Not everyone likes or wants to do challenging content in MMOs. There’s a lot to unpack in what motivates people to take on this content or not, and it’s something we’re likely to discuss and examine as long as we’re doing this job. But something that I think is worth considering is how much the desire to take on this content is based first and foremost upon social pressures. You don’t really care about these raids either way, but all of your friends want to do them, and you want to hang out with your friends and do stuff with them, so… here you are, doing raids.
Obviously, this only extends so far; if your friends all want to do this but you struggle with getting out of the fire as a basic concept, your friends are eventually going to ask you not to come along any more. But the question is how much of a motivating factor this is in the first place. How much of your desire to clear difficult MMO content is social? Or do you tend to find yourself moving in the opposite trajectory, making a social group around fellow fans of difficult content that you want to take on anyhow?
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!
