Preface
I am an old-timer, literally a grandma. Aside from dabbling in MUDs, my first graphical MMORPG experience was Ultima Online in 1997, which I just messed around in. Then came EverQuest in 1999, which my (late ex-) husband and I played so much our dial-up ISP called to complain that we were abusing our unlimited access. I spent at least a decade there, with a few short breaks in the last few of those years. Do I have nostalgia glasses? Yes. I wear them on a chain around my neck like the old lady I am. I am giving you this as background so that you know that the following comes out of first-hand experience.
Hypothesis
The difference between the personal social experience of playing in MMORPGs before the 2010s and after is a matter of the desires and expectations of the majority of players.
Utterly Unscientific Commentary
Once upon a time, there was a worldwide web without social media sites as we know them today and there was an internet beyond the worldwide web. Back in those days, your grandma wasn’t online. Your grandma probably didn’t even have an email address. The people who were online were just jazzed to be a part of this new frontier of infinite possibilities. The social aspect of Internet Relay Chat (IRC), forums, email lists (listservs), MUDs, and all the other weird little special interest platforms that popped up was the main draw of those things.
When MMORPGs emerged in that primordial digital soup, it was the prospect of existing in a virtual world with hundreds or thousands (and eventually hundreds of thousands) of other people that was so exciting. Yes, these were games and the structure and mechanics of gameplay did matter, but there were plenty of great games you could play over a LAN with your friends, on a local BBS, or by yourself. The main draw of this new genre was the massively multiplayer aspect; people showed up specifically to play with other people all over the world.
Time went on like time does. The rest of the world discovered the internet. It became increasingly centralized. Your grandma got an email address and joined Facebook. It wasn’t an amazing adventure to be online meeting strangers on the other side of the world anymore. It had become ordinary.
Since then, there have been endless debates about what happened to the social environment in MMORPGs. I am guilty of involving myself in arguments about “forced” grouping, open vs. instanced dungeons, guild tools, and all the other game mechanics that may support more social gameplay. Those debates are worth having, but that is sidestepping the main issue: the internet gaming landscape has changed drastically. We’ve changed. We’ve been joined by a lot of people who take the connectivity of the internet for granted and just want to play a game.
I know. I am restating the obvious.
But here’s my question: Is there something that might come along to reignite some of the passion for playing with strangers? I feel like the whole genre has been stuck in a bit of a rut, while less-massively multiplayer co-op games have exploded onto the scene in a kaleidoscope of variations, from wilderness survival games to ghost hunting. Many people playing those kinds of games are playing with real-life friends or friends-of-friends, or people they met on Discord. This hearkens back to the day of LAN parties, without the stains on the carpet afterward. I am not sure what MMOs can take from that except that people really do want to play together cooperatively. What could make the massively part matter again?
Perhaps more large-scale server quests? Maybe some sort of meaningful territory control? Maybe something that instills a sense of really belonging in a faction? I am sure smarter people than me have better answers. I just don’t think that the incremental innovations being made are going to inspire the longevity that the older games had, much less build a sustainable community.
The MMOist 