As a gamer who appreciates all consoles, genres, and generations of video games, I often find myself buried under an avalanche of quality new games that I want to play. It is because of my view of gaming as a series of flirtatious flings and not a confining commitment that I find myself baffled at the friends around me who limit themselves to a single game.
They’re Mono-gamers. This is the story of my experiences with a few of those one-trick ponies.
First of all, it’s important to know that I consider myself a renaissance gamer. I have owned all generations of consoles and maintained a quality PC so that I could dabble in any gaming experience I wished. I always make a point of finishing the games that I start, because I don’t like to leave loose ends. Also, there is something to be said for the sense of accomplishment you feel when the end credits roll. This leads to my interactions with the antithesis of my poly-gamey
My first encounter with a mono-gamer started innocently enough. A carefree perusal at the local electronics store ended with me and my friend Ben holding the same game in our hands. World of Warcraft had just released that day. I had loved all the earlier Warcraft games and I love RPGs so this was a no brainer.
Playing WoW on launch day was like being given the keys to a fantasy world. We created Azerothian avatars in the form of the Undead and proceeded to dive deep into the virtual world. Weeks passed as we played and I was initially hooked. It was a blast plundering dungeons and razing the hillsides together, decimating all wildlife and foes that crossed our paths. Ben and I were a team, and questing together made logging on solo feel like playing on a see-saw by myself.
I should have seen the signs beforehand. Prior to the release of World of Warcraft I had a discussion with Ben and learned that he hadn’t played some amazing games like Final Fantasy 7 and Resident Evil 4. Being the passionate gamer I am, I administered the games to him faster than an EMT hooking an IV to an infant with dysentery. Even with these great games at his disposal, he continued playing Counter Strike, the same game he had been playing for years. This instance confounded me, but I brushed it off as stubbornness on his part.
Back to the present, a new AAA game was released and I informed Ben that I was taking a break from our level 25 Undead to play it. It took me around a week to conquer the new game and then I was thirsty again to continue on with the crusade in WoW. I figured maybe Ben had squeezed out 5 or so more levels, nothing impossible to catch up to. Never did I expect to log on and see that he had hit level 60. That huge number sitting next to his character’s portrait hit me like a punch in the gut. Sure, I had taken a break to play another game, but, being a gamer, wasn’t trying other games to be expected? How could I possibly catch up to him now? Even if I hit 60 in a week, he would already be acquiring better gear and running instances way out of my league. What happened to our team? Couldn’t he have created an alt?
Shattered and disillusioned to the World… of Warcraft, I trudged on, hoping that somewhere Ben would take a break and I could hit the big six-oh. A solid year passed and that break never occurred. I never passed up new games for WoW, but I never stopped striving for 60. After awhile I decided it was just time to stop. Ben was big-time now, and I was still small-time. I couldn’t commit to one single game while floods of great new titles were being unleashed. I hung up my virtual broadsword and resigned from WoW. Ben continued playing the game for some time, and eventually refused to do much with his free time besides play WoW, let alone play any other games. We see each other in passing, and he’s thinking of playing Diablo 3 when it releases. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Time passed and I was determined to hit the level cap in WoW. I introduced a few friends of mine to the game with limited success. My friend Doug and I played in tandem together one summer until level 40 and I thought I was finally going to reach my goal! And then he suddenly stopped playing. I had all but given up, and then Doug and two of my other friends started playing it again … just in time for the new semester. So while I studied and satiated my gaming palate with a few console games, Doug and my friends were hitting level 70 and continuously asked me when I was going to start. I always maintained a strict “no WoW during school” policy, but eventually did start after the semester. I hit level 70 the same night the Lich King expansion released and figured I was almost there. Some must-play titles like Left 4 Dead and Dead Space were released and I soon saw the level cap eluding my grasp yet again. Meanwhile, Doug and my friends reached level 80 in the break-neck speed of less than a week.
