Comments on: Purists vs. Hardcore

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:32:37 +0000

Valfogg, good points in there. MMO’s do seem to get stale. I too would like to see stronger relationships between players and npcs and just generaly between everything. You’re right that mmorpgs tend to be too kung fu focused. Like someoen said up above, they’re very linear as opposed to tabletop. However, this is not necessarily something that can’t change. It reflects the attitudes of many gamers – they actually like linear gameplay because it’s more manageable. Non-linear gameplay can feel a bit random and out of place sometimes, but it’s also something that can take away the grind and sameness we see in many mmorpgs. In the future, I believe we’ll see more non-linear gameplay, but it will come at the cost of other things. I’ve seen this b4. The developers might focus more on graphics, or media, or story, or world, or game, or accessibility, or system requirements or… The list is long, but you can’t do everything. There’s a limit to things. Nothing is free, not until time itself gives up its power to us. We’re at its mercy.

By: valfogg

valfogg — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:47:33 +0000

exactly, there are richer stories in tabletop and there are finer ways to mess around with your players in tabletop games.

well, to give an example, gm garamond still runs his exalted game every saturday or so. and the stuff that happens still cant be beat with any mmorpg.

interpersonal relationships with npcs and other pc’s is what is missing in mmo’s. not to mention i have to see yet an mmo that emphasizes social fu(talk your way out of things) rather than kung fu.

By: GM T

GM T — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:59:13 +0000

I get a different fix when playing tabletop. Frankly, I don’t mind the long hours resolving combat. It’s being with your friends and the stories you craft afterwards that counts.

By: Blackwolf

Blackwolf — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:13:56 +0000

Yeah, GM T, we sure had some great times, didn’t we? Unfortunately, real life is a byach. As our friend Glenn C. used to tell me, ‘Playing tabletop may be fun but once you’ve moved to MMOs, you’ll realize that everything’s there. You don’t need to work as hard at preparation and you can play anytime you feel like it.’

Sadly, we don’t get to play with the same level of creativity and imagination. Neither do we get to hone our acting skills. Thing is, getting a bunch of thirty-and-fortysomethings to devote even one day a week for a few hours of play isn’t easy. And if we need to resolve combat, we spend more hours crunching numbers for a fight that would last minutes in an MMO. On the whole, I have to agree that it may be more convenient on the whole to just get everyone playing the same MMO than getting them together on the gaming table.

My books and dice have been gathering dust for the last six years now. With the way our schedules are now, I don’t see myself taking them out anytime soon.

It would be nice to play with you again though.

By: issai

issai — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:27:47 +0000

well, i guess there can be machinimas even there’s no mmorpg. but it’s just fun to have mmorpg machinimas.

By: issai

issai — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:26:18 +0000

i think the motivating factor is the reward system. not sure about greed, but i love helping out lower level chars if i have enough gold.

i prefer hardcore, without mmorpgs, there’d be no machinimas. i

By: Noel

Noel — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:55:34 +0000

just wondering…was there an email-based roleplaying? cause I seem to think that between the mmorpgs played on uber comps these days and the pen and paper days, there has to be something to fill in the lag.