Massively Overthinking: Our MMO resolutions for 2019

This week, for our first Massively Overthinking of 2019, I’ve asked the Massively OP writers to share their gaming resolutions or their basic MMO goals for the year. Won’t you join us?

​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): For my New Year’s resolution, I want to make at least two strong connections with other players this year. Not like be best friends, but at least hang out and do something non-gaming related. That means either take offline friends online or vice versa.

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): I don’t usually do resolutions – or rather, I don’t like using the beginning of the year as a crutch for them. But I do have plans for 2019: I’d like to both keep enjoying myself in games that I actually like and continue at least trying new things, even more new games than I tried this year! It doesn’t and shouldn’t be either/or!

Last year, my goal was to claw back some work/life balance and work less on the site because overworking just meant I’d finish 10 hours of writing and reading about MMOs and be too pooped to actually play. I’m a workaholic and pretty much failed at that goal, which impacts my getting to play new things, so I will definitely keep on trying to make that happen too.

Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): This resolution is a bit like one I had made on my personal blog a while back, but I feel it still bears repeating for another year: I resolve to open myself to the sandbox MMO. I still am a very soft sheep when it comes to my playstyle preferences and I often gravitate to pastoral or crafting pursuits in games like this, but I also want to make a concerted effort to connect with more people in these worlds. To really embroil myself in the community and help make any of these universes grow. In short, I’d like to be a star in the galaxy.

Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): For my MMO resolutions, I resolve to play Final Fantasy XIV. Hey, look, I’m succeeding!

What? Ugh, fine.

All joking aside, I’m generally not big on New Year’s resolutions simply because if I noticed something about my current life I’m unhappy with, I’d rather address it immediately than at the turn of the year. Moreover, somewhat ironically, my biggest resolution would be actually an MMO resolution that involves playing fewer games. Which is also directly at odds with some of my earlier resolutions from previous years, but comes about as a result of me realizing that while I do love enjoying a lot of what any given game has to offer… well, I love to enjoy a lot of what any given game has to offer. Top to bottom.

That means that as tempting as it can be to check out new titles and see what they have to recommend them, there’s just not the time in the day to really dive deep into multiple games. When there are games I already know I love with so much more as yet unexplored (there’s still stuff I have yet to accomplish in Final Fantasy XI, for example), it behooves me to spend more time and effort really unpacking the stuff in my chosen games, or taking advantage of the many single-player games I’ve often put on the back burner. Especially since playing more non-MMOs produces a broader perspective on games and gives more ideas about how to improve this genre in the process if you’re paying attention.

Also, I’d really like to have all of my FFXIV characters at the level cap before the end of the year, because there’s no more space for alts on my main server. That helps too, right?

Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): I’d like to be trying out some new MMOs and really giving them a decent shot rather than a one night stand. I’ve come to realize that many games require several sessions of play before they click, and I’m often not giving them that much of a chance.

MJ Guthrie (@MJ_Guthrie, blog): I will be continuing with my goals I set during the year, such as doing more personal play and streaming (and not all work related!). With the big change that happened in my life this past summer, I can’t play whenever I want so I have to be very conscious of my time again; I can’t just jump in, I actually need to plan for it! So I am going to plan for it. I also haven’t been able to really roleplay any, which I really miss, and I only do that during personal play time. It’s a way to be involved in interactive storytelling/writing and I love it. I miss it. I crave it! I have a project in Shroud of the Avatar that I really want to devote more time to that will help there. Maybe 2019 will be the year my ultimate guild idea can finally come to pass! Looking on the horizon, I think only Dual Universe has the chance for that. Oh, and I am determined to finally finish decorating a house in EverQuest II! I am sure I will have other goals as the year goes on, but I make smaller ones as I go.

Your turn!