Having played WoW on and off since launch, I’ve never officially hit the level cap, but my friends have ... sometimes multiple times. This is because it has been the only game they ever play. They call themselves gamers, but whenever I mention a newer game they look at me like I’m crazy. More recently some of them actually decided to quit WoW, and I was excited to actually play something with them. We decided to check out a little game we’d missed called Diablo 2. Guess what? Rinse, lather, repeat.
So what do you folks think? Are any of you mono-gamers? Am I demonizing the otherwise positive characteristic of being a committed person? Do you think I have commitment issues because I don’t want to tie myself down to a single game and let greatness pass me by? Do you think it’s possible to have a fruitful MMO experience while working, going to school, and playing other games?
Contest:
10:00 AM on 01.31.2009
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Anywho, I'm in no way a mono-gamer. I have to have a taste of everything. It's all about getting sucked into every game's story.
WoW players are their own breed.. =P
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I though I was a pretty avid WoW gamer, but I'm with you... just can't pass up everything for one game. And a game like WoW demands that you focus on it only to get the most out of it.
Being a gamer has long been one of the five pilars of geekdom (videogames, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, toys). That's where things get tricky with WoW. You can be a hardcore fantasy fan, with little interest in videogames, and still absolutely love WoW. It's like how you can not be a toy collector, but still have a big, old dragon statue in your bedroom, or not like really be into comics books, but still never miss an issue of Whedon's Buffy series.
Or you can be like Samit, and exclusively play non-geek games like sports titles and GTA. Gamers like him are certainly in the minority, but it's a minority that's constantly growing.
In regards to your questions though: Although it is technically possible to have a 'fruitful MMO experience' while still maintaining a regular, sociably acceptable life, it doesn't seem to happen very often with Wow players.
Also, I don't think you have any commitment issues, your friends just need to get out a little more.
I'm happy to hear you guys relate with me here. It was to the point that anytime I played something wasn't WoW, I would feel a tinge of guilt in my stomach because I wasn't trying to catch up with my friends that play 24/7. No gamer should ever feel guilt because they are playing the-wrong-game.
I will defend WoW players in general, but I do think that people should play a variety of games. People don't just read the same book over and over, or watch the same movie, right?
Your friends sound like they just really enjoyed WoW, and there's nothing wrong with liking one game over others for what it is. It doesn't sound like your friends were unable to appreciate other games, just that they didn't enjoy them as much. A friend of mine picked Halo as the Best Game in the Universe and suddenly all other games were ranked on their similarity to Halo. COD was bad because of how it wasn't Halo. MMOs were bad because you couldn't pull the trigger like Halo. If something got really similar, it was bad for being a ripoff of Halo. It was a venn diagram with circles that aren't touching, labeled "Halo" and "Bad Games". That's when being a mono-gamer becomes a problem.
Your friend sounds like some of my friends. Also, to sit down and then play Halo with said friend must have been a nightmare. That happened with me and another friend back when the first Smash Bros. game came out. 2 weeks in he could be 3 lvl 9 computers with Kirby and playing with him just wasn't fun.
And actually, there are some people who read or watch the same things over and over. They're probably a bit rarer than mono-gamers, but they're out there. I had an ex-girlfriend who watched The Labyrinth on a weekly basis.
Thanks for commenting. Some people do latch onto things they enjoy and don't let go. Hopefully this wasn't the case when Labyrinth girl became your EX-girlfriend? Hah.
Its really weird that way. It somehow pulls you in and gets you totally absorbed into the game. Im glad I escaped from its clutches before it was too late.
So while I can understand it I also know the importance of playing other games because nothing gets forum members running for their pitch forks faster then the guy who says he's only ever played WOW because all other games are crap.
@John Solgrim
I'm sorry to hear you lost a friend. I feel like I've come very close recently
@Zodiac Eclipse
I do respect and practice rereading good books, but you wouldn't, say... read "No Country for Old Men" 30 times in a year, right?
Great write up by the way.
Myself, well, Halo has always been in my life, from the weekly LANs with Halo:CE, to the endless online battles in Halo 2, and now after quite a lot of Halo 3, I've been off it for several months. There has of course always been goodies, as in full games, sprinkled throughout, but Halo is the only real constant for me. Now I currently have so much, I'm always playing a different game, and its all good fun.
