The Single Player MMO

[tr1age]

Is it just me or do I feel that so many people who play MMO's these days are more suited to play a single player RPG?

I hear a lot of comments like:

"not liking to group"
"wanting more solo content"
"Disliking group boss event quest chains"
"Just here to chat with other while playing alone"
"Logging in for 30 minutes here and there without needing to have a group"

Now while the last one I understand in terms of time constraints, what I don't understand is why join up on an MMO then? Or... why not log in, grind above level, or do another quest chain, then come back and solo said boss?

To me an MMO has ALWAYS been about the people, the groups, and the stories that can be told around campfires about these moments.

Since my first moment in UO(Ultima Online), I remember walking to the first person I saw and saying "Hi, are you real?" at about a word per minute haha. They replied "YES" and I was hooked immediately wanting to do everything with my new REAL "friend".

To me, part of the disconnect from the "Massive Worlds" and Interaction comes in the form of General Chat.

I honestly believe there should only be /say and Party chat.

This forces trading hubs, places to get together at, and players to talk to one another when they run into one another in the world. It also causes people to go to the area they want to complete to find other players, not just spam general while queuing for BG's and other random stuff.

There is a huge disconnect and a need for instant gratification, that actually diminished the gratification down the line about who you know, names of those around you, and the places you end up going.

Now I understand taking out general chat is probably a very one sided discussion where I am the minority, and I have also experienced it and grew up with it in my first MMO. But just think about it for a second for those of you who haven't.

I am not saying we NEED this, but I am saying, there should be a faster way than going out of your way to /say to talk to someone RIGHT infront of you. And I really wish more people were open to the idea of letting someone else into their party for more than just "Kill more things" and "talk during stuff". I mean I was a crap typer in UO and it helped to learned to type faster so I could communicate on the run. Otherwise by the time I talked I was dead or they ran off my screen.

Anyway, I love general chat for organizing world events, world pvp, and the like, but for other things I just wish there was a way to get that MMO feel of "community" back into these games and the minds of those playing them, without an extreme like only having localized chat. Making Hubs, and hangouts, and cool places to go that you WANT to go to. Not just bank hopping while waiting for a queue to pop. Having a place for blacksmiths to sit and work and chat, going out in mining groups to get the nodes and materials together, sitting there while mining and chatting it up. Then having people who NEED your services and know to go to X Y or Z to get it. Striving to have the coolest Bar for people to come to randomly without having to be invited, sit down, buy a beer, and chat. You can even sit behind it and entertain with just words on a screen. Maybe even have a mumble channel dedicated to your home.

That is what I miss and what I feel many MMO players these days don't even realize can exist. So instead they push very hard for a solo-able game, when in fact they may be surprised with the right hitch of sorts, they may actually really enjoy an MMO for exactly what it is supposed to be, a Massively Multiplayer Online game much more than they thought possible.

 

[Thovarisk]

I can totally identify with all this dude... I remember walking into a crafting guild wearing my crafting gear and just sitting there doing my stuff and chatting with the other crafters there asking for advice or just loling at random stuff... or going on fishing trips on the ferry with a few guildies from FFXI (those trips lasted for hours). And while I've tried to be quite reserved about wildstar not to spoil it I have heard some really good stuff about FFXIV on this matter while you can really solo A LOT!! you are nudged and REWARDED for grouping to achieve certain tasks that are very group centric such as defeating a boss to attain a chocobo license or something like that... you don't NEED a chocobo license... but you'll definitely want it and you will need to group for it.. so at least there is that... hopefully WS will at least have some sort of that intent.[DOUBLEPOST=1373006811,1373006739][/DOUBLEPOST]BTW looking forward to guild halls to hang with the guildies n'stff... if that makes sense.

