Have you ever played a game on hard? Same concept. The reward of beatting the encounter is more than worth the effort. Yeah some nights suck, but the fun of sitting down and trying to think of how to get that many people to work towards one goal efficiently is amazing. No video game has ever managed to reproduce the rush I get from watching some uber boss go down hard because I found a way to neutralize any offensive or defensive action it could take. I don't expect you to understand why it is fun for others. I don't get why people go to dog shows but million claim it is a blast, I just accpet they have their own way of having fun and wish them the best of luck with it. I suggest you do the same.

It's funny how people pay $15 a month for a chat room. It's actually a multi fold problem. Yes people can find that the EGC worth it, but as a social experience. The social experience is also flawed though. The EGC-SE is based on a group of people doing dungeons for the gear. There comes a point in time where the dungeon stops being fun. Except for a rare run. So the group moves up. This unfortunetly requires constant participation. If a players doesn't dedicate the same time then that player falls behind. Potentially falling behind too many dungeons that they can't participate anymore. This alienates this players social experiance since now his friends don't play with him becuase they are dungeoning higher places and don't want to be bothered with that persons appropriate level.

For that player to become part of that social experience either A needs to find a new group or B grind out gear. Which comes to the real problem with the standard MMO. These games are more about time investiment. So for those who can't spend the time it's mostly a solo game with occasional social experiences.

Anyways I still play on and off when there is new interesting content. This play style though is producing the above problem. I don't invest the time so I can't go to say Black Temple.

Heres the other thing. I actually get to gether in RL regulary to play Pen & Paper rpgs. In these worlds the players actions can and have defined the world about them. The world evolves with them rather than some static scripted growth. THe problem which makes MMO appealing is that MMO are easy to get into. Time work constraints dig into RPG time. Anyways given the choice between Pen and Paper RPG or Online I will take Pen and Paper.

I just started playing DnD in the past year and WoW and any other MMO just pale so horribly in comparison.

For starters, if your party wipes in DnD, you're dead for good. The consequences like that make those cases where you just BARELY survive not only memorable but epic.

Then, there's the fact that you can have fun for years with DnD with a single $20 book, and you only do it once a week or so, making it a minor time commitment.

@Smash_Brother

I'm sorry you are so bitter about the game but whatever. There is nothing more worthwhile that I could do when I play WoW. I could go to some bar and be misreable all night I suppose, but really why do that. If my friends want to hang out then I log off. I have fun playing the game when I do even though I long since retired from the raid scene. I stop playing every now and then when I feel slightly bored of it, but I always come back. You clearly cannot hope to speak to me with any knowledge or authority on the subject since we have two different concepts of fun. When you accept that you will understand why people keep playing the game.

Maybe World of Diablo?

Diablo 2 has always been heavily played online, certainly Blizzard would love to have months worth of royalties.

World of Real Life - Cold Turkey edition

Simulates real life in a way that you feel like a god for the first 20 levels but you cant get a level 30 girl friend until you get a level 40 porche so this may not be for casuals.

IDK, Blizzard announces things way too early - I knew about Diablo 3 almost 3 years ago.. in fact I read about it around 3 years ago when I was reading about Ragnarok Online 2... which is wierd because Gravity actually partnered up with a new publisher who in turn works closely with Nintendo, and as such they released a DS mrpg similar to how FFCC works, the market - which in turn led to a delay in RO2's release.

I know the guys who did Maple Story are actualy working like a 2nd party to Nintendo, and I believe are working on a DS title.

Alls I know is if Gravity releases RO2 or even a finished RO on the Wii my job and life are on hold until I get my gtb, with a 3 socket jur some skele's and a 1 socket ninja suit, actually 2 ninja suits could put a horn in that or a shield, breaker spam all day with house auger. ^_^

I used to play WoW and think there was nothing better I could be doing with my time, either. Then I quit, got a girlfriend and started my own company, none of which would've been possible if I had still spent all my time sitting on my ass playing WoW.

I understand perfectly well why people keep playing the game: the human brain is wired in such a way that "progress", in any form or flavor, satisfies an intrinsic need to feel a sense of accomplishment.

It's an evolutionary trait, because the humans who didn't feel driven to achieve a sense of accomplishment didn't achieve anything and as a result didn't hunt for enough food to sustain them and their families.

That's what WoW does: it makes you feel a sense of progress and accomplishment, even though you've actually made neither. That's why it's so incredibly addictive. They call it a "leveling treadmill" because you get a sense of forward motion even though you're stationary.

And yes, I left and went back a few times before quitting for good as well. Now, I could never go back to playing Wow again. My life has come so very far since that time and I have many things that need my attention, REAL things, REWARDING things.

