The Daily Grind: What kills your confidence in a game before you play it?

What turns me off to most MMO's out there is the IP business model that continues the open ended world with which we live in - virtually. In this day and age most of us can't afford food let alone an online subscription. It would be nice to see the hybrid subscriptions/microtransactions model adopted within the genre.

No open beta is definitely a turn off. I should be able to take a game for a test run, that's why demo's exist and an open beta is as much a demo for a mmo as it is about bug fixing. Alternatively no trial account option. Lets face it if the product is good i will buy it.

Community can be a turn off too. If i play an MMO it's because i have some interest in the genre of the game. I am a PvE player with only a passing interest in PvP. I am in it for the immersion, the story and the experience. If all i hear in the community is whiners who constantly talk Tank, Healer, DPS, and have no interest in the genre i find it off putting. I am not interested in whether game A. has a good DPS class and a crappy tank class. I don't give a crap about wow-clone mmo class mechanics. If i am playing LoTR i don't want to hear about tanks, there are no 'tanks' in middle earth. Likewise if i am playing in a Star wars mmo i expect a tank to have a gun turret and possibly run on tracks. So communities that focus on game mechanics over the game genre and have little or no interest in story and immersion are very off putting.

Somone should make a mmo with no specific genre, plain avatars, no artwork, no story and no races. Classes should be called tank or healer or whatever and all the pvp folks can go play it and let those who want to experience the game world do so in peace.

Naming Conventions. Believe it or not i like MMO's that do not permit players to have wanker names "like l33tFluFFyBunniz" or "meow" such names should be the sole province of the above mentioned no-genre mmo.

System Specs/Graphics. I am surprised no one mentioned this, I gotto say i am always disjointedness when i see another low spec MMO with low grade graphics. Or arty-wow clone that claims it's "art" not low spec graphics. For god sakes give me a MMO that looks as good as a shooter. That's one thing Funcom and AoC got spot on! Bloody good graphics that reward gamers who have high end specc'ed rigs. I feel so "oh here we go again" whenever I see a mmo in development that fails to challenge this steriotype.

Everyone keeps mentioning certain developers and publishers as turn offs. I don't really care, to be honest - I'll be a bit more wary, to be sure, but still pay close attention to it. Same with 'hardcore;' I enjoy the PvP aspect in EVE, and intend to try Mortal Online at very least.

Major confidence killers -
- doing the same thing everyone else is doing. Used to be (and still is, in some regards) WoW that everyone was copying. The new thing seems to be 'classless' MMO's. EVE did it, a few indie games were doing it, and it was cool, and final fantasy XIV looks like it's doing it, and then Funcom hopped on board and is doing the same thing with 'The Secret World.' I have no problem with going classless, just don't do it because everyone else is.

- there's nothing new under the sun. So we might as well just repackage an old concept with one or two new things, call it good, ship it.

- the game seems to lack a 'spark,' or just a generally creative soul. I picked GW back up because I missed it - I missed fighting across Tyria, missed walking around the torched remnants of Old Ascalon, missed the Fissure of Woe. I don't miss Tatooine. I don't miss Middle-Earth. Nor do I have fond memories of either. And I didn't play Aion or Champions because neither of them seemed inspired or different.

- too much emphasis on the casual gamer. Heck, I'm right there with you - I don't have that much time to spend on gaming. But I don't want to be molly-coddled, for pete's sake. Give me a challenge.

Low Spec MMO Game/Graphic engines. Alot of MMO players hated AoC because of it, well I loved funcom for pushing the envelope on this one. Give me a MMO that looks as good as AoC or don't waste my time.

I abhor low spec graphic games that try and pass themselves off as being Arty. Please don't waste my time with the spin. If it's low spec graphics it is only for one reason and we all know it's about expanded subscriber base.

Lack of Solo Player & Small Party support. If the focus is on content that can not be solo'd or played with small parties then frankly why bother. I have little interest in being forced into a guild i have no real commitment to just so i can access content that would otherwise be locked to me as a solo or duo player.

I think the three biggest turnoffs in a new MMO are (in order of importance for ME):

1. Lots of PvP Content (also 'Faction Play')
2. From the makers of
3. Action-Oriented
4. Free-to-Play/Micro-Transaction Based

#1 because I am into the MMO's for Co-opertive play, and I will openly admit that I don't enjoy being Ganked or otherwise stalked by my fellow players while questing for something that doesn't even ENVOLVE them.

Example of #1: Mostly EVE as the worst example. But World of Warcraft comes into this two unless you stay away from some of the content.

#2 because the mentality of the asian MMO/online game market is very, very, very different from the way the 'western' culture handles things. This includes 'click to move' as that is a very, very basic requirement of many of those games due to the cybercafe style of play in that part of the world.

Example of #2: Linage. There's a locked in style of play to these games. If you want to play the healer, you are locked in to playing a specific looking character, usually female, and usually she automatically doesn't get along with one of the other four. The designers of the game often determine everything about your character, not you, the player. I know I am over simplifying here, but I am just trying for the general idea.

#3 because it usually means things are going way too fast for an old stodgy codger like myself. I am getting old. I can't twitch and jump and do a lot of the funky moves of the 'action oriented' game, and the 13-year-old over in the corner is going to start the game after I have been playing in for months and in a WEEK he is going to be at the level cap.

