My Biggest Complaint About MMORPGs

MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) are growing in size, complexity and popularity. If you aren’t familiar with them, you should know just how Massive these games truly are.

World of Warcraft is the most popular game of this genre right now and it boasts about 8 Million subscribers across the Earth. Being that large has earned World of Warcraft some real grief. It’s been blamed for child neglect, violence, maybe even murder.

That’s not what I’m complaining about though because that stuff is bogus. I’m here to complain about the genre itself.

In the 80’s when I was a wee lad, science fiction authors began predicting the near future with a genre known as Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk featured virtual worlds that would allow people to interact with each other in massive quantities. MMORPGs are the latest realization of that and I think it’s wonderful that so much of Cyberpunk culture has turned out to have a real-world result.

What we failed to predict was how absolutely pointless these games are while at the same time demanding so much time and effort to create in-game progress.

I played WoW (World of Warcraft) for approximately 8 months. I joined it because I had two friends already playing. When I joined I discovered that I would not interact with them because they had advanced so far beyond me that it would be a waste of their time to stoop down to my level. So my journey began and I played day after day, minimum of 3 hours each day, sometimes as much as 12 hours. I had to reach the final level (70) so that I could finally interact with my friends.

What I didn’t realize is that it would take the better part of those 8 months to actually reach my destination. Imagine playing the same game over and over again for so long. The environment changes slightly, you interact with a few other players around your level, but mostly you are just attacking monsters that roam the virtual world, gaining an iota of progress to the next level with each kill. You look for better equipment so that you can be stronger and you do quests to slightly break up the monotony of constant killing.

For the first 4 months I was oblivious to the waste of time that this was. I would actually say that I really enjoyed playing it then. But each level is longer than the previous one and so the torture just grows exponentially.

One fateful day, I finally reached level 70. There would be no next level. I would not need to kill monsters mindlessly anymore. I could finally relax and focus on the true task at hand…

Wait.. what is the true task at hand? What was the purpose of me going through all that? I hit the last level, did I finish the game?

There’s no ending sequence.

I consulted my friend. He informed me that at this level it’s more about player vs player combat, and finding the best equipment. I don’t wanna do that. I hit the last level and I still have to hunt for stuff? It keeps getting harder and harder still? I have to get all these special requirements now to explore new areas?

F that! I wasted 8 frickin months of my life playing this crap. I spent $15 each of those months on this crap. I lost valuable hours of each day that I could’ve spent working on my artwork, meeting people in real life, not caring about virtual armor with magical enchantments.

I was so ashamed and so disappointed. I kept trying to play but it was just unbearable. There was nothing to look forward to, it was a tunnel with no light on the other side. One last time I tried to play and literally the moment I logged in, I logged right back out. I was officially done with this game and I wished never to play it again. I cancelled my subscription and felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

They make these games look so enticing. And they are truly works of art inside. Beautiful environments, complex algorithms governing every interaction, it’s a wonder to behold. Play it long enough and you’ll question your own purpose in this life. Are we meant to play these games? I’m a grown man playing in a make-believe world, arguing with 12 year olds through the keys on my keyboard.

My biggest complaint about MMORPGS is that they are as pointless as any game that we play, yet these games have no ending to them. If you’re thinking about playing one or you’re already playing one, take what I’m saying to heart. Save yourself time and money and get the hell outta there as soon as you can. There’s a whole REAL world to explore out there and it’s not pointless.

Oh and MMORPGs won’t help you get laid.