Massively Single Player, Part 1

[Rigs83]

One of the reasons I quit WOW was that I needed help for so many dungeons and all the groups I was in sucked. I don't mind failing because I agro-ed a really powerful beast but I would die because some one else screwed up. I play DDO online and just buy hirelings for the tough dungeons, I need no one else.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't play MMOGs, but I would imagine one of the factors involved is the fact that there are fewer and fewer single player games being developed and the ones that are are generally shit.

 

[Alone Disciple]

For myself, the answer is multi-faceted:

1) Many a time questing while fun with friends you know can be more efficient solo. sometimes I feel when parties have to wait up for me, or I have to wait for them to catch up, maybe re-equip, or get distracted by side items like mining an ore or something.
2) Sometimes dungeons or quests can almost become too involved where you need dedicated people upfront. In WoW, sometimes if a party gets wiped once or twice, members start dropping from the group and the search for more to fill in becomes a time sink and/or a challenge for other peopel patience.
3) Rude players - Often I get spammed over and over to help someone with no please/thank you's, etc. Once the quest is over, or a certain section they need is 'over' or completed...they're gone often leaving you alone anyway.
4) Team member requirements....Often raids all become about DPS or "We need 2 tanks, 1 mage, and 1 healer"...not "Anyone wanna play for fun?" If you don't fit the requirements, you aren't even considered.
5) Too much trash talk. When someone in my team complains and complains and complains about others..like "Stupid Noob", I don't want to play with them. I'd rather play with a Noob then someone who berates them every five seconds.

There's more, but there's a strating pint to chew on.

 

[lacktheknack]

I used to play a couple MMOs, but I did it alone because every 999/1000 person was an ass.

 

[Wandrecanada]

Experienced Points: Massively Single Player, Part 1

What's with all the people wanting to play MMOGs by themselves?

Read Full Article

I think you also missed out on discussing players looking for bite sized chunks of gameplay to digest at a time. Sometimes you just don't want to have to group up with 10 other people and set a block of 1-2 hours aside to run content in an MMO. Players who enjoy multiplayer in some games might shy away from intimidating hour long grindfests or even wipefests where that hour might stretch to two. You want something you can walk away from without a second thought and without the possibility of leaving someone in a lurch.

We got things like Battlegrounds and Public Quests to try and draw those "solo" players in. From my experience in WoW and Warhammer Online it did a fair job of it. I knew a lot of people who were enticed by the bite sized aspect of these encounters. People who had said they would never want to PvP or "Raid" because of the hectic or competitive nature of the experiences.

Perhaps it comes down to people self reflecting about how they feel about their own experience in gaming. Group gaming requires a lot of the people who you surround yourself with. It puts the burden of shaping your experience on them rather than the game itself. No one wants to feel beholden to others for their gaming experience and neither does anyone want to be responsible for shaping their style to the benefit of someone else.

My thought is that there is one very difficult overarching problem to overcome. How can you make a multiplayer game that rewards both teamwork and lone wolfing at the same time, while keeping the game challenging for both.

 

[DamienHell]

Thats because (at least for me) trying to PUG in WoW sucked and I wasn't wasting time with a crappy guild, I was waiting till 80 to get into a good raiding guild, but with patch 3.3 PUGing is easier and has rewards so I've done nothing but do instances for the last 3 days, I've leveled from 77 to 79.5 (so close) and I've replaced most of my gear. So yes doing instances is MUCH more rewarding, but I'll always miss solo questing :'(

 

[Twad]

.. i would add that working in these games with others isnt always fun; in multiplayer many others can just disconect (for xyz reason), go away and to do their own thing, or get too far ahead in power and get bored with the other slower players
.
Working as a team is fun when you have the time and patience to do it.

And free time is a luxury for some people.

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

its largely cause most people are unreliable. partly from my loathing of every1 who proves themselves to be stupid. and finally, because noone wants to party with u in the first place

 

[Earthmonger]

I'm short on time so I'll be brief.

I'm one of those severely antisocial hermits. Sure I'll chat you up, but I don't want any other actual involvement with you than that. There are three primary reasons I prefer MMORPGs over single-player games. They are:
1) The vast world. As stated by Shamus.
2) The living world. Players alter the otherwise stagnant and dead game world.
3) Trading.

Another reason I play alone, is because I enjoy watching the story unfold. It's hard to do that when shouting orders or following somebody else's lead in a group.

And I've reached the point that I actively avoid any game that forces me to party for any reason, for any occasion.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

(It's common for old timers to say the word "casual" with a twist of the lip, the way you might say "sewage" or "plague rat".) They're supposedly bored lonely housewives who want something to do while watching their soap operas or reality-TV catfight shows.

Shamus, is there something you want to tell us? I'm sensing a LOT of anger as of late; and hasn't that last paragraph just been rather mean to both groups?

I tend to solo-play MMOs mainly because I like to relax as I play. If I want to be in a team, then I'll go in a team, but most of the time I just like to wile away time crafting or something and a lot of people find that boring.

I can work efficiently in a team, I just choose not to; and I really get upset with the whole PvE idea that HAS to be stuck into every MMO now as it's just another method for Mister 24hour stretch to rub his e-peen.

When you're sitting in the camp and there's a guy 5 levels higher, on a mount, with full armour and pets up waiting for you to step across that line; then you just want to log out.

Equally with the screaming know-it-all who wants to do his missions on top level, or the berserker who just wants a heal-bot, or the lonely fanatic who just wants to give you free stuff so you'll chat to him.

Give me a game with a medium population, a solid world and no "SUPER NEW UPDATES" and I'm happy. The scrambled non-sequitur world of WoW or Champions just give me a headache.

