MMORPGS: Why play solo in an MMO?

It is bound to happen that in the digital age, a long-time VG player would seek to play one of the more popular Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, such as World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes, Age of Conan, and others. While each game has its fans, both casual and rabid, and each game has its own unique culture, currency, and lifespan, the big issue is why play in groups?

Some would argue that the grouping experience and advancement process is the reason. True, a player can advance usually more quickly within a group, and many players who enjoy the group experience find the in-game rewards more rewarding. Too often, the MMOs are dominated by those who enjoy the sense of competition and victory over large scale events (Raids) or against other players in Player Versus Player (PVP) environments. While there is no right or wrong method of playing, there is great debate about the decision of a small group of people who prefer to play such games alone (Solo Play).

Clearly, websites are dedicated to group play. Society often sees the MMOs as solely a group experience, and not usually a solo experience. There is a lot of debate regarding why someone would seek to play an MMO as a solo player in the first place, as they would 'defeat the purpose' of an MMO. In the debate, a player is better suited to playing a traditional game rather than an MMO, as socialization is part of the MMO background. I strongly disagree.

The simple fact, the primary term for MMOs is actually MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online ROLE PLAYING game. The debate on what Role Playing as a terminology has been reduced to the idea you make a character and level that character. Socialization varies greatly, as most groups are bound by goals and/or advancement, and not really the personal interaction or story-driven sort of games that older RPG fans are used to. I'm not suggesting this cannot happen, but I am suggesting that more often than not, the concern from the mass audience of players is more concerned with Raid dynamics, gear levels, and PvP than developing a reasonable game.

At the same time, I'm a player of MMOs, although I prefer to play solo more often than not. Why is that? Is it because I'm anti-social? Is it due to the fact that I have my own goals and/or desires that groups tend to turn away from? Is it that I don't like my fellow players (See Anti-social)? I think it's actually more basic for me, but I think that it's best explained to explain my own relationship with MMOs.

Like most older players, I started MMOs with either Neverwinter Nights (On America Online) and/or more aptly, with EverQuest. EverQuest really established itself as the guidelines for most games, including WoW, in so far as player expectations, Memes, behavioral patterns, and terminology. While 'Noob' as a term was in existence prior to Everquest (or EQ), it was really brought to the fore-front as were hundreds of other terms, catchphrases, and concepts which predominate every MMO since. My experiences with EQ were not always good ones: I was once robbed of all my possessions by a guild-mate, was stranded in areas by groups that I could not easily retreat from, had to deal with the terrible grinding experience that was levelling a character, and nearly always poor from not being able to earn enough to get good equipment. All of these issues happened within the first three months of EQ's launch, and it soured my expectations. I stuck with EQ for some time, until an incident I like to call The Saturday Spider Incident.

In essence, I was grinding my way through EQ, hunting spiders for spider-silk, which I would then turn into thread and sell at the newly unveiled auction houses. I had done this for four hours when my Dad dropped by and asked me what I was doing. As I explained it to him, he asked a simple question: Was I gaining any useful benefit from my current activity. It was true, I wasn't levelling, I wasn't actually doing anything than trying to earn money, and the pittance I would have earned would actually require me to do harder work, but it was my skill-set. I stopped immediately, logged out, and shut down the game. I had come to realize I wasn't playing to have fun, I was playing because I felt I was obligated. In that, I had no qualms about quitting.

Fast forward several years to 2003 and the pre-launch of the popular MMO City of Heroes (COH). The Game was everything I liked - Super Heroes, Bright Costumes, and actions. I recall being one of the only one of my friends playing, and it got me through the summer of 2004 and early 2005 during my depression. For a time, it wasn't bad, it was an experience of the game wasn't like my previous experience with EQ. I became involved with other games, Such as WoW, Matrix: Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and other games during my serious bout with sickness, and I found each had the strengths and weaknesses I liked, but the groups were way too obnoxious for open play. Invariably, COH provided the group dynamics I liked, and as more of my friends joined, I had a better experience over-all...but I remained a solo player.

The solo aspect of those later games was sparse, using the EQ model of requiring groups to achieve higher levels. The problem was, I could only play at certain points or would only be on for twenty minutes a day, and couldn't really be part of a large group for long. I think that was what really soured me onto MMOs in the first place: You needed a group in order to achieve things, and you had to commit a large chunk of time to playing if you wished to advance. As for myself, I didn't mind...at the time....because there wasn't much else to do.

With that being said, I found I drifted more and more into the 'loner gamer' role. I sought MMOs as the graphics were lush and they were always dynamic, unlike regular games which were fixed in their stories and activities. There was a sense of accomplishment lacking from other games, and if I did want to team with my friends, I had the option to do so. Even later RPG games couldn't match the versatility and involvement from other games, and I think that there was something to also be said for the fact that being part of a community at any level was welcome at times. People I worked with who I never thought would have anything in common with played MMOs, and we often had discussions if not short diatribes about our love and hate of the common game. There was benefit in the group style play, but it came as a cost: Players often were in competition with one another, either intentionally or unintentionally, and it became problematic. People tended to become 'experts' with little real knowledge of the intrinsic nuances of a particular game, and nearly everyone had at least one group member who was problematic and simply lacked common sense, ability, and/or skill to not 'aggro' (Draw groups of enemies) into unnecessary groups.

There was a larger issue, and that was I wanted to accomplish something more that was being done. I had characters I wanted to do things with, new concepts I wanted to try, and more often than not, use my MMO time as a means to de-stress. The last thing I wanted to do was enter another world of different stresses, or deal with problems that I was either involved with or felt I had to become part of in order to achieve that short burst of endorphins from a successful venture. I realized I sucked at PvP, not because I lacked the skill to play, but I just didn't feel it was right to have to humiliate someone or be humiliated by someone to prove my superiority. I didn't need that, as it was a major turn-off (as anyone who has ever been bullied might attest to). In short, while it was nice to group, it was only if I could do so on my terms, otherwise I would prefer to just play alone or with a trust couple of friends.

Sadly, MMOs do not cater to the solo player. Most MMOs almost slavishly require a devotion to larger groups in greater numbers to accomplish the highest tier of rewards. Without a means to achieve this by oneself, it becomes essential that a person find groups to accomplish their goals, and that by itself can lead to the experience being less than pleasurable. While many new players do not have the experience or knowledge to see that the basic format of group play is still relying on the map from EQ, most players simply see the solo player as 'not getting it' or 'lacking the understanding of the game', despite the years of experience I and others might have with it. There is nothing really to address the desire for solo play amidst a group of players, it's simply a fact that a majority of the games focus purely on larger groups.

I think that MMOs must adapt past the EQ mentality to meet the new generation of gamer, whose love for a particular game may only last for four to six months. If a MMO truly wants to maintain itself in the day and age of the Playstation generation, they will need to focus past the experience of EQ and embrace a larger concept that would include more solo events for those players like myself - The older adult with capital to spare, who would pay for a good MMO dedicated to the casual player.

More Later

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