As we belatedly covered yesterday, the developers of upcoming indie MMO Saga of Lucimia believe that group-centric play is the solution to a problem supposedly created by the deluge of “solo-friendly” MMOs that offer “the instant gratification that the entitled hipster generation of ADD players need in order to stay subscribed.” Yikes.
Without getting into whether soloing belongs in MMORPGs — an eternal debate of its own — I want to ask you which one you, personally, prefer to do.
I tend to favor games that support both and scale well between them; City of Heroes and classic Guild Wars spring immediately to mind as being games that scaled beautifully to accommodate whatever party size. Party when my mates are on; solo or LFG when they’re not!
But I grew up on classic Ultima Online, where soloing and tiny hunting parties were incredibly common, though it did leave you more open to PKers. When my guild moved to EverQuest, the forced grouping/dungeon camp scene seemed bizarre and decidedly un-MMOlike to me… until people figured out how to solo there too (because of course they did; that’s just what gamers do). That was 1999. And we classic UO and EQ players were neither ADD-addled nor hipsters, I assure you.
Do you prefer to solo or group in MMOs, or do you demand a mix of both?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