Example for #3: Sad to say it: Champions Online. They have worked so hard to make sure things are always going on, that they seem to have forgotten about the player's character sometimes. The action in a zone is often totally ignoring the player. Worst example is the Canada choice after 'you' stop the invasion in the city. There's a open mission that spawns zombies in the center of the base, right next to where newbies HAVE to go to get their first new powers and travel power. And those zombies will attack and defeat many newbies that don't yet know what is going on before they can even get those new powers. And then the toon respawns either back up where they entered the zone, or right nearby and the zombies will attack them again! This comes from the attempt to give an 'action' feel to the game, and bad design.

In trying to make things Action-Oriented, they often make game design choices that seem to forget the player is there.

#4 because USUALLY it means, especially when combined with any two of the others, that you can sorta kinda play the game without paying anything, but the FACT is that to properly play the game you are going to have to pay through the nose and keep paying.

Example of #4: Perfect World International. It's free to play. It's rather good looking in the graphics department. And you can actually PLAY the game quite a while without paying a dime. However, you will really NEED to pay for more bank space, more pack space, more and better items, especially if you solo. Oh, and if you want to travel anywhere with any really rate of speed... well, for that you either have to GRIND through majorly tough instances which are really only possible with a group, or pay more real money for a good flying mount.


The Latest Free-to-Play Faction-Based Action-Oriented MMO from the award winning makers of Linage would make me cringe. I might still play it for a couple of weeks, but I would likely never stick with it.


Okay, that's enough for my rant on this subject.

1) Anything with balance issue micro transactions (ie. item mall buffs/gear, retcons, etc..mostly associated with F2P models, but not always). This gives player with a disposable income advantages over those who don't. I understand, some call this "the way of the future." I call it legalized cheating.

2) "Free for all" PvP focused MMO's. It's supposed to be MMO for a reason...to help each out to accomplish goals and quests. Instead, we're to busy beating each other up and rolling each other for loot. This contradicts the community spirit of the MMO game. Plus it's just ugly.

3) Losing experience on death. This actually only makes sense when the toon dies, you lose the toon and all experience with it. But all games have it so you revive yourself after death. Thus if your character is immortal, and always has the chance not to make that mistake again. If anything you gain experience. So losing xp over death becomes contradictory to being silly. It's like losing a birth year because you accidently fell off your bicycle.

4) Games where you can't jump. You have all these powers and abilities. Your in a world of magic and wonder...yet your toon can't do the fundemental basic that even in mundane RL is done.

And there is no excuse for this. Other games have you even fly (even the cheese sandwich known as Flyff). Surely the devs can allow the simple vertical axis mechanic that allows you to move up and down by hitting the space bar. This is an immersion killer, IMO.

5) First persons position only. I mentioned immersion, which always a good thing...but some companies take it to extremes while not factoring there's a 2 dimensional monitor obscuring your view of full immersion. For many of us, this creates sense of unreality and disconcertion. We're not in the William Gibson world of plugging games directly into our conscious yet...so spare us the crap, and allow us to see from the third.

Besides I like to see what I look like. :)

Great question.

If it's apparent that there wasn't a great deal of work given to the creation of the world in which the game is played or that the writers are unfamiliar with the nuances of the world they've created. In other words, when it's obvious that there will be incongruencies between the natural laws of the universe in which the world exists and the system (the programming) that should support those natural laws.

For example, in Aion you can fly, yet you can't fly in some areas of the world. Why?

Sometimes concessions are made in designing a game and I can and will overlook a lot of these problems if the creators seem to have tried or are trying to be consistent and/or solve them. Otherwise, it just feels like they are trying to trick us into giving them money.

I guess another way of saying it is this: If I get the impression that they really have no love for their fiction and their only priority is to make money, then I won't install it.

Game developers, producers, etc. with reputations like Tasos, McQuaid, and Roper. ;)

If the graphics, lore, animations, character design and world design don't catch my eye then I'm not interested. I have to like the look of the graphics to want to explore the world and I have to be in a seamless world so I feel like I am exploring. The animations and character design are so I can enjoy the combat and the look of my character, otherwise I wouldn't care about the gameplay or my character. I have to enjoy the store of the game and thats why SWG and WoW captured me because I loved Star Wars and I loved Warcraft 3.

Sadly no game since WoW has done any of this.

Well, anything with an Asian flavor to it is a definite "no no". Then you get those over publicized MMO's like CO that you know are going to "suck hard" no matter how many times you read about them on game sites...

Asking for $50 plus a sub of $15 pm for a buggy MMO is also a good way not to get my business.

Made by SOE

Has one gender per race: I usually don't even play it then.

Likewise, doesn't let you customize your character at all.

douchbaggery plain and simple

I am pretty careful about which MMOs I like to get involved with so I do a lot research via reviews, and articles. If the majority of it is negative then I avoid it, but there are a few thinks that will set me off. Most of it is on basis of any technical issues the game has had. I also am critical of developers response to these technical problems. If I feel like they are avoiding the seriousness of it or dismissing it lightly I will definitely be wary. I do not condone superficial public relations in face of technical issues. I prefer a straight up apology and information when the problem(s) are expected to be fixed.

Anything with Brad McQuaid attached to it.

-Any game that has microtransactions (except things like getting a haircut, server transfers etc. that do not give the credit card players an advantage)

-Any game that makes me use my mouse for movement and combat

-Any game that does not allow me to fully customise my keysetup

-Any game that has 'fast-paced', 'action' combat

-Any game that has PVP as it's main attraction

-Any game that doesn't look good, imagewise or storywise (for new games this includes graphics)

-Any game that promises to be the next .....

and many reasons more.

That's why I stuck with my two main games for the past 9 years, AC and WoW without feeling the need to switch to another game