Earlier this year, a Redditor on the MMORPG sub pondered whether young folks play MMORPGs — not kids, mind you, but teens, high schoolers and early college students, that age sweet spot that many now middle-aged gamers first picked up their first MMOs.
“You used to see guild chat invite spam in MMORPGS that would say ‘only 18+ players, please,'” Alyassus wrote. “Now I see guild invites that say 25+.” Then he posits that younger players aren’t playing MMORPGs, that the demographic is playing other competitive and coop games like MOBAs, and that the MMO market is pandering to a 30+ age bracket that will eventually die out.
I’m not sure I’d go that far personally, but I want to take a different angle with today’s Daily Grind, with that conversation about demographics in mind, because I see a lot of snark from older players about how MMOs target kids these days, what with their fast travel and cutesy graphics and cash shop instant gratification, so I’m not really sold that the older generations are the target audience here as much as people think. Regardless of that, I want to ask this: Why should younger players jump into MMORPGs? What does the MMORPG offer younger players specifically that they can’t get from other types of games that have no nostalgia pull whatsoever?
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!