 

[dainjre]

I have to agree with you here, in most multiplayer online games I always turned the "general" type chat off, mostly because I found it annoying. In SWTOR at launch this was especially the case. Luckily there was a decent hang out spot there on the imperial fleet at least, which was in front of the pvp vendors. (On port nowhere at least). Most of the really hardcore warzone players would hang out there and joke with each other until queues popped... or if Crake was there it would turn into a large (and mostly naked) dance party. Also in Achaea every city-state had two hang out spots usually, normal rp people in a main shop area usually, and all the pvpers at the front gates or on the ramparts of the gates "protecting" the city while they gathered for city raids or were testing combos out on each other. I always preferred this to the general style chat system, and am totally down for finding cool spots to hang out while we wait for raids, pvp or what have you.

 

[Simpwn]

I've been known to a say a few of those things. I love the social aspects of MMOs. I'll make my presence known in general chat because I like to interact with others. I like it even more when my personal friends and I all play the same game. We can talk about it at lunch or at work. My problem has always been that my friends never play the same time of day that I do. I'd rather get up early and play games instead of staying up late.

I'm hoping that changes now that I'm in this community though. This group reaches past my inner circle of friends and there are people with all different playstyles and schedules.

 

[Kelth]

I wohld be totally fine with general chat being removed. I usually end up turning off most channels I can due to trolls anyways. I probably dont run around the world trying to find people to talk to but I will talk with someone who saved me from death or helped me kill an opponent. I really hope their social systems including rivals help to encourage personal communication and overall sense of community

 

[Beerf]

I wohld be totally fine with general chat being removed. I usually end up turning off most channels I can due to trolls anyways. I probably dont run around the world trying to find people to talk to but I will talk with someone who saved me from death or helped me kill an opponent. I really hope their social systems including rivals help to encourage personal communication and overall sense of community

I keep them on to watch the trolls troll all the dumb people and then don't party with dumb people that apparently haven't been on the internet since ever.

 

[Simpwn]

Usually you can get past the trolls once you get through the beginning zones. Those zones always end up being the worst.

 

[Beerf]

Usually you can get past the trolls once you get through the beginning zones. Those zones always end up being the worst.

SWTOR on release was the best... There were so many people pretending to be dumb asking about Star Trek things and all of the crazy Star Wars fans went nuts on them, was hilarious. It lasted pretty much until cap.

 

[Zakis]

SWTOR on release was the best... There were so many people pretending to be dumb asking about Star Trek things and all of the crazy Star Wars fans went nuts on them, was hilarious. It lasted pretty much until cap.

That was pretty hilarious, I think that happened on every server. Anyway I totally agree with your sentiment Trist. Unfortunately its a different generation of gamers really. ADHD Call of Duty type kids that just care about instant self gratification. They don't care who is on their team or in their way, as they chase that next kill or achievement. Then it went and got worse because they feel they are entitled to things and shouldn't have to have a challenge to complete things in game...stupid imo.

 

[Simpwn]

I miss knowing the people on my server. You use to group up with the same people each night because you always saw them hanging out in general chat and looking for group. You knew who the good people were and you knew who the assholes were. As nice as it is to just queue up for a group and get in (almost) instantly it does ruin the socialization of the server.

 

[Beerf]

I miss knowing the people on my server. You use to group up with the same people each night because you always saw them hanging out in general chat and looking for group. You knew who the good people were and you knew who the assholes were. As nice as it is to just queue up for a group and get in (almost) instantly it does ruin the socialization of the server.

The assholes are USUALLY the good people. *ponymeme:

 

[Keleynal]

Ahh, SWTOR... I remember getting my first tricoder from those crazy little tribbles. It were awexome.

I agree to a point, but mass communication has it's place in MMOs. I remember having to hang out for LONG periods of time in Ironfroge trying to find groups. It was frustrating to spend so much time at that when I could have been gathering resources or questing while waiting for a group to form. The LFG tool took a lot of that out. And what would the world (of warcraft) be like without Barrens chat? Less annoying surely, but also a little less vibrant.

Personally, I enjoy leveling and questing solo because I like to go my own pace. Whenever I've tried to do it with others, we inevitably seem to drift off in different directions because different things catch out eye. I also don't like moving on from an area until I have done all the things, which isn't the most efficient way to play. But that's why I want to be a WS scientist!

For socializing while leveling, I like using /g chat. It's a great way to keep in touch and ask questions, give hints to each other, stuff like that. I love doing dungeons with guild members, and of course raids too. But pickup dungeons are always a ton of fun to me.

