MMOs: Deep, consuming story or just a waste of time?

Apparently, I’m not the only one feeling the stagnation of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. IGN UK reported that Richard Garriot, who was largely responsible for starting the genre with his work on Ultima Online, is also seeing the lack of creativity and he hopes that his new project, Tabula Rasa, will alter the paradigm.

It seems when I first considered the concept of a massive multiplayer online game I got pretty excited. I’m a fan of fantasy and science fiction and when I thought about this new genre of games I imagined these fantastic and consuming worlds where each person played a part in a great story. And really that’s what the games were marketed as from the beginning. It would be a way to loose yourself in another world like when you watch a great movie or better yet read a consuming novel. Only in the game you didn’t have to read about other characters doing great and wonderful things, you actually would get to do them (through the Human-Machine-Interface of course).

However, every time I have tried my hand in this genre I have walked away disappointed. Not because of the graphics or game play, because they are generally quite good, but because I never found that deep, satisfying story. Let’s face it, I can find great graphics and game play in a variety of other genres without having to do the horribly tedious and time consuming tasks that most MMO force you to do. So, if I’m not getting anything extra from the 20+ hours I would need to play a MMO in order to reach any goals, then I think I will stick to FPS’s.

Read [IGN]