MMORPG? Pass, bring me an MSORPG!

What are all the big MMORPG makers missing in their quest to make the best online multi-player game?

Simple! They are following down the wrong path - the genre is simply labeled wrong. What people really want, is the best online solo-player game, in a multi-player world.

WoW has proven this theory with it’s formula, though they seem unable to admit it. Everyone love’s leveling a new character in WoW, yet this process is for the most part a solo-players game. Sure you talk and see other people, but for the most part you are out on your own, doing your own thing, just like everyone else your level. And, this is where the fun is.

At level cap, the amount of things you can do as a solo player becomes much more limited. You need groups for most content, and large raid groups for the special content. Even with the new arena they excluded going in solo and force you into team play. So what do most people do? Level a new character and go back to where it was fun or they quit.

So why is solo play so much fun? Easy, it is self-rewarding, fast-paced and non-dependent on others to progress. The real benefits to being in a multi-player world is being able to show off what you have achieved and brag talk to others.

Most people I know do not like raiding. Yet, that is WoW’s only real end-game. They accept this though, despite not enjoying it, as it is a means to an end, a personal achievement, more suited to be rewarded for a solo-player challenge yet the best of it is only handed out in large-group challenges, which of course is gear. Everyone loves to have their ego stroked, and there is none better then having some elite item everyone else wants.

This whole facade should be so easy to see through. Who would raid if there was no gear rewarded for it? Very few. Other activities remain popular without there needing a reward: questing, exploration, crafting, player-killing..all of which require no group and can be done solo. They are the activities players want to do, yet they seem to fall out of sight, just beyond the focus of the developers making the games.

WoW really is a great game, the world is interesting, the controls are amazing, the characters are unique and the classes are fun to play. Yet, despite often having free time and wanting an MMORPG to play I can’t bare to renew the subscription, because, I’ve leveled as many times as I’m willing to repeat, and if I login my character at max level I cannot do anything at all by myself. I literally wonder Orgrimmar like a lost dog looking for food scrapes in back alleys until I realize there is none to be found and I log off.

One day a game development company will wake up and realize we are selfish. We want the focus on ourselves, not “us”. Make an online game focused entirely on the player, providing options for them to do on their own, but set it in an online world for them to show off to their friends.

Reward me! Focus on me! Give me things to do i can accomplish on my own! Forget my friends and team mates, they don’t exist, when I have something new and shiny to brag about we’ll finds them.