The Premise
Picture this, if you will: It is the summer of 2005. School is out. You have just woken up, sometime around noon, fixed a nice, hot plate of pizza rolls, and are settling down in front of the family computer. The dulcet tones of AOL dialing up squeal through the empty house. You have a full day ahead of you with no responsibilities, no worries. You log in to the newly released MMORPG, World of Warcraft, and prepare to make the trip across the world to run the Deadmines.
Life is good.
Like most MMO players, I miss those days. I was in high school when WoW launched, and I am now approaching my 40th year. Where once I could spend most of a day and well into the night questing, leveling, and having a good old time, I now have many more demands on my time. With a son, a fiance, a full time job, household chores, and who knows what else, the time I have to devote to gaming has steadily declined. That is not a complaint. I have a full life, and I am thankful for all that I have and where I have made it. It is merely a statement of fact to set the stage.
“Back in my day”, leveling in an MMO was an ordeal all on its own. We spent hours grinding out single levels, running across continents to reach dungeons, and in some cases/games losing those levels when we died. Over the years, that journey has changed and evolved. Now, the endgame is the focus, and games are designed to speed players to those activities as quickly as possible. Many players feel that this has cheapened the overall world of some games, and distilled what used to be a fairly social and sprawling world into little snippets of activities that are experienced in a more drop in/drop out nature. Games are rife with systems that promote FOMO to keep players coming back, and they often feel more focused on retention mechanics than on delivering enjoyable content.
All of that said, I don’t mean to necessarily paint current games in a negative light compared to older MMOs, rather, to highlight the contrast between the two eras.
Through these posts, I want to provide the perspective of an older gamer from the earlier days of MMOs who is attempting to dive into the current generation of games and capture some of the old nostalgia. I myself hope to glean some deeper sense of engagement by taking time to recount my adventures, my thoughts, and my feelings as I play. Personally, I feel as if the discourse around MMOs (And games in general) as become entirely too negative. No one hates MMOs more than the supposed fans of the genre, which is quickly made evident if you choose to browse MMO communities like /r/MMO or comments on MMO news sites.
The Promise
Recently, I made the decision that I want to bring some positive, and more nuanced, discussion into the MMO space. I love watching reviews by Mortismal Gaming on YouTube specifically for that reason. The channel as a whole is a breath of fresh air when gaming content has devolved largely into rage videos, clickbait thumbnails, and misleading titles.
In that vein, I plan to try a different approach to returning to an MMO than I have before. For the time being I will focus on World of Warcraft, as I recently saw the trailer for a new expansion, and I saw mention on Reddit of something called a “remix” coming up. Realizing I have been out of the game for so long that I do not even recognize these events or lingo, plus an expansion is on the horizon, now seemed like a good time to dip my toe back in.
So, my plan is thus:
- Start a fresh character.
- Reach level 10 and select an older expansion to experience.
- Level to 70 and jump into The War Within.
That’s enough rambling for one post, but hopefully this gives you, dear reader, a general idea of my background and basis, and what I plan to do here going forward.
Next time: The Road Less Traveled (Choosing Which Expansion to Play).
Grizzlebeard Plays 