I grew up playing video games largely by myself. I have siblings, but we didn't have many multiplayer games, and those few that we did have were one-on-one. Additionally, I have been driven to do things by myself since I was young; I loath group work, and I prefer to do original work instead of piggy-backing off of previous research or development.
This is why when I play an MMO I tend to solo as much as possible. Pretty much the only time I wind up in a party is when I am forced to, either by the game itself or by some outside pressure, such as a friend needing help with a quest. When I play, I pay attention to the game. I don't chat, and I'm not outwardly friendly. If I must be in a party, I fulfill my role silently and efficiently, as I prefer to in real life. If a party member wants or needs to leave, I waste no energy in attempting to persuade them to stay.
Such antisocial behavior must look strange in a medium designed to bring people together, but that's how I am, and that's how I play. Frequently, it is also the absolute worst way to play.
Take your average group-oriented quest, found in pretty much every MMORPG. For an example, I recently needed to slay two large monsters in World of Warcraft, Luzran and Knucklerot. The quest description says you should have a party of at least three people. When I first ran into Luzran, I noted he was level 21, and I was at a very lazy 17. He was big. Very big. I stayed away from him as best as possible, but another quest in that area brought me a bit too close, and he attacked. I ran, barely surviving the encounter, but the nearby monsters finished me off before I could heal.
A couple levels later, I returned, with some new abilities, better equipment, and a more comfortable hotkey configuration. We were both level 21 now. And in a couple minutes, I had defeated him, entirely by myself. I laughed at the quest's description suggestion two other party members. The amount of experience I gained had less of an impact than if I had been at a lower level, but I didn't care. The prize was that I did it by myself.
I spent the next couple minutes trying to find Knucklerot, but as far as I could tell, he had gone for a walk (as he is apt to do), and wouldn't be back for a while. No matter, I had other quests to complete; he could wait.
It might sound ridiculous, or even reckless, but I tend to do such things rather frequently. I'm handed a quest that should be performed by multiple players, and I will power level and grind and optimize my tactics until I can complete the quest by myself. I've never liked accepting help, so being able to fell a large and powerful beast by myself is something of a point of pride. If I currently cannot defeat it without assistance, I will work until I can.
It probably makes one wonder why I play MMO's to begin with if all I'm going to do is solo the entire time. The answer is really not all that complex: it's not the opportunity to meet and play with other people that attracts me, it's the world of the game that I find irresistible. It's always changing. Patch after patch alter it in subtle or significant ways, and while I don't like playing with others, I find a certain amusement in just watching people interact (local and trade chats are often quite hilarious).
Some people view MMO's as an exciting new frontier, where everything is different. In all truth, the games are merely extensions of the real world; no matter how fantastic the game world, it is always presented in a form that is ultimately familiar. Many players act in-game as they would in real-life, and those that don't probably wish they could act in real-life like they do in-game. As for me? I prefer to remain antisocial, regardless of how detrimental it may be to my ranking; self-sufficiency is the only reward I desire.
As someone who has played/plays solo and with groups, I actually think you should try to play more with others. When I used to play WOW I made a hand full of buddies mostly for doing dungeons and larger quests (and for face palming at various silly Barrens and Orgrimmar chats).
ReplyDeleteOne of the most fun I had was goofing off trying to explore an area where the monster were at least ten levels higher than me and my two companions (me a warlock with a hunter and a rogue). We'd gang up on solo enemies hoping to snag some decent loot while just traveling for hell of it. Loads of fun came in the form of a wandering mobs that seemed like it was following us at different times. We joked around, boasted about how badass we were, and just kept wandering till we found a town.
Also good guild / alliance chatter can be great.
My biggest problem with playing with others in the communication part. I often have trouble typing while I'm in the middle of fighting or whatever, and when I'm in town I'm probably focusing on a quest or training professions or what have you. I've seen hilarious stuff pop up in trade chats, and I've been in hilarious parties in other games, I'm just normally too focused on completing my quests these days to care. Maybe if I got into voice chats or something, but I'd probably need to get another chat client or something...
DeleteAlso, I don't know if I ever mentioned it in any of my posts, but despite playing community-oriented games for several years now, this is the first time I've ever been in a guild, and it's only because it's required for the class. Otherwise, I'd probably refuse to even consider joining a guild until I'm at least level 50.
