Now, here's my perspective - I got WoW for my girlfriend (who's NOT a huge gamer, but wanted to try it) for Christmas, and she made an account. I had never played it before. She created a character for her, and we created one together, just so I could kind of get a taste of the game, too. In short, after the introductory month, neither one of us felt it would be worth it to renew a subscription, and we dropped it by the wayside. Honestly, I just didn't think it was that fun. Time-consuming and moderately entertaining, and definately expansive, but there didn't seem to be much reason for me to stay. My preference is for games that draw me in and make me feel invested in the outcomes of situations - like in a lot of FPS games (Half-Life, CoD:4, etc). So, my question is this - what is it that makes you go back, again and again, and perpetuate this stereotype of WoW players being this horde (horde? gaggle? flock?) of zombies that need computer time?

And please understand - this isn't criticism! I honestly just want to know.

I like buying all the silver and copper bars on the server then selling it at higher prices..... Also the grind.... it's addicting.

Since when does WoW have a grind? You've obviously never played a korean inspired MMO.

But see, that's just it. If you want something addictive that can eat up copious amounts of time, you join the local Pokemon tourney or start smoking crack... Although, I have heard that playing WoW can have some of the same effects crack can... Just not the positive ones...

davisj3608:
But see, that's just it. If you want something addictive that can eat up copious amounts of time, you join the local Pokemon tourney or start smoking crack... Although, I have heard that playing WoW can have some of the same effects crack can... Just not the positive ones...

So your original comment of this not being a criticism is BS. Obviously you don't enjoy MMOs you prefer first person shooters... which is fine tho I completely don't understand how you can feel more investment into the outcome of FPS matches than investment into an MMORPG character. Unless that is your point is to come on to these forums to stir nerdrage. Personally I love WoW and COD4 they are different experiences. I feel much less invested in my COD4 account than my WoW account tho.

Of course I think you are probably just a prick who gets off on bashing WoW, and to think you started off so subtley that you drew me in.

yep, I belive you are correct Bloody. Wether its interntional or not this deffinatly wreacks of a flame troll proving ground. However i will take the bait and answer the question.

I play wow because I enjoy the entire concept of MMO's in general. Seeing as this is the most populated mmo, and the one with the biggest budget, its an obvious choice for mmo fans. Now if you preffer shooter games, for the pick up and play aspect, which last a matter of a few hours (it usualy says how long on the box) then thats fine, and you probably woulnt enjoy mmo's, and in turn you probably woulnt understand why someone does.Personaly I play every style of game, so i cant bash any of them, without forming some sort of double standard.

I will not try to explain why i like mmo style games in general, because people who dont enjoy them will probably not grasp the perspective regardless of how many logical points I make or how clearly I convey them, its all opinion and preffrence in the end, as it is with most hobbies.

mrcheese:
Since when does WoW have a grind? You've obviously never played a korean inspired MMO.

Well compared to most games it does,and playing for hours doing fetch quest or running though an instance Xnumber of times to reach the next level well I'd say is a grind.

Sorry - I honestly swear, I try to sound nice, but yes, I really didn't find WoW all that entertaining. It was amusing, and I did get some satisfaction from leveling up our character and getting newer, more powerful things to hit people with, but the storytelling was, at least to me, a bit lacking. Maybe it's just that I've been brainwashed by FPS games that immerse you in the story, but the plot seemed a little arbitrary and detached. The thing that really draws me into a game is the plot and story, and yes I realize there are novels and trading cards and an entire universe for Warcraft, but from the game alone I really didn't get that.

So you just don't really like MMOs, fair enough.

WoW most definitely does have a grind, all MMOs do, it's just hidden behind things like quests, instances/raids and their shitty PvP/arenas.

