MMORPGS as a cure for working from home

[cliffski]

I just bought Guild Wars, havent installed it yet, but I have high hopes. One of the things that attracts me to a MMORPG is the social side, seeing as though I work from home in complete social isolation.
Is this a common reason for indie devs to play a MMO?

[jankoM]

If you aren't developing and playing this at the same time - then wont in a way playing MMOG only add to your social isolation? and make you sit behind the computer for even more of your wake-up time?

in short: you work 8 hours and are isolated because you work at home... then you don't work and you can get the hell out of the houe... instead of play MMOG for 2 additional hours.

Well you can in a way socialise over the net (I meet my wife on IRC 9 years ago)... I gues what I am saying is not so "isolated life : social life" but "isolated life stairing at the computer : life" :)

[Davaris]

I'd stay away from those if I were you. Several months ago I read the rate of serious addiction to WOW was something like 50%. I don't know about other MMORPG's though. As the previous poster said when the day is done get the hell out of your house and have some fun. Join a soccer team, a gym, learn latin dancing, or go to the pub. :)

[cliffski]

Well fret not, there is zero chance of me being addicted to GW. my first impression is *meh*. But I suspect that me and all MMORPG games now. They seem very complex, very repetitive, and totally obsessed with scoring points and earning experience / gold. Very strange...

[Sirrus]

I got Guild Wars the day it came out...
I wasn't the best experience - for the very reason you want to play it...

It felt very lonely.

Since all of the playing worlds (non-towns) are instanced, you only see your party and no one else. Sometimes you even end up playing alone.

So for the social aspect, I'd recommend a different MMO. Sure you save a monthly fee, but you lose alot of the multiplayer part.

Still give it a try...


As a side note, I think interacting with other indies is a good way to keep a bit social while still being at home. I used to play some games of chess with Sonicron online during the day...

[jankoM]

I used to play some games of chess with Sonicron online during the day...

And I was wondering where he disappeared from the forums... I was about to post a new theread "What happened to SonicRon????" at one point.

[MibUK]

As a side note, I think interacting with other indies is a good way to keep a bit social while still being at home. I used to play some games of chess with Sonicron online during the day...

Is there any organisation to this? I mean I'd quite like to start playing chess or Go or something simple online with people when I start fulltime from home in 3 weeks, but wouldn't know where to look. Obviously posting here would be a good start. Maybe there should be a sticky thread on Indie Life with a list of Indies who will play games, and a list of games they'll play, so we can find each other and chat about stuff happening.

Ah well, I'm still avoiding MMORPG's since my university days. I'm going to have difficulty enough motivating myself to work all day as it is, I don't need more distractions that want to suck up like 5 - 8 hours a day. (Yeh I get OC about stuff like that, I can't play in depth games just casually, I have to immerse myself totally!)

[puggy]

i wouldn't suggest playing them after you finnish, as they said, get out of the house.

But i would normally get up in the morning, have 2 cups of coffee and play a mmo. Then at lunch time, i'd sit down have something to eat and play more mmo's. There good to have a quick chat with people while taking a break. Of course, as i run an MMO i can get away with the excuse i'm doing research. Once i'm finnished working for the day, i would go out for a cycle (if the weather is good) and then try to stay away from the computer until late at night when i check everything is running ok before i go to sleep.

[Sirrus]

Is there any organisation to this? I mean I'd quite like to start playing chess or Go or something simple online with people when I start fulltime from home in 3 weeks, but wouldn't know where to look. Obviously posting here would be a good start. Maybe there should be a sticky thread on Indie Life with a list of Indies who will play games, and a list of games they'll play, so we can find each other and chat about stuff happening.



It was pretty much through MSN Messenger.
If anything, it would be a good idea to get a list of willing people's instant messenger names and/or best times to play.

[Hamumu]

Yes, Guild Wars isn't the most social experience. I play it effectively single player (too bad they made Factions ridiculously hard, it ruins a lot of the fun and makes playing by yourself almost impossible). Interaction in towns mostly looks like this:

WTS Vampiric Sword
WTB good greens
WTS max dmg sword 15^50
WTS your mama
WTB
WTS
WTS
hey does any1 no wer 15k armor guy is
WTS
WTB
WTB

I think a real MMO (i.e. the kind they make you keep on paying for!) is more sociable. But even so, no, no WAY is it any kind of 'cure' for the indie lonelies. It's just videogaming shot straight into the vein undiluted. Find something to do outside like they all said!

