Lemme get straight to the point- I don't like MMOs, and here's why. I am not biased in the least, and my word is law.
Levelling
MMORPGs require hours and hours of grinding to make any sort of real progress in game, whereas single player RPGs don't usually take too long to advance in-game. Very many MMORPGers use macro programs to either play for them or make the game a little easier for them because it really takes a ridiculously long time to get anywhere. But what's the point of having some application play for you? Isn't the whole point of games to play them? Well, some chinese people make a couple dollars a day by farming e-gold.
Community
The one reason why many people play MMOs as opposed to conventional solo RPGs is because of the added human interaction. However, most MMORPGs have awful communities full of obese, immature, introverted, narcissistic teens, mainly male, who are more concerned with their game status and e-loot than anything else. Single player RPG forums tend to have more mature posters than MMOs, because those who are so desperate for human interaction that they seek it out in a video game are not very well-rounded or socially successful people. MMORPG forums have really interesting topics such as ones like "nerf class X", "____ scammed me :'(", "WTB +8 enchanted greatsword 900G!", "High DPS tank LFG", "buff warriors, they can't hold agro", and so on... All things revolving around the game and all completely devoid of intelligent thought. Regular RPG forums dicuss a broader range of criteria, with threads about mods and other things not necessarily related to the game itself. I've also noticed that people who play single player RPGs as opposed to MMOs are typically kinder and more civil than those who play online games because it isn't as stpudily competitive. There's othing wrong with competition, but when the competition is to see who can waste more of their life playing a trivial game, then it's pointless and stupid.
Gameplay
MMORPGs- kill 999999 wolves and advance to level 2! Then at level 2, you can kill dire wolves! They look exactly the same because the developers like to save time by recycling and rehashing gameplay to create more and more time sinks so that players will keep on paying their monthly fees. But why bother levelling? Well, so you can get money faster! Why do you need money? To buy better weapons! Why are weapons needed? To level up faster! Notice a pattern here? RPGs usually have less levelling to do than in MMOs and there is more emphasis on strategy and quests rather than epic loot.
In short, all MMORPGs suck ass aside from UO.
Feel free to add more reasons why MMOs suck ass!
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Anonymous2007-03-13 3:07 ID:M71rA9dT
leveling:
Stop playing asian grindfest shit. There are enough MMOs that are not virtual work simulators.
community:
Just ignore or use as a source for entertainment - ie ganking people and having them whine at you = some lols. Just do your own thing with a bunch of likeminded friends - true, not always easy to find but the possibility remains.
gameplay:
True ... sadly this won't change anytime soon. It's just not economically feasible to provide enough fun, meaningful, properly bugfree content to NOT have to fall back on grind.
Although PVP games are a different animal here.
The whole instancing shit nowadays adds to the crappy gameplay problem too, all but a few developers seem to have been infected with a "LOL, fuck your immersion, we'll just use cheap commodore 64 as servers, but sadly for you they won't handle more than 10 players in a zone while being lagfree, ENJOY YOUR AIDS! Oh, but we'll still take your money." mindset.
Lastly, comparing any MMO to Ultima Online will result in it looking like shit, except a very few like Eve online (which has nearly the same basic game mechanics as UO) and maybe Dark Age of Camelot which is entirely PVP focused (yes, there is item farming and leveling but if you do it right you're done in under 2 weeks).
Fuckdamn, I demand UO2, NOW.
You just named the many reasons why I hate MMOs. I just either play singles players, like Phantasy Star and Paladin's Quest, or play a traditional RP with my friends. At least I know I won't get BS.
However, I did find one PVP MMO I like, which thankfully doesn't involve the level grind nonsense. Though, it is a bit slow paced and simplistic.
And your right, single player RPG forums and sites are full of more content. I used to hang around Blizzard's chatrooms and just flame because everyone was like "Oh, I have legendary armorz, now what" "I have legendary swords. Trade for armor?". Where as the single player ones actually offer alot, from tips to little things like in game BGMs.
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A French Anonymous2007-09-16 14:39 ID:E0KG1kvU
>>MMORPGs require hours and hours of grinding to make any sort of real progress in game
depends of the game
>>teens, mainly male
I'm a MMO player, I'm a female and I'm 23
However, most MMORPGs have awful communities full of obese, immature, introverted, narcissistic teens, mainly male, who are more concerned with their game status and e-loot than anything else.
