When a Player Loses Purpose: Looking at MMORPG Burnout

Ennui. Burnout. Exhaustion.Burning out

Those are words we use when we’ve finally grown tired of something and eventually lose interest in a particular activity. While games are fun, and we’re sure everyone loves their RPGs and such, it’s a reality that, every once in a while, you’re just going to have to take a hiatus from doing this sort of thing.

Over at the Terra Nova blog, Mike Sellers has talked about growing feelings of detachment from playing WoW. It’s a sobering point, as we’ve all had that feeling in one way or another in our lives. In the case of an MMORPG, what happens when the game becomes less of a game, when you don’t care about what’s happening in there and just lose interest?

What happens when the game becomes the grind?

That’s when the fun times become forgotten, and the feeling of detachment spreads, not because you hate the game… but because there’s nothing left in it that seems as important. As Sellers writes, “No one I’ve talked to dislikes the game… But in even the best parties there seems to sometimes come a moment when, amidst the music and noise you and your friends silently agree ‘great party; we’re outta here.'”

The question now is… what happens when everyone reaches that point? How will the market cope with growing feelings of detachment?

If you’ll remember our earlier post on Warhammer Online, we mentioned that it seems as if, due to World of Warcraft‘s growing popularity, everyone wants to follow in their footsteps in one way or another, with a little tweaking to distinguish itself. If there is no defining new point for people to feel that need to stay in the game, when the whole setting of fantasy and space and whatnot has already been exhausted creatively by MMO makers, there’s very little that technical changes can do. “If a player has become bored with  the by now well-trodden traditional MMOFRPG gameplay,” he writes, “how will another game bring them a new sort of experience, and not just present old dwarves in new clothing?”

It’s something to fear, and at the same time, it’s something to anticipate. Let’s see if any of the upcoming new MMOs can bring something truly new to MMO gaming.

Ennui. Burnout. Exhaustion.Burning out

Those are words we use when we’ve finally grown tired of something and eventually lose interest in a particular activity. While games are fun, and we’re sure everyone loves their RPGs and such, it’s a reality that, every once in a while, you’re just going to have to take a hiatus from doing this sort of thing.

Over at the Terra Nova blog, Mike Sellers has talked about growing feelings of detachment from playing WoW. It’s a sobering point, as we’ve all had that feeling in one way or another in our lives. In the case of an MMORPG, what happens when the game becomes less of a game, when you don’t care about what’s happening in there and just lose interest?

What happens when the game becomes the grind?

That’s when the fun times become forgotten, and the feeling of detachment spreads, not because you hate the game… but because there’s nothing left in it that seems as important. As Sellers writes, “No one I’ve talked to dislikes the game… But in even the best parties there seems to sometimes come a moment when, amidst the music and noise you and your friends silently agree ‘great party; we’re outta here.'”

The question now is… what happens when everyone reaches that point? How will the market cope with growing feelings of detachment?

If you’ll remember our earlier post on Warhammer Online, we mentioned that it seems as if, due to World of Warcraft‘s growing popularity, everyone wants to follow in their footsteps in one way or another, with a little tweaking to distinguish itself. If there is no defining new point for people to feel that need to stay in the game, when the whole setting of fantasy and space and whatnot has already been exhausted creatively by MMO makers, there’s very little that technical changes can do. “If a player has become bored with  the by now well-trodden traditional MMOFRPG gameplay,” he writes, “how will another game bring them a new sort of experience, and not just present old dwarves in new clothing?”

It’s something to fear, and at the same time, it’s something to anticipate. Let’s see if any of the upcoming new MMOs can bring something truly new to MMO gaming.

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *