Singleplayer diehards: What would it take to get you to play an MMO?

[Meggiepants]

I did this, even though I thought I never would. Here's what it took for me:

--No subscription fees. We played Guild Wars

--A friend buffer of at least 3 people I know to protect me from the scary strangers.

--Someone I knew who really, really wanted me to try it. It was a favor.

Outcome?
I played for a little while. But here's the problem with these online things. I always feel like I'm grinding for grinding sake. After a while, things get dull. I think it lasted all of 2 months for me before I quit.

If they made a Fallout MMO, I might have to check it out. I will still need a friend buffer to do anything like this, though.

 

[Skratt]

A few things could help:

Get rid of the level grind and focus on fun game play mechanics instead of repetitive quests that are "Gather 10/20/60 herbs/hearts/fangs" or "Kill 5/10/60 zombies/farmers/bunnies" then maybe we'd have something. Seriously, if your idea of fun is spending a long time just killing mobs and you view that time spent as a challenge, you need to re-evaluate the amount of free time you have.

Design a system that lets you and your high level friends play together, like a character template to temporarily scale back higher level characters. Or allow power leveling that is limited to 1 character per account per year.

 

[Katana314]

A changing and dynamic game that I sometimes lose would help. Also, some sort of reduced risk from fees; for instance, I don't want to pay the full price for the game itself as WELL as the monthly fee. That fee on its own really should be enough of a commitment; and on its own, it would have the added benefit of the game being relatively cheap if you don't play it long.

 

[Srdjan]

Well if they would pay me a monthly subsciption.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

A lack of Min/Max'ing.

 

[KiKiweaky]

I was part of the "original" MMO wave: Ultima Online (yes there were some MUDs and Meridian 59, but UO begot EQ begot WoW.)

I have slowly lost interest in MMORPGs playing each less. Why? Well, I think it has to do with what made UO awesome: consequences. That game was freaking hardcore in its original form. Anyone could attack you, kill you, and take everything from your corpse if they were strong enough or in a group. When I first got the game I attacked a good person, thus becoming evil. Then anyone could attack me without fear of karmic retribution. I couldn't even enter a town without the NPC guards attacking me. You faced harsh penalties and you had to live with the consequences.

That's what's missing from MMOs these days: the consequences. I had to start a new character in UO because I wrecked my first. It was harsh, unforgiving, and so damn rewarding. You actually felt like you survived things. I sweated while playing that game.

For all intents and purposes modern MMOs (and even online shooters, etc) are just chat rooms. Most people playing WoW would probably be just as happy playing Oblivion or Fallout 3 in a chat room with other people playing the same game. There's no real penalty to death, it's just a little inconvenient having to find your corpse. Without the penalty and the urge to survive they might as well just have a "save/load" button.

Oh, I got on a nostalgic rant there. Basically, I want an MMO with real consequences, then I'll start playing again.

Try eve online, lose your ship? Cant pay for a new one? Tough haha, there's some epic story on that somewhere about people who spent a year of their time infiltrating a large corporation and then tearing its heart out.

I only played for a few days, but it was well too involved for me :/

 

[DreadfulSorry]

If there weren't monthly fees, and if I could play with people who weren't a bunch of hooting dickweeds, I'd consider playing an MMO. But then, this magical MMO would probably only exist in the Fairy Unicorn Kingdom, and the cost of living there is outrageous.

 

[CK76]

An MMO with a truly living world (this is near impossible).

Someone kills that dragon, it is dead, sure other species may move in, but it is dead. It took all the sense of accomplishment out of it for when I tried a MMO and killed big enemy and line of people waiting for it to respawn and kill it.

Time passes, cities grow, empires fall, species hunted to extinction. One server world would be complete opposite of another. The gamers define the world which is only a canvass.

Essentially it would be the MMO Lionhead would promise and then come 2% to delivering.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No subscriptions fees and for the other players not to be dipshits.

 

[steam_marc]

For me, it'd have to be free after purchase. If it were something like Team Fortress 2 on a larger scale (assuming TF2 isn't already an MMO), then I would definitely play. Oh, and I'd have to have decent internet.

 

[blalien]

Mandatory age verification and the requirement that all players be out of high school. Also, a basic literacy and personality test.

Seriously, other people are what keep me away from multiplayer games.

 

[Trifixion]

1. No monthly charge
2. No advertisements
3. Immediately perma-ban people who have names like n00bkilla
4. Immediately perma-ban people who communicate in 1337speak
5. Immediately perma-ban griefers
6. Immediately perma-ban gold farmers
7. Immediately perma-ban hackers
8. Immediately perma-ban spawn campers
9. No ranking boards
10. etc ad infinitum ad nauseum

 

[latenightapplepie]

An obscenely large cash gratuity.

Probably this.

I don't like people, particularly other gamers, enough to want to participate in a shared game universe. I guess I'm just not good at sharing. Or socialising. Whatever.

 

[Jamiemitsu]

No monthly fees, better gameplay, faster level ups.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

For me to play an MMO it would take a couple of things.

1: No monthly charge

...

the monthly charge is the main thing actually. I hate the idea of paying for a game after having paid for it in order to play it. I can't really play MMO's due to poor internet connection as well but that's nothing the game developers have any control over. I've tried a couple of free MMOs like the Fusion Fall trial and, Silkroad but they couldn't hold my attention. I would play those alone anyway xD I would prefer playing a GTA, Star Wars, Fallout, Resident Evil or, Elder Scrolls MMO. On a final note I didn't play Final Fantasy XI because it is an MMO so, not all franchises would be good MMO's

this.this.this.this.this

i refuse to play with monthly charge

i am however...unfortunately...going to be getting the old republic, due to its star wars, and bioware, so i will be trying it out, so at least one month shall be charged but i HIGHLY doubt i will pay after that, i hate monthly fees for one fucking game, thats horseshit