FOMO – the fear of missing out – has unfortunately become a foundational motivator in the MMORPG industry. I don’t think it was always this way. Back in the early days of the MMO genre, my FOMO was self-generated, like feeling I needed to be in the game to accomplish my own goals: hanging out with friends when they were online, stocking my vendors in time for the weekend customer rush, making it to the player-run events and big PvP battles when they were happening. Intrinsic motivation is good.
In the last decade or so, however, game studios have made absolutely no secret of the fact that they are using psychology against us on a constant basis, whether it’s with special dailies that require attendance checks or temporary content or cash-shop stuff that cycles in only temporarily to get you to buy it quickly without thinking. I hate it. I hate everything about it. Games that do this often enough generate nothing but hostility from me. I log out of them.
A while back, a Redditor turned the problem around by asking about the modern MMOs that aren’t exploiting your FOMO at every turn. So let’s keep it positive and try to do the same. Which MMOs are the best at not exploiting your FOMO?
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!
