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

Feeling Compelled

I have not felt compelled to play Aion lately. I actually have not logged into it for over a week. Last week was when the free month ended and I had planned on having the subscription auto update but in the last month I got a new debit card so the subscription auto cancelled. I have not felt compelled to go update my payment info.

Aion is a game I want so desperately to love but at this point it cannot hold my interest when I look forward and only see a mountain of grind. To be quite honest, I do not know if any MMO can really hold my interest right now. My will to grind has quickly been slipping. As of right now, the only active subscription I have is World of Warcraft but I doubt I will ever fully cancel that subscription as I often venture back there for a day or two a month.

Call me a simpleton, but I am growing tired of having to work for my gratification in gaming. When I look at my gaming choices I think "I could go grind along a breadcrumb trail for some gratification or I could go play a non-MMO and get my gratification instantly."

Torchlight completely consumed me for the last week and Dragon Age: Origins is unlocking on Steam today (it actually should be unlocked by the time this is posted). Left 4 Dead 2 is coming out in a couple weeks, Mass Effect 2 is coming out in January, and Bioshock 2 is coming out in February. Singleplayer and multiplayer non-mmo games are making it hard for me to even think of MMOs.

I do not think I am falling out with MMOs completely. For me though, I prefer a deep storyline in the games I play. I do not think storytelling and MMO gameplay have to be mutually exclusive. I know Syncaine prefers the sandbox where the players tell the story. Personally, I think sandbox games are just better for those who have time to get into the politics of the game.

I love the story woven into games like Wizard 101 and Guild Wars. I also, though many will disagree, think World of Warcraft has a very compelling story. Perhaps what I really want is massively multiplayer online single player games. I just want the depth of story in a single player game in the environment of an MMO.

Bioware may be able to deliver on this with The Old Republic (I hope anyway). My main drawback on that is that I was never a huge Star Wars fan. It is not that I do not like Star Wars, I was just never "into it" like other people seemed to be. Well, here is to hoping.