Wednesday, December 8, 2010

MMO addiction


Why? Maplestory is the only MMO I've ever played. Why is that? Because I'm afraid to try something else and get addicted. Maplestory has given me a fear of MMOs. I will never pick up another one because of it. This game has gotten me to come back to it so many times. Why can't I just quit it? I'm always in a cycle of leaving the game for a few months and then joining back the next time there's a big update, and I always get sucked in to the point where I waste a majority of my day on it.

It's not like the game is particularly amazing or anything. In fact, I wouldn't say it's too great at all, and there's better things I could be doing with my time. And yet, I always find myself coming back to it and I always find myself playing again every few months. For years I've been like this, on and off this game. What is it exactly that's keeping me hooked on it? I know I'm not the only one that came back recently though. A lot of quit players are coming back due to the largest update Maple has ever received being released this week. Still, I can't help but feel I'm some sort of druggie. No matter how hard I try to quit, I always "accidentally" check up on some Maplestory news, and if I see something interesting it may be enough to pull me back in. How am I supposed to finish my backlog when I'm busy grindan my characters all day? How am I supposed to make room for my Japanese studies when I'm too busy killing cute possessed teddy bears? I mean, I could download the Japanese version and play with Japanese players, at least then I'd be able to study Japanese while I play. But I already have too many characters established in the Global version (AKA North American) version of the game. I don't want to start from scratch.

The customer service is crap, the gameplay ins't exactly innovative or spectacular, it takes up way too much time, there's so many negative points about it. I just keep coming back. Once I log in, I already know that there's no turning back, because I'm going to want to check out the new features added into the game and get stuck again.

;_;

~ Kirari ミ★

14 posts:

SugoiSugoi said...

I know what you mean. I used to be really into Maple as well, but I got banned for being a shithead. It was only a month long ban, but it was enough. If I hadn't been banned, I'd probably still be grinding my characters forever.

What's this biggest update ever about? It's hard to imagine something bigger than 4th job.

Vindictus has a pretty good system to prevent people from getting addicted. It's actually Nexon scrounging around for as much money as possible, but seeing it as something to prevent addiction works too.

cooperlife said...

MMOs are so boring after you've played them for a while.

Anonymous said...

The infamous Maplestory.. I've heard a lot about it, but have yet to experience it first-hand myself.

>What is it exactly that's keeping me hooked on it?

MMOs have a knack for doing that, somehow..

Jerry said...

This is why I don't play MMOs. I have plenty of other things to do that I was never interested in any of them. Maybe you get a huge endorphin rush by grindan', lol.

Kirari Star said...

>What's this biggest update ever about? It's hard to imagine something bigger than 4th job.

Big Bang. Complete rebalance of every job in the game, complete remake of the main maps, complete change in formulas, etc.

In other words, the game as a whole received an upgrade.

Cpt.Awesome said...

WoW was the MMO that I was addicted to. I was able to quit a couple of months ago (third times the charm) and I don't think I'll be getting back to it considering Blizzard is making it as casual as Farmville.

I can usually quite other addictive games by uninstalling and never visiting any related website to it again.

librarian said...

The thing with how an MMO is made these days is that gratification is simple and easy enough for everyone to achieve.

When the grind becomes too hardcore and the game takes too much time to deliver a positive response to the player's actions an MMO will usually plummet.

McRohanheim said...

I remember 7 years ago when all of my friends would play MapleStory. They were addicted. I avoided any and all MMOs so I didn't understand any of their MapleStory conversations or references. Now my brother started playing the game last week and he's hooked to it :(

Seion said...

I used to play WoW for well over 30 or 40 hours a week, mostly hardcore raiding, PVP and farming. And before WoW, it was RO.

I know how you feel checking up on the news of the game. I always get my face shoved in WoW news all the time since I still do have a lot of friends who play it, and it's just impossible to escape in IRC.

Even if I do have a lot of free time, I try to avoid going back to MMOs, usually with the reason that I don't particularly need another job.

Mister Sharaf said...

gfreat post

Nirenn said...

There are some I love the look of, like WoW and EVE, I'd just hate to keep paying to play, that really gets me.

Micropayment MMO's I can handle, but most tend to be shit. I can't WAIT for GW2 though, my god.

Mike Litoris said...

great background!

The Champ said...

I used to search far and wide for the perfect MMO, but it's impossible.

followin and supportin :]

Hip-Hop Hikikomori said...

Maplestory's so shitty yet so addicting. It defies logic.

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