We don't hug in Fallen Earth!
I can be so weak when it comes to MMOs. I bounce back and forth and I still have a hard time finding a place to call home – the only place that even resembles one right now is Atys. I’m slowly settling in the post-apocalyptic wasteland that is Fallen Earth’s Grand Canyon, having teamed up with the Casualties. As I’m writing this, I’m AFK-mining in EVE using an Iteron V, hoping to at least make a few ISK without raising so much as a finger – even though my pride has taken a bit of a hit after I decided to go from PvP pilot to miner/industrial. I love all three games, but something in me feels restless already.
With the fall of 2009 here, the major MMO push is over for this year. As far as I can tell, unless I’ve been struck by a complete black out, there’s no other interesting MMO being released this year. I’ve already given up on Aion (as Wiqd said, “why play a WoW clone when you can play the real thing?“) and Champions Online never managed to grab my attention. Actually, it bored me to death, so I never saw a reason to keep playing it.
That kind of leaves me with the games mentioned above, with a few others circling around me, poking at my interest. I do miss Middle-Earth sometimes, I never did get to Moria after all, and I can’t help thinking that I don’t want to miss out on World of Warcraft’s patch 3.3. Star Wars: Galaxies still feels interesting, especially after the server mergers. And Vanguard will always be Vanguard, especially after Stargrace has started to blog about it again.
So, I’m trying to figure out what games to stick with for the rest of the year. At the same time I can’t help drawing parallels between my bouncing between MMOs and the way my head is wired in general. Right now I’m writing this, AFK-mining in EVE, poking around an EVE mining guide, trying to make the last few fixes to a review in OpenOffice, playing Brütal Legend, chatting on Skype and MSN, eating a banana (yum!), reading the Fallen Earth forums and considering doing a dive into various Star Wars: Galaxies-resources.
Brain...hurts...
That’s not very good at all. I am sure my friend Breki would chastise me for it. I need to learn how to focus on one thing at a time, instead of doing everything at once. I know my brain can handle it, but I’m not sure my mind can, especially since I’ve long since started to identify stress symptoms. Not being able to settle for one MMO is probably another sign that I have problems focusing on one thing, desperately seeking stimulation from multiple sources at one time.
So, perhaps I should just stick with one. Or three. Or maybe a fourth one…hmmmm. Ok, I might need help.
I’m right there with you. I haven’t ever found a single MMO that fits what I’m looking for, and I usually lose interest at the same place every time.
But I get the feeling that, like me, you never really LEAVE an MMO…you only take a break and try something else. After trying another 5 or so MMOs, we cycle back to the front of the line and pick up an older MMO where we last left off. Rather then continue with a single (or two) titles, we rotate through several, over a larger time period.
So it’s not really ADD, but rather sampling on a far larger scale then most MMO players
Not gonna harp on you for leaving Aion or anything, I’m just curious of at what level did you leave? Did you have a chance to explore the Abyss/PvP?
No, I didn’t, sadly. But the game wasn’t inviting enough for me to go through the process of reaching the Abyss – if I want PvP, I think I’ll just go back to WAR instead.
@Scopique – That’s a good way of looking at it! Didn’t think about that.
I have the same problem, if that can be called a problem, Petter. I have so many MMOs installed at the moment and I end up playing a bit of everything, but I’m never satisfied with any, because I keep trying to find “home” in one of them.
I had two long term homes while playing MMOs. The first was Rubi-Ka in Anarchy Online and the second was Azeroth. I played both games for a few years and I enjoyed them a lot by concentrating at one at a time. I can’t find another game that will catch my attention for more than a month nowadays…
I also canceled Aion. It felt like that was going to be the one, but the bland PvE to get to the “better” part of the game was just too much for me. And true, if I wanted to PVP only, I’d rather stick with WAR and I like the setting better too. That’s what I did and I started new characters in WAR over the weekend and had some good RvR fun. Still, not quite home though… I guess I’ll keep looking for it.
It’s tough when no single game seems to fit your mood. My advice is just to go with it and not try to force yourself to play or not play something. If you feel like a break, do it. If you want to dabble, do that. Remember games are supposed to be fun.
@Kill – it seems like the next patch might bring a lot to the RvR experience. Have you seen Werit’s blog? Some impressions and a couple of good videos there. Looks like a couple of nice improvements are coming WAR’s way.
@Blue – yeah, I know. Perhaps a break would be in order? Can I actually take a MMO-break? It’s not a genre, it’s a way of life, man.
@Petter – I’m not sure about you, but I’m definitely capable of taking a break. I may not take a break from games as a whole, but I can easily shift from MMO to RTS to console and back again. I’ve never intentionally taken a break, though. Usually I just realize that I’ve not played a certain type of game in the past X number of days or weeks. This of course it why I like alternate subscription models, so I don’t realize I’ve just paid for four months of WoW and not played once (true story).
@Petter – I’ve been following Werit’s coverage on WAR’s new patch and that is one of the reasons I decided to get back!