MMOGs, Motivations and Me

Found some interesting links while trying to look up Bartle types again:

http://www.nickyee.com/facets/intro.html
http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/skinner.html
http://www.nickyee.com/hub/addiction/motivation.html

The above website is a good read, btw, and reminds me again why I'm terrified of the Everquest model of MMORPGs. And thus leery of trying WoW as well, since it's my opinion it is basically the same model, except the instant gratification comes much more frequently, so faster operant conditioning sets in.

(Oh, and the comp shop website I frequent has WoW going for S$129 - that's about $80 USD, I believe. Ferget it. Sorry Blizzard, sorry WoW, with your lousy PR and this kind of price tag, it'll be a cold day in you-know-where before I pick this up.

I can think of several hundred other good uses for 80 bucks. I haven't caught up on my comics collection, there are miniatures and wargame rules and paints and brushes(Rackham, Reaper -Warlord, GW's Battle for Maccrage)that I want to have in my grubby hands... *sighs* None of which can be bought until after my move is complete and the house is actually in livable condition without falling over boxes and such.)

What are my motivations for playing MMORPGs (or MUDs)?

According to Bartle types, I'm an EAS.

I'm a total explorer, I like seeing new things, I thrive on variety. As I wrote in an earlier blog, CoH is feeding that novelty to me right now, and I'm trying to conserve that in tiny bite-sizes enjoyable pieces of gourmet chocolate, instead of wolfing down the whole carton and getting real sick in a hurry.

Having downloaded vidiotmaps (that reminds me, I need to upgrade to the latest version), I'm thrilled because with the special places marked out for me, I can find my way around without having to rely on people telling me where they are. I see a funky icon on the map? I can go there and look. I've found a bunch of badges that way. Just walked past, noticed a green badge symbol on the map, then gone looking for exactly which pixel location it's at.

I find that slightly more fun than just following a website walkthrough slavishly. I read them, certainly, but I try not to read more than I need. www.cityofheroesonline.com and www.rjcyberware.com are my staples, but guess what, I haven't read with close attention anything higher than my current levels. I want them still new when I get to them.

A close second to my personality is the need to be an Achiever. I'm really trying to cut back on this, because I believe letting this fella go loose (and combine a healthy dose of exploity Explorer) means I become an ugly powergamer trying to get to level 50 and min-maxing everything.

I still plan the character and try to slot for maximum effectiveness, but I try not to get so obsessed with that one perfect build. I'd like to see and play what I think is fun, and be effective with my personalized build.

Yes, I use Herostats. Because I think it's nice to see just comparatively how much xp/minute one makes doing different activities. And having something that shows your xp to next level in game without right-clicking is really handy. But I don't just go for activities that maximise that number.

If anything, my completist nature seems to have shown up in the single-player desire to experience all the story arcs and complete contacts to the last blue bar possible. I know I can't do this with all characters, some of them are team-types and can barely solo. But my dedicated super scrapper Ravenhill is in perma-debt and tearing through these missions like butter, (He's set on tenacious, I find that the best xp for the ease of difficulty.) and I daren't let him take other people's missions, he'll level way too quickly.

Socializer is the third. I haven't got the need for a supergroup yet, though I have found myself in one on another server, and I'm eyeing one on Justice. All in good time though. I'm sure by level 30-40, people will know each other and things will become way too familiar like RoD high levels.

My need for company and relationships is pretty much sated by random pick-ups for the unpredictable hilarious people factor and one good reliable friend that I can count on for help/company (Hi Kelizendis!).

That doesn't mean I don't want more though. If any RoD guys are reading this, hey, I could use your toons on my friends list. :)

I have low Killer score. I'm happy with that. I despise griefers. I'm sorry if I just insulted a bunch of you with higher Killer scores, but I don't really like people who get their jollies from making other people unhappy. Even if they 'deserve' it for being morons or whatever. Or from people who find the need to impose/impinge on other people's fun, to get their fun.

I like CoH because right now, there's really very little ways to grief people. You can't pkill or gank them, you can't steal loot (har there isn't any!). You could try to get them in your party and teleport them places...smart people will not accept your team invite in the first place, and secondly, there's a teleport prompt coded in place. Which I've long turned on because I hate unannounced teleports by newbies.

At the most, you can try to follow them around and kill steal them. I've had my run-ins with some of these, and they are more funny and pathetic than annoying, thanks to the code.

One solution my first team came up with was to run in eight directions at once and then regroup with recall friend. We were all laughing uproariously imagining the poor griefer's face as he tried to decide which of us to follow.

Then the second was when I ran off and teleported my teammates one by one. Again, more hilarity ensued as the poor griefer was cussing in local, knowing he couldn't find us.

And the third, me alone, at level 6 followed by a level 9. So I headed for my mission DEEP in purple hollows territory. I waited for the guy to follow me so I could walk into the cave, but apparently the coward didn't dare walk past purple mobs or he died or something. :)

So I just walked in by myself after waiting for ten minutes for the silly guy to show his face. Laughing.