[citation][nom]jl0329[/nom]If you've played WOW, then I am sure you know there is no such thing as "moderation" in MMORPGs. You are either in or not.That's why I am not even going to touch this game. MMORPGs are truly scary.[/citation]
Ehh; not necessarily true... Even WoW can be played in moderation (especially now that kids can 'buy' items instead of earning them... or so I'm told). When I was in it hard-core, ya, I spent WAY too much time... And I was the 2nd most powerful lock on the server at the time... But if you 'have' to be that person, then, like I used to, you have absolutely no life... After I got out, some of my friends started getting out also... Some had kids, others just didn't have the time anymore, etc. But one, with kids and the whole she-bang, kept playing, only in moderation. You're not going to be in a huge raiding guild per-say... But then again, all of the games out there reduced their 'raid' count... And most areas can be Pugged anymore so... Why bother. Jump on, pick up a group and go to it. Or join the more popular, ever-growing casual guilds and you can even still get some good raiding in now and again... (Just not every stinking night, over and over and over... )
But if you're (just generally speaking) a person who can't cut back on your own, then that's a mental problem you have to deal with. Even an addiction... I've played MMORPGs since day one... Played basically them all to some extent... From the ever-popular original EQ and UO, through even trying the betas for most of the garbage titles... Through WoW and... yup, I even had a SW Galaxies account for a short while (as much as I wanted that to work... it was utter crap. Wasn't TOO bad out of the gate but they 'updated' it to pure garbage).
So I've been there and got the T-shirt... Playing in moderation, even on games that don't natively support those types of ideas in some form, is entirely possible. IF you have the capability to control yourself... Will you be the #2 whatever on the server, not very likely... Do I ever want to be that person again? @#$% no... All that work, then they add an update and green stuff drops that's better then epic gear I fought months for... They can bite me on that type of dedication ever again. Plus they just keep getting easier and easier and easier... Never again will be the TRUE quests of old (Think EPIC EQ items... Did the mage quest for a friend and the wizard for myself... (mage epic was THE most complicated in the game) Talking YEARS spent on just that alone along with coordinating with multiple guilds for zone-wide takedown quests... THOSE were... Epic... WoW is saturday-night-cartoons at best in comparison to those types of quests... Granted, camping the freaking (insert most hated spawn camps here) sucks and doing away with that is a good move... but bring back the complicated quests somehow... Not random drops but... How about random puzzles and actually having to read and comprehend stories and such without a dang arrow pointing you to the next person to spam through the conversations...)
Sorry, I ranted... Forgive me... You can play MMOs in moderation... And they can be very fun as such. You won't be the show-off on the server but who cares... You want to be talked about, or just have fun?!?
For those 'afraid' of MMORPGs, I just have this to say:
If you have self-control not to play every waking moment, and enjoy a deep story, nearly endless plotlines, meeting new people (or role-playing people if you're a true RPG'er), Give it a try... You might think the pay-to-play item sucks but, they also have moderators who STRICTLY enforce no-cheating policies... Cheat and your account is banned... In some cases, your REAL name/credit card/email/etc. is banned from ever playing one of their MMO's again... That's what I consider the payments for. But still, you can try almost all of these games for a short period (or to a low level cap) free... Give it a try. No AI out there compares to a real-person on the other end...
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