What is an MMO

          An MMO refers to a massive multiplayer online video game. This term most commonly applies to MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft or Rift. They are these games with humongous worlds and an extremely high volume of players active. I’m not sure what the exact number has to be in order for a game to reach the “MMO” status, but it gets tossed around when referring to very popular online games. League of Legends is sometimes referred to as an MMO, and judging by how many people play it this seems accurate. However, this article isn’t meant to just define what an MMO is; it’s meant to explain why so many players get into them… and why some never leave.

          The first MMO I ever played was Runescape. Lots of people won’t consider it an MMORPG because it’s a web based browser game, but the game boasts a record of over 200 million accounts made. I started playing it in 2004 and didn’t quit until 2008. What kept me in? I think it was the fact that I had never played a game like this. You clicked on the mini map to move, combat was done by standing still and swinging your weapon every so many seconds, you could train up multiple skills, NPCs had interesting quests to give you, and you could fight other players or join up with them. I mostly did quests as they felt like their own point-and-click adventure games. You had to use items on each other to reach many solutions and you also had to travel a lot. The world had a ton of things you could do in it. And yet, at one point I quit. Why? Because my friends had stopped playing and the game changed. It felt lonely, yet addicting. I quit because even though I could still do more things, it meant nothing to play alone.

          I played other MMOs here and there over the course of ten years. I even made some friends through guilds. The games took up a lot of my time. It didn’t occur to me how much time until I noticed what my entire day consisted of. All of my free time went into progressing in these games. Now I wonder what else I could have been doing with that time.

          The downside of this genre is that it can become very addictive and hard to break out of. When you sink so much time and effort into something, it becomes harder to give it up. The reason players invest so much time into these kinds of games is because of what the games reward. The sense of progression, feeling powerful and useful, having shiny trinkets and giant weapons and armor to show off; it’s the closest thing to living out a fantasy. The worst part about it is when you want to obtain something in game that can’t be acquired alone. The games are meant to be social and cooperative, but something about setting a goal gives you tunnel vision and you just push everyone else away. Sometimes the goal is way too high and takes an absurd amount of time to acquire. In my case, it was completing a raid dungeon in World of Warcraft. I just wanted to see the end content and defeat the Lich King, the main antagonist of Wrath of the Lich King at the time. It never happened. The team I was with was not coordinated enough to make it halfway through the dungeon. It takes on average three to four hours to reach the end boss, too. Even with scheduled raids and planning we still couldn’t do it. And I was furious. I quit because I felt I had no more sense of progression. The content was still there and I couldn’t reach it because the rest of the team couldn’t make it. When a game reaches that point in which the player feels no sense of progression, you can bet they will quit until they can find some way to win.

          However, that doesn’t mean all MMOs are bad. The best one I’ve played so far was Guild Wars 2. It’s an experimental kind of RPG where players can pick whatever class they want without worrying about filling in some role. The world was beautiful, the characters lovable and memorable, and the best part: leveling didn’t feel like a grind. I was content taking my time reaching the cap because there was very little endgame. All the focus went into the rest of the game. Players were a lot more cooperative and social, too. That was possibly the strongest point of this game: encouraging cooperation rather than competition. I haven’t played it for three years now, but I don’t think I will forget it.

          Hopefully this explains the pros and cons of the MMO world. They are massive, have lots to offer, and can be a joy when playing in good company. Unfortunately, they can be addicting and take over your life. Once you find an online game that you like, ask your friends to join you. You might even make new ones in the process. But once everyone starts to leave, quit. If they lost interest, eventually you will, too.