Topic: MMORPG - What to you think of the genre?

Wrote so much, I opened up WordPad to keep everything in order.
Incoming wall of text! (There's a tl;dr near the bottom for you light-readers )

• Goldfarming
  There are two types of goldfarmers for veterans of the trade. You have the long-working material farmers (Killing the same type of monsters for specific drops, then selling in bulk in the games auction house for massamounts of in-game gold), and you have your gamblers (Abusing the in-game auction house to buy low during the high traffic times, and sell high in the low traffic times). We have a goal to earn so much gold in a given time (Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or daily), and as long as we hit that mark, we get a cheque or even cold hard cash bi-weekly.
  Now while I can't say who I work for, I can tell how I do my business.
  First, you're provided with an account that is fully paid for (expansions to!) and is fully owned by whoever is higher up. Sometimes they have power-leveled a character for you, but mostly they don't.
  Second, you are given a 2 week period to get to maximum level (Level 85 currently in WoW) and to amass a certain goal in gold (For me, it was 10,000).
  Third, you are to hit the amount of gold when you're told to. For me, I am to amass a minimum of 10,000 gold a week. I earn 15,000 gold a week for not only good praise, but for a small extra commission.
  To get that amount of consistent gold each week, I resortto gambling on the auction house. The first few weeks is always the roughest because you don't know what the consistent prices are, when they're up, when they're down, and what sells out. Also with new patches, the drop rates for loot can change, which alters how much people will pay for them, and can make or break your bank if you're not careful. I generally amass an extra 10,000-15,000 extra gold to prepare incase I get some slow business while I adjust the to ever-changing auctions.

I generally put in about 2-3 hours every few days into managing my auctions when everything's stable after the initial rush of a new patch. On paper, I put in about 20-25 hours of work a month and get paid around $600/month. That works out to $24-$30/hour. Good work!

So as you can see, I do not compromise other peoples account for my own benefit. I do what any WoW player does when they're serious about wanting gold (And not paying for it, mind you), and that's learning the auction house, and abusing it at the right times.
I won't deny the fact that some people steal other players account to sell their things for golds (Or sell the characters themselves for real money), but these people are not goldfarmers, they are scammers. They take, and give nothing back. While I am constantly purchasing that awesome deal of Heavy Savage Leather you posted for a cheap 25% off the usual price. Money in your pocket is money in my pocket. Just my money turns intoreal money .

• Guild Socializing
  When not in raids, or PvP (Players versus Player) scenerios, most socializing in my guild is done through text within the game. There's always some members in our Ventrilo, or using other programs (like MSN, Facebook, etc.), or the guilds website. Even when not playing the game, they're always able to communicate with guildies. Even though my account ran out today (Silly me for forgetting to buy more time my last pay), through these other services, I'm still able to talk to my guild members for just chatting it up, or if they want to convince me for a promotion, or for Officers to report in on any problems for others to take note.
  As for topics covered in the guild, everything comes up. In-game raiding, like if someone from our core group can't make it that night, do we hold off until another night for him, or do we replace him? If we replace him, who is the best person to fill his slot? Other topic comes up like Portal is completely over-rated, and Superman 64 is the greatest game of all time because it shows you what not to do when making a video game.
  Considering as people we have experiences with so many different elements in life, everything will always come up in conversations,especially when you spend days, weeks, months, and even years with the same group of people. Just because that group of people is connected by the internet and not by physical means doesn't change this fact.
• Final Thoughts (tl;dr Edition)
  Goldfarmers are different from scammers. Guilds talk about everything, both in-game and out of game, and if you're going to write a book about a MMORPG gamer, don't widdle yourself into a single free MMORPG, spend the cash and try out each of the major titles there because even though MMORPGs draw from the same pool of players, the experiences of each game,and the people in it do vary, and would be very beneficial for you, and your story to experience all that you can.
  I would say take one month, and just dive into an MMORPG for that month. If you want, start with the free ones, but make sure to cover the big boys as well. The major problem I'm afraid you might miss by doing this is the end-game content for each MMORPG, which makes up most of the games.
  But hey, at least asking questions like this gives you somewhat of an insight, right? But know that nothing tops the experience you get yourself, rather than hearing it from others.

@BedCommando - Thanks for the thorough message! It's interesting to see more details about the goldfarming aspect, and certainly clarifies some of the processes that go into it.

Thanks to you and Tasuki in terms of options that are available for free play, and also tips in terms of getting a better understanding of the genre. I plan, over the summer, to experience some of these games for myself to assist the writing, as first-hand experience will be important. The details shared so far in this thread have been a terrific help in getting an early idea.

stagnant, overly long, and genuinely disengaging. They've turned into little more than third-person shooters without guns--PVE tends to be unbelievably easy, time-consuming dreck that serves to add a few hundred hours of grinding between bouts of painfully repetitive PVP.

I've tried WoW, Warhammer Online, a few Free to Plays (Asda, Fiesta, Pandora Saga, Dragonica), and Aion for a few hours.

WoW and Asda are probably tied for the absolute worst. WoW looked like a gamecube game, had overpopulated-to-the-point-of-laughability worlds, and an obtuse, seemingly-13-year-old playerbase. Asda just had no gameplay or challenge to speak of....all combat was 1 on 1 and each fight took ike 50 seconds...and each time you were killed the game jacked 10% of your level EXP. WoW's PVP, at least as early on as I was in the game, seemed pretty poorly balanced and showed clear imbalances between class types/effectiveness in battle, and in general there was no way to feel engaged. I ran around a generally-devoid-of-life overworld spamming the same 2 skills and basic attacks not leveling very quickly.