MMOS do have grinds... SO DOES EVERY GAME. Just in most games you come to a clear and concise ending. Hell FPS and sports games are nothing but a grind, doing the same actions over and over and over again. So why is it then that MMOs are so bashed for the grinding aspect of them? Also there is a big difference when the grind is hidden behind instances, quests and PvP than when there is only mob grinding like the aforementioned asian modeled game.

I like MMOs because it is my character... stories don't engross me when I am playing a character I didn't design. Mainly because after a few hours of most games I am just as pleased when the annoying character I am forced to play dies as when they succeed.

There's a big difference between a grind that ends on it's own and one that continues for as long as your willing to keep it going. Also, unlike MMOs, if you stop playing an FPS or sports game for an extended period of time, typically you're not left in the dust and extremely underpowered compared to those who kept playing.

Except call of duty 4.

Did you honestly expect people to give you cuddles and support, coming onto an MMO site, and essentially trolling? Some people like MMOs, others don't, there may or may not be logic behind it, some games just hold peoples' interests better than others.

I for one, don't like FPS, but I wouldn't dream of going onto a site dedicated to FPS games and liken the game and its players to crack addicts. Insulting, no? Not to mention, just asking for an ass-kicking.

I like WoW, no idea why, it's just managed to hold my interest, but can't really see any in-depth reason for it.

Are you trying to say that FPS games, like Serious Sam, have a more in-depth story and plot than WoW? Okay...maybe that isn't a fair comparison, but every genre has issues with story telling.

With WoW, you have to speak to every person in every city to gather bits of info about the lore and the world. Lineage 2 had a definite storyline, though you only gathered information about the past and present, never the future of where the various plots/races were going to converge.

Most MMOs create a rich environment with plots and histories to match. Then you have games like Tabula Rasa, which take a dump on a CD and call it gold.

The same holds true for FPS games: Serious Sam? Hilarious story....but not terribly rich. Rainbow 6? Fairly rich world crafted by Tom Clancy - lots of espionage and treachery. And then you have games that feature virtually no story at all....Unreal Tournament and Quake being some prime examples. We could also point to everyone's favorite FPS whipping boy: CounterStrike.

I've rambled on long enough that I've forgot where this post was going. Something about how dumb it is to compare different genres and insult people about why they like them.

You're stupid for liking chocolate cake. Clearly cheese danishes are better. I don't see why you keep going back for that stupid chocolate mess that makes you fat.

In CoD4 after you hit 55 you're done. You dont have to spend 3 months in a raid to be on par with anyone else. And if you stop playing theres no part of the game that puts you at a disadvantage for doing so.

Unless you start the game months after everyone else and are almost unable to get a kill because everyone you meet has magic super powers to blow up when they die, or die and still shoot you in the face, or be totally unkillable in general.

I sat playing that shit for 2 hours before my housemate explained that everyone had magic powers, I thought I just sucked too hard (though that may have been a factor too)

I've never seen you play a FPS....so I can't really comment.

When I started playing CoD4 online like a month or two ago, I hadn't touched an FPS for a few months, and was killing 55s left and right. The guns they give you to start with are far from bad, and I see a lot of people use them as their mains. Also, I got to lvl 40 or so with only like 9 hours played, which at that point you pretty much have all the guns and perks you could want. I dunno, maybe I'm really good at shooters, but I've never really felt like I was.

I'm just sick of having to dedicate so much time to doing crap I don't want to do in an MMO, just to be able to have the newest gear to be able to compete and be on par with the majority. DAoC was the only MMO I've played that didn't keep raising the bar with every content patch and expansion.

I'm rambling now, I can tell, so I'll stop.

Ya we certaintly wouldn't want our MMOs raising the bar with their content patches. WTF? What would be the point if nothing was ever escalated on? You could actually complete an MMO? What would they do degrade upper level equipment? Hmmm here are the new armor sets they are worse than what you have so whiney bitches don't bitch that they "have" to go get the new set. Oh no no Mr. and Ms. Whiney McDouchebag we will just let our MMO stagnate and we will lose revenue rather than adding anything new to the game.

