Dont you just love hardcore pointless/plotless MMO games?

[Markus. D]

I do :)

what are your thoughts?

[Captain Maxx Power]

I don't like MMOG's that consist of nothing but constant-level grinding with no immediate benefit. When I play a new game, I want to be taken elsewhere. I want to feel like a hero (or heroine) battling against evils, going on an epic quest across the land, smiting my enemies with my friends and generally having a blast. I certainly don't want to spend weeks in a single area killing individual monsters by "pulling" them with a bunch of whining pre-adolescence teens who complain because "ur not doin it rite". For this reason I stopped playing FFXI.

So to answer your question, no, they suck. I prefer Guild Wars or Online-Shooters to level-grinders anyday.

[Jowy]

Ragnarok Online was one of the most fun times I've ever had.

[Skyblade]

I don't like MMOG's that consist of nothing but constant-level grinding with no immediate benefit. When I play a new game, I want to be taken elsewhere. I want to feel like a hero (or heroine) battling against evils, going on an epic quest across the land, smiting my enemies with my friends and generally having a blast. I certainly don't want to spend weeks in a single area killing individual monsters by "pulling" them with a bunch of whining pre-adolescence teens who complain because "ur not doin it rite". For this reason I stopped playing FFXI.

So to answer your question, no, they suck. I prefer Guild Wars or Online-Shooters to level-grinders anyday.

Ditto. Well put, Maxx.

[TheAbominatrix]

Yeah, I definitly agree with Maxx.

That being said, I also enjoyed playing Ragnarok Online for a time. But then it drove me insane and that was the end of that.

[Captain Maxx Power]

Yeah, I definitly agree with Maxx.

That being said, I also enjoyed playing Ragnarok Online for a time. But then it drove me insane and that was the end of that.

There's a definite "faux-pas-fun-factor" associated with MMOGs when you initially play them, probably from the novelty of playing something new. For most though, it thankfully runs out quickly.

[crono_logical]

I tried RO, and gave up with it on the same day, since it gets boring so quickly with lack of story/character development/decent soundtrack etc. :p Yes, even FFXI's soundtrack sucks compared to previous FF soundtracks, or even other normal RPGs :p

[Lord Chainsaw]

But bad soundtracks in online RPGs isn't true. I direct you to Phantasy Star Online, a game that has some of the best music ever put into an RPG, with such masterpieces including:

From Seeing of the Rough Wave
Cry for IDOLA the Holy (this one is really, really good)
Growl from the Digital Haze
The Frenzied Winds
The Abysmal Ball
IDOLA have the Immortal Feather
IDOLA have the Divine Blade
IDOLA the Fanatic Viper

And while FFXI's music isn't as good as PSO, it's still not bad, either. The Selbina track, along with the Ronfaure wilderness, are both very worthy of being Final Fantasy tracks.

[JaytodaP]

Lets run around aimlessly wacking monsters to death with geeky nerds we've never seen before, paying monthly bills, sitting on a couch in front of your computer and waste your life away. Sound Like fun?

[bipper]

Lets run around aimlessly wacking monsters to death with geeky nerds we've never seen before, paying monthly bills, sitting on a couch in front of your computer and waste your life away. Sound Like fun?

Yes, more fun than "PIMPIN ALL OVA THE WORLD"! :D

MMo's can be great, and contrary to what Maxx said, I do like the constant level grinding games to a point. A player can always use thier imagination to always make the game more interesting. That is my favorite feature of online gaming. The fact that you make a character, and you write the story, etc.

Bipper

[Shoeberto]

But bad soundtracks in online RPGs isn't true. I direct you to Phantasy Star Online, a game that has some of the best music ever put into an RPG, with such masterpieces including:
But then again, PSO has an actual story and reason for playing ;)

My friends are big MMO guys, and I just never got it. I can play stuff like D2, GW, or PSO for a good while and really get into it, but traditional MMOs like EQ just bore me.

