Are MMO’s fun?
from hardcore casual:
Tourist jokes aside (not that the tourist problem is a joke, mind you), I’ve come to this brilliant conclusion: MMOs are just not that fun for most people.
I know, shocking.
With all the time we spend going back and forth on how X game is awesome and your MMO sucks, or how game Y would be so much better with feature Z, the majority of gamers are telling of us ALL our games suck. The whole genre, garbage. And in a way they are right. Why in gods name would I pay $15 a month to complete 100 kill x mob quests when I could do far more interesting tasks in a single player RPG? Why would I grind up an imbalanced character so I can PvP ‘sometimes’ when I can just get a FPS for cheap and have all-access to PvP of all flavors?
PDF copy of blog post here in case of link rot
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Why do you play games?
I believe play is an intrinsic, important part of being human. I really think Wikipedia has it right:
Play refers to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment.[1] Play may consist of amusing, pretend or imaginary interpersonal and intrapersonal interactions or interplay. The rights of play are evident throughout nature and are perceived in people and animals, particularly in the cognitive development and socialization of children. Play often entertains props, animals, or toys in the context of learning and recreation. Some play has clearly defined goals and when structured with rules is entitled a game, whereas some play exhibits no such goals nor rules and is considered to be “unstructured” in the literature (source).
I think young people (aged 10 to 18) play games because kids are wired to learn through play. I think play is natural, and I think absence of play is really bad for the human soul. I think video games are actually really fun patterns for people to solve.
I also think there is something about pretending to be someone else, in another place, in another role, is really fun.
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Hiding?
Hiding in a computer game? Computer games are a great place to escape. It’s what makes them fun. Quite similar to reading a good book, actually. Although you don’t hear about too many people addicted to books.
The thing is, computer games are hella-fun. It’s also easy to get lost in them. This site is about helping people to find some kind of balance with computer games. It’s an individual thing, that each gamer needs to figure out for themselves.
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