Damn! Some people should honestly pull their heads out of their asses and think for a momment how MMOs work and why they do what they do.

You obviously didn't play DAoC, otherwise you'd know what I mean. I'm not in the mood to continue this, as it's going nowhere.

You should really take care of that rage boner though, that thing'll give you an ulcer.

lol Chi, as already stated atleast once in this thread, its a mmo fan site, and a WOW specific area of that forum. To not agree with the game or the genre isent going to result in anything productive most likely. Once again just echoing the overall tone of the thread.

Edit: atleast you arent compareing mmo fans to crack addicts lol.

...Kay, I think I owe a but of apology, here XD Btw, the reason I sometimes go days without checking back in to the forum I started is because my schedule is a little frantic, and my free time comes at weird times. Actually, I think that's probably the main reason I couldn't being myself to get another month - I didn't know how it would fit into my schedule. I think I should clarify that I did find WoW to be pretty fun, but it just didn't seem, to me, at least, to have much sticking power. With the combination of an uncertain schedule and my lack of rapture towards it, it just didn't seem like something I wanted to continue. But the point that I actually like here is having that feeling of being able to relate to your character... We always hear game devs talk about trying to make their FPS characters relatable, but they only rarely succeed. Even in the games where I find myself ought up in the story, I really don't care about the character that much, except for when I had the chance to shape them, like in Fallout or Bioshock. What do you guys think?

(In short, I kinda came off as an ass, and now I'm trying to deflect attention away from that by opening an intelligent discussion :p )

Fair enough, I think there are FPS and other genre games that do attempt to relate you to the character you are playing. Games in which you shape your character's development certainly help. I also understand the difficulty such games would have if the simply let you make your own character. However what differs in those types of games from MMOs inpaticular is that they are a singular experience, at least in the story mode. Sure you can play it over and over and have different results some times alternate endings whatever. But, in an MMO there are many stories, ever evolving and those stories are yours to seek out and change and they can be affected by outside sources especially other players.

No other game offers as much content and play time as your average MMO, period. Now, wether or not you can get into and own your character and it's experiences is another matter all together.

Good point. MMO's also (atleast by origin) involve some lvl of roleplaying. Now obviously there are wide spectrum of which that is actualy utilizied, but character creation,skill layout, and your projected personality while online all merge into atleast a mild form of roleplaying.

Personaly I enjoy the team work aspects of mmo's the most. I started with offline RPG's and enjoyed the fighting systems, and the entire fantasy aspect. Playing an mmo basicly uses that system, but allows other players to control the other members of your team.

As far as leveling, and the repitition it involves, or the "work" aspect of it, and the constant demand to evolve with the expansions of mmo's, I feel this serves an important purpose. What this does is thin out the flock. Sure anyone can stay at a moderatly low level, or descide not to progress as the game evolves. But for those who truely enjoy the process, and desire people with equal compasion, this system becomes more of a systimatic trial. Players who preffer others of equal skill and dedication can more easily identify, and meet, and evolve with others who share there enthusiasm.

You are saying we should exclude Call of Duty 4?

Exclude it from what? Saying "This." and quoting such a small snippet of text doesn't convey any point at all.

That being said, I enjoyed WoW when I played because I had a Troll that spouted silly one-liners and lit things on fire.

Hmm... You know, thinking about it, doesn't it kinda seem like all the different types of games are converging? Kinda like how Bioshock and TF2 both adopted traditionally MMO-based gameplay elements (Customizing characters and heavily teamwork-based gameplay, respectively). And to boot, I just saw a preview for a game (unfortunately, I can't remember what it was called) that gives you the option of playing entirely in FPS mode or MMO mode. It's based in an MMO-style world, but it has very deep FPS gameplay, as opposed to looking like it was just thrown in there to make it interesting. What do you think? Are games converging into one multi-genre conglomerate?

