Anticipation
By now, most of us know that there’s a big tug-o-war in the MMO community when it comes to anticipating upcoming titles. As usual, the extremes rule the day: you have the folks who sup from the cup of hype and fully believe every word that drops from a dev’s mouth, and you have the grumps who are so bitter and disillusioned that they naturally assume every new game is going to be complete and utter crap. In my opinion, the best place to be is somewhere in the middle angling toward the positive spectrum (because, why follow MMOs if you’re not a fan of them?).
I feel that every once in a while I need to restate my position that I simply love looking forward to new games. I kind of find it silly when people tell me not to, just because there’s a chance they may let me down. Well, yes, I understand that, but for me it’s like movies. I know not every upcoming blockbuster is going to deliver as promised, but whether it does or not, the fun of looking forward to it and chowing down on previews is its own enjoyable activity.
Anticipation keeps us going, sometimes. It’s healthy to be satisfied with what you have, but in moderation it’s great to look forward to the next big thing. However, following last week’s E3, I’ve been thinking that there’s another danger of looking forward to MMOs: Putting all your eggs in one basket.
This takes place in a predictable pattern. Player is restless or otherwise dissatisfied with current MMOs and latches on to just one future title as the be-all, end-all game savior. This is going to be THE game to make right what once when wrong and keep his or her attention indefinitely. So the player latches on to that game to the exclusion of all else, and ultimately stacks the deck against his or her favor because of it.
I don’t see this so often from players who are generally happy with the games they’re currently playing, because new games are merely welcome, not “saving” them from anything. And I don’t see this from players who invest in a wide portfolio of future games, which seems to me to be wiser than throwing it all in with just one title.
Personally, I love looking forward to as many games as possible, because just like movies, there’s a greater chance that one will indeed hit the sweet spot. Whether it be SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, The Secret World, or — heck — maybe another game that comes out of nowhere to be excellent, I’m keeping my options wide open instead of limiting them or leaning on unreleased games to pull me out of a funk.
- Posted in: General
I’m of a mind where I look at the hype kinda dispassionately, and just kind of file it away. I try to keep a very even keel. Now, I definitely take note. For example, a LOT of people will try SWTOR, so I started a CoW guild for it. But I’m not going to let myself get all wound up about it. I more excited about playing with a whole lot of old friends again than about any game.
OK I may be a little twisted up about Diablo 3, but that’s not an MMO so it doesn’t count.
When I start to slide into the “bitter and disillusioned grump” camp (and it’s easy to do!) there’s one other thing I like to remind myself.
If you believe the hype, there’s a chance you’ll get burned. There’s a risk. But in most fields of entertainment, what’s the reward? If you assume that all blockbuster movies will be terrible, until you’re friends tell you that they’re great, so what? You see it a couple of weeks after release. Same with books. Music. TV shows you catch up via DVD box (or torrent!) at the end of season 1 and probably enjoy it even more.
But MMOs? Not quite the same. I think anyone who loves MMOs will agree that the experience of being in on the ground floor, playing in the opening days of a new title, THAT is an experience that you can never get back if you take a “wait and see” attitude. By the time you hear that the game is good and join the party, you’re just another new guy in a world full of people who know the ropes.
That’s why I think it’s worth believing the hype sometimes. Well, that and the fact that open betas give you a last chance to get off the train when you realize it’s not going in any direction you want to do, like I did with Rift.
I’m of the same mind. Why revel in the negative? Is that anywhere near as fun as being reasonably optimistic? You can’t go through life like that. Hopefully I keep my own blog away from being sycophantic but I still don’t see much of any reason to be endlessly hopeless about guild wars 2.
It has recently come to our attention that there is rational, balanced, intelligent attitudes being expressed in this sector of the interwebs about gaming… that will be just about enough of THAT young man!
However, I was able to “read between the lines” sufficiently to recognize your rampant fanboiness for the upcoming Guild Wars 2 game whose ultimate, innovative, uber paradigm shiftiness will rescue us all from the ho-hum bland “been there, done that” clone-ness of all current and past MMO offerings… so, there will be no sanctions at this time… but just watch it! You were dangerously close to being reasonable there.
*sigh*
Kids these days…
Absolutely brilliant. Every last word.