What is an MMO?

me_ming

ESO is the first mmo I have played. I love games, probably not a hardcore gamer, but I do enjoy playing a variety of games for escapism purposes. My very first PC game (as far as I can remember) was DoTA, then LoL. And then just other games, like The Sims, GTA, etc. Mainly though I played LoL before I played this game. It was fun, and not really hard to understand, but the level of toxic players in games like LoL was always an issue to me. I wanted to play games so I can relax and take a break from a very busy week or something, and as much as I hate loosing, the attitude of players when you loose a game in LoL was just too much for me. The level of negative attitude that players in that game have was beyond my comprehension.

So you can only imagine the relief that I got when I played ESO. I remember my first dungeon (at level 12) when we all died to a boss, I was so scared people would flame at me. Instead my teammates were very encouraging, and didn't blame me at all for being a noob (I'm pretty sure they were all alts or something). I'm now vr3, and don't get me wrong, I have encountered a few players who blamed me or other people in the team for not completing a dungeon, but compared to LoL players, it was nothing.

Anyways, back to my question: What is an MMO? I was just wondering, what exactly is an MMO game/player? Does everyone do all the quests to reach the veteran level? If not, how do they level up? How can they access the other maps in game, when they just grind all day long (no hate for those who grind, just curious)? I know others grind, but is it really ok if you do not complete quests in this game? Or do they just go straight to PvP at level 10? I think, I may have a very linear perspective at games, I want to complete whatever it is that you have to "finish" the game-- I suppose in this case, getting to vr14-- or vr16 (soon). Sometimes, I feel guilty, because I have some unfinished quests in certain maps, and I am already over-leveled in those areas. I'm not even sure if it IS still necessary. How I leveled up to veteran level was really just PvP-ing (mostly).

So anyways, I just wanted to know what other players think. I just want to know how they view an MMO game. For me to have a better understand. I would appreciate any reply. Thanks.

UPrime

MMO is any game where you large number of players that can meet in an overworld of some sort. Not just Multiplayer Online, but Massive Multiplayer Online.

I think what you're really looking for is MMO RPG. More the role playing game part of it. It just happens that a lot of the biggest MMO's are also RPGs. But that in of itself has nothing to do with the community. I think what you experience in the other games was the fact that they're competitive games rather then a mix of cooperative and competitive games that attract a broader set of players. So you'll still find people that troll, flame and rage quit, but not as many.

Turelus

MMO gamers are people who enjoy either the competition or company of many online players, at least in my view.

As for your questions that depends on each person. There are those who solo quest the story then leave, those who find guilds and work with others to complete group content, some taking that a step further and going for worlds firsts or worlds best times.

Then you have PVP players who want to play solo, those who want to form large groups or guilds and take keeps.

This game has a lot to offer everyone.

For myself personally I have done mostly PVP in the last year, in more recent months (this year) I took time to go back and finish the story quests and play more PVE as a break.

me_ming

@UPrime Hmmmm... Role playing is really not why I am playing games. I mean, games like The Sims, probably. But I like the competition. I'm a fairly competitive person. The thing with communities like LoL, is most people say they're a team, and yet when it comes down for players to actually work together (like when one teammate is dying too often, on purpose or not), they tend to lash at each other rather than trying to come up with a solid plan so that they can win the game. Having said that, that is what I like about the ESO community, based on my experience so far, there are several instances when on group dungeons killing a boss is just too difficult, and instead of isolating people for doing poorly, everyone on the team is being constructive and try to at least give pieces of advice as to how we can complete the dungeon. Again, I'm not saying "flamers" doesn't exist here, but so far, in the months I have played ESO, I have only meet a couple, literally two people, who have flamed on me and to the team.

me_ming

@Turelus I suppose you're right. There are many ways you can play this game. I guess, sometimes, I just wonder how people who don't like to quest level up. I know there are those that grind mobs all day (disclaimer: I have nothing against people who do that. lol), personally though, I find it boring and tedious.

I guess, to each their own. Hehehe.

PS>> Eversince I've been to vr1, I haven't come back to Cyrodiil, I'm too squishy since the system doesn't scale my stats anymore. Will probably go back in PvP when I'm more ready.

Ranique

the toxic in LoL and dota is mostly because it is a MOBA-game. This is a simular, though different genre then MMORPG's.
There is also no big border between those types. For example guildwars 1 is in essence an MMORPG (although a-typical for most mmo's cause it isn't full open world), the PvP part of that game however is mostly MOBA.

We humans have a natural urge to categorize everything. Reality however is that every game is unique. I think the best way to categorize ESO as it is not is by calling it an MMORPG2.0

The reason is that in my opinion games like guildwars2 introduced a different direction in the genre that is taking a different approach. If you play old school MMORPG1.0 games you will find many differences that make the game different and therefor the community. Two examples.

1: the MMORPG1.0 games have a tag to loot system. basically this means that the first person hitting a foe will get the loot (and if in a party all in that party can share through a loot sharing system). The advantage of this system is that nobody can "tag along". The disadvantage is that you get something called lootstealing, resulting in flaming and annoyed people. This system is still in ESO when it comes to gatheringnodes. Something most of us has happened is that you find an iron mining node, it is guarded by a foe and while you tackle the foe, another player shows up and "steals" your iron ore. In the old gen games, this could potentially happen with all fights.

