Mordiceius' Gaming Blog Flying Away on a Wing and a Prayer

The Hook That Grabs You

"I came for the beer, but stayed for the hot elven maidens."

Lately I have been watching my game playing habits and trying to figure out what exactly it is that grabs me in game. I have a good number of MMOs I have been playing lately (more on this in another post) and between World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Guild Wars, Runes of Magic, and now Aion, I was starting to see a trend in what I want from games.

Games need to deliver a one-two punch to me. The story of the world is the first thing that needs to be solid. I love games with epic questlines. The second punch is the community.

I can play some of the most poorly made and buggy games so long as the game has great lore and great community. The fairness of the game and the class balance really do not mean much to me. Whether the game is PvE or PvP does not matter either. I have come to realize that I play MMOs to experience stories and be part of communities.

I think this may be one of the reasons I have always picked the healer class in games. It gives me the easiest inroad to being part of a community and makes it easier to find groups to experience the story.

The lore is the hook that catches me, but it is the community that makes me stay. Once I makes friends on a server and in guilds, I hate leaving them behind. I have grown to hate playing MMOs solo. That is one of the main reasons I love that Rynala joins me for playing most games. Even if the game is buggy, broken, or imbalanced, playing along side someone makes it so I do not notice those things. I just am able to enjoy being in the company of others.

What is it for you? What hooks you? What makes you stay playing the game?

I came for the lore, but stayed for the community.