Addiction
I never got far in MUD games. While they were fun, every single time I’d get out of the newbie yards, I’d die from; a) starvation due to getting lost and being unable to find my way back to town, b) dehydration because I didn’t know how to drink or fill my empty waterskin from a fountain I discovered, c) being humiliated by a rat who kicked my ass. And all this was back before 2000. Sometime in late 2000, a friend of mine recommended a program to me (which I’ve forgotten 
). It had a list of all the popular MUD games and provided color coded display, a mapping feature, a list of all commonly used emotes and commands and an easy to see ASCII inventory management system.
I was in heaven. I said goodbye to getting lost and starving to death. I mooned the water fountain after I got my fill of drink. Yes, I was in heaven.
Until I died from a smug rat.
I think I know why many RPG developers have initial quests where you kill rats.
Anyway, fast forward a bit to my exposure to MMORPGs.
My first MMORPG was Final Fantasy XI, which I fell in love with. It was a wonderful game and a good exposure to MMO’s since it had a high learning curve. But, after spending a lot of time there, the level grind made me jaded and I looked elsewhere. Everquest 2 was my escape. Or it would have been. It didn’t meet a lot of my expectations even if it did do a lot things right that my next two MMORPG’s missed. Anyway, I ended up in World of Warcraft. Finally, an expansive world that was accessible. If I wanted to group up, I could but if I wanted to solo, it wouldn’t take me years to gain a level. And while crafting didn’t rely on seemingly random variables, it also didn’t really “mean” much. It was too easy. It didn’t have the complexity, and fun, of the crafting system of Everquest 2, nor did it really have the necessity like FFXI (nearly every item, or ones that players used a lot were player crafted).
WoW was fun. But at the level cap (60 before The Burning Crusade expansion and 70 after it), basically all that’s left is raiding or grinding out reputation points for factions. While they’re not the only things to do, they are the only activities that provided any really good rewards in terms of gear. Doing all of that at level 60 and suddenly finding myself having to “redo” it all at 70 just rubbed me the wrong way.
So I tried Everquest 2 again. While many changes were for the better, there were also changes that I felt weren’t good choices and things from launch that still weren’t addressed. Which leads me to what I’m currently Playing.
Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. LOTRO seemed like a good place to start fresh. To try to focus on the things that were the most fun. Roleplaying and taking in the content as I go. Doing quests gives quite generous experience point rewards so it’s a bit hard to stall levelling but that’s controllable, I just don’t do a lot quests. hehe Turbine has done a really good job in bringing the world of Middle-earth to life. The scenery is very beautiful, even if the character models could’ve been better. Crafting is still a bit mindless and there aren’t any player housing (these two items Everquest 2 did really well). But the game in its entirety, so far, is very enjoyable.
I’m still waiting for an updated MMORPG game that requires you to eat and drink regularly to survive. That has player housing. That has a meaningful and rewarding crafting system. That has a good balance between regular and fast travel. Until that wonderful hybrid comes along, I’ll still be playing MMORPGs that pique my interest.