 

[tr1age]

I LOVE the feeling of being in a living and breathing world. That is part of the draw of MMO's, I do it in RL too, I live in a city and I don't ALWAYS go out, I sometimes just like that I can if I want to at any hour on any day. But other than playing an MMO from my living room there is no other way for me to sit in my house and General all of the Lower East Side... (oh god that is one scary thought...) anyway.

I also agree with some that burning through content is lame, but I also disagree because sometimes we get SOOO damn excited playing the game we don't want to put it down. We want to push push push and do more and more and more.

Then we realize.. oh man we are cap. And then we realize some flaws, tiered mats becomes useless other than AH fodder, and bam we loose a feeling of equity in the game. But that fluff aside, I believe that housing and time sinks like that which encourage "community" really are the way to go in games where you might have to wait for a group to finish something.

When I said "force people to make hubs, or gather" I used the wrong word. I meant in essence encouraging someone out of their shell, to come out of the locked house, in the far away instance, and explore, ask for directions, all to accomplish greater goals. They can still solo, but it might encourage them to talk a little more instead of join a party via spam invite, kill X Y Z mobs, say nothing, and leave party when said X Y Z is killed.

 

[Keleynal]

In the era of Facebook and Twitter, I think we've got about the closest thing to General Chat as we're going to get.

 

[Kelth]

Usually you can get past the trolls once you get through the beginning zones. Those zones always end up being the worst.

For sure. In rift it's still going on the 40s zone. Usually in any new MMO I like to get in a "CAN SOMEONE HELP ME FIND MANKRIK'S WIFE" at least once a day.

Personally, I enjoy leveling and questing solo because I like to go my own pace. Whenever I've tried to do it with others, we inevitably seem to drift off in different directions because different things catch out eye. I also don't like moving on from an area until I have done all the things, which isn't the most efficient way to play. But that's why I want to be a WS scientist!

I also tend to do a lot of leveling and questing solo especially in a new game. I am typically ahead of the curve in a new game so a lot of people are lower level. Also makes it hard to ask questions because you are finding out first. I also keep weird hours so it's hard to find guildies on when I am on (I tend to grind almost 24/7 with new games). I think with GW2 I was at 48 hours played after 3 days with 0 afk.

I keep telling myself "don't grind on WildStar, just take it easy and enjoy the game"...but it's soooo hard when you also want to cap first I guess it's a good thing I want another path (more than I want a different class) so I will need to play an alt, an explorer might be a good idea, to be more of the run around and see everything while leveling character.

 

[Keleynal]

It seems to me that soldier would be the best speed leveling path, and settler the least speedy.

What might change my mind about solo leveling is the crossing paths function, that allows you to get more rewards and exp by grouping with people with other paths. It'd be nice to have a game that gave handsome rewards for grouping while leveling.

 

[Sasquatauch]

Humans are social creatures by and large, so we need that periodic interaction with others. I think that's why a lot of why folks play MMO's. It's easy social interaction. I think how much people need depends on the person and their personality type. Some people get enough of it simply by being around other players, while others need to chat it up and get constantly involved.

Part of the issue might be the communication tools too. Personally, I turn off general chat and rarely catch anything typed out in party, guild or raid chat. I know that if I have to type to someone, I'm much less likely to interact with them than if they're on voice chat. Part of this is that I'm a shitty multi-tasker though.

Another issue is time. If I'm on for only 30m or an hour I want to say howdy to folks and get on it ASAP. Dicking around with finding groups, getting everyone to a location and figuring out what we want to do is time that could be spent actually doing things.

Efficiency can play a big role as well. If I plan to spend 6 hours online leveling and can get 12 levels during that time period playing solo but only 7 levels while with a group, then I'm going to solo for that session simply because it's a more efficient use of my time. That being said, it doesn't mean I won't chat it up with other players during the process.

 

[Pearse]

I remember leading RBGs in WoW it got to a point where everyone on my server new me, and we would all hang out together outside SW. I t was awesome to sit there and chat/duel, while the hordies ganked us; It really did feel like a community.