I promptly went back to playing all the hit titles I missed and I'm never going back to WoW. Great write-up.
Great write up, though. I've never played WoW, despite lots of pressure from two good friends, because of exactly what you describe here. I know I would either get distracted by other games and be dissatisfied with the WoW experience or feel like I wasn't getting my money's worth, or I would play too much and lose my social life. Neither one is particularly appealing, although whenever I see someone playing I do feel a strong urge to roll a character.
I can't say I've seen the same behavior over any other game, though. I can imagine an obsession over other multiplayer games, where the other people playing keep the experience fresh, but it seems like a stretch to think it could happen with a single-player RPG. Any thoughts?
Also, I don't consider mono-gamers to the degree you describe real 'gamers'. That's because MMO's become a platform upon themselves and if someone only plays one game, then they are not real gamers. Great read by the way.
Now I am a senior in college, and still all I have ever done in the World of Warcraft is to play the beta and reach maybe level 15, and play a trial and just stop before my trial was even up.
I have loads of games I want to play now, and I am having much more fun with these than any MMO has been able to provide me. Meanwhile, I have friends who definitely got sucked in by WoW, and all too often when someone mentions WoW here in college there's always one person who says "Hey, I know someone who failed all their classes because of WoW" or "I know someone who dropped out because of WoW".
I think that it can reach a point where some peoples' addiction to WoW just becomes really unhealthy.
A good portion of my friends are monogamers, sadly. My most recent roommate only played Halo all the time and Guitar Hero maybe twice a month if that. I never saw him do anything else, but I also never saw him that much anyway. *cough* Another actually did fail out of school. He would play WoW all day and not go to class. At all. I mean, he would game until 6am (when I had to wake up) when he would go to bed, then he'd be asleep until 3pm or later. He just packed all of his stuff and left around six weeks into the semester...
As for me? I'm a bit overboard on polygamey. I have a Wii, PS2, DS, and PSP out now, with all the other systems I have boxed up somewhere. Oh, emulation is lovely all right, but I still buy games even though I have a massive backlog of games to play and beat someday. Lately, I try to play one game all the way through so as to keep the backlog shorter, but still new games come into my hands.
And yes, I've played WoW before. Two ten-day trials, maybe...four hours in total? Yeah. It just didn't stick with me, but then again, I hate pay-to-play anyway. =P
That being said, I know a friend who once played WoW at least 12 hours a day in lieu of a job search. Frightening, frightening stuff.
I can play Warhammer Online 4 or 5 hours a day and still squeak in Madden or Rainbow Six. Or i can put in an hour in Warhammer and 3 or 4 in Far Cry 2 or Burnout:Paradise. I am addicted to MMOs, i have been playing since 98 back in my Ultima Online days. Somedays i just dont feel the MMO bug and hang out witht friends on XBL, other days im ultrahardcoreMMOman (back during Dark Age of Camelot i played for 41 hours straight while the wife and kids were away at here parents house and i was home alone and off of work heh...) and dont even turn my 360 on.
I love all games...and could never exclude any of them. Even the dreaded MMORPGs.
A few years later, I entered what millions of other gamers entered: The Halo phase. This game was all I would play from Halo: CE to Halo 2, but when the first Gears came out, I calmed down a bit, but then continued to play just Halo 2 (Played BioShock for a bit though, but still haven't beat it) up until Halo 3, which then became my gaming drug, until this past year, when I started giving other games a chance.
I think the worst is over,and now L4D is my current gaming addiction, haha.
Great read, a lot of people could learn from this (Especially those (Insert game here) Extremists).
@Dogen
Pun-toids they may be, but you must admit that saying "monogamer" is easier than saying "a person that only plays one game." Thanks for your ability to grin and bear it. Also, I definitely could/have seen this happen with single player RPGs. My cousin beat FFVII 5 times in a row when it first released, and this is even easier today with time-sink games like Lost Odyssey and Fallout 3.
