Getting into clans in MMOs

[exobook]

I'm wondering if I should get into clans in the MMO I play (in this case world of tanks).

However I don't want to really use VOIP systems or anything like Teamspeak. I just want to stick to keyboard text chat.

Really all I want out of this is people to play the game with me. I've tried out some of the other free to play RPGs and all of them seem designed around forcing you to be in a party. I don't want a social experience or personal interaction, mainly I just want people to help fight boss A or beat mission B.

So am I just unsuited to social gaming or are there people like me out there as well?

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I can't speak for World of Tanks, but I was an assistant raid leader in World of WarCraft for a few years. It really depends on your objectives, and how serious you are about accomplishing them. We had a few raiders who didn't want to participate on Ventrilo, which was fine by us, but we still required them to listen in with the rest of us if they wanted a raid spot. We didn't do it to be assholes or anything, it's just difficult to coordinate in the heat of battle via text. It just takes too long, and any time spent typing is time not spent doing one's job within the raid group.

That said, I was originally in your shoes. During pre-expansion World of WarCraft I played the game with only one other person, who I knew in real life. I had zero interest in the social aspect and zero interest in raiding. A few days after the first expansion, Burning Crusade, went live I was playing some PvP with my Holy Paladin. I was playing Warsong Gultch (capture the flag), and the flag runner that I was healing happened to be from the same realm and invited me to heal in his raid group that night since one of their healers had to bail. I had nothing better to do that night, so I tagged along. I ended up having a whole lot of fun, became a prominent figure within an upper-tier raiding guild for a few years, and even though I don't play World of WarCraft anymore I still keep in touch with a bunch of my former guildmates. Never once had any regrets.

Finding the right group of people is definitely key. Falling in with a crowd you don't care much for isn't going to make the social side of MMOs any better.