why so addictive?

[rheric]

So I was up at 3 AM this morning, partly from getting kicked in the groin by my sleeping son, and partly because I wanted some time online. Logged into Ryzom and tried to find my way around, when it struck me how, before I started MMOs, this type of behavior was odd for me.

Never been much of a party person, and even my gaming habits didn't keep me up all hours. But since I started playing MMOs, I've noticed that my sleep habits have, over the years, become more and more sparse. I'm up later than usual, and often, when I'm not up late, I'm up before the sun and the rest of the family, playing one game or another. No other genre has this type of hold on me.

What is it about MMOs that's so addictive, and such a time sink?

 

[bjon045]

I think they are so addictive because of the social aspects they use, such as "guild" structures and directly rewarded time spent rather than player skill (for the most part). This means you can be a fat over weight kid with almost no social skills in real life but in the game if you spend long enough you can become the "most powerful" player in the "world" (ironically if that same fat kid actual exercised as much as he sat infront of his MMO he would probably transform himself in real life almost as fast as his online avatar).

MMO's nearly destroyed my life when I was in my early 20's. I stick exclusively to single player RPG's now, it is seriousily unhealthy(muscle decay and eye damage) to spend more than 100 hours on a single game/games in a single month (I made an exception for Gothic 2......). It wasn't until I had stopped playing MMO's for several months that I realised just how crap they really are. They are more like a second job than a game, were you have to work hard to beat everyone else (a ratrace).

Your "guild" is no substitute for real life friends, and that hot elven chick (possibly played by a guy) is no substitute for having a real wife/girlfriend. (genders reversed if your a woman reading this).

 

[xSamhainx]

The "addiction" couldnt possibly be the thrill of meeting and befriending people all over the globe, and going on grand adventures with them? Logging on late night to see what theyre up to would have nothing to do with any of that? Wanting to progress the character youve worked on, scout out new areas, and so on and so forth? I think it's just being part of something bigger than a simple singleplayer game.

Or you could play Gothic 1,2, and 3 over and over and over again until youre walking up to everyday objects in real life and mumbling "what with?"! That isnt addiction?

It's a hobby just like any other, and if you end up spending too much time, money or whatever on any hobby it's time to step back and look at what youre doing. It's easy for people who have never so much as chatted online before to get too involved, but gamers out to know better!

 

[rheric]

Yes, we should know better. And for me, a huge part of it is the social aspects, and the ability to adventure with other, thinking people, who respond in their own ways that are often unpredictable, and even detrimental! Exploration and story are two of the biggest things I look for in gaming, and MMOs, even if the content is poor, by nature need a TON of these kinds of things to do - much more than your standard RPG.

In a lot of ways, I think its just the freedom of the genre - freedom to choose what to do, when to do it, and where to go. With single player RPGs, in general, you get too much scripted content - AND when you don't (as in Oblivion and Morrowind), the people you "interact with" are just too artificial.

I'm pretty solid on why I'm addicted to these games. Curious as to how others feel about them, and why they might suffer the same addictions!

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Or you could play Gothic 1,2, and 3 over and over and over again until youre walking up to everyday objects in real life and mumbling "what with?"!

HA AH AH HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't forget the shrug! Too funny. I've done that!

 

[Maylander]

I have decided to give up MMOs because of this fact. I am still playing WoW, and will after The Burning Crusade is out as well, but as soon as I'm through with WoW I'm not going to jump into a new MMO again for a very long time. It simply takes too much time, whether you want to or not.

Regarding Gothic - don't forget when looting after killing loads of stuff and getting "there's nothing.. there's nothing.. there's nothing.. there's nothing there" because you click repeatidly on several empty corpses -> real life, anything that's empty will trigger such a scene.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

And when you talk to people in real life don't forget to poke at them with your fist