WRUP: I love sprouts edition

When I was a kid, Brussels sprouts were one of those foods that no one is supposed to actually like. I was told that they tasted bitter and nasty and were best avoided except as an implement of torture. Then I finally tasted them and found them to be some of the most wonderful things ever. Seriously, they're my favorite vegetable option in the world. If you're not going to eat those, I will.

What does that have to do with this week's installment of WRUP? Absolutely nothing. It never does. WRUP is about what the Massively staff is up to this weekend and whether or not we see MMOs as disposable entertainment. So regardless of whether you like the delicious taste of sprouts, you can check out our plans after the break and let us know what you'll be up to for the next two days in the comments.

@Beau_Hindman: I'll be switching to There for next week's Rise and Shiny. It's such a trip to say that since it was my first social MMO. My friends and I used to spend hours and hours hanging out in game while drinking beers in real life, discussing politics and stalking the religious players until dawn. We had such fun in There, and now it's back! I'm also getting my older games list together, meaning a list of pre-World of Warcraft games that I played. So far there are about 20. I'll be writing about them over the next months.

I don't see MMOs as disposable, but I know many players who do. It's funny how many of those same players talk about the old days or refer to better ways of designing games but then go on to fall in line to buy whatever the newest title is. Everything else gets thrown to the back burner.

@nyphur: I'll be working on Predestination this weekend and taking advantage of the Guild Wars 2 trading post now that it's finally online. The GW2 market is very similar to EVE Online Jita 4-4 trading, so last night I spent a few hours looking for good trades and managed to get from four silver to over one gold. There's bound to be more lucrative trades out there to be found.

When I started playing MMOs, I saw them as long-term commitments and would avoid quitting due to the wasted time invested in playing. Nowadays I'd say most MMOs are disposable as they can keep my focused attention for only a few months at a time and new expansions have finite functional life spans. Then there are free-to-play titles or purchased titles with no subscriptions like Guild Wars 2, which you can drop and pick up at any time without wasting money. I guess those are disposable in a sense too. EVE Online is one of the few MMOs I'd say isn't disposable as it's managed to keep my attention for over eight years.

@nbrianna: I'm most likely going to be in Guild Wars 2 this weekend, but I have a date in Atlas Park Saturday afternoon too.

I view some MMOs as disposable entertainment, but not the really good ones, not the ones I call home. Thing is, MMO companies increasingly do view them that way, so some expectation-realignment might be in order or the next 10 years are really going to suck for genre vets.

@Eliot_Lefebvre: I've got a hot date in City of Heroes on Saturday. That's going to be an emotional gut-punch, but I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate as well, like emerging roleplaying storylines in Star Wars: The Old Republic and that Guild Wars 2 game that everyone keeps talking about. Should be busy.

I honestly don't view MMOs as disposable, nor have I seen any of the supposed evidence that they're becoming more disposable. When I start playing a game, I intend for it to be my home for a while. That was the case when I started playing Final Fantasy XI, it was the case when I started playing Guild Wars, and it was the case when I started playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. I've yet to play a game that I intended to make a home that hasn't welcomed me with open arms, even if they've all been very different places to live.

@elixabethclaire: I'm hoping this weekend will give me time to actually get through some Guild Wars 2 dungeons -- I've had plenty of play time, but never in the appropriately-sized chunks. I'm also hoping to do massive amounts of gathering so that I can start doing some fairly rapid alt leveling, since combat's a lot more fun after utility skills start coming into the picture.

I do not view MMOs as disposable entertainment.

Dabbling in EverQuest II, and the requisite Skyrim and The Secret World sessions.

Virtual worlds like City of Heroes or Star Wars Galaxies are the opposite of disposable, both because of feature sets that require time and effort to appreciate and because of the communities that grew up around them. Accessibility is paramount for most modern MMOs, though, and accessibility generally leads to disposability.

@Jeremy_Stratton: Sadly -- is it sad? -- I'll most likely be playing Guild Wars 2. I just can't stop playing it.

I'm slowly starting to see the modern-day import business moving toward a disposable nature.

@Sypster: I've got a hankering to finish up Lord of the Rings Online's Volume III Book 6 to tidy things up before the expansion, so that might be on the agenda. I suspect Guild Wars 2 will take up a majority of my time, and who knows, I might actually get to a level 15+ zone one of these days (I'm level 32 and haven't left 1-15 areas yet).

@JayeRnH: I think I'll pop into EverQuest for a bit this weekend. The expansion news got me all nostalgic.

As for the bonus question, I don't want to think of them as disposable, but I think a growing number of them have become so because of their design.

@terilynns: I will be playing Star Trek Online this weekend, of course! I have a new low-level Andorian who is reminding me yet again about how STO is from the beginning. The DOff system really adds a great layer to the game. I will be jumping into Lord of the Rings Online as well.

The question of MMO indispensability is more complex than one would think. On one level, my rational, logical, business-savvy mind knows that MMOs are disposable! I know it! Everything about the game is virtual, and the plug can (literally) be pulled at any moment! But my emotional, irrational, fan-girlish side is so attached to certain games that if they were to go away I would be heartbroken. No, really... heartbroken.

At the start of every weekend, we catch up with the Massively staff members and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" (Otherwise known as: WRUP!) Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game -- and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!