My take on...MMORPG's

MASSIVELY-MULTIPLAYER: Just look at the number of stalls here!

Here's my brains and brawn on the ups and downs, as well as every other visible side, of MMORPG's.

First off, it stands for Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Remember Diablo? That's an RPG. Blizzard had (and still has) battle.net, which made Diablo up to an 8-player game on the Internet. Now, with the increasing availability of broadband Internet connectivity (bye-bye 56k dial-ups...we're now getting like 1 to 2 MBps), Internet RPG is becoming even more popular. I even know of a married couple who play and level-up together! Plus, the servers are able to cater for more players. 6000 to 8000 players in a single server is no surprise (Iris server just before MRO required payment, back in 2004).

SELECTABLE CHARACTERS

FREAKIN' DMG!

The question that strikes most non-players is probably "Why? Why MMORPG's?" I ask myself the same question, too. As far as I recall, I spent 2.5 weeks of school (wait, it's actually pre-U level schooling) holidays on an RO (Ragnarok Online) private server. And I left aside the 500kg assignment which was due right after school reopens! It was a dreadful experience. I played more than an addict probably could (on second thought, how is that possible??). Waking up around 9-10 am, playing the whole day, except for 15-minute meals, then ending at least at 1 am. The latest was around 5am I guess. And remember the half-tonne academic burden. I could've screwed my IB anytime. Any time.


I think the magic phrase for MMORPG's is "virtual glory". Referring to my previous post, I mentioned how some films spark an "urge" to play games, or in other words, to put myself in a hero's shoes. There's the fame for being of a high level, possessing the rarest of equipment, winning PvP's, doing insane damage on PvM hunts, leading the greatest guild, etc. The list of manifestation of "glory" is, ironically, usually confined to these only. And they usually go hand-in-hand. The highest-leveled players are also usually the richest and most influential in the game. I'll talk about RO. Since I won't pay (neither the recharge cards nor the PayPal financial support), the only way for me to gain status was to do things on my own. It means hunting on my own, farming for cash (zeny), and play however long it takes to hit the level cap. In one of those private servers (emphasis: I won't pay), I leveled a Novice to 255, which was the level cap. I even went to the extent of reading up guides on the new items to "tweak" my Novice to be a real killer. I had a +10 Meteoric Scythe-like Extending Blade of Berserk (Bloody Knight + Baphomet + Injustice + Doppelganger) on it. In a spare one I inserted a Stormy Knight Card instead. My Novice could even take out MVP monsters!


Hey, what's glory without celebration? After all, I'm not forever going to be an Illidan-like Demon Hunter who lives and dies alone. It of course has its legendary characteristics (solo heroes are sometimes regarded as one-men armies, taking every challenge down single-handedly, right?), but I do not deny the pleasure of partying (not the 'berpesta' kind of party!) and joining hands in a common guild. Friendship, that's what it's called. Sometimes, with less experienced players, it involves sharing bits of information on the game. At other times it's simply about trying out a new quest against a new Boss monster. So I guess the "Add friend" feature does in fact serve some real networking purpose.


The most obvious "down" (as opposed to up, as in ups and downs) of such games is probably the addiction factor. It can eat up to 18 hours a day (for several days, possibly for up to a week) for uber-extremists, and probably more for those who don't mind being groggy and lifeless for the whole of the next week...Time is truly eaten in this sense. If the clock were a pie (or a pizza for that matter), then I might get like 1 slice. Out of 24. Five slices for sleep, and the remaining goes into the game, if I dearly want to be recognized. Otherwise I stay as just another gamer who doesn't get as much notice as I would like to get... But hey, why not play like that? Adopt a "take-it-easy" approach, and not so much on the extremity scale. Then Mom won't scold me that much for "doing nothing other than computer". Heheh... but I guess, gamers like me have a natural competitive instinct. An instinct to vie against others. And win. And be glorious. And remembered.


You know when it ends? When there is a server wipe! Or - in my case - when they charge me for playing... Sheesh, that's why I've never touched WoW.