Solo Does Not Spell Alone

I don’t consider myself an oddity amongst the population of the online gaming

community. I enjoy a well-balanced group as much as the next player, and I haven’t turned down very many raid invitations, but every once in a while, I enjoy the ability to stand on my own, face my enemy, and defeat a monster by the skin of my teeth. Three hit points? No mana? Absolutely no endurance and completely unable to turn-tail and run? Of course I’ve been in those situations: haven’t you?

When there are so many options for meeting an interacting with others in so many different games, why would anyone choose to solo, you might ask? There are an almost limitless number of reasons that might influence a decision to solo as a play-style or an occasional respite. The mechanics of any given game can also dramatically impact the desirability of solo play.

One of the most basic reasons for a player to choose not to join a group or raid involves the potential for Real Life™ to interfere with gaming time. Sometimes I know that I cannot be online for more than an hour, maybe two. Of course, this happened to me much more frequently when my step-daughter was an infant and a toddler, but these days I might face a shortened window of availability due to a work commitment or a social engagement. My husband and I do, occasionally, have the opportunity to leave our home and disabuse our neighbors of the notion that we are creepy hermits or potential candidates to become serial killers.

Depending on the game, I might pick up a mission at or below my level (Anarchy Online), play an alternate character to craft or trade (EverQuest, Asheron’s Call), play an alternate character who is able to solo effectively (EverQuest, EverQuest 2), or take my main character out into a PvP area (Dark Ages of Camelot).

Another significant factor in the decision to solo is the availability of groups. In EverQuest, I rarely found myself without a group if I used my /lfg (“Looking for Group”) flag and went to the zones where informal, pick-up groups were typically formed, but sometimes /lfg meant playing a waiting game. On the other hand, in a game such as Dark Ages of Camelot, it seemed to be more difficult to find a group, particularly when a wide swath of players all achieved maximum level and engaged in full-time RvR (Realm-versus-Realm) combat. If seeking a group yielded no results, I might choose instead to take on a different challenge instead of whiling away the hours tapping my toes and pacing the zone-in.

Certainly, the caliber of a group or raid might tip the scales toward solo play. I remember being coerced to join a raid on the Fire Giants in Sol B, although I was really several levels too low to take on the molten monsters. I lost my corpse, almost lost my level, and lost my faith in raids, for a while, anyway. I certainly would have preferred to solo as an alternate character if offered the same opportunity again. Then there are the groups that you wish you hadn’t joined to begin with: the squabblers, the immature d00ds, the train pullers, and the generally incompetent. Have you ever “gone linkdead” just to get away? I have.

Some people choose these types of online activities in perpetuity because: a) their schedules differ wildly from the schedule of most other players; b) they have had bad experiences with a group or raid on multiple occasions; c) they prefer to control their own gaming experience, and not to rely on others.

I sometimes wonder if the type of player who doesn’t like to rely on others is really suited for the kinds of online games that are being developed and succeeding in the MMO marketplace. Has the term MMORPG lost its significance for these individuals? Those who craft, or play alternate characters, or run a solo mission ever now and then are still part of a larger culture that depends on teamwork and cooperation. It takes more than one person to make a guild into more than a titular organization, and it takes more than one crafter to establish a successful, player-driven market.

Solo doesn’t really mean “alone”, after all. An individual who is really a loner might decide to play an online game, but probably wouldn’t be attracted to a realm where interaction was central to the gaming experience. In that respect, it is more likely that a dedicated solo player would find a home in a world like Anarchy Online, where solo play, even at higher levels, remains an option. The face of Norrath might not be as attractive to someone who wants to keep to themselves, given the number of quests and creatures that can only be undertaken by groups or raids.

The truth is, sometimes solo play is a way to escape everyday boredom, a bad group, or the restriction of limited play time, but the realms we inhabit are defined as MMORPGs for one central reason. A roll of the dice, a flip of the coin, a gamble: the behavior of other avatars, controlled by individuals with separate and distinct life experiences, creates the world we choose to play within.