Does everything we do in an MMORPG have to be motivated by a reward? I was thinking about that the other day in Lord of the Rings Online when I was questing with my level-capped character. I wasn’t getting any progression-pumping XP any more, so I didn’t need to do it. Yet I genuinely wanted to, partially for the sake of completion and partially because I don’t mind questing for the story alone.
I guess it’s all in how you define “rewards” for quests. There are the rewards that developers code in to the completion screen, and then there are less tangible rewards like the experience of doing it and the lore that comes with it.
So as a thought experiment today, I’ll toss out this: Would you do MMO quests if there were no gear, monetary, or progression rewards attached? Would you do them for the sake of doing them alone? And are there particular MMOs in which this would be more true than others for you?
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!
