I can't stand MMOs because of the filler content!

[Rob D]

As an analogy:
MMO's and Single Player Games are as different (and similar) as TV Shows and Movies.

SPG and Movies have only a limited time to tell their story, everything is therefore condensed and made to give the biggest bang for the minute played or watched. But that also means often that little details are left out. DLC's would be Extended Cut Versions of movies, or even Miniseries.

MMO's are like TV Show, they are set up to run for a certain length, which means they have filler episodes or quests. After all, a story can only be stretched for so long and unlike a movie or game that depends on the sale of a ticket or the game itself alone, MMO's require people to come back to either watch it (income through ads) or play it for a while (subscription or store items).
Expansions to those MMO's are subsequent Seasons, where the cast remains but a new story line is introduced.

But in the end, some people love movies, but they don't like to watch TV. Others prefer the slower pace of TV Shows but are not into movies.

[Zenotetsuken]

Interesting explanation. However, for some reason, I don't feel this way in MMOs. If I do something I really don't want to do (from your examples, let's take cleaning the house) in real life, I usually get properly rewarded (my house is clean!). But in video games, how can I get rewarded? By my XP bar moving a bit to the right? By a few silver coins when I already have dozens of gold? Hell, even if I was rewarded by real life money on my bank account for doing such quests, I would still better find a better way to earn money.

I don't know, I just don't play video games for any rewards. My real life is good enough, I don't need any shiny mounts or gear tiers shown on my monitor to feel great. When I play single player RPGs, I do it for story, character interaction - it is basically like watching a good movie, only interactive and lasting much longer than 2-3 hours. When I play multiplayer games like Starcraft 2, I do it because I like to play some interesting custom map with other people, basically like playing Chess, only much more interactive kind of game. But when I try to play MMOs... I just cannot find any motivation to do all these grindy quests, to go raiding regularly with other people, to do dailies. I just don't see any reason to do it. Usually, when I once again try to get into MMO world, I do it for the open worlds and exploration which usually are quite lacking in single player games - but then, instead of open world and exploration, I get stuck in some zones with a list of "do X N times" quests I need to do to raise in level and be able to get further. It completely kills any motivation to continue for me.

The feeling I get is that MMOs were designed for the specific sub-culture of people who just don't feel like we belong in a world so dull and monotonous, and being around people who can accept the world we live in as reality make us (me) uncomfortable. That makes us very eager to escape mentally to more exotic and extraordinary worlds.
So basically what I am saying is that MMOs were designed for all of us unashamedly nerdy people who can get wrapped up in the adventure of possibility and leave our bodies behind.

People who are happy in their real life or have a lot on their minds generally have a much harder time fully immersing themselves in these worlds, and are much less likely to accept the new reality presented to them could exist.

I think that you don't like MMOs because mentally you aren't the audience that they were designed for. Nothing wrong with either of us or our opinions, just different chemistry between your brain and mine.
You don't like filler quests in MMOs, because you feel that games should be played.
I don't mind filler quests in MMOs, because I feel that games should be lived.

[May90]

You entirely missed the point of having multiple difficulty levels compared to one default setting that can't be changed. Apples and oranges. To even come close to dignifying a response like that I would have to tell someone to go do H Garrosh and then get back to me. Compare things on equal terms or don't compare at all. Solo MMO content doesn't have to be easy, but there are plenty of content offerings that are not a cakewalk. If you aren't doing that content, you have no right to complain. Pretty simple really.

I don't see what relevance H Garrosh has to leveling being braindead easy. Or have I missed something and H Garrosh is actually a part of a low level quest?

At the same time. where is it written that it must be brutally hard?

I get the feeling that "braindead easy" and "brutally hard" are not the only two possible options.

Besides, the poster you quoted clearly stated that he wanted an option for harder leveling, just like there is an option for heroic raiding. What is wrong with giving people this option?

If there was an entry for MMO in the dictionary, it would be "time sink multi-player RPG". I understand what you are saying about getting bored with MMOs in general, however you are complaining about the entire MMO genre as a whole and not just one game in particular, which to me says that you simply don't like MMOs. The obvious answer is to tell you to not play them. MMOs aren't for everyone. Just because you are a "gamer" does not mean that you need to like playing every style of game. As a fellow gamer, I can tell you that there are some genres I cannot stand, and therefore I do not play them. Going to a forum for that particular genre and complaining about how I don't like it is not going to make for meaningful discussion, nor is anyone going to change my opinion on how I feel about it.

