Off the Wagon
I have a problem.It was in late July that I finally cancelled my subscription to the massive multiplayer game, The Matrix Online. Despite poor sales and reviews, I was able to look past its key flaws and enjoy its online, persistent world for nearly 6 months.
But The Matrix Online was just one in a string of massively multiplayer online RPG's that I had purchased. Although I never played them nearly as long as MxO, I also found some brief entertainment in Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Everquest II, and Planetside, to name a few. In all cases, sooner or later (sooner in the case of Planetside) these games lost their appeal--turning them into a drudgery and a chore.
As is the case with MMORPG's, you pay to play, creating a sense of a need to play. Because every second you're not playing, you're essentially wasting the $15 you spent that month. Yet, as is evident by my extensive resume of games, for one reason or another I keep coming back.
I detailed my latest struggle with this problem and my supposed solution in the article: In search of a PC RPG. Basically, I chose to pursue off-line, single player games that I could play at my leisure and without worrying about a monthly charge. I declared an end to my MMO days, vowing to avoid them at all costs.
That vow lasted for nearly 2 months.
Unable to resist the urge, I have pre-ordered the upcoming NCsoft title, City of Villains. A side game to City of Heroes, CoV allows you to play as the bad guys, who are often much cooler than heroes (Cobra in GI Joe, for example).
As part of the pre-order, I will eventually get access to the pre-release Beta testing phase. And although a Non-Disclosure Agreement will keep from sharing my experiences here, you can expect loads of coverage regarding my opinion of the game when it is released in November.
City of Villains Main Page: Link
Lol! When I saw the post title I thought you were talking about Bush because I was at another blog earlier that had the same title for a post about him drinking.
Hey khyron, have you tried Guild Wars yet? It is not really an mmo, but it offers many of the same things every other mmorpg does. Best part is that there is no monthly fee.
Lesley: Ha ha. Sorry, but you won't be seeing much political stuff here. ;)
Somnus: I did play Guild Wars briefly when it was first released. As with CoV, I also pre-ordered it. Unfortunately, I was playing it along side of MxO, and the more in-depth, sci-fi enviornment won out over the fantasy realm of GW. I was quite pleased with the lack of a monthly charge, though. It meant that I could play it for a while, have some fun, but not have to worry about wasting money.
What happened to your love of Deus Ex ?
That City of Villians game sounds cool. Bout time you can play as the villains, they're always more interesting.
I beat Deus Ex in about a week, but never followed up with the sequal becuase the price tag was still a bit high at $30.
Until it goes down to atleast $20, I will be forced to submit myself like a tool to MMORPGs.
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