tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post348329875991312817..comments2024-03-28T10:18:05.213+00:00Comments on Inventory Full: No LabelsBhagpusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-57946511802768723772022-07-16T19:50:00.052+01:002022-07-16T19:50:00.052+01:00I don't buy the whole "strangers in mmos ...I don't buy the whole "strangers in mmos are bad" argument at all, simply because that has almost never been my experience. Mostly they're neutral, tending towards pleasant rather than the other way. If I ask questions in game I tend to get either no response or people at least trying to be helpful. If I join formal groups people are either silent and/or only interested in practicalities or else they're pleasant and willing to chat. In auto-grouped or active public content, most people don't say anything, a few people are (or try to be) helpful and a few more are (or try to be) funny. It's rare for me to see anyone actively being disruptive and generally I find other people a welcome addition to my gameplay rather than the other way around.<br /><br />This, of course, has a lot to do with a) the games i play and b) the content within them that I participate in. I don't do much that requires a competitive attitude and even less where people feel they need to get things done on a timer. Mostly it's activity that's quite forgiving of errors and incompetence. A lot of newer mmos are designed to give huge leeway to a wide range of skill levels within the same event so no-one really cares all that much if a few people barely know what they're doing.<br /><br />My feeling is that the bad rep "strangers" get in mmos comes from a smallish selection of high-visibility titles that have chosen to double down on the old, core "gamer" demographic. WoW would be the prime example but there are others. In those setings, strangers are indeed highly suspect because they may bring down the average. In most of the mmos I've played in the last decade, there hasn't really been an average to be brought down - everyone is pretty much playing alone with others around them, which does indeed make the old idea of games being a place to make friends somewhat redundant. <br /><br />Mmos remain a great place to make acquaintances, though.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-23489245142303834492022-07-16T07:35:51.038+01:002022-07-16T07:35:51.038+01:00One of the things with MMORPG today is that their ...One of the things with MMORPG today is that their role as a place to meet strangers and make friends has been ROFLstopmed by social networks. SN generate enough human interaction to steal all availabe time in the process of, not meeting strangers (which invariably turn to be a-holes), but to pamper to "friends" and"followers".<br /><br />Thus, MMORPGs (or the games that used to be MMORPGs) have become a place to play in a virtual environment populated by "others", but where nobody really wants those "others" to have an impact on your own leisure time. <br /><br />Games be like:"Here! A stranger! Go have fun together!"<br />Experience be like "Here! This stranger is messing up your game experience and putting your precious time to waste..."<br />And Social Networks be like : "Here! A Interesting Stranger! Follow It and give us precious data so we sell your soul to advertising!"<br /><br />Essentially, strangers have become a liability. And probably people with limited leisure time don't want liabilities in getting the reward they expect from picking one choice to entertain themselves. Active leisure like playing vidoe games has become goal-oriented. People play games for a reason, and that reason no longer is to meet someone new in a shared world. Post-Social Network Reality is our virtual world, and it's become a quagmire of publicity and propaganda.<br /><br />"Why people play video games" has today an answer wildly different from the times when Facebook wasn't a thing and video games came in boxes for a fixed price and learning about new games was a tad more difficult than opening a webpage.Angry Onionsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-90598411068582590682022-07-15T22:35:07.239+01:002022-07-15T22:35:07.239+01:00A question I often ask myself is "If I'd ...A question I often ask myself is "If I'd had the choice of games I have now back in 1999, would I have picked EverQuest?", which is obviously impossible to answer. At the time I had a choice of precisely three mmorpgs - UO, AC and EQ (plus a couple I didn't know about like Meridian 59 and Lineage). I picked the one that looked the most accessible and easy to get the hang of of the three. If there'd been slicker, fancier and particularly easier ones, I imagine I would have gone for those.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-5351045118850437312022-07-15T16:08:26.015+01:002022-07-15T16:08:26.015+01:00My post yesterday was one of those ones where I ha...My post yesterday was one of those ones where I had an idea but then wanted to go to bed before it was fully explored. <br /><br />But the essence, as you get at here, is that something like EverQuest was successful in 1999 because there was a very wide gap between it and other types of game. Now, with server rentals and more powerful computers and far more ubiquitous high speed internet, there are a lot more variations in the spread of titles where EQ once stood with few other titles.<br /><br />Valheim, which was my prime example, delivers a lot of the key things I want from the experience. Not everything, but enough things, that it is a competitive substitute for our group. So we went from playing Valheim to WoW Classic to New World to Lost Ark to Valheim again as our primary game.Wilhelm Arcturushttps://tagn.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com