Post by Morreion on Jul 4, 2009 18:28:57 GMT -5
I've tried going back to many games that I've played in the past- as a matter of fact, I've done so with a few games almost yearly 
UO, AO, DAoC...and the only game that I really ever went back to and stuck it out was LOTRO.
DAoC was the hardest to try to go back to. I played there from 2001 to the end of 2004; it was by far my favorite community, the world I spent the most time in.
Why did I leave?
I tried a few other games while I was playing that last year or so. None lured me away for long (Planetside, Horizons, Star Wars Galaxies). Part of the reason I ended up leaving was heavily and exhaustively co-GMing a guild, the Hounds of Morrigan, on Hibernia Nimue. That takes its toll over the months (even leaving out some very difficult situations). I started rolling alts to escape the responsibility; this carried over to trying other games. Another part of it was that the DAoC grouping model was getting to me (when not playing one of the few soloable classes).
Community in DAoC was remarkable for at least the first few years of the game; a server-wide community, not just within one's guild. That was starting to crack by the end of my time there. What used to be respected (particularly RP) was not always respected afterwards.
My favorite DAoC engine was the Shrouded Isles engine. When Catacombs came out, that killed it for me; I disliked the look, which was radically different.
Call me old-fashioned, but I like the classic look of any game I play. Even UO, in it's 2D isometric glory. I don't like updating looks radically- my game experience is wrapped up in the game itself, I'd rather not see an attempt to slap a contemporary veneer on top of a vintage game.
I logged into DAoC a few times in 2005 and just sat there listening to the sparse alliance chatter; it was a sad experience, because my mind was conspicuously full of what I missed. I had gone to WoW and couldn't go back. Be careful what you wish for; WoW was solo-friendly, but the community was poor (outside of good guilds).
In a way, I still wish I had stayed in DAoC, but what has happened has happened and I cannot go back.
A funny side-note to this; I had spent a few months playing Horizons in 2004, and had placed an old Homestead page up with some screenshots and a story I wrote from the game. Someone contacted me who had happened across the page by accident; they had been in Horizons for many years now, and said they had enjoyed my story and invited me into their guild should I ever return. A twinge of nostalgia for that sparsely-populated game, and its small but true community, haunts me to this day.
I wish I could go back, in a way.
UO, AO, DAoC...and the only game that I really ever went back to and stuck it out was LOTRO.DAoC was the hardest to try to go back to. I played there from 2001 to the end of 2004; it was by far my favorite community, the world I spent the most time in.
Why did I leave?
I tried a few other games while I was playing that last year or so. None lured me away for long (Planetside, Horizons, Star Wars Galaxies). Part of the reason I ended up leaving was heavily and exhaustively co-GMing a guild, the Hounds of Morrigan, on Hibernia Nimue. That takes its toll over the months (even leaving out some very difficult situations). I started rolling alts to escape the responsibility; this carried over to trying other games. Another part of it was that the DAoC grouping model was getting to me (when not playing one of the few soloable classes).
Community in DAoC was remarkable for at least the first few years of the game; a server-wide community, not just within one's guild. That was starting to crack by the end of my time there. What used to be respected (particularly RP) was not always respected afterwards.
My favorite DAoC engine was the Shrouded Isles engine. When Catacombs came out, that killed it for me; I disliked the look, which was radically different.
Call me old-fashioned, but I like the classic look of any game I play. Even UO, in it's 2D isometric glory. I don't like updating looks radically- my game experience is wrapped up in the game itself, I'd rather not see an attempt to slap a contemporary veneer on top of a vintage game.
I logged into DAoC a few times in 2005 and just sat there listening to the sparse alliance chatter; it was a sad experience, because my mind was conspicuously full of what I missed. I had gone to WoW and couldn't go back. Be careful what you wish for; WoW was solo-friendly, but the community was poor (outside of good guilds).
In a way, I still wish I had stayed in DAoC, but what has happened has happened and I cannot go back.
A funny side-note to this; I had spent a few months playing Horizons in 2004, and had placed an old Homestead page up with some screenshots and a story I wrote from the game. Someone contacted me who had happened across the page by accident; they had been in Horizons for many years now, and said they had enjoyed my story and invited me into their guild should I ever return. A twinge of nostalgia for that sparsely-populated game, and its small but true community, haunts me to this day.
I wish I could go back, in a way.
