Thursday, June 18, 2009

Too Many MMORPGs, too little time (and money)

I enjoy playing the occasional Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG).  In the past I have been active in both City of Heroes and Age of Conan.  Well, my wife calls me a casual player, but she is a complete MMORPG addict.  So I take her opinion on the matter with a grain of salt.

Nevertheless, it is true that I have drifted away from playing MMORPGs.  I would love to start playing one again in my (nonexistent? fictional?) free time.  I do have one small problem.  Namely, that I enjoy playing with my friends and everyone I know seems to be playing different games.  Since I lack infinite time and resources, I must choose only one!

Here are my top contenders:

Age of Conan

Pros: I have heard of World of Warcraft Widows.  I may be an Age of Conan Widower.  So joining up with Age of Conan again would allow me to spend more quality (virtual) time with her.  Plus, I have a level 80 character on the game.  Although, sadly, more than half of those levels my wife earned for me.

Cons: Honestly, I am not a huge fan of gameplay in Age of Conan.  Plus, the relearning curve would be high.

City of Heroes/City of Villains

Pros: My friends Bob and Brian are playing this game.  I enjoy this game a lot, and probably would still be playing if my wife had not abandoned it for Age of Conan.  I have multiple high-level characters including two level 50 characters.

Cons:  My friends have characters that are much lower level than I am.  The game is aging and I have played it enough that I feel I have exhausted a lot of the content in the game.

Darkfall Online

Pros: My friend Chad plays this game.  He sees it as the second coming of Ultima Online and is evangelizes that the game contains unrestricted Player vs. Player (PvP).

Cons: This game is currently only available in Europe and you have to play off of the European servers.  Also, I am not sure how I feel about unrestricted PvP.

Dungeons & Dragons Online

Pros: My friend Ashby has expressed an interest in playing once it goes free.  Also, the mere fact that it can be played for free, even if in a somewhat limited fashion, is a big pro in and of itself.  Plus, it is Dungeons & Dragons!

Cons: It may be Dungeons & Dragons, but its Eberron.  I am a little concerned with whether or not the free accounts will be able to compete with the paid accounts, but I am not going to complain too much since at the very least it will be free to try.

World of Warcraft

Pros:  One of my co-workers, Jonathan, plays this game.  So does everyone else in the world, so at least it is not going anywhere.

Cons:  I know my wife will never play this game, as she has expressed distain for the “cartoony looking characters” in the past.

Hmm… I was hoping writing out the pros and cons of all of these MMORPGs would make one choice obvious.  Apparently not.  I suppose I will just have to content myself with obsessing over good old-fashioned pen and paper RPGs.

Or maybe I could go outside.

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