apathy
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The Daily Grind: When do you stop paying attention to parts of the game?
We admit that yeah, there are places where the developers clearly just don't care any more. But it's not like we players are exactly blameless here, either. World of Warcraft players freely admit that they've long since stopped reading the quest text, leading to several cases of players standing around and bashing their metaphorical heads against a wall because they didn't actually read the text before jetting off. It's not necessarily that the quest text is bad (that's another discussion altogether), just that there comes a certain point when 90% of the time it's so irrelevant that you don't need to care. And if it's not the quest text, it's something else. You turn off the music in City of Heroes to just listen to Pandora instead. You start browsing for known good builds in Champions Online rather than figuring one out. You take a look at what you have to do between campaign missions in Guild Wars so you can stop bothering with sidequests. When have you stopped paying attention to a part of a game, however minor? Have you ever tried to care again, or have you remained apathetic toward that element from then on? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of something or other lorem ipsum watermelon rutabaga cantelope lorem ipsum: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so if you noticed the text here has changed mention butterflies when you respond to this Daily Grind!
Disillusionment with MMOs
Because I never studied nor considered studying psychology, you may doubt my words, but I will still tell you that many people go through a phase in life in which things become less shiny for them. What, there really is no Santa Claus? Those awesome space battles on TV are just tiny plastic miniatures hanging from fishing-line? World of Warcraft didn't invent Naga? Sooner or later the curtain will be pulled back on something you found new or fascinating in your life. Losing that sense of excitement from something you thought was different or new can leave a gaping hole of disillusionment. The short history of MMOs is not immune to providing plenty of room for players to become disillusioned. Like television, movies, and books, MMOs don't use 100% new content that developers invented out of thin air. I've been on many MMO forums and have seen players at different stages of disillusionment seemingly frothing at the mouth about being sick of elves in fantasy MMOs, and accusing one MMO of stealing a name or even a similar-sounding name from an MMO they would defend as "more original." The fact is that most concepts and ideas have already been done, and it can just be hard to deal with. Who doesn't get a little disillusioned when he grows up and finds out his dad or mom really isn't the smartest or strongest person in the world? If I haven't disappointed you enough then follow along as I spoil even more of your favorite MMOs -- but hopefully I can also show you that disillusionment isn't the end.
Guild life pre-Cataclysm: Surviving the end times
When I inherited leadership of a successful 25-man raid during The Burning Crusade, I had a steep learning curve. After the first year, I had mastered the fine arts of recruiting, juggling subs, managing raid time, resolving disputes and running a tight ship. Little did I know what awaited us when halfway through our Sunwell Plateau progression, Wrath of the Lich King was announced! Fortunately, my guild was able to weather the storm, and now that we are closing in on Cataclysm, I am much better prepared. Guild masters who haven't experienced the pre-expansion blues may find themselves overwhelmed with the task of keeping their once tight-knit community from turning into a ghost town. Some players may choose the months before an expansion to take an extended vacation from the game. Others may choose to focus on a favorite alt, and still others are chomping at the bit to farm the highest tier of raid content in order to complete their ideal gear sets. No doubt all three types of players are in your guild. How are you expected to funnel everyone's pre-expansion desires and expectations into group-friendly activities that keep them logging on night after night?
The Daily Grind: Do you ever feel pre-expansion apathy?
I have been talking to a few of my friends who play Warhammer Online lately and they are all feeling the same thing: pre-expansion apathy. This is basically a feeling of indifference or a lack of motivation to log in and play WAR knowing that The Land of the Dead live expansion is going to release soon. This is not the only MMO they have experienced this in either. I remember playing World of Warcraft before Burning Crusade and organized guild raids were nearly non-existent for two months leading up to the expansion. Many were either PvPing or crafting to pass the time or simply not bothering to log in at all.The reasoning my friends are using for not playing WAR right now is actually pretty logical. Why should they bother trying to grind for gear and wards when the 1.3 patch will introduce the sigil and vessel systems? Also, the gear in The Land of the Dead is said to be better than city dungeons and roughly on par with that found in Lost Vale, so why would they bother farming the same dungeons they have been grinding for months when a new one is coming just around the corner with potentially better itemization?Do you ever get the same feeling in your MMO? Do you think this is more strongly felt in gear-based progression MMOs or is it a result of something else?
15 Minutes of Fame: Phaelia goes Resto4Life
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.On a list of player names that serious WoW hobbyists should know, Phaelia definitely makes the cut. WoW Insider's Dan O'Halloran summed up why in his post last fall outlining druid blogs you should be reading: "Phaelia started Resto4Life.com back in March to educate herself about playing a better healing Druid. Turns out, she's educating the rest of us as well. Her entries delve into the many facets of a Tree Druid's gameplay: Re-evaluating Spirit, mp5 vs. +Healing and Getting More Out of Innervate are just a few of the many treasures to be found on this blog. Updated frequently with a friendly and informative tone, Resto4Life is the Big Red Kitty for Restoration druids." 15 Minutes of Fame visited with Resto4Life's creator, Phaelia of US Scarlet Crusade-A, about the many attractions of the Druid class. 15 Minutes of Fame: How did you get into WoW, Phaelia? Do you come from a gaming background?Phaelia: I started playing WoW during the first open beta. To be honest, I was less attracted to WoW than turned off by the idea of giving over another five years of my gaming life to another game from Sony Online Entertainment. I began my MMO career as a sophomore in college, and while quitting EverQuest 1 left a void in my gaming lifestyle, I knew I didn't want to play another game from the same company. Blizzard turned out to be the breath of fresh air and fun that I was looking for!
Part Time Druid fights WoW apathy
It's that time again -- we're in the slump right before the expansion, when people get bored of playing, no one wants to reroll another character because new options are just around the corner, and there's a general sense of apathy around the game. Why play what we've got when the new and shiny is almost here? Fortunately, this time seems a little better than last time -- lots of guilds are still rolling through the endgame, and there's still lots to do, from Arena to battlegrounds to reputation and daily quest grinding.Fortunately, Part Time Druid has some good ideas about how to "fight WoW apathy," just in case you can't think of any yourself. PvP and money farming are in here (those are goals that are practically never ending for sure), and the time-tested idea of going back and finding refreshment in an old alt is a good idea as well. But there are some more original ideas in here as well: helping out lowbies (whether they be 16 or 61) is a good idea, and organizing for five mans might be the best idea. With the daily Heroic quest, there's no better time than now to find four friends who want badges and gold, and set up a regular weekly or even daily time to run a Heroic instance.Let's be honest: we're going to at least be waiting a whole summer for this expansion, if not a few months after that. Might as well make the most of it -- set some goals now and get productive (or go try out Age of Conan, we're not picky), and the boat to Northrend will be loading before you know it.
