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The Daily Grind: How have you gotten outside of your gaming comfort zone lately?
I think that one of the secrets to avoiding the "routine rut" as you age is to constantly be challenging yourself to try new things and get outside of the comfortable bubble you build for yourself. As a nester who likes his routine, this is a difficult thing for me to do but I try to do it nevertheless. In 2014, I made it one of my resolutions to get outside of my comfort zone as a gamer and continually try new things instead of going down the same-old paths as I always do. So I'm trying new classes. I'm playing ugly characters. I am giving crafting, PvP, and even roleplaying a go. I'm diving headfirst into sandboxes and plucking away at older titles that have eluded my attention for years. Sometimes this is very frustrating and reminds me of why I like what I do, but once in a while I make a pleasant discovery and grow a bit more as a person and as a gamer. So how have you gotten outside of your gaming comfort zone lately? What have you discovered? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Are you a creature of habit?
To some extent, I think that most of us are creatures of habit when it comes to our lives and our gaming. We go through an experimental phase, we learn over time what works for us, and then we settle down into a comfortable routine from then on. There's a reason why adults tend to stick with the same haircut after age 28, kids. Speaking for myself, I definitely have my comfort zones in MMOs. I prefer theme parks over sandboxes, I like hybrid and pet classes most of all, I almost always go with a short race if given the option, and I am quite happy soloing most of the time. But lately I've been trying to challenge myself to try new things, to go through a new experimental phase, and see what I might be missing. I'm giving myself permission to break the habits and enjoy new flavors and new vistas. I'm curious today if there are any others out there that recognize the comfortable routines and choices they've established, and if, like me, you've decided to venture outside of the bubble to lands you've long rejected. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: What's the most recent game you've played that falls outside your comfort zone?
So yesterday's Path of Exile trailer has me quite intrigued. To be frank, I've never been much of a dungeon crawler fan, and I basically soldiered through Diablo a couple of years ago because my friends kept looking at me funny when I said that I'd never played it. For whatever reason, though, Grinding Gear's teaser really resonated, and I'll probably be picking up the game in a couple of weeks even though it strays pretty far from my usual play list. What about you, Massively readers? Do you play games outside your comfort zone, and if so what was the most recent one? Did you enjoy it? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Do you try games that fall outside your comfort zone?
So the other day a friend asked me why I'm so enamored with PlanetSide 2. It's just another shooter, he said, and while this is true on some level, it's also about as accurate as saying that Guild Wars 2 is just another fantasy grinder. Without getting into what separates GW2 and PS2 from their respective baselines, I think the larger question here is this: What does it take for games to cross the threshold that separates "successful" from "mega-hit cultural phenomenon." There are a lot of great games out there, but only a tiny percentage manage to transcend their genre trappings and attract people who don't normally play in that particular sandbox. What say you, Massively readers? Do you try games that fall outside your comfort zone, and if so, what does it take to hook you? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Soapbox: The inevitable Mass Effect MMO
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. I don't know about you, but I've yet to play Mass Effect 3. This is not by choice, mind you, and now that I've returned from the wilds of last week's GDC, it's time to settle in for another 30-hour tour with Shepard and company. What does this have to do with MMOs? Well, nothing really, except that BioWare hasn't exactly closed the door on a Mass Effect title. On the contrary, the company's dynamic doctor duo have hinted at the fact that this, ahem, theoretical game would need to be somewhat different from the firm's maiden MMO voyage. At this point I think an ME MMO is inevitable, so join me after the cut to discuss whether BioWare can really break the mold with its second effort as well as what that effort could look like.
Wings Over Atreia: Happy Newb Year!
Oh, that feeling when a game is new and everything is an adventure! Say what you will, but I cherish those moments of still being a newb and getting to experience things for the first time while exploring a new world (mind you, that is newb as in "new person," not n00b meaning "hopelessly moronic"). The problem is, once you have been in a game for a while, that whole aura dissipates and you lose that feeling of wonder. I envy those just now coming to Aion, as those of us who have been here for the past two plus years have lost that initial excitement. And when you've lost that newbie feeling, then it's gone, gone, gone, whoa whoa whoa... Or is it? When you have played the game for a long period of time, you tend to settle into a rut that is hard to break out of. Log in, do dailies, do arenas, do dredge. Toss in a siege. Rinse and repeat. In the past, Wings Over Atreia has delved into some of the reasons to stay in game when things become a bit monotonous and we sludge through some of the more difficult times. But why should we sludge? Why not find ways to make Aion more interesting when you hit that plateau? Some players have done just that. A little creativity (and sometimes some really insane friends) can really make a difference and bring back that newbie feeling -- or at least make things interesting while adding some variety to gaming.
Behind the Curtain: Something Unexpected
More often than not, we tend to get stuck in a rut in our gaming careers. I've been quite guilty of it in the past – all of my characters in World of Warcraft have levelled their way up solo. I've decided to take steps to rectify this, by rolling up a new character, a Warrior this time, and I plan on making a concerted effort to get her into as many instances as I can. Even if it means jumping into the PUG from Hell, I'm going to force myself to step out of the rut I've gotten into in my games. My big lottery win hasn't came round yet, so I'm not yet able to play WoW all day long in my boxer shorts. Since I have to work for a living, my time online is pretty restricted, so I like to know that I'm spending it wisely, which means that I tend to end up falling into the same routine – maybe a couple of daily quests, a quick check of the Auction House, maybe clear the odd solo quest out of my log. It doesn't sound very exciting, and sometimes it occurs to me that it isn't.
