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Reader Comments (141)

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 6:28PM (Unverified) said

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@(Unverified) "It's a testament to just how interesting a game can be without actually being fun to play."

I play EVE and I love it, but this is one of the truest sentiments about the universe at it's core. I'm fascinated with it, and there's countless hours of passionate investment to be made outside the game itself, but there are moments where I'm sitting, waiting for things to happen, and start assessing just how much fun I'm having.
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Posted: Dec 29th 2011 3:52PM smartstep said

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I am not a game hopper. So if I stick to an mmo I stay for at least long months, usually years.

Still 90% of mmorpg I try quit and NEVER come back in matter of hours or days.

Nowadays it is even more that 90% as mmoprg's seem to follow "our game is about running instances over and over and we disencourage socializing" and microtransaction based or partially based.

I hate both things so...

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 3:54PM EventVox said

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There are lot's of f2p's on my list of burnouts. But I got burnt out on STO very fast, think I lasted a couple weeks.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 4:50PM Spacegrass said

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I wouldn't say I got burned out, because I didn't like it much in the first place, but I got bored with Guild Wars' tedious combat and invisible walls shortly into post-searing Ascalon. I don't know why people seem to like that game.

As for games I actually liked, I'd say Lord of the Rings Online. It's a solid game, but I couldn't get any of my friends interested, and ended up losing interest myself around level 20.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 5:53PM Alchemda said

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I got burned out of SWTOR after 2 beta weekends. I though it was a novel idea, but just didnt hold me, I stopped wanting to log in less and less.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 5:55PM deadborder said

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I'm getting pretty burned out on SWTOR already. I think that if I see one more morality choice twist in the middle of a quest that involves adorable orphans dying of cancer (or some other such gratuitous emotional ploy) I'll kill someone.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 6:10PM Skyydragonn said

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Beta weekend for SWTOR, less than 20 hrs played and i was done. Mostly becuae I ahd already played 5 yrs of WoW, I didn't feel like doing it again with lightsabers :(

Yes SWTOR dissapointed me. its an "okay" MMO but its not groundbreaking or revolutionary, unless your talking about the initital install size.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 6:31PM TortoiseCan said

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After browsing through the comments, I think it's pretty clear that Rift is the winner of "causing MMO burnouts" which I attribute to really liking, then really loathing a game.

I actually have the same experience with Rift. Something about that game is impressive, but equally depressing.

I'll give my 2nd nod to LOTRO - Although I have been playing for years, it's off and on. I get to a point where I need to just get away from it for months at a time. It's unique in that it keeps me coming back, and every time I am absolutely in love with it all over again.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 9:22PM HiroProtagonist7 said

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@TortoiseCan
I think it has to do with how long a game can cover up the same old mechanics and how high they hyped the fans hopes that they were truly different. Rift burnout for me happened shortly after I figured out that the 'dynamic' events in the world would always keep happening in the same places. Riding with a thundering herd of turtles was fun for a couple of nights, but then it was quest hub to rift to quest hub clearing areas that reset 2 minutes after you went through.
I have a lot of friends who play WoW and I've tried to get into it on several occasions. Got bored of LotRO, didn't log into swtor yesterday. I like the Smuggler's combat more than most MMO combat, but seeing the game lay itself out as quest-hub/map unlocking and playing the space combat really crushed my excitement.
I got sick of EQ and EQ2 pretty quickly too, but I'm currently checking out the Dungeon Creator and it's pretty cool. I'm down with choosing my own areas to grind if it's because I can go in and bring specific things back to add to my own little world to present to other players.
I guess I always assumed that it was more the MMO combat that wore thin for me because it didn't engage enough of me to "feel" like I was fighting, but it may actually be that same old quest hub game-mechanic. Seems like when it pokes through the immersion, I'm done.