In conclusion, if you don't like the genre as a whole, don't play it. The genre won't change for just one player, and I don't see the genre making sweeping changes in general.

Err, I don't understand how not liking modern MMOs makes the entire MMO genre not for me. Where is it said that every MMO has to have "kill 10 spiders" quests, for example? The fact that WoW, GW2, SWTOR, Neverwinter Online, Tera, Rift and Aion all do it doesn't mean it is a part of a MMO genre. But it can hint that these games are not very well designed.

The feeling I get is that MMOs were designed for the specific sub-culture of people who just don't feel like we belong in a world so dull and monotonous, and being around people who can accept the world we live in as reality make us (me) uncomfortable. That makes us very eager to escape mentally to more exotic and extraordinary worlds.
So basically what I am saying is that MMOs were designed for all of us unashamedly nerdy people who can get wrapped up in the adventure of possibility and leave our bodies behind.

People who are happy in their real life or have a lot on their minds generally have a much harder time fully immersing themselves in these worlds, and are much less likely to accept the new reality presented to them could exist.

I think that you don't like MMOs because mentally you aren't the audience that they were designed for. Nothing wrong with either of us or our opinions, just different chemistry between your brain and mine.
You don't like filler quests in MMOs, because you feel that games should be played.
I don't mind filler quests in MMOs, because I feel that games should be lived.

It is a good explanation. But it still ignores the fact that there is quite a lot of people really active in real life and still playing MMOs. And, despite what you said, I feel that games should indeed be "lived": immersion is, pretty much, the main reason I play single player RPGs at all. I just don't feel any immersion in killing 20 Xs all the time, it feels too unnatural. You never see anyone in real life running around and killing 20 spiders, 10 dogs, 15 foxes... You see some people hunting, of course, but they generally hunt a single fox for many hours, and that is, I think, what makes hunting so addicting to many people - I can almost feel that excitement when you have tracked some wolf for 5 hours and then finally managed to down it, it tests all of your skills and senses and rewards you greatly. It differs strongly from what you get to experience in MMOs: 10 wolfs you kill with 2-3 hits are right here, in a few steps from you, you just need to come close and bash them to the head. There is no thrill of tracking and hunting, no adrenaline, no sense of danger, there is just one big snoozefest. Themepark indeed: attractions are right here, just pay $15 a month and get unlimited access to them.

[Twoddle]

Everything in games is filler content. Hell, everything in life is filler content. All we need to do is pay taxes and die.

Yes. Once you've played an MMO for more hours than you spent in lessons during your entire school life you start to think, shit why am spending my whole life in a virtual world when there's a real world with real plants and trees and a sun. What a waste of life.

Stop playing MMOs there is something sinister and evil about them and all the other time sinking games out there.

[May90]

Yes. Once you've played an MMO for more hours than you spent in lessons during your entire school life you start to think, shit why am spending my whole life in a virtual world when there's a real world with real plants and trees and a sun. What a waste of life.

Stop playing MMOs there is something sinister and evil about them and all the other time sinking games out there.

I don't know. I've invested so many hours of my life into video games that, should I have invested all that time into, say, business, I would be by far the richest person in the world. I don't regret that however, video games is one of the things I really like doing and I would never switch them to something that makes my "real life" better: I live for things I like, not for things I "should" do.

MMOs, however, are a different story. I just don't have any fun playing them. GW2 is the best among what I've tried, there I, at least, don't fall asleep 20 minutes in, and there is always something to do other than doing stupid "kill N X" hunts even during leveling. But, still, I don't feel any purpose doing all these things. I mean, I play games for fun, not for "achievement", and there is no fun for me in doing the same stuff for days /played. And that's why I absolutely do not understand those WoW players who told me, "Leveling is boring, wait until you get to the endgame". Wait? Really? I play the game now, not in the future, and if I don't have fun right now, at this very moment, then why the hell am I even doing this? There are many great single player games in which I am having fun, pretty much, throughout the entire walkthrough, so why bother with MMOs where 95% of what you do is grind for "achievement"? "Achievement" in a video game is not something I want to have in my resume, that's for sure.