Uh, pretty much. Looking over my current games I see CoD 4, Guild Wars, BFME and NWN2.
Now let's break down these games.
CoD4: This is pretty much an Closed World MMOFPS. It also, however, incorporates lots of RPG elements, for example the leveling system and perks and customizable w/e so on so forth. But down to it's core it's still a shooter.
Guild Wars: My personal MMO of choice though to be honest I don't play it that often anymore. It is a traditional RPG in most senses but it does incorporate aspects of Adventuring. Though historically RPG and Adventure have been blended for a while.
BFME: Well, I'm actually gonna address the second as it's more current. They included a very RPG aspect into the game whereas you create a custom hero so it no longer just becomes you staring down at all the LotR battles, but it gives you a sense of personal investment.
NWN2: Bleh. **** that game it sucks anyway.
But a lot of games are now trying to appeal to multiple audiences. It's pure marketing and it's smart marketing at that (look at the Wii, billions of minigame-games and they all sell like hot cakes to the most random demographics.)

BUT, back to the main topic.
I have played WoW, on my friends account and I too never really saw the appeal. There's no real sense of community, unless you count those jerkholes who run past you swearing at you and calling you a noob cause you're level 20... However, it does function as a good thing to do in the background. I would 3D model and while stuff renders I would go kill some boars or something. It's a good mindless thing, but I get where you're coming from. With F3, CoD4, HL2 so on so forth, they had closure and ends to the game. So when you see the game tell you that the stories are over and that all your time and vested interest have actually had results on the world in an epic sense; where as in WoW, you might be the guild leader of a top guild but only in a few months someone else will be the top guild leader. It just lacks a sense of closure and finality. I might be projecting a little but those are my complaints/comments.

I feel that WoW is actually getting boring, due to the similar end game content and the repetitive PVP experience.

It was very addicting at first. But it requires a better end-game content if it is a subscription-base type, IMHO.

for the record mithander, Guild wars isent a "MMO", its an MO. I say this because servers are based on a glorified loby system(the town), and entering a combat zone is purely instanced.

Also, as far as the "no real sense of community" and "people running past you swearing at you", I think that is a inaccurate common stereotypical description of wow, and sense you mentioned "lvl 20" in that same sentence, well that explains alot. I have played the game daily for about 3 years, and I have actualy found the community to be better then the other 12-15 mo-mmo's ive played. The experiance you speek of is rare, atleast for me (no more common then any other online game), and the fact that you experianced it at a low lvl leads me to belive you were ether being trolled by
#1 people who you would leave in the dust if you focused on lvling.
#2 high lvls who are trolls and camp low lvl areas, reffer to #1.

Point is theres assholes in every online game, and there all easy to avoid. Especialy in wow with its 100+ servers, and a very handy "report spam" button that ignores the player without haveing to add them to your ignore list.

You have to keep in mind that anyone is allowed to play online games, and its essentialy a candy land for people who get there jollies by annoying others. Too say that wow is any different then other online games, even xboxlive, is being shallow and creating a double standard. Trust me I know, I play or have played them all.

I enjoy wow for the same reasons my uncle likes to gamble. The grinding his somehow captivating.

So, what is this mysterious new genre that's beging to come forth? It it more like WoW, with it's overwhelming sense of community (if only because there are other people you have the chance to talk to), or is it something more like Fallout 3, with FPS tendencies and RPG elements?

I'm not exactly sure what you just asked.

I think what I enjoy the most about WoW is being able to play a race that isn't yet another fricken human/elf.

Go, Taurens! Being a 7ft tall armoured she-Cow is just to awesome for words! XD

dudespeak:
I feel that WoW is actually getting boring, due to the similar end game content and the repetitive PVP experience.

It was very addicting at first. But it requires a better end-game content if it is a subscription-base type, IMHO.

This was my experience before I quit a few months ago. Only reason I'd go back is if I knew more people that I get along with who play regularly.