The Daily Grind: How do you recapture the wonder of MMOs?

11 years later, I recapture my favorite MMO by playing on an emulator server that mimics (pretty closely) the classic Everquest experience. (www.project1999.com)

I don't know if we can with the present model of mmorpgs.

They are too much alike and maybe we have become jaded since when we first discovered them.

I remember when I first got into WoW and it was my first MMO. I started playing one night at 10 PM. I told my wife I would be in bed in a little while and I freaked out to realize that before I new it the sun was rising and I couldn't see the screen well because of the glare.

Those days are not going to come back unless something radical happens in the MMO world.

Easy: Make them wonderful again. Remove zoning, global instancing. Take the focus off of players interacting with NPC's and put it back on players interacting with players.

First 'wonder' for me was EQ1. Then after some wandering I found SWG and joined my first guild :P. Then VG which was awesome to be a part at the start, lots of 'wonder' exploring and spamming guild forum with screenies in beta. Then a break, then Rift and yes... after playing from Beta1 I can say I found a new sense of wonder and adventure.

This is a very tricky subject, because I think we're our own worst enemies when it comes to this. We want games that are easy, but then complain when we're bored. We want instant "group me now and take me to the dungeon instantly" systems, but then dislike how anonymous it makes everyone feel.

And while EQ1 was your(and my) "first true love girlfriend/boyfriend" of a MMO, for others it would've been Warcraft or Dark Age, etc. It's that special combination of the right game at that perfect time and that sense of wonder of the entire new experience. That's something that may not be recoverable without an equally totally new experience.

So I don't know if it's just that the recent MMO's are less sandbox and more theme park, so they don't have that sense of wonder to them. Or if it's just you can't recapture that "first" experience when you were a wide eyed fledgling elf in awe of the city of Kelethin.

@Paradigm68

That was / is VG :)

This is something I've been thinking about myself, and it's interesting that this topic shows up today when just yesterday I returned to my first MMO ever, Dark Age of Camelot, to see if I can find out what exactly makes it so special in my mind.

I think there are a few things that can go into the loss of that feeling. I think a big one for me these days is that, when I get into a MMO, I make it my main hobby and devour any information I can on it. I read the forums and look up any wikis on it to find things like what classes aren't so good, how I should "spec," and things new players should look out for. It definitely helps get me off to a good start from a power gaming point of view, but I'm thinking it also does a lot to get rid of some of that "magic" when you experience the game off the balls of your feet and make mistakes. Now that I think about it, some of my favorite memories of DAoC were being terrorized by Wee Wolves (extremely small low level enemies that blended in with the ground and foliage that aggro'd from an impressive distance), getting terrorized by giant eagles that would pick players up and either drop them to their deaths or drop them in their nest, getting terrorized by a giant that punts you halfway across the entire zone, and so on.

Another thing I'm thinking of trying is not using any maps in the next new MMO I play (can't wait for Guild Wars 2!). DAoC didn't have any when I first started and getting lost was a very real possibility for me at the time. When I was experiencing it it could get to be really annoying, but that sense of accomplishment when I could finally find my way around areas on my own is what sticks with me.

Of course, it could just be age and experience. I started DAoC when I was, I think, 12 or so, I didn't even know how to type at the time. The genre itself was new a the time and the concept of talking to people online was still new to me. The entire experience was new to me, and I think it's really going to be impossible to ever get back that same feeling DAoC gave me.

I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though, it just leads to the same old nostalgia that everyone else feels :)

I'll get lit up for this, but until several friends at work got me into WOW 5 years ago, I hadn't ever played an MMO. Needless to say because I was new to the genre, I was blown away. Since then, I have become a little jaded and have had to temper my expectations. I really don't think I can recapture that feeling because I believe that me being a noob to the situation made it all the more exciting. After a couple years went by I began to understand why some people were telling me they wish they could have the same experience because they were not new to it. It really helped too that I fell into a great group. What an experience!

Call me a pessimist but I don't think it's ever really possible again.

I believe the "golden age" of MMO's that every remembers so fondly was a product of timing. The right products at the right time in your MMO history. I'd be willing to bet the the golden age for most people is the first MMO they played or enjoyed. This is no coincidence.

Once you've passed that point and see countless other games come and go, once you've become so used to the mechanics, worlds, systems and design of MMOs, seeing a new one doesn't hold the same wonder.

The Golden Age that vets fondly remember can no longer exist in today's MMO market. Its grown to big and there are to many people and to much money involved.

OH my god!

Orc centurions in oasis of marr..
memories