I know that not everyone does “resolutions,” and that even most folks who make them don’t actually stick with them. And when it comes to MMO resolutions, I’m not even judging you for the latter. But the end of December is traditionally the time when we at least set some goals and aspirations for the new year, so we’re going to do just that. For this week’s Massively Overthinking, I’m asking our writers and readers to offer up their resolutions and highly non-obligatory plans/goals for MMO or other gaming play in the new year.
Andy McAdams: I’m one of those “I don’t do resolutions” types, but if had to pick an intention, I would say that I intend to stop binging things in MMOs I don’t necessarily enjoy just because…. I said I would? I dunno. But at least half the time when I burn out on a game, it’s because I picked some random goal, and it ended up being a huge slog, but I refuse to let myself quit because reasons. Then whether I succeed or not is moot because I’m annoyed at the game for this stupid goal I forced on myself. Then I start looking for another game without the self-inflicted burn-out baggage and the cycle repeats ad nauseam. So yeah, less of that.
Ben Griggs (@braxwolf): I resolve to break out of my World of Warships habit occasionally and give some other games a try. They may not even be MMOs, just something different to shake some things up.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): Honestly, I think my main goal in 2023 is to actually get somewhere in Lord of the Rings Online. I’ve been piddling around with so many alts for so long that I think I’m actually afraid to take my main too far – there’s something about having the whole game yet before me that is so appealing in LOTRO, and I think I’m subconsciously scared of ruining that. But this is silly, and I want to hit cap on something (sans boosters, which are burning holes in my inventory). I’d also like to invest more time into my favorite City of Heroes characters; I came close to burning myself out this year trying to save names, but I miss my real toons.
Carlo Lacsina (@UltraMudkipEX, YouTube, Twitch): I take my New Year’s resolutions seriously. Back in 2019, I made the resolution to write more. And it ultimately led to my employment here at MassivelyOP! For upcoming year, my resolution is to be more productive. I need to do more with my life, and I need to show good work ethic for my daughter.
How does that relate to gaming and MMOs? A lot! I’m not very productive when I play MMOs; usually I just mess around in town. But this time, any session in an MMO needs to build towards a larger project, be it a legendary weapon in Guild Wars 2 or finally getting into Mythic Dungeons in World of Warcraft. Whatever it is, I want to spend more of my MMO time questing around and stuff.
I’m also very deep into competitive Overwatch. So another one of my goals is to hit Master rank in that game. The hard part is committing to it and learning how to manage my time. To me, becoming a more productive adult and father while still being a force to be reckoned with in the gaming sphere is something extremely important to me.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): I’m going to write a lot more. And not just news either. I want to write more things about stuff that probably doesn’t get a lot of attention in our sphere, like roleplaying. On that subject, I’ll get more focused on doing VR columns and early access titles. Things have taken a turn for me on a personal level that lets me try to do more, so I resolve to take more advantage.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): These days, generally I like to set loose goals every month and more specific ones every week, so asking for a year’s worth in advance is only going to get the most cursory of answers from me. That caveat put forth, I am going to try to take my LOTRO Lore-master up through the epic story to the cap without getting lost in a million side quests. Apart from that, I have no specific goals in mind. Just, as always, to play games as long as they’re of interest and give them a rest when I’m starting to feel burned out on them. I do have a list of some MMOs that I haven’t touched in a while and could use a check in, but that’s not even close to a resolution… merely a tease.
Mia DeSanzo (@neschria): I have a whole lineup of games I have pre-downloaded for 2023, mostly the odds and ends of indie MMOs. I am thinking about a fresh start in EverQuest II as well. Feel free, dear readers, to call me out if you don’t see me writing about them.
Otherwise, I am going to try to be more social in my gaming. For real this time.
MJ Guthrie: After this last year, I feel like anything I had as last year’s goal could be this year’s, too. I was simply not well enough to do much of anything, though I did manage to succeed in one: Yay for Backseat Streaming with Chris! For 2023, however, I am going to start slow in case it turns out I can’t do much; instead of any grandiose plans, I can work on bits here and there. And if I can manage to get my laptop fixed, then I could even game some when stuck in bed!
My big goal is — pending its release in 2023 — to play Party Animals! Who doesn’t want to be a plushy knocking the stuffing out of other plushies? I also intend to start a little friendly league with it for MOP and we’ll have a tourney we’ll broadcast. OK, that one is slightly ambitious, but it will be fun. And hey, it’s MJ finally getting into PvP; that should be amusing in itself.
Even if I do not have a lot of time, I want to stretch into more new things this year. I aim to check out at least one unplayed game on my Steam/Epic/GOG list a month — hopefully more. I have way too many games I own that I have never even downloaded! First up will be my newly acquired Stray. I am excited to play as a cat! I also plan to finally play Skyrim for the first time. (Oh snap! That was last year’s goal as well. Whoops. Well, take two.) In tandem with that, since many of my games are single-player, I will also be sure to check out or revisit at least one game from our MOP gaming list per month. These should also be showing up on The Stream Team.
My final plans are to have play sessions with each of my kids in games they choose! One already on that list is Dead by Daylight with my daughter. I don’t know what my sons will choose yet, but it will be the first time gaming for munchkin so it might just be LEGO-related for him!
Sam Kash (@thesamkash): I really want to catch up and play through the End of Dragons expansion in GW2. I never expected there’d be an expansion I wouldn’t immediately jump into, but my AFK time really didn’t encourage it. I think I mentioned before that I usually played GW2 as a duo, so when the other half of this duo wasn’t feeling it, I just never played.
Also, I really want to give Elder Scrolls Online and Black Desert a fair shake. BDO especially; it’s such a pretty game.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
