Has the way we play MMORPGs changed? Has the magic that allowed us to immerse ourselves in foreign worlds and master complex gameplay mechanics been lost? It seems that players approach MMORPGs today in a completely different way than was the case in the early days of the genre.
This is how online role-playing games were played in the past: MMORPGs like Everquest, Ultima Online or World of Warcraft offered a unique gaming experience at release. Everything was new and exciting. In the distance, one discovered a tower and wanted to know what was inside. A player encountered along the way asked if you needed help, and together you fought through the monster-infested levels of the tower.
This is how MMORPGs are played today: Today, things look a bit different. Before heading to the distant tower, one usually reads a wiki entry or watches a Youtube video first. If the loot there isn’t good enough, one better avoids the tower and looks for a more effective way to get loot. A player encountered will quickly be referred to as a “Ganker,” and he might even attack immediately.
Has the magic been lost? The innocence with which we used to approach an MMORPG? Are completely different things at play today than they were before?
Have the expectations changed?
What matters in an online game? In many MMORPGs or MMOs, it has apparently become secondary to follow the story attentively. This is often evident in the quest descriptions. While these provide a story, one can now simply click them away.
It’s often just about seeing what you need to do to get the loot and the EXP. Accordingly, easy-to-complete quests are popular. Kill x wild boars and bring y pelts to the quest giver.
Grinding can be relaxing and leads effectively to the goal – namely, to level up quickly and get good loot fast.
However, many of the things that once defined an MMORPG have fallen by the wayside. Such as exploring the game world to find out what the backstory of the enchanted forest is.
Why is there a cemetery in the middle of the forest? What is its story? Who was buried so far away from civilization and why? Many no longer think about this. You see: Cool, cemetery – Loot!
What is the reason for this? This phenomenon can be observed – according to Reddit – not only among younger players. Veterans also exhibit different gameplay behavior. It’s basically about effectiveness.
This means achieving as much as possible in the shortest gaming time. As a younger player, one may be used to quickly acquiring a lot of loot and leveling up fast from mobile games and loot shooters.
This principle of wanting to achieve quick success is then applied to other genres as well.
As a veteran, one generally struggles with time issues. Besides work and family, there simply isn’t much time left to play, as was the case before.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to every player. There are still those who explore every corner of a game world without Youtube videos and want to learn about the lore of every location.
There are still players who know the effects of every skill by heart, who are friendly to fellow players and to whom the best graphics are not important.
Is it an evolution or was everything really better before?
The customer sets the trend: Yet, one simply notices a trend that leads to quick success experiences and less complex online games. A trend where graphics are more important than a well-optimized game.
A trend where players prefer to quickly buy boosters for a small amount of money in the item shop instead of spending time earning everything themselves.
This trend does not come out of nowhere. Developers cater to what the customer wants. What is developed is what sells well.
Thus, both younger gamers and veterans reach for titles that increasingly hold your hand, promise quicker success experiences, don’t require days of investment, and focus on graphics.
Games where the community quickly creates guides and videos that others then use to progress faster.
Was everything really better before? And suddenly one hears a lament. Everything was better in the past. Why aren’t MMORPGs as complex as they were back then?
It’s a self-created problem. But there is help. MMOs like Project Gorgon, Legends of Aria or the upcoming Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen want to rely on old-school virtues.
These games will show whether it is possible to recapture the magic and innocence with which we used to play MMORPGs or if we simply need to take off our rose-colored nostalgia glasses because perhaps not everything was better before and it’s good to lose the innocence.