I notice that a lot. xD They care way too much about their pixels.
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Anonymous2007-09-16 21:44 ID:Q29LlhVM
That's great - I don't really like rts games much, but I don't really care enough to write a giant bunch of words about it on the internet.
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Anonymous2007-09-17 0:40 ID:niPnA8oK
I had a lot of fun on my Diablo II days (although it doesn't honour the first M in MMOG). Leveling was actually faster than single player and the community wasn't that bad (it's actually much better than the average Counter-strike server chat, which is god awfully bad, full of whiny little 12 year olds who can't say much more than "OMGZ HES A CHEATER BAN HIM").
And HTF do you know they are obese?
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A French Anonymous2007-09-19 14:48 ID:XOOCMbOC
>>8
yeah yeah ... 4chaners keep telling me this ... I'm beginning to doubt about my own sex... But my tits and my pussy are real so I must be a girl after all.
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Anonymous2007-09-20 6:47 ID:owY8lP+n
>>12
A real girl wouldn't refer to their breasts and vagina as "tits" and "pussy", just as a male would not call his phallus a delicious cock, unless he's a faggot.
MMORPGs are great way to pass time and enjoy yourself if you are the anti-social type and who doesn't like to go outside.
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Anonymous2007-09-20 9:10 ID:ddcqnKpT
I can't agree more with your point of view...
Nonetheless mmorpg's are very addictives (fantasy world, music, characters emotions, challenges...), and it's hard to stop a game where you invested so many hours/days/weeks, it's like accepting that all the virtual stuff you possess is finally worthless.
And mmorpg's are really great when you play with friends for fun, except that when you are at the maximum level, you get bored, and you and your 3 or 4 friends cannot access the high level dungeons or boss and see any "end game" events.
Another bad thing is the continuous changes occuring in mmorpgs about classes, balancing and nerfing, you can find yourself disgusted with your now powerless character while others are all mighty...
Useless to say taht people are greedy and egoists, and no one wants to be a "healer" or any difficult other class that is not "powerful"
Well, mmorpgs are for nolifes, I'll never touch a mmorpg again in my life after 3 years spent on ragnarok and 2 years on WoW, I deleted everything and I'm happy with the offline console rpg's, and the online console games where everyone is on the same level, same equipment or same car, only skills in the gameplay and teamwork matters
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Another french anonymous2007-09-20 13:39 ID:ddcqnKpT
And I will add that mmorpg concept is to please the typical hradcore gamer / nolife
If he's not rewarded by some uber epic stuff he won't stay. I even wonder why casuals are staying on mmorpg's.
I dream of seeing a mmorpg for casulas with PvP battlegrounds where everyone has the same armors/weapons, where no addons are allowed, with high level dungeons opened to everyone with customisable difficulty ( and no required reputation or long serie of impossible quests costing time).
Maybe the hardcore gamers could be rewarded with the statisfaction of finishing these dungeons on the highest difficulty mode, and having a kind of color bonus for their armors / aura / title before their name
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Anonymous2007-09-20 23:14 ID:faunCDmF
protip: hate mmo's? dont play em. stop ranting
freemessageboards.com -----------------> that way
i play mmorpgs but i cant help but agree with yah, as a WoW player im annoyed with most everyone playing =/
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Anonymous2007-09-21 14:22 ID:N/L3mmnE
>>15
first person shooters are better, they really fuck up your world views in the long term, if you get good.
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Anonymous2007-09-22 7:16 ID:C4hNiaID
I do endgame on ffxi and I'd say the demographics are about: average age 24; 75% male, 25% female. From what I've heard WoW has a younger fanbase.
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A French Anonymous2007-09-22 13:10 ID:6DohIHsf
>>13
... I'm french (so english is not my natural language) and I learn sometimes on the internet.
And I must confess that because I read "tits" and "pussy" a lot on 4chan, I use those words more than "breasts" or "vagina". I don't care if a girl shouldn't talk like that about her own body.
>>31
no u
you wank all days theres no day that you wont wank so you fail
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Anonymous2007-09-28 18:25 ID:NPpTY+ZB
I will not play MMORPGs with a subscription fee. This aside, I haven't really played any, but from watching my friends play, I too prefer the normal RPG to MMOs. Diablo II ftw.