Oh, and unlike MMOs, Guild Wars isn't at all about earning XP/gold. It's really mostly PVP focused. It's like an RPG style FPS, with trading card game rules. You can even create a PVP character that is max level with max equipment right from the start. It's too bad, because it's the PVE 'grind' that I enjoy!

[cliffski]

yeah it was a bad choice, i was in the shop you see...
can you sell copies of guild wars?

[illume]

Don't do it! Instead find people to have lunch with. Take up a class learning painting, or tai chi. Start an indie game group meetup at a pub once a month.

Or consider getting a studio with some other people. You just share the studio space and social interaction, not the business.

Anything but getting your social fix from MUDs, MMOs or FORUMs.

[soniCron]

Is there any organisation to this? I mean I'd quite like to start playing chess or Go or something simple online with people when I start fulltime from home in 3 weeks, but wouldn't know where to look. Obviously posting here would be a good start. Maybe there should be a sticky thread on Indie Life with a list of Indies who will play games, and a list of games they'll play, so we can find each other and chat about stuff happening. I usually play on http://freechess.org/ Alex and I started playing regular games elsewhere because of technical issues, but FreeChess is generally the way to go. If you start a chess thread, I'll offer my hand.

[Chris Evans]

What's the best instant messager these days and what do people around here mostly use?

Several years ago I used ICQ but since I've lost all my contacts, so I'm thinking about just starting fresh with a new messanger.

But yeah definitely stay from MMOGs. Not only do you isolate yourself more but they kill your productivity. Personally I even have to careful not to play games like Civ because I just lose myself in those type of games.

[Escapee]

I'd say stay away from any MMORPG/PK game if possible, I used to play a game called "Knight online" and got addicted to it ( my first MMORPG/PK experience). The game occupied so much of my time that it affected my sleep , my indie progress , and my job performance in a very negative manner.
I almost felt like casting magical fire ball to my boss during working time.


I have heard a yoing Korean dude played a famous MMORPG game (Ragnovak online) for 60+ hours continuosly and died of heart attack/stroke as a result. ( i believe this is a world record )

[zppz]

a good site for slower games of chess is www.redhotpawn.com - it works over email which I prefer since the move is easier to postpone a little when my work is flowing well, instead of having someone waiting on me to move.

[vjvj]

I just bought Guild Wars, havent installed it yet, but I have high hopes. One of the things that attracts me to a MMORPG is the social side, seeing as though I work from home in complete social isolation.
Is this a common reason for indie devs to play a MMO?

The correct cure for social isolation due to indie game development is a karaoke bar!

Alcohol, chicks, and no boss to yell at you when you sleep off the hangover the next morning... :D

[soniCron]

What's the best instant messager these days and what do people around here mostly use? Honestly, it's a matter of how many friends you have on what network. I have accounts on all 4 major networks (ICQ, AIM, MSN, and Yahoo!) and I use Gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/) to keep everything together. (Gaim also has support for IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise, Lotus Sametime, and Zephyr. Not bad! :) )

[Surrealix]

What's the best instant messager these days and what do people around here mostly use?

I'll put in my vote for Miranda (http://www.miranda-im.com/) which I use for the same purpose as soniCron. Anything which lets you cope with friends on multiple networks seems to be the way to go.

[Chris Evans]

Cool, I'll check it out. For now I just hopped on the MSN bandwagon.

[mahlzeit]

Or install Skype and call random people. Fun!

[Nutter2000]

Well, I've just started EVE-Online over the past few days, for those that don't know it's a space based MMOG in the mould of elite in some respects but with more emphasis on social interaction.

I've played World of Warcraft, Star Wars: Galaxies, and several others in the past but I find they all get very dull after a while from the constant grinding required :(

EVE is pretty addictive but has the added bonus that you can just set your skills to upgrade and it'll learn that over time.
Of course there are thousands of skills you can learn that each do different things, eg. to use missiles you need to learn missile launcher skill, then particular missile types (standard missiles, rockets, heavy missiles, etc) to use.

