A boardgame YouTuber I follow said something in his last video that I thought applied so beautifully to everything — including MMORPGs. Chaz Marler has played zillions of games, but one of his very favorites, he explains, is one he almost never played at all. Its presentation was bland compared to flashier games, so he almost snubbed it entirely. But in the end, he did give it a try — and was blown away. It turned him into a huge superfan, reminding him that superficial impressions aren’t worth a whole lot. Breaking the habit of judging a book — or a game — by its cover is critical if you don’t want to get stuck in a rut.
I’m guilty of this for sure. For example, way back in early 2004, my husband was hyped for this MMORPG based on an RTS he played all the time. Something called World of Warcraft? Whatever man; I was happy in my existing MMORPGs. World of Warcraft looked like a cartoon pandering to strategy geeks, not the next home for our guild. Laugh, but I remember having these discussions — people really didn’t know WoW was about to change history, least of all Blizzard itself.
But then a guildie passed her alpha account to me for a day, and I thought, holy shit. Footprints in the snow. Actual quests. Check out mah fireballs. Yeah. This is amazing.
When have you ever been sure an MMO would suck, only to change your mind once you actually played it?
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!