I guess you can't expect to put a Ferrari body on a Fiero and expect it to feel any better than a poorly weighted Fiero.
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Posted: Dec 29th 2011 7:16PM Graill440 said

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Why does massively keep using the term Burn out? This is a medical emergency by definition and context, and i highly doubt any reader here has suffered burnout of any kind.

Use the proper term, Boredom, you become "bored" with the game, silly, but it actually makes sense. Using the term Burnout is done simply because you think its a sexy term.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 9:33PM HiroProtagonist7 said

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@Graill440
either that or they write it because 'burnout' has been used for at least two decades to describe everything from tired out athletes to hating PB&J because you ate it every day for a year.
Per http://goo.gl/Qej2p I guess they could be asking "What's the fastest you've ever suffered the reduction of a fuel or substance to nothing through use or combustion on an MMO," but I'm going with the PB&J thing.
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Posted: Dec 29th 2011 7:50PM (Unverified) said

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Less than an hour on some nameless Asian grinder. Friend and I were desperately looking for "anything" to play. That road led us into some of the darkest and ugliest corners of the mmo market. The games we tried still leave a lasting scar on my view of mmos to this day. *shudders*

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 8:16PM Jorev said

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I am not game hopper. I only subscribe to one MMO at a time or none at all which has been the case lately since there are not any quality subscription only sandbox MMOs available.
The shortest duration MMOs I tried were World of Warcraft, after two months I realized how much I disliked the themepark linear design and handholding.
I also tried a supposedly free to play MMO called Shaiya which lasted about two months. This was my first and only microtransaction MMO attempt. I tried it because they promoted a permadeath option which turned out to be a lie since they simply sold permadeath avoidance potions in the cash shop.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 8:55PM HiroProtagonist7 said

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@Jorev
Please tell me they also called it "Permadeath Avoidance Potion"
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Posted: Dec 31st 2011 5:08PM Jorev said

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@HiroProtagonist7

It was called something else. I don't recall specifically what.
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Posted: Dec 29th 2011 8:26PM sparkz88 said

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For me, STO in about a year.

I played and played till I had 6 alts at max level with max level gear, both space and ground.

I was nieve back then and it was my first MMO. Can safely say it will take a heck of a lot to go back now!

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 8:59PM Lockisezmode said

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Jef taking a break from swtor? Its not like he is biased or anything...

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 9:05PM Haldurson said

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It's difficult for me to determine which games caused me to burn-out,. There's a lot of games that I tried that I never got very far in due to loss of interest or frustration or just plain dislike. But for a game that I played from beginning to end, the quickest would have to be WoW. I got a character to max level (then, 60 or 65???) in about 2 to 3 months or so, tried a little raiding, created one or two alts, maxed out my crafting, and then determined that I had completely played the game out as far as I was concerned. It took me a good part of that third month before I determined that I had completely played the game out. I did anger my guildmates by leaving, but there really was nothing left in the game for me that was still fun.

I've spent less time in other games, but none of those caused me to leave due to what I would consider 'burn-out'. (DCUO, I quit during the tutorial lol).

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 10:40PM Addfwyn said

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RIFT, I got a couple weeks out of it before I realized I was just playing a more lifeless WoW, and went back to WoW. I really enjoyed it at first, went out of my way to read what lore there was, spent time on the forums (ALWAYS a mistake) and was really pumped by the end of beta. Then it all just came crashing down.

Bit surprised how many people here can play something like an MMO for a couple hours and feel they got enough to burn out on on. With how I like to enjoy my first few hours in any game, I don't think that'd take me out of the tutorial of most MMOs. It sounds like they just didn't like the game design to begin with.

Posted: Dec 29th 2011 10:48PM Yukon Sam said

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I was bored silly with Rift in under a week. I'm usually pretty grind-tolerant, being of a prospector/crafter orientation, but that game just made me want to claw my eyes out.

And I'm not sure why. It's not a horrible game. But it just didn't keep me engaged even as long as content-lightweights DCUO and STO (which is much improved over launch).

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