I was on YouTube a while back when I came across a thumbnail for a video called “How to ruin video games for yourself.” I did not click on this video. I did not click it because I already know I can ruin video games for myself, very easily. I know exactly what I do wrong. And I’m probably going to do it again because I am my own worst enemy in MMORPGs.And I am not alone.
So let’s talk about this problem for this week’s Massively Overthinking. Let’s be introspective. How do people ruin video games – especially MMORPGs – for themselves? How do you ruin MMOs for yourself? Why do you do this? Are you your own worst enemy in MMORPGs?
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna.bsky.social, blog): I ruin games for myself in a couple of ways.First, I go in with expectations and comparisons. My brain conjures up what playing this game is going to feel like, and when it’s different – not worse, just different – I’m disappointed. Likewise, I’m always comparing new MMORPGs to the games I already have “banked,” instead of just taking them as they are.
Second, I can’t ever stop myself from applying what I know about an MMORPG’s development studio and trajectory to my faith in the game’s success, which always makes me feel worse about games than a normal person would.
Third, if I get hyperfixated on a game, I will burn myself out reading every imaginable thing and probably organizing a spreadsheet and formulating a Plan. A new game can never measure up to my plan (and also probably won’t be as fun as my planning), so this is an evitable fail.
Fourth, forums, Reddit, Discord. Come on. Don’t do that.
Carlo Lacsina(@UltraMudkipEX, YouTube, Twitch):Best way I can ruin it for myself is if I start rushing through everything like I gotta be somewhere right now. It’s what happened to me in FFXIV, and I’m still paying for the burnout.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a problem if MMOs didn’t structure themselves to have sloggy main stories, but that’s not an MMO problem any more. That’s an every-game problem in my eyes now.
Sometimes the simple answer is best, though: I think I’ve played enough. Shoulda listened to my parents.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes.bsky.social, blog):Reading the comments, or a variation of that, which is to say that one of the fastest ways I’ve had an MMORPG ruined for me is being attuned to the wider playerbase in open forums or social media. And yes, that includes ye olde forums as well; this was a problem back in the days of forums too, and social media just made it immediately more accessible.
As for why I do this, really it’s a couple of reasons. For one, it’s sort of something that happens as part of incidental contact in this line of work, but also I have rather frequently done some personal digging to do something else — namely, see how an MMO’s RP community operates, roughly — and tend to just get whacked by bad actors in this regard. No matter how often that’s happened, I can’t really help it but look. Just like reading the comments. It sucks.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): When it comes to MMOs, the most sure-fire way I know to ruin my time in it is to overthink it. If I step back, look at all of a title’s accumulated flaws, or consider the mountain of content that’s between the start and finish of a character’s journey, it’ll turn me off a game so fast. It helps instead to be more present in the moment and focused on smaller, more achievable goals.
Sam Kash(@samkash@mastodon.social):I ruin games for myself by just getting bored of stale content. Now that’s of course an obvious and generic answer, so let me say that I can repeat the same stuff over and over a million times if there’s enough hope and expectation for a change, but if there’s not, I’ll burn out.
PvP, especially arenas, are inherently grinding-and-repeating content. But different players and different builds are how it stays interesting and new. If I can’t see that there’s going to be some updates or some balance changes, then I’m going to burn it out for myself.
Also, if I am playing a game with a story mode and I knock it out too quickly and there’s not a significant pile of post story achievements or content to do, then I’m likely to log out and not come back. Coming back is the toughest thing to do when I’m always so distracted by the next new shiny game on the horizon.
Tyler Edwards (blog):Gamers in general and MMO players are in particular are (in)famous for optimizing the fun out of games. I try to resist this mentality, but I wouldn’t say I’m totally immune to it.
My biggest issue is that World of Warcraft’s sub fee instilled me in this sense of urgency to get all my in-game goals completed as quickly as possible so I don’t waste money. That’s kind of a necessary evil in WoW, but the problem is that mindset follows me into other games as well. I try to make myself slow down and relax once I’ve not got a sub fee looming over my head, but it’s a constant struggle.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
