We’ve all been there. MMO’s offer pretty high returns on the fun-hours-per-dollar scale. The honeymoon phase for games starts early- the quick leveling, the novelty, learning new and exciting systems. Everything is fresh, and we want it to stay that way. But we push it. We know the fun isn’t there anymore, but we keep playing like junkies. These are the mistakes we make, and why me make them. This is a list of what not to do. How many of these have you already made?
1. Set Goals That Will “Make The Game Fun Again”
When again starts to not be fun we make deals with ourselves to try to fix things.
“I’m not having fun because I don’t have a mount. If I had a mount, I’d be blowing through this place like a hurricane.”
“If I had Super-Destructo-Storm-Attack I would be wiping the floor with these PvP idiots.”
“I just need to reach the 30th level to get my super Polymorph Bear spell.”
If we can just get to the next area or advance our character just a little bit more we can break free of the malaise we’ve been caught up in. That is the myth that burns out more players than almost any. When we see the natural warning signs of burnout, we don’t want to accept our favorite game is turning into our least favorite. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but ask yourself what really will change if you get what you want.
By the way, this question is a good one when you are considering a game in general. What is it that you are expecting? How many times have we heard of the hype of a new game and imagined in our minds having a great time with a great community of people who are constantly communicating and sharing and making the game great. The reality is often that people are reluctant to communicate with people they don’t know, and communities form-based in part on the tools they are given for socialization.
So if you look at a particular achievement and ask yourself what you are expecting, you might be surprised that you are expecting your burnout to magically disappear. Maybe you’re thinking of opening the door to a new type of gameplay that is a lot of fun, but also involves you doing a lot of things preferably that you’ve gotten very bored with. Having a new ability doesn’t suddenly make the community you find stand-offish suddenly a great group of folks. Having access to new areas and new tools doesn’t suddenly make grinding a fun and interesting adventure.
2. Making Commitments You’re Not Sure You Can Keep
Anything from joining a very active guild to promising to help someone do a complex set of quests can be a formula for burnout. If we make decisions when we are at the height of our enjoyment of the game, and before we’ve really gauge how much time we want to give to the game in the long run, then will more likely to make commitments that lead to burnout.
Being able to say “no”, or asking people to give you more time to make a decision are great ways to get yourself off the burnout treadmill of promises you wish you had never made.
Being in a guild or group, sharing and working together and making new friends in-game (and potentially in real life) are all great things. They can make our game experiences far more enjoyable, and they are one of the major reasons that massive multiplayer games are so successful. It’s great that gamers no longer have to play alone.
But in the rush to create new relationships, connections…. “contacts” if you will…. we sometimes get burned out on the networking aspect, and find ourselves doing activities to go along with the group.
Not logging in except when we want to and doing the things that we want to do is a big part of really enjoying your MMO experience. That isn’t to say that there aren’t exceptions, and I do believe in keeping promises.
Keep promises especially when you really don’t want to, so that next time you make a promise you’ll really think about it.
3. Play When You Don’t Want To Play
This is probably the biggest for most people. You login even though there is nothing fun to do. You feel you should be enjoying yourself but you’re not. You’ve probably been playing a lot, and you just keep going out of sheer momentum.
The cool locations and the stuff that was fun a month ago now feels truly like tedium. This is the point a little bit before most people unsubscribe. Rather than taking a break from the game before it gets tedious, we often keep pushing ourselves wondering why it’s not as fun as it used to be.
It is important to have balance in any activities in our lives. In gaming we have to always be aware that the primary focus is fun and enjoyment. It sounds obvious, but what we are looking for is being showing that we had when we first signed in. Usually the harder you “work” at an MMO (and I do fine work as activities you do not because they’re fun in themselves, but because you need the outcome) the more you flirt with burnout. Games are meant to refresh us by taking us from our normal lives and activities.
If we are logging in because there is something our lives we need to escape – intense boredom, dissatisfaction with life, pains and difficulties…. all of these are completely beyond the power of the game to fix. If we stop for a moment and become aware of where primary motivation is, we can often see where the burnout is coming from. It is coming from us trying to push ourselves into another world to escape our own.
Escapism can work for you, if you take a moment to look back and see which are escaping from.
4. Stop By To “Run a Few Errands”
Even when the thrill is gone we often keep certain areas of advancement going in anticipation of our burnout ending. Finances is a big one here. I’ve known people to maintain World of Warcraft subscriptions for several months after they stopped playing – purely for the purpose of playing the auction house.
“I’m ready to start playing again any time now, and I just want to make sure I have enough gold to…”
Another example is a player who will logon to do crafting or some other side activity even when the enjoyment of advancing and crafting is gone. These dull, wearying sessions dragged down our already meager enthusiasm for the game. It’s sort of like running errands with someone you plan on dumping, and are no longer having sex with. You grumble and complain under your breath, but you don’t do anything about it.
Good Reasons Not To Get Burned Out (For Yourself and Your Friends)
These games can be great hobbies with more depth and more enjoyment than standard single player games. The ability to advance in the game where other people can see us advance, and the ability to collect new tools and toys in an environment where we can show them off makes MMO games very different for old-school players like me who grew up racking up points alone, and whose only hope at combining gaming and social interaction was to get someone to come over and play a few rounds of the latest console game.
Now that we have virtual worlds that allow us so many opportunities, we should try to take advantage of the opportunities without overindulging. If we avoid burnout, we avoid wasting money and precious leisure time, as well as avoiding the kind of pain that comes from feeling that nothing is fun anymore. When we step back from our favorite games and give ourselves a chance to recharge, we create real enthusiasm in ourselves and for our favorite game communities.
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