Monday, March 28, 2011

Rift

Well, I tried to play it. I really did. In the course of about two weeks I played on about four different shards (servers), most of them just to check out the population and such. I got a rogue character to 24, and a cleric to 19. It's not a bad game, and people who loved WoW would probably love it. Not because it's a clone or copy cat, but because it does a lot of the same things right. It reminded me a bit of vanilla WoW, which was my favorite time period in WoW. But that said, the people who play MMOs are still the same. Yes, there seems to be less 12 year olds in Rift. But I think it's hard not to beat WoW at that :-P But they're still the same self-centered, out of touch with reality people. People in MMOs actually encourage others to spend more and more time in game, and less time in the real world. People who haven't ever played one don't understand just how much it sucks you in. The more time and effort you put in, the "cooler" you are in game. And the more stuff you have going on in game, the more time you WANT to spend sitting on your ass in front of your computer. So you spend more time in game to get more done which in turn leads to more things you're able to do and therefore spend even more time in game. They do this for one simple reason: to keep people playing and spending money. Who can blame them really...

All of that said, I can't do it anymore. I just can't put a fantasy world above my real life anymore. For someone like me who struggles with addiction to MMOs, you can't play an MMO casually. Sure, I can put limits on my time and make sure I do everything else I need to before I sit down and start playing. But when I do that, I end up rushing through everything else in order to start playing that much quicker. It sucks me in and before I know it I've been playing for 10 hours and it's almost bed time. Everything becomes about the game, and even when I'm not playing, I'm thinking about my characters or what I need to do in game. It's hard to enjoy anything else when that's all you focus on. I know that's not really normal, and some people can play these games without a problem. I'm just not one of them.

Rift didn't really suck me in though. I played way too much for the first day and a half, then after that I was just meh about it. Not because it's a bad game, but because that's how I feel about all MMOs anymore. I guess I've just grown up enough to know that there's nothing in those games for me anymore. The MMORPG worlds can be beautiful and amazing, but I know that they will never be real. And only a fool spends his time chasing something that can never be.

1 comment:

  1. I loved this post. How nice that you were able to play this MMO and come to the realization that it's really just like all other MMO's in that they can't compare to real life. You have gotten it exactly right. The more you play, the more you need to play and then...if you get to be at the top of the pile, you can't truly be happy unless you stay there or spend all the hours to get another character up there...and do it all over again. You push the real world away in your mad desire to make your game life brilliant...and in the end you have nothing when you turn off the computer.

    *hugs* Really awesome, Heather. I was feeling a little bit concerned about you playing Rift--only because it seems like we have a lot in common, and if I began to play Rift, I think I would like it based on what you told me about it...I would definitely junk out on it and it made me feel a little afraid for you because I don't really think that's what you want to do. It's a tough thing to admit when you have a problem with something. I have a problem with alcohol, not that anyone would know this...I have a problem with MMO's too. I have come to the realization that I have a problem with addiction in general and so I have to watch out for it. It doesn't make me a bad person--nor you for having issues with MMO's--it's just something I have to stay away from because I lack the ability to be reasonable with addictive things that I take a liking to.

    You ROCK! Jake needs to give you lots and lots of kisses, and then you need to roll around with your animals and let them all dogpile on you and purr over you! :) YAY!!!

    P.S. I read your post to Steve and he thought it was awesome. He agreed very loudly when I read, "But when I do that, I end up rushing through everything else in order to start playing that much quicker." "Man I know allllll about that one!" He thinks you're a very cool person, and I've been telling him about your posts and comments on my blog. We chatted with you over dinner the other night when we went out and he feels really bad that you got dicked over by that guy but also thought you were great to tell him to take a hike when he thought you should take his cat to a shelter.

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