I once said the four words that can make any parents crazy: "I love video games". Then I was introduced to Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and Massively Multiplayer Online games(MMO’s) and I said the two words and an acronym that made my parents ban me from computers...or at least the modem, for fear of a repeated $365 online bill: "I love MMOs!".

Twelve years later I consider myself not only a player of MMOs, but a huge fan of both the developers and the games they've created. But as I look at what I'm actually spending time playing, I notice that none of my games are MMO's. This fact both disturbs me, and rocks me to my very core. I've always been an MMOer. So what am I now?

I have become a casual gamer.

My very soul recoils from those words, even as I type them. And I find myself repeating the words of Kelly Heckman, from Gamersinfo.net, in her editors blog this past week: "I'm Considering Divorcing My MMOG"

Indeed, there are no true examples of MMOs in the last year, where I've had fun. Now, this could be that I'm playing the wrong ones, but I've tried 90% of the big ones, and 25% of the small ones (there are quite a few choices out there!) and I can say the same thing about all of them. MMOs used to be fun! What happened?

Granted, after I found a fantastic guild, Lord of the Rings Online kept me hooked for 4 months. Fiesta Online I am fiddling with casually (there's that word again), but neither of them find that tiny piece of me that wants to fall in love with an MMO once again. I keep looking to the big guys coming out, Warhammer Online and Age of Conan, and even further in the future to Free Realms, The Agency, and those unnamed "sekrit" ones that no one talks about, but everyone knows are coming.

So what ended the love affair that led me to my husband, introduced me to all but one of my best friends, and involved every aspect of my life for the last 12 years? Darned if I know, but I wish someone would figure it out and let me fall in love again!

There are a few issues that I think need to be resolved to make MMOs more appealing so that I can, once again, structure my life around them!

• Billing me $15 a month, when I play 2 hours due to family, work, house issues, or just plain being over-scheduled is stupid. I know it works for the MMO companies, but the time for them making a buck off of people's being busy is over. Get with it folks, and find a billing schedule that works for me, because right now, none of you are getting my money, and that doesn't work for any of us!

If someone could come up with a gym-type billing, $2-4 per sign-in for 24 or 48 hours, I'd probably do it. A great gaming weekend followed by nothing for 2 weeks fits perfectly into my schedule. I know that micro-transaction games incorporate this type of schedule free billing, but other than Fiesta Online, I've yet to see one that is translated well, offers decent customer service, and in game events. How sad is that, and what a testament to Outspark and their business model!

• Not giving players a chance to police others in game has led to zero teamwork, servers where no one looks out for each other, and in general, disastrous server communities. I'm not advocating an instant crackdown system, but any community that openly allows jerks and griefers to continually advance at the same rate as those who work together, get along, and share without giving other players the chance to halt or severely stall their progression, well that system just blows.

Whether it be through a not grouping agreement with your guild or alliance, blacklisting them from raids, equipment rolls, or events, accepting people's money because everyone's $15 spends just the same as another, without allowing any enforcement for generally accepted social rules, works on paper but not in a community.

• The gathering places have been let go, in lieu of questing systems that do not encourage social aspects. Remember when everyone level 20-25 went to the same spot because that's where you would find the groups, and good mobs to kill? Well someone bitched about "the grind" and now those days are gone, and the knowledge of how to get that same social interaction, hasn’t been replaced. Finding groups for what you need to accomplish has become quest-centric. Lost in the good old days is the hope of ever finding a pick-up group that knew what you wanted to do, stuck you on a list to join, and then you chatted with them while you waited.

Questing is fine. The systems they encourage are fine. But the social aspects of finding a group near constantly spawning mobs, killing with them for as long as you had time, and then letting the next person on the list take your place when you left, are lost. Learning what players not to group with, being forced to share spawns, loot, and wipes with these people....that's what made the social aspect so much fun! So why did someone feel the need to completely wipe that away, instead of complementing the questing system with it?

Now, quests are pushed as if they are life itself, and while I love questing as an option, I feel the need to sometimes connect with other players and "grind". (Don't cringe, let me finish!) I understand that not everyone wants that, but surely I'm not the only person who misses this type of gaming?


In the end, the effort of putting yourself out there, only to find that your way of playing fits none of the MMOs, is incredibly heart wrenching. I am looking for an MMO to come and sweep me off my feet, into a world of social interaction, and enjoyment that I haven't found in years. I hope someone does it soon. I'm getting tired of Pogo.

By Becky "Tovin" Simpson 12FEB08