Tron

There is no such thing as a fair fight, someone always has the edge, and that person always wins. So no I don't want fair fights in my games, I want to win.

I do however want a game that strives to make PvP combat fair, and not one whose systems cause imbalances. I want to cause the imbalances that will help me win.

I personally always play as the opposite faction, or an alternate race to the one I inted to play at launch to avoid playing the same game twice. I almost always play the same main character class though, I'm just a sucker for casters.

@Berzerk
If we just grind mobs instead of quest then we'll get XP much faster.
So your saying that is an exploit?

The problem with throwing up the exploit flag on any type of unintended gameplay is that it squelches alternate progression strategies in an already far to linear genre. Players should be allowed to think outside the box if it doesn't abuse any glitch.

@(Unverified)

That seems like exactly the opposite of how the article said it worked. You don't control the boss avatar, the ai controls your avatar against your party.

@Deliverator
I don't think that players need to be rewarded for not being the best, but the game needs to be at least fun for the people who aren't on the cutting edge. If you login and feel that what you are doing will never make an impact, especially in a world that resets once the story is completed, then you won't be a part of that system for very long.

@Pingles

No, no, by all means judge away. This is the internet.

For me it would be EVE after 2 weeks on three separate occasions. I love the idea of EVE but after a little while in game I remember that I'll never be in love with EVE.

@redavni

That's interesting, in Rift, I do stuff in game while I wait for a queue to pop. I've found that I tend to only hang out in the city when I am busy scanning chat for group invites.

@(Unverified)

The article itself pointed out that this happens with everyone, not just girlfriends.
It seems that by the author naming this phenomenon after one instance of handholding it is upsetting you. It could have easily been called boyfriend, little brother, son, dad, mom, or Aunt Becky syndrome. I honestly think that being offended by the term girlfriend syndrome is being hypersensitive.

Another side of this, I feel that we as long time MMO fans actually "Phil" ourselves. When we start new games, because we are familiar with the genre, we have already a sense of what needs to be done. We unconsciously spoil our own games with our knowledge of their systems before we even start.

I think that is one reason we are always looking for new gameplay mechanics. We're desperately trying to find something that makes us feel like newbs again. That feeling of discovery is so valuable to our attachment to a game.