[Mneme]

Yes, more fun than "PIMPIN ALL OVA THE WORLD"! :D

MMo's can be great, and contrary to what Maxx said, I do like the constant level grinding games to a point. A player can always use thier imagination to always make the game more interesting. That is my favorite feature of online gaming. The fact that you make a character, and you write the story, etc.

Bipper

I've almost bought that once or twice, I actually managed SW: Galaxies for about 2 months before I realized that getting to write the story meant - being left the bloody hell alone to explain your sad little wanderings in any way you could. Not making a story, not participating in other players stories and them in yours... but just coming up with an excuse for wandering around killing the local equivalent of rabid badgers.. and feeling great when I could move on to something as dabgerous as the local dogs. And at anytime the powers that may be in your given world will swoop down and tell you "no, this is not the story... the official story for this expansion means now"... and having to completely re-write it in my head. Not that anyone would care, since everyone's wandering around doing exactly the same thing. Making your own story should be cool... it really should. I've just yet to see it actually implemented. Your story never affects the world it's in... so it's just a justification.

[Samuraid]

No. I prefer something with a definite and intricate storyline, something that can actually be finished, in which the story and the characters therein actually mean something. :)

[Mookies]

The satisfaction of getting lvl 99999.94587349 wears off, quite quickly.

[Skyblade]

I've almost bought that once or twice, I actually managed SW: Galaxies for about 2 months before I realized that getting to write the story meant - being left the bloody hell alone to explain your sad little wanderings in any way you could. Not making a story, not participating in other players stories and them in yours... but just coming up with an excuse for wandering around killing the local equivalent of rabid badgers.. and feeling great when I could move on to something as dabgerous as the local dogs. And at anytime the powers that may be in your given world will swoop down and tell you "no, this is not the story... the official story for this expansion means now"... and having to completely re-write it in my head. Not that anyone would care, since everyone's wandering around doing exactly the same thing. Making your own story should be cool... it really should. I've just yet to see it actually implemented. Your story never affects the world it's in... so it's just a justification.

Good point. You really can't effectively implement your own storyline. You can live it yourself, but none of the scenarios you set up can be played out (unless your storyline involves random slaying of pathetic monsters), and unless you are really frelling popular in the game, there's no way you'll be able to get others to play it out with you. And let's face it, people are jerks, so even if you did get a large group together to play out some awesome plot sequences, there'd be jack@$$es who came in to spoil the fun.

[bipper]

I guess your views are all accurate. Your experiences may simply suffer from a lack of community, or a lack of imagination, etc. I am not going to say that everyone should be happy killing rabbid goats all day.

I think that the delusion of being the best, and being the most famous on games are what hinders them. People are used to playing solo games coontrolling the major motivators in a story.

I must admit that the mmo worlds are all very static, and indeed hard to 'get into' but as far as level grinding being an annoyance, I find it to be only part of the joy of a game. The story that one plays, does not have to be the soilder whom destroys the greatest evil in the game and ladida. I think MMO's are in fact geared VERY differently. Accept your role as a team member, or a smaller soilder that can have an effect, but not the solo effect. IT is frustraiting at times, when things don't go your way, but I love the dynamic feeling of *some* of those games I have played.

Again, I think MUDS were the best, as there was often a level grind, but leveling was not at all the main point of the game. The fun Roleplay and unique events made em tons of fun ;) I am not a fan of the games where level grinding is the only aspect either, but if I play them, I always find a way to entertain myself. It is possible ;)

Bipper

[Skyblade]

I guess your views are all accurate. Your experiences may simply suffer from a lack of community, or a lack of imagination, etc. I am not going to say that everyone should be happy killing rabbid goats all day.

I think that the delusion of being the best, and being the most famous on games are what hinders them. People are used to playing solo games coontrolling the major motivators in a story.