Warhammer was actually a whole lot more fun. Graphics were head-and-shoulders better than WoW, PVP queuing a speed was significantly better than WoW, and the public quest system/leveling/caps/equipment/class variability all trumped WoW. It turned into more of a constant PVP game though--PVE was largely a waste of time. Aion looked nice but I didn't give it much time to hook me...Fiesta was like Asda with smaller world, PVP, and less enemy types (but was better somehow), Pandora Saga was prob the best free to play marred by idiotic design decisions (the main questline challenge was maniacally variable, e.g. quest killing level 16 monsters for a little while, followed by quest to kill 3 level 23 bosses immediately afterwords with no warning. I really liked the battle mechanics in that one though.

Dragonica was almost like Final Fight and MMO had a microbaby. It was a really cool combat system and I had a lot of fun playing it for a while, but the community was either snobby/elitist or so bad at the game it made me wince. It was hard to get into/stay in a party that was any good.

But yeah, overall, they're simply time sinks. Single-player gaming appeals much more to me, as does more localized, non-massive multiplayer. If I'm gonna mindlessly be mashing the attack button in a PVE environment, I'd rather it be in Dungeon Hunters, locally, with 3 people (or online), instead of accompanied by a 15 dollar per month fee and an artificially inflated length.

/endunintendedrant

@ThomasBW84: NP although I have to agree with BedCommando in that hes is right about the end game content that is a huge part of these games and a big part of the social interaction. My advice since you probably dont want to put that much time in a game is if you do try an MMO find a guild and talk to them about the end game content and here there views and thoughts.

Also what you can do is pick up a copy of Massively Multiplayer Games for Dummies from your local bookstore or online for more info I am sure you will probably find it fascinating I know I did. http://www.amazon.com/Massively-Multiplayer-Games-Dummies-Jen...

Won't: Play WoW
Will: Not play WoW
Play The Old Republic
STAR WARS GEEKS UNITE! YAY FOR CHEWBACCA! YAY FOR R2-D2! BOO FOR WHINY SKYWALKERS. (Prime example: Anakin Skywalker!) YAY FOR OLD MOVIES! BOO FOR EPISODE I. OKAY I'M done.

I married and therefore stay way away from these games! If I can't pause it, or get out of the game without consequences, then I don't play it!

One of my brothers is a big MMO fanatic, and he has been on Rift hard lately, and claims it's the best on the market at the moment!

I used to dabble in these a while back, but I'm not too enthused by them anymore.

The last MMORPG I played was Perfect World International, at the behest of a friend. It was good, but patience wasn't exactly on my side. I didn't really quit the game, I just decided to take a long hiatus, because I occasionally return for a quick killing spree.

My best MMO buddy is on Rift at the moment as well...he said it's an amalgamation of everything good about MMOs with none of the bad. Sounds good to me. I've seen it in play and the multi-job system looks really ....this is one I'd give a shot if I had any extra dough.

Then again, I think all the boo-hoo-ing by WoW-heads basically complaining both that it was and wasn't a WoW clone kind of piqued my interest "Game WoW players don't like" seems to correspond to "Game Murd will like"

@Swerd... yep, and I'm also not paying a monthly fee either. There is just too dang much to play on the market these days for me to justify paying a monthly fee to play ONE game!

I dont mind the month fee. I just look at it as the price of entertainment. I can go and spend $10.50 at a movie theater to watch on average a two hour movie or I could spend $15 a month for several hours of entertainment. Its really no different than with any other hobby.

Now I know some of you are going to argue well I dont pay $15 a month for a console game but in all honestly MMOs are always evolving and the Devs are adding new stuff all the time its say no different than paying for DLC on a console game.

I understand were you are coming from Slapshot, thats why alot of my real life friends say about MMOs too that they just dont want to be tied to one game. I dont know I guess it just depends on the person. I maybe play for 2-3 hours aday after all my chores and family stuff is taken care of. Sometimes like right now I may not play it for a few days (darn you Pokemon White). But in the end I still feel I get my moneys worth.

I have to admit I've never liked the idea of a monthly subscription, due to it tying me down to one game. That said, as has been suggested, if you're a gamer that can commit to one game then it's maybe a good idea. I prefer the idea of a free game, but if you get sucked in then there are upgrades and items that you can purchase, which I see is already a tactic in some of the free to play titles.

It seems that, for some, these kind of games eventually get repetitive and dull, but it probably depends on the title and whether the developers are able to keep things fresh. When I start trying a couple of these I'll also be hoping to find welcoming players, not snobby elitists who scream 'NOOB!' at me the minute I start playing! I'm a Star Wars and LOR geek, so I'll be looking into these initially I suspect.

Yea I will say that the big thing that keeps me coming back to WoW in particular is the great guild I have which keeps me coming back for more. Plus there is plenty to do I dont think anyone has ever done everything in the game even ones who have been playing since launch.

I wont lie to you there will be some people that will call you NOOB!!! hell they even call long time players that the best thing to do is of course ignore them, but of course you have just as many nice and understanding people out there that are willing to help a new player.

I don't like any RPG that features people spamming /dance and going "1K FLAMING SWORD LOLS!!!11!!1"

Pulls me out of the game world entirely.

I like the concept of MMOs. The problem is that I hate the people in them.

BTW Guild Wars FTW. Though I played that more as a single player game than MMO.

Pretty much sums up my feelings. Although I've found GW players to be generally better than most others. Also, thank goodness for henchmen and heroes. The only other person I'd play GW with is my wife. Other than that, I'm solo as well.

Thats why I shut of trade chat or general chat or world chat or whatever the game calls that chat channel that lets people broadcast throughout the world.

That doesn't stop the /dance spamming, nor does it stop people talking like this "lolz I soloed hydra im awsome."

It's not exactly keeping with the fantasy word the developers have built.

this is my problem with a lot of online games in general

Good point - I get tired of having to mute everyone in online FPSers.