It encourages social interaction by encouraging you to join a player corporation (like a guild) or group up with players.

Seems ok what I've played of it, plus has the added advantage that I can run it on another computer while I'm working and only need to check on my skills every couple of hours or so to keep the training going :D

[Anthony Flack]

Yipes, I guess I get my fix entirely from forums now. My last friend in Japan left the country last month. Aw well, that's all right for the time being, I've got stuff to do.

[Dan MacDonald]

Hamumu sounds like WoW is the perfect cure for you ever releasing a game ever again. Tons if grinding and lots of replayablity, not to mention its crack like addictive qualities.

[Hamumu]

Yes, I played the beta a lot. Only the promise of a monthly fee could keep me away. I'm currently enjoying a free trial of City Of Heroes, which is pretty disappointing (yet still managing to be addicting!). There's no random gear to hope to find, no surprises of any kind (well, probably in the plot there are, but I never care about that). Everything is laid out before you, it's just a matter of getting there. And boy does it not make you feel like a superhero... "Run! Street punks!"

[Jack Norton]

I *was* playing Everquest and later Everquest 2. Bought many expansions, joined guilds etc. My cousin was wasting TONs of time doing raids (something like wait 3h only to gather all people to start) or camping important places.
There's a magical thing about them, like killing a named NPC to get item XXX. But after a while I realized that was wasting my time and wasn't really able to decide what to do (being in a guild means that).
So I finally canceled subscription and uninstalled it after years spent on growing up my characters. Was fun, but I prefer to be able to control my life - really! I remember one weekend I wanted to go out with friends but at last time I decided to stay at home because of Everquest (there was a special event going on)! now I think, how stupid I was :)

[whisperstorm]

Not sure if this has already been discussed but there's an interesting article (http://eq2vault.ign.com/View.php?view=columns.Detail&category_select_id=9&id=282) at the EverQuest Vault (IGN) about creating an MMO for the casual gamer - might have some relevance here.

[electronicStar]

For me, nothing can beat a good old game of Classic Team Fortress. Unfortunately, since Valve adopted that Steam **** I have been exclusively an UT player. But I preferred to uninstall all these games when I started on my indie project:p

[Deis]

Guild Wars isn't your typical MMORPG. And is quite disimilar from something like World of Warcraft. Guild Wars is much more comparable to playing Unreal Tournament online but with the RPG element instead of a FPS. GW is VERY pickup and go, and stop at any time. It is one of the best elements about it, you can jump right in and within 30 seconds be playing with a group. For me, GW is a nice stress reliever and fun to pickup and play a bit every once in awhile. It is so nice not having to feel pressured into playing because of some monthly fee, because GW has no monthly fee. I think the addiction rate to a game like GW is MUCH MUCH less than say WoW or Everquest ever was.

FYI, if you do pick it up for the first time, I will highly suggest you get Guild Wars: Factions. It is the next installment of the game, its not an expansion but a whole nother game that links with the original, so you do not require the original to play it.

[Teq]

Used to be a Quake TF and later Half-life: TFC hardcore gamer (which actually got me into game development as I was working on HL mods at the time), these days I play a couple of hours of WoW/general Java dev/hardware & software medalling an evening (when the GF lets me) and do my indie development during Lunch hour and weekends ;)

[Sharpfish]

Used to play UT/2k3 online (98-2003) quite a bit, currently playing PGR3 (Xboxlive) which is a different kind of interaction with VOIP compared to the old quick typing ;)

Would be nice to hook up with some of the folks from around here for lunch time gaming (just like being back at Codies) but it would probably give a boost to productivity post lunch if you had been "own3d" by an actual successful indie dev (you know who they are). Hey we could even form teams "anti cloners" and "whogivesafuckers" and take out the counter productive discussions/frustration with rocket launchers (or Ferraris).:p

However, I don't have any friends (real or virtual) my only friend right now is Visual Studio but it only ever wants to play one game with me ("debugging") :D