Summed up *some* of the reasons I too am a "Game Hopper"

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Editorials
by Char

Why A Game Hopper Hops
Published: 2008-12-17 08:17:34



Apparently I am a MMORPG game-hopper. That is not a title I have given myself but rather one that was bestowed upon me by my good friend Jube. Some years ago I was a perfectly content FPS player but a friend began bothering me with tales of the great fun to be had within a game called Everquest. Of course I would never pay to play a game but after much cajoling from my friend I decided to give the game a try. That was back in the pre-PoP days of EQ and I have played almost every single MMORPG released since then.

That brings me to the game-hopper title Jube feels I have earned. You see, I have played all of those games but seldom do I reach the maximum level in one. There is usually some factor which irritates me to the degree that I stop playing the game. Many times that factor irritates me enough that I stop playing the game on the spot. I have been known to be out in the world somewhere, questing or adventuring when I will just stop, log out then head to the account screen of the particular game in question and just cancel, never to go back.

Why do I do this? Well, I long considered that question after asked by Jube and I came up with a few basic reasons. The way I look at it MMORPGs are a consumer product offered by a company. A consumer must evaluate the product vs. the cost specified by the company to determine if he feels the value of the product outweighs the cost. Here are the reasons why at least one paying customer has decided certain games do not have a value equal to or over the usual $15 per month a game company wanted to receive for their product;



Poor Customer Service: This is the big one. I have axed more than one game for this one. I know that I am just one account of many in these games but I guarantee you that there is some guy in a corner somewhere at that game company who is paid to evaluate subscriber numbers and you would think that he would not be happy at seeing any numbers drop for want of a simple email or in-game contact by a GM.

Example: Star Wars Galaxies. To me that game is the poster child of how a company should not treat customers. I remember the great trouble ticket wipe. I (and many others) had multiple trouble tickets open for a variety of issues; one of my primary issues was that I had logged in one day to find my bank empty and all my possessions gone due to a known game bug. How did SWG respond to all of those trouble tickets? They said that they had too many to deal with and erased them all. I guess to them that was considered a problem solved as clearly they had a great game now that they had no player complaints at all.



No Goals: This one is also a killer. Good MMORPGs are designed with multiple goals at multiple stages to keep paying subscribers wanting to play; wanting to reach that next stage or goal. Too many of them seem to forget that and when you reach a certain point in the game there is nothing to attain but what you already have.

Example: Warhammer Online. I had high hopes for WAR. They had some really good concepts in the game such as public quests. The only problem with WAR was that after you got your mount at level 20 there was nothing to look forward to. You could make money but there was really nothing to spend it on. Crafting was useless. After level 20 I could think of no goal worth reaching in WAR so I cancelled right after getting my mount.



Lack of Content: I am not talking about a perceived lack of content that one gets by power leveling to the maximum level in several days. I am talking about the lack of content on the trip there. When I play one of these games I like to have a variety of things to do at each phase. When that variety of content disappears so do I.

Example: Age of Conan. AoC was a great game at first. An innovative combat system, an unusual environment and lots of quests to do made for a fun (if linear) early experience. The only problem was that at a certain point all of the quests disappeared. I don’t remember what level it was but I logged in one day and I had not a single quest to do and there were none available, anywhere. My only option was to grind to the next level, or two, or three .. whatever it took to find some new quests. I will grind if I want to but if a game has so little to do that I am required to grind to advance it is not for me.



General Tedium: I suppose this one can be considered a combination of No Goals and Lack of Content but I am really thinking more of the general game look and feel here. When I play one of these games I like to look forward to the next zone up. I want to see what it looks like, what new mobs are there, what new tactics they use, what new dungeons wait to be explored. If a game lacks most of that then it soon loses my interest.

Example: Pirates of the Burning Sea. This game sounded fun. A game where you get to play pirates? What could be more fun than playing pirate (unless you prefer s of course). Great concept to be sure but as I soon discovered the life of a MMORPG pirate is boring. You had two phases; the land phase and the sea phase. The land phase was limited with very little to do. The sea phase was actually worse as there was nothing to do but sail around oceans. You were a ship and the NPCs were ships. As you gained levels you sailed to higher level oceans where the ocean looked the same as the one you had just left. The new one held larger ships to be sure but the endless cycle of sail, fight, sail, fight on endless oceans that all look the same quickly became boring. This one lasted about two weeks for me.



I suppose that is it for now. There have been other games cancelled for other reasons but the reasons I have mentioned are probably the main ones. Excessive bugs are irritating but I know that a new release will always have some issues. Incomplete games at release are another but as long as I have plenty to do I am fine with waiting for the additional content. General stupidity in game design deserves an honorable mention also. I hate to pick on SWG again but I remember at release a very bizarre part of the game. If you were grouped and the group fought and took health hits you could be healed by another player in a camp. From what I remember though wearing armor slowed the healing effect. The result was that if the group wanted faster healing they had to strip off all their armor. I play these games to have fun and hanging out with a bunch of naked male toons dancing around a campfire is not my idea of a good time.

Perhaps future MMORPG releases will get it right. If they will have a substantial amount of varied content (quests, PvP, different zones) AND give me a reason to want to play (complete a hard quest chain, reach that level that gives me something new) AND actually be available to help if I have an issue then maybe, just maybe I will stick around long enough to reach that highest level. Until then I will continue hopping; they may get my box sale but they will not continue to get my subscription.