2: the MMORPG1.0 games have a very big difference between levellinggame and endgame. This is why still many people have the urge to grind to max level. They are "seasoned" to think that it is the way to go. Reality in my opinion is that ESO doesn't have an endgame, but has a strong levelling game.

Why this long introduction to answer your question?
Cause it is needed to explain how stupid labels are. A game is not designed to have a label or fit in a certain box.

A true mmorpg is an openworld role playing game.
This means that (mot) of the game takes place in an open world where all players roam and encounter eachother. They can either play together against the environment (PVE) or fight eachother (PVP) depending on the gamemode. Ironically, the most popular elements in many MMORPG's is not the open world content, but the instanced content (like raids, dungeons and trials).

Keep in mind that RPG (role playing game) is much broader than just role playing. RP-ing is something only a minority of the community enjoy. It is where you enact as if there is no immersion wall and you stay in full character all the time.
Personally I don't do that. I like to make my character look good. I like the story and the fantasy. But I prefer to always be aware of the reality, that I am playing a game and that it is an artificial world.

ESO is actually not really an MMORPG game at all. The elder scrolls series is mostly single player role playing game. ESO is more a hybrid between an MMORPG and a single player RPG. It is made to attract public from both genres.

I think the best answer is that ESO is ESO!

Turelus

me_ming wrote: »

@Turelus I suppose you're right. There are many ways you can play this game. I guess, sometimes, I just wonder how people who don't like to quest level up. I know there are those that grind mobs all day (disclaimer: I have nothing against people who do that. lol), personally though, I find it boring and tedious.

I guess, to each their own. Hehehe.

PS>> Eversince I've been to vr1, I haven't come back to Cyrodiil, I'm too squishy since the system doesn't scale my stats anymore. Will probably go back in PvP when I'm more ready.

@me_ming that issue with being squishy should be addressed already if not soon as they were adding VR scaling to the game. Sorry to say I don't remember if that's in or coming soon.

UPrime

me_ming wrote: »

@UPrime Hmmmm... Role playing is really not why I am playing games. I mean, games like The Sims, probably. But I like the competition. I'm a fairly competitive person. The thing with communities like LoL, is most people say they're a team, and yet when it comes down for players to actually work together (like when one teammate is dying too often, on purpose or not), they tend to lash at each other rather than trying to come up with a solid plan so that they can win the game. Having said that, that is what I like about the ESO community, based on my experience so far, there are several instances when on group dungeons killing a boss is just too difficult, and instead of isolating people for doing poorly, everyone on the team is being constructive and try to at least give pieces of advice as to how we can complete the dungeon. Again, I'm not saying "flamers" doesn't exist here, but so far, in the months I have played ESO, I have only meet a couple, literally two people, who have flamed on me and to the team.

The RPG in Role Playing Game doesn't mean Role Playing. It's a hold over from table top games when you were actually role playing. But now it represents a type of game play. If you have a game where your play a single character that has skills that develop, you're playing a role playing game.

KerinKor

Ranique wrote: »

ESO is actually not really an MMORPG game at all.

ESO is an entirely generic theme-park MMO, structurally identical to WOW, Rift, LoTRO, GW2 and several others.

All those games are soloable to level cap (PVE) with option group content, and the end-game is endless repeating 'raids' (of some form or other) or 'dailies'. Yes, there are differences of detail but objectively they're all pretty much the same.

PVP is also similarly generic, the 'massive battles' ZOS hyped up Cyrodiil to have but failed to deliver server tech to support were seen 10 years ago in WOW in the open world, to name but one of those I experienced first-hand, EVE of course has mega-battles far beyond anything ESO can remotely dream of.

ESO isn't a bad MMORPG, it's just nothing special, structurally.

Ranique

KerinKor wrote: »

Ranique wrote: »

ESO is actually not really an MMORPG game at all.

ESO is an entirely generic theme-park MMO, structurally identical to WOW, Rift, LoTRO, GW2 and several others.

All those games are soloable to level cap (PVE) with option group content, and the end-game is endless repeating 'raids' (of some form or other) or 'dailies'. Yes, there are differences of detail but objectively they're all pretty much the same.

PVP is also similarly generic, the 'massive battles' ZOS hyped up Cyrodiil to have but failed to deliver server tech to support were seen 10 years ago in WOW in the open world, to name but one of those I experienced first-hand, EVE of course has mega-battles far beyond anything ESO can remotely dream of.

ESO isn't a bad MMORPG, it's just nothing special, structurally.

Please if you quote someone, do it correctly. You pulled my quote totally out of context and then put some nonsens arguments why it is wrong. That way of commenting is rude, offensive and simplky wrong.

I said....

ESO is actually not really an MMORPG game at all. The elder scrolls series is mostly single player role playing game. ESO is more a hybrid between an MMORPG and a single player RPG. It is made to attract public from both genres.

I never called ESO bad, or not an MMORPG. I made a point that it is designed to be a crossover. something they did very well.

me_ming

@UPrime Ohhhh... I see gotcha. lol. Just goes to show how much of a noob I am to MMOs. T_T thanks for the clarification and information.

UPrime

Here is some details from wiki about what RPG is. Fun info to skim if you're learning.
Clicky

This isn't specific to MMO's only but a lot of MMO's are of RPG games. ESO for instance is an MMO-RPG.