The OP represents a type of playing mindset, which was arguably introduced in the WoW era, that basically consists in the application of extreme Skinner’s Box methodologies to the MMORPG field. In this sense, everything related to immersion, lore, RP, complex player interaction, intellectual challenge and, in general, anything related to the use of imagination is disregarded. The only thing that actually matter is to achieve maximum XP in minimum time and to get the best gear ASAP to link it on the general chat as a proper l33t.
MMORPGs were not designed with that philosophy in mind. The very acronym gives you a hint of what is this about: Massive Multiplayer Online -Role Playing- Game.
I’ve been in the MMORPG scene for a long time and I can say that there was a before-and-after WoW. The appealing point of WoW was that, no matter you were mentally handicapped, you could be considered a good player as long as you could smash the rotations and memorize the scripted fights. It supposed a massive dumbing-down and linearization from previous MMORPGs. This was, on the other hand, a big reason for its success as the MMORPG genre was opened to the “lower-common-denominator” type of players. With WoW came as well the glorification of macros and add-ons that are not less than permitted cheating.
The consequence is that we have a pool of players that cannot conceive another way of playing. Even worst, many of them believe they are skilled players which, of course, they are not.
Blizzard played its cards really well, focusing on game addiction (the eternal treadmill for better gear = dope for the junkies) as the main motivation for playing. These has created authentic monsters of players that are not capable of seeing the forest from the trees.
Besides the addiction argument, I freak out at these people as I don’t understand why they play MMORPGs when they could be playing Pac-Man and get the same sensations. My great concern is that the new generation of ADHD Skinner’s Box junkies are putting the MMORPG industry in jeopardy, as the latter cannot cope with the former. How do you negotiate with an irrational junkie? For example, what are you going to say or to propose to a guy that says he’s bored when he basically has missed the game in his urge for getting Max. level?
Let me tell you something OP: with that mindset, you and the likes of you are condemned to boredom. I’m assure you that, lest you change your approach to MMORPGs, you’ll never ever be satisfied, unless you are addicted to treadmills for gear (Rats in a Box), that is.
Anyway, this is my opinion and, after all, this is a free world. My sincerest suggestion is that:
- If you want a linear, gear based progression game, you can find a lot of WoW clones in the market. There are a lot of Diablo clones as well that focus on the gear grind and stats based progression.
- For the rest of us -especially those who enjoyed open ended games like Ultima Online, Asheron’s Call, Dark Age of Camelot and Star Wars Galaxies- that are more interested in the immersion and open-world aspects, we have a new home here.
