Not being currently addicted to an MMO is in one sense great, as it leaves me more time to work, to catch up on reading, etc. Not having a current MMO is also a bad thing, in that it feels as though I have this huge hole with nothing in it. I really miss my escape, my retreat into alternate universes.
SWTOR:
After my Inquisitor hit 50, and Phil stopped playing, I eventually cancelled my subscription. There were other storylines that I wanted to experience, such as the Imperial Agent, Bounty Hunter and Smuggler, but the thought of levelling back through all of that content, this time alone, just left me cold. I loved the story, but it wasn’t enough to justify a game subscription when we’re both freelancing (and quite broke).
Rift:
I inadvertently discovered that they hadn’t cancelled my subscription. When I first started playing, I had signed up for the founder’s sub which renewed every six months (I think). It must have renewed again for six months and I missed it in the bank account. I really hate subs that assume that you want to be billed automatically – I’d prefer the choice to opt in to that. Logged in, played a few times, but I was no longer in a guild, I didn’t know anyone else who was playing, and I had to re-learn what all my characters were doing.
Warcraft:
Since in a moment of madness I’d signed up for the Annual Subscription, I have an active WoW account. I just don’t want to do anything with it at the moment. I have, what, five 85s and don’t want to raid or do instances on any of them. As much as I still love the game, Warcraft is crawling with asshats: epeen raiders, Gearscore tards, the GoGoGo guy, etc. I rolled a character on a roleplaying realm, but nothing seemed to be happening there. I log in every now and then for Darkmoon Faire, but not much else.
Aion
Aion went f2p, which was nice, but again I think that ship has sailed. I logged in a few times, looked at my Templar, and couldn’t remember the slightest thing about tanking with her. Logged out, fortunately before getting ganked which always really pisses me off. Another factor in not playing Aion, even in f2p form: I’m very much not a fan of non-consensual pvp.
I miss being in love. I miss being excited when I know I have a full day to play a new game, and playing for sixteen hours straight. I miss that stage where you’re playing so much that it invades your dreams at night.
GW2 can’t come fast enough.
hey ravven,
I accidentally found your blog and I read your thoughts about playing mmos and I just wanted to leave a comment.
first of all: I am female, too. Meeting other female MMO-players is very uncommon to me ;) And reading your entry just gave me the “yeah! this is it” thought. I totally share your opinion!
I played WOW for a very long time. I met my now-husband there in the game. I did a lot of progress-raiding. It was just kind of a second live there. But I haven#ät been playing it for about a year now. Having 2 small kids just doesn’t allow me to bring up the ammount of time needed to keep up with everyone else. I do not habe a lot of alts. I don’t like leveling, and leveling alone even less. my husband is just the different. He likes starting new, having a lot of characters at max. level. What I didn’t like about WOW is what you described: gearscore, epeen raiders, the ‘gogogo-guy’. I had a great time there and a lot of nice memories, but I don’t miss it at all or want to subscribe again.
besides WoW we tried Lord of the Rings Online what was quite descent, too. I loved the atmosphere, the story. but the journey is the reward. once hitting max. level there was nothing to do. I tried a few dailies but got bored very soon. stopped subscription. LOTRO is free to play for a while now, I once in a while log in, but I can’t find back into the characters. But the novelty is gone, it is getting boring now.
my husband than startet playing rift. after beeing sceptical for a while, I wanted to try it, too. And I was in Love. When my husband was out of office for about 2 weeks we played the whole evening until late night,I even dreamed about it at night. Trion really tries to give new input, is fixing bugs very quickly and so on. I love the epic feeling of the zone events, where everybody has one mission. but when the novelty has gone, It’s just another mmo.
so we wanted to try SWTOR. I was sceptical, I am more the fantasy-type and not the laser-pew-pew sci-fi fan. but the story really dragged me in. I am playing a sith-inquisitor, too. and here’s the old problem: what can we do, when we reached level 50? I don’t want to raid ore something like that..but there’s hardly anything else to do, I fear. Guess I’m just tired of playing MMOs. But I can’t just leave it either.
P.S: I didn’t mention Aion (nice story, but I HATE open-pvp und repeating the same quest over and over again), City of heroes (oh so boring) and GW1 (not very exciting and diversified)
PPS: hope my english was understandable. I’m not a native speaker.
I’ve actually known quite a few female gamers in MMOs – or perhaps I’ve been lucky! Most of the guilds that I’ve been in have quite a few women. Raiding is a good experience, I think; it teaches a lot about responsibility, getting along with others and meeting challenges without giving up (everything that will serve one well in professional life). I’m glad not to be doing it anymore, though. Five nights a week, mandatory attendance…life is too short to do that for years!
Playing with a loved one is one of the best things ever. So many couples have separate activities, or they do passive things like watching TV or movies. I love being able to play with my husband – we have so much fun levelling together.
Now we just need a new MMO! :)
You’re right about playing together. Though many non-MMO-players don’t understand it. sitting everyone for himself/herself infront of the computer and playing video games – that’s not doing something together. (in the eyes of ‘outsiders’). many many also don’t understand how you could even pay for it ;)
in fact: I did know some female players, but the bulk was male. in the beginnings I couldn’t even imagine how male players could play female characters. and so I was completley surprised when the nightelve priestess asked with a deep dark voice for an innervate on teamspeak.
let me know when you have found the new MMO ;) but I think the ONE will never come. They are all similiar in many ways and will get boring at some point.