 

[SpiritMacardi]

Personally, I like MMORPGs a lot more when group play is optional rather than necessary. Because while the idea of a big, open world game that I can play with close friends is nice, I hate forming parties of people I don't know because 95% of the time they turn out to be total douchebags.

Even without being in a party you still have kill-stealers, bots, and people who gather up swarms of aggressive monsters only to dump them off on lower-level players. This is why instances are so nice; they let you enjoy the game with whoever you want without having to worry about other human beings ruining your good time.

 

[Tairneanach]

This article makes me very sad for the state of MMOS. The whole point is the end game content, not the leveling, that's where the interesting groups happen. People solo in MMOS mostly because it's easier and more efficient if you know how to level better than your likely groups. You get to the end game faster and then you group up for raids.

I've done this in every MMO I've played because compared to a good end game the grind is a boring waste of time. The grouping later is what makes the soloing worth it.

Just like a lot of other things, that's a matter of opinion. To me, endgame raids are a terrible experience that I don't want to repeat ever again. By the time I reach the levelcap in any game, people know whatever the endgame in that particular game is by heart and just rush on. Yeah, in the right guild you'll get an explanation, but nobody takes time anymore. I like to enjoy the scenery, the fights, the quests, not the rush to the final boss and the bickering over loot afterwards.

I happen to like the leveling experience. It's the most enjoyable part of the game for me. I like quests, I like exploring and no genre gives me as much of that as MMORPGs do. Endgame consists of visiting the same locations over and over again in order to gain better equipment which is needed for other locations that you visit over and over again. Minuscula upgrades are not what make a game fun for me and the group dynamic in endgame is all but lost. No exploration, no discovering new things, new foes, new bosses - just rush, fight, loot, next. And that's if you are in an active guild. If you aren't, then have fun with random groups. All the problems of guilds and then some! No, thanks.

Oh, to me, the endgame is much more of a grind than the leveling in many games.

 

[Hellsbells]

I liked this article alot although it seemed kind of cut off at the end. I'd of like to see you elaborate more on your thoughts, but maybe thats just me. All in all still a good article.

 

[targren]

This actually came up at the perfect time. My girlfriend and I are looking at replacing guild wars with a new game once she finishes up her protector title, she's not interested in hard mode and I'm disenchanted after 3 years. Unfortunately, Guild Wars' instanced explorables seem to be unique since PSO went away. Any of you obscure game lovers know of games playable start-to-end by 2 people (or 2 people + AI like Guild Wars)? Free or subscription is fine (though free is always better, of course)

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I like playing City of Heroes. It has a very strong solo game in there, there are team based activities but I like that they arn't mandatory, the missions can be tailored to either solo or teaming.

It's why I don't like WoW, all the best stuff requires you to be on teams, and said team require you to have the best possible gear.

 

[Irridium]

I played WoW solo.

All I wanted to do in that game was explore the vast and beutiful world.
Its just a shame to survive in some of those places I have to grind levels...

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I don't know. Most of those revolve around loot, and I'm not much of a loot person.

 

[DaxStrife]

I'd like to share my solo MMO experience in another game, City of Heroes:
CoH has a strong thread of story-driven missions going for it, most of which do not require teams until you're tasked with taking down a super-villain. When you're in a team, you tend to be doing other people's missions, and at a pace that makes it hard to get into the story or focus on the task of the mission besides "nuke everything in sight and keep the team alive." It's relaxing to solo in that game, and because you can get into and follow the story arcs the immersion factor goes up. It didn't deter me from teaming with friends and strangers, but every now and then it was fun to log in and kill a half-hour doing a few missions.

 

[Sephiwind]

I fall under this category of liking to play alone in an MMO. There are quite a few reasons for it, some of which have all ready been mentioned by Shamus in his article and by other posters in this forum, and some things that haven't. I played WoW for a few months, but most of my MMO experience comes from playing Final Fantasy 11. When it comes down to brass taxes these were the three things that got me to the point of quiting.

1. Farmers- These guys all ways infuriated me. It's one thing to fight over a mob because you want the item to use for your character, but when you have these people who just spend all this time just constantly farming to sell the items in highly annoying. Also haveing mobs that only spawn once a day was ridiculous.

2. The Party System- This was a major problem I had with FF11. Once you made it past level 10 all your leveling was pretty well forced in party, that is unless you felt like spending a week or two grinding low level mobs. Once you made it to level 40-50+ you some times had to spend hours just looking for a party that you might be able to grind out a level in an hour or two. That is unless the party broke up during the hour it took you to finally meet up at the designated area.

3. "Noob Haters"- These people are what really turn me off to MMOs. These people that have been playing for so long and feel the need to call people noobs just because they don't know something about the game, or because that are new players. Many of these people easily forget that they them selves were new players them selves. Also they like slinging it around with out thinking that maybe they are calling someone a noob who has been playing a game linger then they have.

Exe. I played FF11 fro almost 4 years. I went almost 2 years without bothering to try out crafting because I didn't see it worth wild until I was high enough level to go and get crystals instead of buying them. When I started crafting I would ask around about what materials were needed to make items and one time I had a player who had only been playing for two months call me a noob and told me something on the lines that I should go back to the "noob area".

Now a I realize that much like in real life there are all ways going to be jackasses in MMOs, but it seems to me that the normal to jackass player ratio in MM0s is much more unbalanced then in real life. I may be wrong but I think this has to do with the anonymity of online gaming.

 

[lewiswhitling]

well, i dont know - i tend to play for content over who i'm doing it (or not doing it) with. If im playing an MMO, i want to do what ever will expose me to most content. And so i'll do solo quests if i think i can do them and complete them.. but i also love groups which dont spend hours accomplishing nothing and being annoying. I wont do either if i dont feel like im succeeding in something.