I agree with you to a certain extent on the enjoyability of doing quests solo, especially the ones that require you to defeat a boss, yet recommend you to bring in 2-3 other players - that's just not viable at all times, and you just want to get the damn thing over with, too.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the part where you mention that if you can't complete a quest, you'll work on it until you eventually accomplish it, that's not always an option. If you attempt to do an instance/dungeon by your lonesome, you are going to become so frustrated from dying frequently that'll you want to punch a whole through your monitor. A healer, tank, and a couple of damage players is usually the minimum you can get away with when doing a dungeon - and of course, that's where you get the best finds and experience overall.
Furthermore, I'm not the kind of kind to read every kind of guide and whatnot out there before playing a game, and certainly not one that's to the degree WoW is. Therefore, whenever I have a question, I will ask a player around me and simply get a quick response without any hassle. The community is full of good people that are there to help. Case in point, I bought a gylph for my avatar that cost me 150 gold. When I looked in my inventory bag for my gylph, it wasn't there. I thought I effed up at some point during the transaction of this item from the auctioneer. Before I allowed myself to get too upset, I whispered a lvl 85 who conveniently happened to be in the auction house at the time and I asked him why my glyph is not appearing in my satchel. He responded, "did you check the mailbox?" - who would've thought to run outside and check the mailbox for an item they thought they were buying direct from the seller?!
Yeah, I'm not always that social, either. But when you have general questions that can save you from minimizing your window to browse the internet, or ask what vetern players find the most optimal mastery to spec a certain class in, it helps.
I hope my words come across as therapeutic since you deemed this your depressing blog.. lol j/k.
When I said this was depressing, it was from an objective angle. Personally, I had a blast writing this one :)
DeleteI'll admit, instances are really tough to go anywhere by yourself. That being said, I have a quest in some dungeon that I'd like to do, but I doubt I'll finish it anytime soon...
As for asking for help vs Googling it, again, I grew up in an environment that nurtured research and am a wiz with search engines, so if anything I tend to look at finding the answers just as much fun as the game itself, and asking for help is akin to cheating or giving up.
I also rarely get help from people who are kind and understanding about it. For example, over the break I asked my older sister (a big WoW player and frequent raider) if she could help me select professions and stuff, as I had been putting that all off until the guild had at least a vague idea of what was going on. What happened instead was my sister started obsessing about how noobish the guild is, and she freaked out when she saw me use the keyboard instead of the mouse to move (so I like arrow keys, big deal).
In the end, her "help" essentially boiled down to "YOU'RE DOING EVERYTHING WRONG. LET ME SHOW YOU HOW IT'S DONE." Yeah, no thank you, if my choices are die repeatedly until I figure out the right way to do something or have a "pro" show me the ropes while rubbing their ego in my face the entire time, I'll gladly take the former.
I may be new to WoW, but I've got a lifetime of playing video games and derping around on computers and the internet behind me. I'll figure it out soon enough.
I, too, love reaping all the benefits that search engines can provide. I think people often underestimate the extent to which they can provide precise information they need in thousandths of a second. And the only reason I sometimes ask people in WoW a specific question is because if I minimize out of my game window and then back in, I run a risk of having large patches of pixels all messed up on the screen, and because I'm often in contested territory where I can't risk leaving my guard down for a minute or two and giving someone the opportunity to get an easy PVP kill on me.
DeleteLastly, how the hell does one move with the mouse? I thought moving with the arrow keys or wasd formation would be more efficient since your keys could be next to other designated macros you could have set up on your keyboard. For instance, extending my pinky finger out to hit 'tab' which targets an enemy for me is damn useful rather than trying to use my mouse pointer to target one in the thicket of an ambush or something alike.
What aspects about our guild did your sister find noobish? And no doubt it is full of newbies.
Eh, she was bitching about how almost no one is wearing gear with stat boosts that cater to their class, or how some were picking up professions that would not help them, or the fact that we have a lot of blood elves, etc. She's really big into raiding on a regular basis with her guild, and is often a huge asset during said raids, so she kind of has an elitist attitude towards WoW.
DeleteMovement with the mouse can be done by using one mouse button to click and drag the camera, and then either using both mouse buttons together or the W key to move in the direction the camera is facing. I've learned how to use it, but only while traveling. During combat I refuse to use it, and stick to the arrow keys.