To all others, it's interesting how many of have considered playing an MMO, but have turned away from it for fear of becoming to immersed. Do you think companies like Blizzard could release a version of their game that could appeal to you without threatening to completely pull you in? How could they do this?
I can see how someone could get addicted, though, a lot like my ex-roommate did. He was someone I was friends with since elementary school and once he started playing WoW, he quit going to class and eventually just moved back in with his parents in St. Louis (I am in Columbus, OH right now). Worst part being he stiffed us on rent and didn't tell us he was leaving, we had to find out when he updated his facebook info. Needless to say, I have a pretty negative view of MMOs in general because of my experiences.
As far as mono-gaming, though, I am in the same boat as you, Dimly. I can play a game's multiplayer for a while, like Resistance 2 at the moment, but if a new game comes out, I have no problem dropping it and trying out this new one. I usually try to play as many good games as I can from a variety of different genres, whether I am good at them or not (damn you, fighting games).
The problem then becomes that when I go back to the multiplayer games, most people on there haven't stopped playing since I was off for a week or two so I am already that much worse than I was. Can certainly be a frustrating situation at times but I will usually just move on to another game.
As for making a game that people wouldn't fear addiction from:
All Blizzard would have to do is release another one of their properties into an MMO (ie Starcraft). Make it work on all machines like WoW, and brand it as a "user-friendly MMO" for people who've never played before.
Make it very casual, and exciting early-game so it gets buzz worthy. WoW's problem (and it's greatest success) is that it has TOO much end-game content, and not enough early content. There's too much pressure to constantly play it and get "as good" as the hardcore pvp-ers and raiders.
In WoW, you'll have to grind 7-8 straight full days in PVP to get decent gear for arenas. You'll also have to raid consistently for 3 months to get top level gear depending on the content.
If "Galaxy of StarCraft" was billed as a "beginners MMO", all of the hardcore would keep playing WoW, and the casuals would flock to Starcraft. Blizzard (I refuse to call them Activision-Blizzard) would have everyone in the palm of their hand.
Then when WoW saturates, make "Realm of Diablo" a hardcore MMO again with updated graphics.
Epic Win.
"most people on there haven't stopped playing since I was off for a week or two so I am already that much worse than I was"
This is potentially the most annoying part of being mono-game-ous. Games like Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 are incredibly fun games, but getting pwned every time sucks. I guess that's the price we have to play for diversifying. That's why when I go to play those games I try to find friends on my friends list that are in the same boat as me.
I never got into MMOs either. I've tried and failed many times. The gameplay just doesn't grab me. The only one I really like was PSO, and I played the majority of it offline solo.
Thanks!
That actually sounds like a path I could see Blizzard taking.
So, in short, I'm cool with mono-gaming. Though whenever I get a job again, I'm definitely going back to poly-gamey. Good article!
I had a string of time where WoW was my exclusive, all-time consuming game for a while, and I definitely enjoyed it, despite missing out on completing lots of quality games at the time. That persisted even after I had finally picked up a Wii. WoW was still a major focus. It felt to me, though, that it wasn't so much an extra ordinary commitment to that game specifically.
Playing WoW to a satisfying amount, for me, takes a long time! Not to say, in my opinion, that its clinically addictive or anything. But the scope of time to enjoy a session of WoW ended up being much larger than the time for most other games.
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Separately, I experienced something similar with a friend I made at work, who was part of a pretty major "world first" level raiding guild in WoW. Even after he dropped out of that When the Burning Crusade came out, he still put way more time into leveling up his new Paladin than I did in leveling my new Hunter on his server. It sucked that he out leveled me. relentlessly, but I could tell that his enjoyment went beyond any team up that we ever managed together.
Nice writeup!
First is the continuous sense of accomplishment you get for your time. All the gold, gear, titles, pets, mounts and whatever are all recognizable to other players as something you've done. Its like mega-achievements. I remember buying and playing other games and feeling sort of let down that no one could see what I had done.
