One of these days I am going to be able to bring up an MMORPG in conversation and it won’t descend into a discussion on Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot, or Ultima Online. I really, really wish we could bury these fossils and leave them out of conversation when dealing with newer games on the horizon.
My fellow keybinders, can we please change the song on that broken jukebox already? Come on we all know the pattern and the tired dance we go through with every title that gets announced. If you don’t recall what I’m talking about, let me remind you:
Step 1: New game is announced.
Step 2: Gamers rush to analyze the hell out of the official site and apply to beta test.
Step 3: Although it is a beta test, players accept it as a finished product and blog about it.
Step 4: Company takes time to tweak game as MMO base looks for it to be the next coming of Jesus.
Step 5: Gamers build themselves up to think: OMG this new game is going to be PERFECT! Yayyyy!
Step 6: Gamers complain about the current game that they are playing and announce how they can’t wait for new game to launch.
Step 7: New game launches and the servers are overblown with MMO hounds and skeptics.
Step 8: Gamers realize the game is nothing like Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft or Ultima Online so they become bitter.
Step 9: Gamers quit new game to return to older game and complain about how new game sucks.
Step 10: Go back to Step 1 and repeat.
I’m not saying that people should not complain about bad games, but if the only argument we have is to compare it to the good parts of very flawed older games then how will newer, more casual players understand? We older MMO players are used to a standard that may never return and we must accept it or move on. They say that the best sign of insanity is for someone to repeat the exact same thing over and over expecting a different result. So why do we look for the return of a game that has been long gone for years… with every release?
I came to peace with the old games being gone a long time ago… It is why I still play my fun Sith Warrior alt in Star Wars the Old Republic. The classic MMOs will always have a fond place in my memory and saved gallery folders on my external hard drive… but I have come to terms with them being exactly that: Classics, like an old model T Ford. Let it go my friends and accept newer games on their own merit – either you like a game or you don’t. Thanks for reading.
