Do you remember when smoking was just a thing everyone had to put up with in public all the time, everywhere? If you’re old enough (and I am), you probably do. Every single meal in every single restaurant tasted at least somewhat of cigarette smoke because – as mentioned – every single restaurant was full of cigarette smoke. This was just normal. That isn’t the case now because a collective agreement of “smoking is gross and nasty and killing us” made it so that you just don’t smoke in restaurants any longer, and now you can enjoy your hamburger in peace. Relatively so, anyway.
A few weeks ago I did a column about the 10 most rage-inducing fixable industry problems (which in turn was inspired by an article on The Ringer), and I mentioned there that there are also problems that have nothing to do with the industry side of things. Maybe you don’t have any of these problems, in which case: That’s good, you’re cool. And maybe you do have exactly these problems but want to explain how when you do it, it’s super cool and based. The response? No. You are smoking in the restaurant. Stop smoking in the restaurant.
1. Stop lying to yourself and others about a past I was there for, people
You did not, in fact, know everyone on your server in World of Warcraft. I’ve actually done math to prove this before, but I don’t need to because there’s an even clearer piece of proof: I was there, at launch, and I did not know everyone. Neither did other people whom I did know. This is not real. In the past, there were still plenty of websites pointing out where things were and how to do things. Basically every single change that has happened to topline WoW over the past forever has been a direct result of things people were asking to have happen, and the few that weren’t were a result of things the game director wanted. It’s not a mystery.
I do not understand why this is still a thing. I do not understand why you want to tell me “everyone loved open PvP in Ultima Online” when there is copious evidence that you are lying. I mean, if you said “I don’t care about the people who didn’t like open PvP because I liked it,” I wouldn’t respect you, but I would at least respect the honesty of it.
2. Let yourself acknowledge that “boredom” is a thing and doesn’t require more explanation
“Why am I no longer as into this game I have been playing for a decade?” Because you’ve been playing it for a decade. Play something else. I do! I play so many other video games. I keep saying that I play more Final Fantasy XIV than most of the people whining about being bored, and I also spend more time doing other stuff, and that is important. You can get bored of something! Focus on doing other things for a bit! It’s fine!
3. Please let go of grudges and go to therapy if you need it
If you are still, currently, angry at NCsoft about shutting down City of Heroes, allow me to say this as gently as possible: My gender-unspecified dudes, put down the keyboard and go to therapy. There are people out there who are still holding on to some perverse hatred of WoW as being a cheap game for babies like it’s 2005 and y’all sound ridiculous. You are acting like 12-year-olds kicking sand at one another on the playground, and you are supposed to be a grown adult. Nobody cares. Please do whatever it takes to move on. I promise you, whatever happened 15 years ago is functionally irrelevant now.
In general, the community could use a lot less “let me calcify in this thing I have been playing for long enough to qualify it as a child and never do new things” and a lot more “eh, who cares, that was forever ago.”
4. Stop acting like accessibility changes aren’t about the health of the game
Group finders are not optional in 2026. You know why? Because every other game has them and your game needs them to be accessible and playable. Want proof? All right, how about WoW Classic trying to insist that it didn’t need them with the expansion that actually added a dungeon finder only to do an about-face once it very clearly impacted player numbers? Yeah. You can want to live in a world where everyone needs to take half an hour to form a group to do anything, but the reality is that most people are going to just go play something else. Making your favorite game less playable is a bad move.
5. In fact, let’s just stop pretending you get to be petty nobility
“Petty nobility” is probably not quite the right term, but I cannot think of a better one here because there are people who still think like it’s some kind of grant affront that people can just form groups with group finders and do content and don’t have to do all of the slow, time-consuming tasks the same way we did back in the day. Like, I was there. I do not, in fact, want to have to spend all night waiting to run Shadowfang Keep in World of Warcraft because I would rather just run it and enjoy it on its own merits. Yes, it was neat to run there once. I already did that. “But people don’t run to it any more!” All right? I don’t care.
MMORPGs do not need to be slower and less accessible and have more gates kept up because you feel like you were having fun when the gates were new to you, like you’re some minor noble of no real import forcing people to do the dances you personally want.
6. Accept that most of the world does not behave like PvP gremlins
There are a lot of these people who come out to inform you that PvE content is boring (source: trust me bro) and no one really enjoys it (source: trust me bro) and good PvP is central to making your MMORPG last (source: I made it the [bleep] up). If you like PvP? That’s fine. If you think your opinions are the mainstream and the key to success? You are some combination of trolling, playing dumb, and actually being dumb. And I don’t trust your ability to evaluate how much you’re playing dumb.
7. Don’t act like your being antisocial is a problem for the developers
I understand people who do not want to group up all the time. I believe that every MMORPG should make the solo play experience fun and rewarding. That’s not what I’m talking about here. If you literally want to never have to interact with other people, ever, under any circumstances, you should not be here. There is literally an entire vast majority of video games out there for doing exactly that. It’s the developer’s job to make grouping up as painless and smooth as possible, but resenting the fact that the multiplayer game requires multiple players is just… go do something else, man. You clearly don’t like this! Stop whining and stop bothering people! It’d be easy to do if you really didn’t want to talk with people!
8. While we’re at it, you should probably try not being bad
I do not expect random people I group with in Warframe to be absolute experts on their frames. I don’t really consider myself an absolute expert at my frames. But I do actually read about the game and try to learn what I’m doing and, y’know, generally do my best to make it clear that I am at least trying. There is a pretty wide space between “I refuse to let anyone tell me how to play the game” and “I will only accept the best of the best of the best.” You do not have to live at being perpetually incapable because the latter sounds bad.
9. Stop acting like entitled babies
I have seen someone say – with nary a trace of irony – that he had a right to modify FFXIV however he saw fit. This is not true. In fact, he had actually already signed a document outlining his rights when it came to the game. It was called the EULA, and it very specifically told him that he did not have that right. This is not obscure. It’s right there. You are not being deprived of a fundamental right. As with any private business, you are renting an access pass and the owner gets to determine if you are allowed to continue renting that access.
So no, you do not have a fundamental right to keep playing an older version of the game you liked more. You do not have a right to play the game if you don’t subscribe. You do not have a right to modify the game however you like. In fact, you agreed that the product can change over time and might, in fact, become unrecognizable and your legal recourse for these scenarios is none. You agreed to it, and your defense of “well I didn’t read the EULA” is not a convincing counterargument.
10. Have some measure of awareness as a consumer
I like using WoW and WoW Classic as an example here because it’s so clearly demonstrated by so many pieces of marketing material. Blizzard considers these not competing products but two branches of the same product. But it goes for other things, too, and it feels like it’s just one of those base-level… things? Like, being aware of what you’re doing? If I play the game with the dead-eyed boob lady, I am endorsing the dead-eyed boob lady. I would be a hypocrite for complaining about it. So maybe don’t do that?
Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten takes an MMO topic and divvies it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. Got a good idea for a list? Email us at justin@massivelyop.com or eliot@massivelyop.com with the subject line “Perfect Ten.”