The other is the complete community the hardcore create. The raiding guilds I was in didn't just talk in game, they had each others phone numbers. Girlfriends/boyfriends were found in game and much drama would ensue. Trips were made to see other players. It completely replaced old friends. This just feeds itself; when everyone you communicate with is similarly entrenched in WoW, the behavior seems acceptable.
At my playing peak, WoW was my job, hobby, and social life all rolled into one.
I'm better now ;)
Another one just plays Halo 3 20 hours a day and maybe something else on occasion and then back to Halo.
I have no idea how anyone can do that, how you can limit yourself to a single game, its just mind blowing.
I understand how playing an online game can make it so that is all you play, simply because it is SO addicting.
Today, I'll go from daily chores in Animal Crossing, to Persona 4, to Afro Samurai, to whatever. Its great!
except when a new expansion comes out, then I'm lost to the world for a good month. But then. That isnt much different than say..what happens when a new persona releases
It really sounds like the you just never sat down and really played WoW.
It's pretty easy to level up to 60 with minimum grindage (especially since Burning Crusade). There's a reason WoW is called a "care bears" MMO.
I quit playing WoW because the game was terrible, but I played it only to act as a social hub for my buddies that didn't have 360s. I still managed to get 4 characters to 60 (then up to 70) with minimal impact my normal gaming schedule.
There's nothing you can do to change them, just let them play what they want. If they don't have the same interests as you, so be it. I have had some successes with mono-gamers though, including myself. Back in the day I was all about Nintendo and Sega and I hated anything involving Sony and Microsoft. A few years of Nintendo fanboy-ism later, I sell my GameCube in favor of a PS2(but don't get me wrong both systems have great libraries of games) then a Wii. Later on past the AAA Nintendo titles(the usual Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc), I grew tired of the Wii and bought a 360(which I'm currently in love with). Then I just dropped the whole "system wars" mentality in general. It's just stupid.
But out of all the online games, I just don't understand WoW. But then again, I love Phantasy Star Online(I'm playing it on the PC on a private server for free) and I love the addictive level/dungeon grinding and hunting for rare treasures. I know it's kind of hypocritical, but hey, it's free.
There's nothing you can do to change them, just let them play what they want. If they don't have the same interests as you, so be it. I have had some successes with mono-gamers though, including myself. Back in the day I was all about Nintendo and Sega and I hated anything involving Sony and Microsoft. A few years of Nintendo fanboy-ism later, I sell my GameCube in favor of a PS2(but don't get me wrong both systems have great libraries of games) then a Wii. Later on past the AAA Nintendo titles(the usual Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc), I grew tired of the Wii and bought a 360(which I'm currently in love with). Then I just dropped the whole "system wars" mentality in general. It's just stupid.
But out of all the online games, I just don't understand WoW. But then again, I love Phantasy Star Online(I'm playing it on the PC on a private server for free) and I love the addictive level/dungeon grinding and hunting for rare treasures. I know it's kind of hypocritical, but hey, it's free.
I agree, it's ridiculously frustrating when you agree to start a game with someone, and then they just run with it. Being left in your buddies virtual dust is frustrating and lame.
@JamnOnTheOne
On my most recent character I have an accumulated 15 days play time (Dimly on Moonrunner)... yet this wasn't nearly enough to compete with my 40+day friends. Also, it's good to keep in mind that I have another 54, a couple 40's, and those characters were made before Burning Crusade. So I would argue that I have "sat down and really played WoW"... but it just wasn't enough.
@Spectral
Giving up on the console wars was a good idea. When good games come out for each system, whats the point of comparing and contrasting? All the systems have their awesome games, and we need as many great games as we can get!
I suppose ideally it'd be between me and the monogamer.
I just can't get into their headset at all - taking my Halo 3 fanatic friend as an example - Halo 3 is great, yeah, but it's not the only game worth playing. Get out there and play a little.
I work with a guy that's a Halo 3 monogamer. So annoying. His Gamertag is actually HALO ZEN MASTER. I'm slightly embarrassed to have him on my friends list.