Op/Ed: What Keeps Us Playing DDO?

DDO's "Carrot on a Stick"

Dungeons & Dragons Online launched with great success at the end of February, but will it have the momentum to sustain a solid player base? Shayalyn takes a look at how gaming with friends gives DDO a unique sort of staying power.

Traditionally, MMOGs have offered all sorts of incentives to keep subscribers happily addicted, from the promise of advancement to the highest levels, to quests for fantastic items. Level advancement will always be an incentive in any online game, but decent items and cash are actually easy to come by in DDO, making that grind-for-glory a little less crucial than it seems to be in other games. So where is that necessary incentive to keep playing?

Read 'Carrot on a Stick: What Keeps us Playing DDO?' and see if you agree with Shayalyn's assessment.