MMORPGs, Why do you play them?

What do you look for in an MMORPG, why do you go back to the ones you play? I'm currently developing one, and I would love to know what the people like.

For me its the PvP.... I currently play EvE online and fallen earth.

For EvE I play because of the freedom, I can go and try and kill a random persons ship and steal there stuff. Very fun. I dont get punished in pvp just because I dont like to quest or do "dungeons/raids", I can just pvp happily and get rich from it.

For fallen earth i love crafting, so much to make and do. It is one of the few games I enjoy questing and PvE.

My biggest turn offs in an MMO are getting punished in pvp because I choose not to PvE. A bad community full of children. Gear has to be important but you need to be able to obtain it whatever way you can through money, not just from one boss monster at the end of a 10000000000 hour raid.

To be honest with you, I don't play them. I've tried them, no doubt, they I came to realize that they aren't my cup of tea.

For one, I don't like the idea of having to sit in front of your comptuer for hours and exploring this big, huge world and taking the time to level up all day. I know that you can meet people through there, but I'm comfortable with playing with a group of friends and not with a group of strangers that I do not know of at all.

Second, I'm more of a console RPG. It's all about simplicity, but also about having fun and I just want to stick with a group of characters that I know very well how to use.

Finally, I have better things to do in gaming, such as testing my skills in SFIV or playing Forza, which I haven't done much admittedly. But I will come back to it soon.

- One that works well on lower end PC's.

- Fast paced combat with good animations. I prefer being able to move around in combat while attacking.

- Faction vs faction PvP, this adds a great deal of fun and risk when you're leveling or questing, and gives you something to do aside from other things.

- Interesting variety of races and classes.

- In-depth character creator.

- Epic raids and BGs.

- Open world, not sandbox (unless it's purely a space game e.g. Eve), good sense of place.

Probably a lot more points...it takes a lot of good factors to gel together to make an MMO fun to play.

Challenging missions, good looking gear (especially for the hard to get armor), and a strong community. Let's face it, an MMORPG will suck if there isn't a strong community willing to play your MMORPG.

Axemonster1, what are you developing and for what developing team? I'd like to know.

What do you look for in an MMORPG, why do you go back to the ones you play? I'm currently developing one, and I would love to know what the people like.

Axemonster1

I enjoy that they feel like a real WORLD compared to a normal video game. Good MMO's are always growing and changing which makes the game always feel fresh no matter how many months or even years you've been playing it. Also, i like how in an MMO you usually have a lot more attack options available at one time then in a normal game. What i like the most is probably that your given this big virtual world that you can just explore at your own leisure wether that be just killing monsters, accepting quests, or just roaming around the world just exploring.

I used to like the the building up of my character. Earning gear, exploring and encountering new things. I liked how you show off what you earn, that there are other players to appreciate what you have obtained.

Over the years however it's got a bit stale for me. I no longer care what others think of what items i've gained in MMO games. I play Champions Online casually now, which is a more casual game, but I don't go near things like WoW and Aion, not anymore. I'm no longer looking for that competition and i've discovered that PVP enviorments in a MMO game don't create a gaming atmosphere that I enjoy spending my time on.

I know look for a more co-oparative approuch, or play a game which is even, such as Left 4 Dead VS Mode, where it's down to skill and team play then time played, gear obtained and, as i've discovered from experience, exploits.

You see, exploits are a big thing in MMO games and it's not something you always hear people mention in a general games forum since you need to of played the game in detail to know about the impact of exploits themselves. Take Aion for example. In Aion, the best gear in the game is without doubt, the PVP abyss gear you can gain from months and months (maybe well over a year) of active, skilled PVP. However, someone who pays for 2 accoutns and puts the time to level up a character on the other side can just farm his own character for free Abyss points using certain in game items to reduce travel time between the two players. They may fix this exploit, but not until a large number of 'hardcore' players have milked it for a good long time beforehand.

I got tired of this in MMO games, and it's something that you only see in these gear dependant MMO things such as Aion and WoW. Personally, i prefer to just a single player game, and any free time I can spend it on sleeping or having sex.

Edit: forgive my spelling, can't be bothered to fix it :P