This is a copy of a post written on mmohut.com about mmorpgs. I dedicate it to everyone who loves to play this games like junkies, specially WOW or AION fans.
"In most MMORPGs, the goal of the game is to get to maximum level as soon as humanly possible. Those of us who are the type to race ahead are in a rush to get to that all-important, defining aspect of the MMO; the end-game. The end-game is what we've all been waiting for. The end-game, we might tell ourselves, is the point when the game truly starts to matter. The end-game counts, while everything preceding the end-game does not. The end-game is where the money is at. The end-game is where the fun is, not like this stupid not-so-end-game which really seems like nothing more than anextremelylong tutorial.
So we race ahead, determined to get to the fun, to the real meat of the game. To get to that high tier PVP, or the end-game dungeons, or the raids, or the bragging rights, or all of the above. We'll spend weeks glued to our computers, pushing ourselves and pushing ourselves to get whatever that other, higher level person has. We must get to where all the cool kids are. So, inevitably, if our endurance pulls through, we finally reach the destination. Our goal is met. The finish line is crossed, at long last, rejoice! Rejoice! We can finally havefun!
Or can we?
Soon we realize that, stretched out before us, is a vast, barren wasteland very closely resembling the long process it took us to get here. Go grind something, the game tells us. Go LFG. Go get crushed in PVP by those who have had the patience to acquire better gear. Go, go forth, and be ENTERTAINED. So we do, don't we? This game is the greatest! Oh, sweet lady Gaga! The limitless opportunities to have fun! Here we come, gear grind! Here we are! Grind, grind, and grind some more! Don't let up, don't get discouraged. Watch the high quality drops slowly fill your bank. Do you see on this supplementary website that there is a fancy mount that strikes your fancy? Do you see, it has a 2% drop rate on a boss in a dungeon that takes six hours to get to? Do you see it? Don't youwantit? Of course you do!
We grind and grind. We get our epic lewtz. We collect a menagerie of exotic and rare mounts. We complete ourselves. We reach the point of MMORPG nirvana. We can enter into PVP areas and duels, slapping down the poor noobs with ease. We don't care for their tears, for their cries of imbalance and frustration, for we were once them, and they too can rise to our level, if they only invest thetimeand theeffortnecessary. If they only show the dedication we have shown. So pitiless are we. We who have ascended into the heavens as digital gods, as number-crunching monsters.
Then there are those who whine and complain about the game in public channels. Those who resent the long grind and excessive time investment required to make progress. Those who "expose the system" to others, decrying it as a churning machine with a bottomless hunger for "progress". What awful people, they are. If they don't like it, they should quit the game. If they don't like it, they can just go do something else. Write a damn book about it.
We're havingfun. Right?"
Log in to comment