The other day my guildies were chatting about their favorite shooters, and one of them pointed out that he’d rather play a quick pick-up shooter like Overwatch than a PUBG-style battle royale battleground.
“I’d rather die in 10 close-up firefights than spend the same five minutes hunting fruitlessly for tiny, distant specks before dying once. I think I’m judging the gameplay based on the time-weighted fun value, so it matters to me how much fun the game is when you lose. [Battle royales are] like Playing the Fun Lottery, and I don’t want to.”
Obviously, we’re an MMO site, so I am not going to ask you to talk about shooters and battle royale titles here. (Although you can if you want to. I’m not your mom.) What I really want to do is apply the idea to MMOs. Because it fits, doesn’t it? I mean, when I’m judging whether I want to play a specific type of MMO content, a lot of times I’m judging it by its worst possible outcome. Is that dungeon still fun if we fail to down the final boss? Is the raid still fun if you get zero loot? Is the PvP still fun even if I get ganked?
Which MMO is the most fun when you’re losing?
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!
