How would you re-socialize MMOs?

T

TragedyAnn_sl

shitlord
222
1
I mean, how would you put the social aspect back in. How should it be done?

DISCLAIMER: I've only ever played EQ2, EQ, VG, GW2, and LOTRO...oh and some hello kitty island game or something.
BUT. It feels like MMOs are getting less and less social. I never need to talk to anyone... I could be the only player in the game.. maybe I am. who knows.

What sets MMOs apart from single player games? The ever-evolving world and the -=community=-, right?

I think that bringing back the social aspect of an MMO will be what gets people back into an MMO and *excited* to play.

Wait, don't crucify me, but when EQ2 put in PQs, that was the most fun I've had in that game... AND the most social I have ever been in that game.
(I think I heard the PQ idea came from WoW? Ok whatever. I've never played WoW. It doesn't matter.)

The point is, it kept us logging in. There were like 5+ Great Divides. You'd gather around the PQ area and there were so many players, the whole area was lagging out.
But you'd be standing around and omg, start CHATTING with PEOPLE! "Hey". "Hey". "What's up". "Nice mount". "Cool helm, where's that from".

And I remember people would shout when they FINALLY got their PQ weapon. I still remember being so proud when my little bruiser alt got her weapon and seeing the shouts in chat "GRATS LILING!!" "YAY LILING!" etc, etc. Yea that was pretty freaking cool.
I haven't had another experience like that since then. They just let the PQ thing die, for some reason.
 
T

ThunderCougarFalconBird_sl

shitlord
547
1
rrr_img_46867.jpg
 
S

Silence_sl

shitlord
2,459
4
Lots of water with forced boat rides.

Mobs that took a group of 6 five minutes to kill.

Long walks by the beach.
 
M

Merlin_sl

shitlord
2,329
1
In Everquest you had no choice but to group, or you would be stuck at level 6 forever. If you wanted to advance, you had to group. Then, once people had a taste of WOW, you had people crying like little fucking babies because they couldn't solo their way through the game. And once again, devs relented and starting making things easier and easier and easier. Even Vanguard bitched out. The wife and I duo'd our way to level 50. Now its considered standard.
The answer is easy. Force motherfuckers to group. Force people to ask for help. Need a rez, ask a cleric. Need a buff, ask a cleric, chanty, Shaman etc...There is nothing wrong with grouping. Its supposed to be a fucking MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER game right? So why remove the multiplayer part? Then you end up with fucking GW2 where you can play the entire game and not talk to a soul. WTF is the point of that?
Devs need to grow a pair and start making games for people who love games, and not trying so fucking hard to make the game everything to everyone.
 
Faltigoth

Faltigoth

Bronze Knight of the Realm
1,380
212
I think tuning down the ADD button smashing would go a long way toward re-socializing MMOs. You don't have time to chat with folks when you have to be constantly mashing shit. To me, that is the huge difference between EQ and WoW/all that came after...in early EQ, you had time to chat because you weren't smashing a million buttons every second or worrying about getting your rotation just right.

That slow combat turns off most everyone these days though, people want to play the game and not hit autoattack and chat. So it is a dead issue. I do believe it is a large reason why community in MMOs has degraded, though.
 
M

Merlin_sl

shitlord
2,329
1
Faltigoth_sl said:
I think tuning down the ADD button smashing would go a long way toward re-socializing MMOs. You don't have time to chat with folks when you have to be constantly mashing shit. To me, that is the huge difference between EQ and WoW/all that came after...in early EQ, you had time to chat because you weren't smashing a million buttons every second or worrying about getting your rotation just right.

That slow combat turns off most everyone these days though, people want to play the game and not hit autoattack and chat. So it is a dead issue. I do believe it is a large reason why community in MMOs has degraded, though.
Click to expand...
I don't understand the desire in MMO's to make them more like FPS. Run, jump, roll, switch weapons, now run, stop, switch weapons again, roll, dive, attack...jesus christ that's a lot work.
 
spronk

spronk

FPS noob
22,612
25,665
read "ready, player one" never want to play an mmo again, want to be cryogenically frozen for 100 years instead
 
M

Magog_sl

shitlord
13
0
I generally agree with Merlin's first point. Looking back through my MMO playing history, I find that I mostly enjoyed de-facto forced grouping. There was a positive synergy in a well run group, where everything just worked, like being on a real life team. Plus there was the social aspect which was nice as well, getting to meet and interact with strangers. What I didn't like about forced grouping were the times when I was unable to find a group and camping. A good group finder and dungeons that keep you moving forward and exploring go a long way towards solving those problems. Soloing, for me, was always boring and kind of defeated the purpose of the game. SWTOR was the only game I didn't mind soloing in because the companion system along with the well written story, and back-n-forth conversational, almost movie-like style interaction with quest givers made it essentially a great single player experience. I've never cared about the lore in any other MMO, but I absolutely loved the Imperial Agent story line.
 
Cinge

Cinge

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
7,015
2,081
You don't. Because even if you slow the game down or force grouping, it wont happen. People will still just use their VOIP to talk to their friends/guildmates and/or tab out to the internet while waiting.

Players have and continue to make the choice to do things as fast as possible and to not talk to strangers/pick up groups.

Even if you force interdependecy via buffs, utilities(rez/ports) it wont change, it will be ask for a buff and move on. It will be a one time thing.

I put the blame on players, who even in EQ days , try to limit their interaction with non-friends/guildmates and wanted to do things the quickest way possible. Nothing stops people from socializing in current games, its the fact they choose not too.
 
Drakurii

Drakurii

Golden Baron of the Realm
14,233
45,280
Merlin_sl said:
I don't understand the desire in MMO's to make them more like FPS. Run, jump, roll, switch weapons, now run, stop, switch weapons again, roll, dive, attack...jesus christ that's a lot work.
Click to expand...
Yes, if only there were a way to do all that while sitting down, smoking cigs, drinking beer, and listening to music all at the same time. Clothing optional!
 
F

Fish1_sl

shitlord
188
0
Just copy EQ. No auto-group making tools, and certainly no teleport everyone to the dungeon crap. Slow down regen so mana efficiency becomes important again and gives people time to chat. Get rid of the solo quest grind to max level, people should group up and go somewhere good and kill shit together and have fun. Don't let every class do everything, so people get to know the names of people who can do what they need, whether that's tanking or jewlery making or ports or whatever. And get rid of auction houses.

Stuff like that.

bayr_sl said:
facebook integration
Click to expand...
I lolled
 
A

axeman_sl

shitlord
592
0
It can't be done without reverting the genre's progress, and it wouldn't work because today's audience doesn't want the things that foster a social environment. How much success do you think someone would have these days with a new MMORPG that has no dungeon finder or market facilities, requires hours of travel, and gameplay is so slow that people sit and chat simply because they have the time to do it while grinding? It would be a hilarious failure. It only worked back when the genre was so new that these features were acceptable. Everquest and other early MMORPGs were not so much designed to have a rich social environment as they simply fostered it by being very slow, difficult and primitive games where constant communication was necessary and the pace was so relaxed and mechanics so simple that you could literally be chatting away in text while tanking.

It's a lot like real life. People used to socialize much more (in person, at least) because it was possible to do this when your carriage ride across the county took six hours and people had jobs that were so simple they could converse with everybody they met along the way. It may sound quaint and pleasant but I don't see very many people eager to live their lives that way anymore. Times change and so do the way we do things. Technological advancement gets in the way of personal interaction, both in real life and in games. It's no longer necessary or convenient to talk to people all the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.