Flashback

[Oatik]

I'm not sure if it's just me, or if we're now completely directionless.

Sometimes I love to go back and just read what was being said at various times in past games. In this case I'm quoting myself about WAR. I really enjoyed WAR and thinking back I mostly think of good times with fun battles and me burning stuff (like the enemy) down. I resubbed once after about 6 months away but I'd lost the flow and didn't know anyone so that was rather hollow. Shortly there after a group of us did the endless trial for a month or two which I thought was a blast.

Between the nostalgia of old games and the temptation of future games I think we're lucky at any given moment to be actually playing a game. My advice for today is enjoy gaming and the people that you have the pleasure of gaming with now. I'm sure no matter what happens you'll look back and think "those were good times" even if at the time it might not seem like it.

[Morreion]

That is excellent advice. I have a true story that proves your point.

Back when I played WoW from release in late 2004 up to early 2006, I constantly compared it to DAoC, the game I left to play WoW. DAoC got its start in 2001 so it had that old-school community that kept me there for 3 years straight. WoW, due to being very popular with non-MMO players as well as having mechanisms that actually discouraged grouping, had in general a poor community, particularly when compared to older games. It bothered me at the time. Now I had a lot of fun leveling up as part of a duo to the level cap, which took about 7 months; classic WoW was a good solid game, despite its shortcomings. I ran a small guild of RP friends, and we had lots of great times (some have been posted here in the Campfire section).

When I look back on my time in WoW, I had a really good time, not because the community wasn't very good, but because I enjoyed the journey to level cap with good friends. I have much better memories of those times now; at the time, I saw the game's faults more than the good things, due to the inevitable comparisons to older games.

I have a feeling that the classic experiences of old-school games are quite possibly over with in MMOs, but there can still be good times to be had, enjoying games with friends. That might be cold comfort when thinking back on experiences from 10 years ago, but it would be stupid to see everything sourly when there are times to be had that will make you say, 'that was really fun' years from now.