Not trying to turn this into a rehabilitated WoW thread or anything, but seriously, quit the game before it eats up any more of your time and money.

I actually like mmorpgs though.

I will admitt eventually it does turn into a leveling grind, some times I wonder how people play legit.

I'd say though I enjoy them the price tag is way too high and the value is over shot by way too much.

Blizzard argues that their Q&A is top notch and it's what your paying for, I see that as BS, with the ammount of paid subscribers blizzard could afford to have 20 CS guys there making their 40k a year while charging players $3 a month, server maintainance and operation covered also They are charging 5 times that which is amazing but that's the value the users seem to be happy with.

From a gamers perspective would be the easiest way to figure out why they would play that. I could just say they're stupid but that wouldn't be wholely true...

I loved playing mmorpgs, I've played so many in my time as I'm sure many others have.. I'd scrounge around the internet looking for them and I'd go from each one in a matter of days or weeks. At least a hundered maybe two hundred mmorpgs later I see one thing holds true, they are all grind fests. The most successful ones look pretty give you somewhere to go and give you something to grind while your there.

I've always gone it alone in mmorpgs - after I hit cap level with all my gear I'd just lounge around in town and get familiar with the locals, most of the time they probably saw me before in some dungeon but we never spoke. Eventually I'd try to perfect my gear and get bored then make a new class or character, and then the downward spiral begins.

I'm very sleepy so forgive me for structure: Now I will take apart the phases of a mmo.

1. Exploration - This is more than just looking at the scenery this is learning even the GUI the physics and just core game play, this all happens while your leveling up very quickly and picking up on the game quite fast.

2. Goal - At this point you've set up your goal based on personality and experiences before and during "Exploration" the goal is varied.
There is a DnD method used to this day, Chaotic, Neutral and Order with that I'll split this up into Grinder, Enthusiast and Role Player. The traits just like in the DnD case can be a mixture of any two outside of Chatoic-Order. To keep the pronouns clear Enthusiast represents a person who levels with teams and so on, they join guild early on and they generally progress through the games grind features but are very social.

3. Summit - This is what mmorgs have, which for a video game is a very bad thing, some would think that with the social aspects of a mmorpg one would have yet another Summit after this Summit but that isn't the case, for Grinders and Grinder-Enthusiasts and some Enthusiasts. These people bought the game to play a game and though a mmorpg may not have a static ending a player can simply stop playing he game.

I don't believe the reason why these groups stop playing these mmorpgs is disinterest, most return to the game then leave again, when you look at outside the box, video games are on physical medium usually and an offline game can be replayed after being beaten many times because of this. It's not that simple though, their is the chat room complex to mmorpgs also which draws the user to stay longer than the duration of the gaming experience, which leaves a unstatisfied notion floating around.

Steppe - After the summit there is a Steppe this has levels of all the other experiences of the game and this is where the Grinder will find themself next they work their way down the mountain not realizing it and all the while looking for another Summit.

I'm sure there is more but that's just my break down from my own experiences.

So back on target forcing people to pay a monthly fee to play a game is telling people that they have to play the game or lose the value of their dollar. In a sense every second they don't play could be a second that they give free money to blizzard. Also the arguement of not paying for the month doesn't stand because you want to be able to play when you want to play, but not just waste 15 dollars on a month when you only wanted to play for that on day in the month.

 Sigh. It is really sad just how much you don't get it. Do you play video games? Do you sit there and kill the next big boss or save the trapped princess? I am going to assume you will say yes given where this conversation is taking place. Playing WoW is no different than playing Soul Calibur, Final Fantasy, or Madden. It is simply a game and a way to spend ones free time. You seem to have an extremely addictive personality and so could do nothing other than play the game. I continue to hold a job, go to school, have an active social life, and date without the need to swear off on specific game. Projecting your subjective experiences on the masses is a bad idea. Simply put, the game never has, and never will affect my life negatively. I spend more time reading than I do playing WoW and I am willing to bet you wouldn't suggest I give up books.

 Oh and to clarify the statement you are attempting to twist to your ends I will say this is the time I normally play WoW. Or if I wake up early I will do it. Or maybe I am meeting some friends in a couple hours and want to just kill some time. Or maybe I have insomnia and want a few people to talk to so I log on and chat a bit while my other friends sleep. I assure you that I could do nothing more productive with these odd times than just entertain myself for a couple hours.

@Gnizmo

You'd be suprised how many people fall into that section of addiction to mmorpgs.

Consider yourself lucky I guess, the thing about addiction is that you dont know your addicted until it's too late.