I used to make a lot of characters in MMORPGs. Starting over was something I did all the time and many of those characters kept hung around for a while, so if I played a game for a few months, let alone a few years, pretty soon I'd be able to choose from anything from half a dozen to maybe twenty or so characters every time I logged in.
Naturally, a small percentage of those characters got played a lot more than the rest but all of them got some attention and it helped to keep plenty of games feeling fresher for me than they would have, had I kept to the traditional Main-and-Alt formula that was the norm back then. Looking back, I probably stuck with a few games for a lot longer than I otherwise would because of having lots of different characters on the go.
Making new characters and playing them was so much a part of my gaming routine for many years, I didn't much think about it. I went into every new game unconsciously assuming I'd try out most of the classes and races at some point, knowing that even if I only played for a few weeks, I'd most likely start over several times.
That hasn't been the case for a while now. I don't remember exactly when it stopped. It happened too gradually.
Thinking about it, I imagine it had more to do with changes in game design than anything. Golden-age MMORPGs, by and large, were no respecters of players' time. They were built to occupy as much of it as possible because the commercial success of the games relied on getting and keeping people hooked so they'd carry on paying that subscription.
To that end, although also because that's just what the first games did and the rest copied them, it took forever to level, travel was slow, fights took forever and so did recovering from them...
You name it, it almost certainly took longer than it does now. Often a lot longer. Even the retro games that seek to replicate that supposedly magical experience all cut corners, compared to how it really was, back in the day. Today's players, even the uphill both ways in the snow boys, won't stand for the same degree of tedium, repetition and plain awkwardness we all used to accept twenty years ago, mainly because we had no other option.
And all of that is fine. Things needed to change. Most players back then wanted gameplay to be easier and faster, whatever they claim now. I know I did, even if I didn't always like it when my wished were granted.
One change I was never entirely comfortable with was the shift from character-based play to account-based. It always sat badly with me because I'd never seen my characters as extensions of myself and also I didn't always even see them as being friends with each other. Barely passing acquaintances, most of them, at best.
For example, I was very happy to see shared bank slots added to games I played, if only as a much more secure and convenient way of passing things from one character to another than dropping them on the ground or running two accounts to do three-stage trades. And when I think about it now, it's clear that even from the very start, when I was twinking my low-level characters by dropping weapons on the floor of the inn rooms in Freeport, I did see at least some of my characters as connected in some way, even if they could never actually meet, so sharing a bank vault wasn't that big a stretch..
For a dozen years, the direction of travel in MMORPG development was all one way - downhill. Everything got easier and more convenient. I didn't by any means approve of all the changes but as with most cultural drift, the final choice was always accept it or opt out. Since I kept playing the games, I have to acknowledge de facto acceptance of what happened to them.
The watershed moment for me came with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. That was the first MMORPG I'd played that expected you to stick to one character. There were plenty of classes and what-not but you could be all of them without having to revisit character creation. In fact, if you wanted to take the game seriously, you were going to have to do it that way.
I balked at that. Who wanted to play a game where you only needed one character? It wasn't the only reason Mrs Bhagpuss and I chose Guild Wars 2, when we had to make a choice between the two games in the summer of 2013, but it was a major factor.
And yet, another dozen years later, I find that, without in any way meaning to, I now have just one character in most of the games I play. I do, occasionally, roll more but I hardly ever play them. There just doesn't seem much point any more.
When all your characters have access to just about everything any one of them has - not just the ineradicable knowledge in your own head but the currencies, faction, gear, achievements and all the rest - motivation to do any of it again dries up fast.
There's a whole, long essay to be written about those changes, how and why they came about, the upsides and the downsides, the unexpected consequences and the long-term impacts. This post is not the place for it.
This is just me commenting that, having decided to swap my "Main" in EQII from the Berserker I've played almost exclusively for a decade to a Necromancer I've played maybe five percent of the time, I've been surprised to find myself rediscovering some of the joys of having more than one active character in an MMORPG.
It helps hugely that the MMORPG in question is twenty years old and riven still with design artifacts from a former time. EQII these days is mostly an account-based game but not entirely so. All the important parts are there at the Account level - Heirloom gear, shared storage, currencies, Veteran rewards and all the many, many boons, boosts, perks and freebies from the Claim system - but there's still a lot that each character has to do for themselves.
Some of it can be annoying. I wouldn't complain if every character on my account woke up one day being able to speak all the languages any of the others had learned, for example. Other things, though, make the game feel alive in a way it can't for a character who's already been through most of it.
It feels really nice to travel through older zones and have the zing of discovery constantly echoing in my ears again. The xp is meaningless but the sound effects work like dopamine hits just the same.
Collections are all new again and so are the numerous Mastery quests, the ones that begin when you examine a body part from some new creature you just killed. And to my Necro, just about every creature she meets is new.
Playing her now, it's very apparent that, although she did manage to level to one of the previous caps, she never really got out much. I think she took an earlier boost and then completed a couple of expansions but just about everywhere in Norrath she goes is entirely new to her and for me it makes the game feel new again, too.
Alright, not "new". Let's not get carried away. Let's rather say "refurbished".
Whatever we call it, it certainly makes me feel like playing more and it gives me the confidence I might be able to get her set up in time to take over the lead for the next expansion without getting there feeling too much like work. It might even be fun.
That, I'm remembering, was the main reason I used to make - and play - all those characters in the first place. It brings novelty into the experience without the need to swap games. Something developers might consider when throwing out babies.
Of course, I did swap games as well, so it's not a foolproof route to retention but I'm convinced I stayed with more than a few games for longer than I otherwise would because I was able to freshen them up for a while by rolling new characters and having it "mean something". Whether I'll ever get back to the old "more is better" mindset I somewhat doubt but if nothing else it's making good old Norrath feel interesting again for now.
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