I must admit that the mmo worlds are all very static, and indeed hard to 'get into' but as far as level grinding being an annoyance, I find it to be only part of the joy of a game. The story that one plays, does not have to be the soilder whom destroys the greatest evil in the game and ladida. I think MMO's are in fact geared VERY differently. Accept your role as a team member, or a smaller soilder that can have an effect, but not the solo effect. IT is frustraiting at times, when things don't go your way, but I love the dynamic feeling of *some* of those games I have played.

Again, I think MUDS were the best, as there was often a level grind, but leveling was not at all the main point of the game. The fun Roleplay and unique events made em tons of fun ;) I am not a fan of the games where level grinding is the only aspect either, but if I play them, I always find a way to entertain myself. It is possible ;)

Bipper

I wouldn't mind being a small person having a small effect. But I do want to have an effect, which isn't possible if there is no opponent. The main point of having a villain is that you have someone to strike against, you can see changes happening, even if they aren't from you. If a world is just filled with tons of monsters, what's the point? You fight a monster and another shows up. Boring. There is nothing to accomplish. No villains to fight, nothing to do. Except randomly kill monsters and upset the ecological system of the world (which gets old fast).

[Mneme]

I think MMO's are in fact geared VERY differently. Accept your role as a team member, or a smaller soilder that can have an effect, but not the solo effect.

A worthy argument. However part and parcel of the reason I just don't enjoy. I have reality in which to be nobody. I don't need to pay 40 quid followed by another 18 or so every month for the privilage.

Also just in truth that even that argument still doesn't feel true to me. YOu don't as little person have even a little effect. Yeah... Mathilda Devon may think you're kinda cool and a monster slayer from hell... But neither you, nor her, nor any of your friends move the game into it's next stage, not even all the players as a whole. Nope, it;s just some Dev who suddenly go's "hey... i'm kinda bored now... should we.. you know? Get people interested vaguely again and pretend we have story?" and suddenly on it moves.

I'm glad someone's enjoying them... and as the numbers would have it you're clearly not alone... But there's not nearly enough interactiveness there for me yet.

[Lord Chainsaw]

But then again, PSO has an actual story and reason for playing ;)

PSO has one of the weakest and most basic plots of the major online RPGs available right now.

[Spatvark]

I absolutely loathe Ragnarok Online. Which is why, when I find a decent server with friends to play it with, it will promptly consume my life once more.

And no, the only MMORPG I've ever paid for was FFXI, and I hate than even more than I do RO; I honestly just don't see the point in paying REPEATEDLY to play a game that's not even that fun. MMORPG's, as a whole, suck. They're not good games. Or at least, they're not good single player games; they only really come to life when playing with others, and why would I want to pay for a game that's not particularly good most of the time? Especially considering the fact that I've only bought about, thirty games ever in my life, and that's pretty low considering I've been a gamer for like, well over a decade XD

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

The major problem with MMORPGs is that people who really shouldn't be playing MMORPGs are playing them.

The basic idea behind an MMORPG is that it allows players to ROLE PLAY. Take on the persona of, for example, a fantasy character and direct them through a world in which they can interact in that method. You know, the kind of thing people have been doing with D&D for decades.

Unfortunately, MMORPGs generally lack the people who really do want to roleplay, as well as an intuitive system that allows for the flexibility to do more than just go out and slaughter monsters. That is really their ultimate failing.

[Skyblade]

The major problem with MMORPGs is that people who really shouldn't be playing MMORPGs are playing them.

The basic idea behind an MMORPG is that it allows players to ROLE PLAY. Take on the persona of, for example, a fantasy character and direct them through a world in which they can interact in that method. You know, the kind of thing people have been doing with D&D for decades.

Unfortunately, MMORPGs generally lack the people who really do want to roleplay, as well as an intuitive system that allows for the flexibility to do more than just go out and slaughter monsters. That is really their ultimate failing.

I take on a persona in fantasy games all the time. Taking on the persona, however, is no fun if you don't have anything to do in that persona. What good is there in playing a character if that character never does anything interesting?

[Craig]

MMORPGs - MSN, with weapons.