Afraid of the Grind
I’ve found myself itching for some MMO action lately, though some of the pitfalls of the genre are keeping me from diving in.
This is the premise: playing an MMO is fun, can be laid back, can have a degree of tactical/strategic challenge and I’m sure most would run very well on my PC.
This is the boogie-man: MMOs are usually best friends with the dreaded repetition of inane tasks known as grinding. I loathe when games make me waste my time and thus am reluctant to indulge in my itch.
For the purposes of this piece, let’s call grinding to any repetitive activity that it’s not fun by itself and that can’t be circumvented without a heavy penalty within the scope of the game. This includes everything from silly combat to item crafting and drives me absolutely bananas.
Guild Wars
I purchased two Guild Wars campaigns at the end of 2008. As far as I recall, the reasons that drove me to make the purchase included the following:
1- Private instances for combat areas: you can either play along other people or by yourself. You can choose when and how to socialize.
2- Low level cap: would supposedly get rid of endlessly hunting for the next carrot (i.e. level)
3- Typical grinding behaviours were penalized: most of the advancement comes from scripted play (quest, missions and so on.)
4- Doesn’t have a monthly fee.
The Plan
I intend to get back into the game with a two-fold purpose. On the one hand we have entertainment. I hope that playing Guild Wars will give me that MMO goodness that I’ve been craving for lately. On the other, I want to analyse the game-play options that the game offers and discover where the (almost) inevitable grind rears its ugly head.
How *You* Can Help
I’m sure the collective you knows one of two things:
1- What is that good, cosy, grindless MMO that I should be playing right now.
2- I’m a naive fool and should run away from the genre faster than Sonic should run away from another 3D game.
So… what is it going to be? Recommend an MMO or flame me on the comment box below.
I’ve found myself itching for some MMO action lately, though some of the pitfalls of the genre are keeping me from diving in.
- This is the premise: playing an MMO is fun, can be laid back, can have a degree of tactical/strategic challenge and I’m sure most would run very well on my PC.
- This is the boogie-man: MMOs are usually best friends with the dreaded repetition of inane tasks known as grinding. I loathe when games make me waste my time and thus am reluctant to indulge in my itch.
For the purposes of this piece, let’s call grinding to any repetitive activity that it’s not fun by itself and that can’t be circumvented without a heavy penalty within the scope of the game. This includes everything from silly combat to item crafting and drives me absolutely bananas. [click to continue…]
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