I think I am done with Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games. Seriously.
After nearly two decades playing MMORPGs from “Anarchy Online” to “New World”, and dozens upon dozens of other titles along the way, I believe I have finally hit my breaking point with this particular style of game. Now I know some of you might think it was the never-ending problems with “New World” that has pushed me over the edge, to the point where I am uninstalling every single MMORPG off of my computer, but no, that’s just not the case.
It was a little game called “Skyrim”, with some help from “Grim Dawn”.
You see, I have played MMORPGs primarily as a casual player, mostly solo, and mostly just roleplaying, questing, crafting, and exploring for my entertainment. Some games support that playstyle better than others, but I had enough fun overall to continue with MMORPGs for nearly 20 years. Unfortunately, the older I have gotten, the less tolerant I have become of the general MMORPG playerbase as a whole, as well as MMORPGs that simply treat casuals (especially mostly-solo players) like trash.
“World of Warcraft”, I am looking right at you on that one.
Anyway, then I look at games like “Skyrim”. Open World adventure games, that give their players plenty of opportunity to enjoy the game however they like. Want to spend the day exploring and grinding mobs? Cool. Want to just hang out at the forge and do some crafting? Cool. Feel like grinding out quests and leveling up? Cool. Just feel like messing around and talking to Non-Player Characters in town? Cool.
The only thing you miss out on in a game like “Skyrim” is interacting with other players, and to be frankly honest, I just don’t care about that anymore. Like I said before, the older I get, the less I want to put up with other players in multiplayer games like MMORPGs, because by and large, they suck all the fun out of the game.
There are exceptions to this, of course. “Secret World Legends” has an excellent community, that I still enjoy hanging out with. But that game hasn’t had a story content update in years, and is effectively in Maintenance Mode now. Not a lot of reasons to keep playing a game that was abandoned by its developer years ago, especially when I can play games like “Grim Dawn” that keeps getting regular updates and patches.
Speaking of “Grim Dawn”, this game is one of my biggest influences in turning my back on MMORPGs. While it is an isometric looter-shooter like the “Diablo” series, there is a lot of depth, challenge, and interesting story to explore here. Plus randomized dungeons that keep repeated play interesting over time. You can only level new alts in “Lord of the Rings Online” so many times, before madness takes you!… which is the same for most MMORPGs, actually.
Meanwhile, Looters like “Grim Dawn” and “Hades”, not to mention adventure games like “No Man’s Sky”, provide an ever-changing world (or worlds with NMS), that presents amazing replayability opportunities. With MMORPGs… Not so much! Sure, there are aspects of certain MMORPGs, such as the quest system in “Anarchy Online”, that can give a similar experience (in a limited sense), but that simply isn’t good enough.
Anyway, I have given this a lot of thought over the last month, and to be honest, I feel pretty good about my decision. I really do prefer playing mostly single-player games on my Nintendo Switch (“Animal Crossing: New Horizons”, “Hades”, “The Witcher III”, etc) or similar PC games on my Steam catalogue (“Skyrim”, “No Man’s Sky”, and so on), to any of the MMORPGs (including “Secret World Legends”, which is close enough) I have on my computer.
Now then, could this change in the future? It’s possible, but only for the right game. I do have a lot of interest in “Palia”, as it is reportedly being built specifically for my style of gameplay, just in a multiplayer format. If the community is awesome, like in SWL or LOTRO, then I can see myself returning to MMORPGs if only to play “Palia”.
Until then, though, I believe I am done playing MMORPGs. That won’t stop me from commenting upon them, or reporting news related to that type of game, though. For example, Activision/Blizzard and Amazon Game Studios haven’t heard the last of me.
