i have traveled far and wide, to eq2, Wow, Lord of the rings. I have and am having some fun, but, somehow something is missing. I feel as if from the time i left daoc... i feel like, a refugee, who fled from home, and made a new life in a new place, however, All the time when i am doing something in game, or watching how todays players play their character. or you read the spam of rants in general chat or trade channels. I stop and think to myself, Thoughts of what was and what is.
I wish i was back home again.
.............................
Real Life
# Nov 10 2008 at 5:27 PM Rating: Decent
Tamat,

What if the world worked the same way? I've played more games than you could ever imagine. But what if the world worked the same way? Would that change the philisophy of your life? What if I told you that if you didn't like something and started putting postit notes up outside your house on things that were broken or if you wrote letters informing the proper personnel about things that were broken, then things would change.

A warning though, you can't profit from it yourself. Moreover, you may only be able to effect people that are of a lower status than yourself. I'm not sure how to define status for you, but it's a complex problem that I still seek to resolve.

In games, status is an easy call because you have levels and guilds and items and equipment. But in the world, it's a far more complex world whereby you have wealth, career, family, bloodline, marriage, health, intelligence and other criteria such as good and evil and neutrality. Moreover you have law and chaos and neutrality. You also have the ability in real life to change professions and careers and acquire knowledge. You also have diseases, the possibility of death and reincarnation, religion, nationality, politics.

You also have lying, cheating, stealing, murder, war, famine, animals, food, water, entertainment and the list goes on and on and on.

There is the possibility that aliens, god and other things not even imagined may give you the power to alter the reality around yourself. However, if you don't believe, then it's not possible for it to happen. Just as you found yourself with the ability to alter the rezz room, you may find eventually that life gives you the power to alter reality around you to effect others for the good and bad.

Thoughts
# Nov 09 2008 at 12:55 AM Rating: Good
Well have started with dwango and text based muds I remember some of the early things in mmo that just would not sell today, they were broken buggy as all, and blast to play. I think mostly because those of us who started with games like eq ac the realms and UO to a lesser degree treated the game as if we were interacting with real people, now if you play a fps on the sofa with a buddy your socializing even if it is only one other person if you play with that same bud over the net you not dealing with real people. My bud was talking to me because he wanted to do something today I figured that I need to hang out with people as well as my buds who have moved to different states just because you have to go where the work is, but clearly held the fact that I had something planned if it had been a date with a girl he would have totally understood but because I made the mistake of saying I was raiding with my guild, suddenly I'm anti-social because I want to hang out with 12 people through the game despite we are talking about life and other stuff while we take breaks going through it. What I have seen as this is sad is that people depending on the game and the server took responsibility for their actions and acted as if they were still dealing with people and then slowly as time went on people seemed to realized that nothing was making them act like decent people and two groups emerged those who wanted to act out every petty twisted thing because they could and those who wanted something more a place where you could meet strangers and hang out without the bias and stereotypes hanging over your head. I'm still not sure both don't have valid places in games if kept separate only you want to hangout with your friends you already know forcing both mentalities together which causes problems and seems to be reason so many games try to please to many people and succeed in pleasing none. Then again I have played every major mmo and quite a few smaller ones and few that never made it. It is funny it is not PVE vs PVP it is usually twink vs those who want to earn every thing, min/maxers vs roleplayers, and griefers vs everyone else, and to a certain extent we all have a degree of both in us it is just the extreme ones that stand out as problems. How this all relates to the communities is that people get mocked for taking the game and their chars seriously so they distance themselves the fact they are dealing with real people behind all those avatars and thus their is no need for community with npcs since that is how the current generation is seeing all the other people online why else would the expression be go out and hang out with real people? or variations of that when all the players are people are they not? If everyone treated all the other players as "real people" you would see people treat each other better online since you only de-humanize something you want to attack and demean, which is what the very small group of griefers who seem to have a larger voice than their real number would account for. Yet if you look at the games where griefers have little chance like lotro and warhammer you find communities of people hanging out that view thier guilds as second families and know about the good and bad of what is going on in their lives. The one thing about guilds is that people move on games get boring after a while and the group in one game may not move to the new game they may have different views of what they want from the next game. So while I'll hang out with my buds from the blood ravens on lotro landroval any time I did not move with the few to same sever on war because I wanted a more active server where I joined a guild made some new friends but definitely not a second home yet maybe in time but it takes certain people to bring together strangers to something more than a herd of people, so maybe all the good GM who give a (chose your word here), about people simply are getting burned out or just getting old because part of who they are is because of how they were taught when they grew up. I know my views have more to do with the fact I traveled a lot growing up I had seen twenty five stated by the time I was ten, the teachers who cared when I was growing up and last the views of authors who wrote the books I read growing up shaped my views those are things most people growing up now don't have they have toons that have no morals they have computers that think for them. My parents growing up had an expression that never made any sense to me when I was little, TV rots your brain. I understand it is that most people when the TV is on go into auto pilot and don't think when it is on they just take the info they are given as fact instead of questioning what they are seeing. The funny thing is I love shows like ren and stumpy it is mindless and funny it is just when that is how you see the world that you stop acting like a human and may as well just be a chimp.

Oh and I'm not a GM, I did that once and I'm much better being able to help people when I want to and ignoring them the rest of the time :) Which is why I usually end up an officer in every guild, well that and the fact I usually understand the mechanics better than most people because I ask why but they look to someone else for that quality that makes them a good GM some one who cares about his/her people, and sees them as their responsibility or something, don't know I can recognize the type and when someone just doesn't have it. Though I have been in a few guilds that worked because of the people even when you had a GM who didn't have that something but they because something else once you got to many people who just wanted to belong or access to what ever thing the guild had access to because they acted together instead of against each other. Black Death was like that they started as a bunch of friends and some where along the way those of us who where there to have a good time faded away and I took a six month leave from wow because I was bored with it and when I came back it was like a totally different guild hell I remember people thinking I was someones alt and the mindset was very different. I'm not sure how much of that is because that was the only way to get certain items that blizzard made necessary or because the person setting the mood and tone of the guild was missing. The people I remembered setting it were no longer playing.
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