Beyond Drudgery: Recapturing the Sense of Mystery that makes MMOs Worth Playing

Are all MMO gamers sentenced to a mundane experience of simply grinding for levels and equipment? Ethec shares his thoughts on what could make playing MMOs something like a stirring experience again.

"If it's a little depressing nowadays that you have to think for a bit about what's enjoyable about playing an MMORPG, if you're feeling kind of burnt out on MMOs (but single-player games just feel lonely), take heart. To me, the promise of the MMORPG is just below the surface. MMOs don't reach out and grab your emotions by the collar, they simply offer the tacit promise that you'll get out most of what you put in. It's not an emotion; it's not just a short-lived thrill, it's the full emotional spectrum. All the shades of humanity are represented: from the jerks, to the freaks and dorks, to the attention whores, to the close friends that, when you finally meet in person, you would have never pictured yourself getting to know."

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