One of the fun exercise you can do when you have a blog is to go back in time to read yourself and see what how your opinions changed, what games you enjoyed and why and all other sort of fun facts. For example, I can find posts dating back to early 2010 about how I just couldn’t wait for Swtor to come out… that was one long wait.
Some ideas seem to change based on what game I was playing at the time and I can find points where I was really just trying to justify my current situation when in fact I my true motives were entirely something else, for example my stance on whether I’m casual, hardcore, a raider or my level of guild involvement has changed a lot. Yet, I can also see trends and ideas that remain the same.
So, I decided to do a quick recap of a few of my findings today.
What changed: Guilds and playstyles
If one thing has changed constantly it’s this. Over the years I’ve classified myself in nearly every style and have tried the full range of guilds, each time claiming I had found the “right fit” and justifying my decision however I could at that particular time. However reading all of it I can see a pattern emerging and both Walk the Plank and Eff the Ineffable have taught me a valuable lesson. In the end, it’s not the play style or even the game that matter the most, it’s the people you play with. If I enjoy the people I’m with, I’ll be whatever style needed.
What didn’t change: My low tolerance for buggy games
I’m not talking small glitches here or day 1 launch hiccups. I’m talking big bugs, the ones where you have trouble installing a game or the ones that make normal play impossible or hard. Every single time a game suffered from these kind of bugs I walked away quickly, usually leaving scathing posts about how the company is a fail boat that shouldn’t be allowed to live.
I’ll put it simply. If making your game work requires trained professional IT skills… then you failed miserably. No excuses.
The why did I do this ? Stopping playing Lotro
My most fanboyish posts about a game have all been about Lotro. Most post I made about Lotro have all been about how I love one aspect or another and how I enjoyed my time there. I still keep bringing the game up as an example of what an MMO should be like. Yet… I never reached top-level and there’s still a ton of content I haven’t seen.
Reading back I can see most times I get distracted by some new and shiny thing which cause me to veer away from Lotro but the more I think about it the more I think I should make an effort to get to max level and see the whole of the game.
I’m with you on LOTRO, that game does SO many things right. Of course, the UI is appalling, but most everything else I loved. I should go back and finish too… /sigh So many MMOs so little time!