Drunkard's Walk Forums

An amusing post I found while trawling the Blog-o-Sphere, I find it's an amusing reflection of my own habits in the great world of MMOs.

"Marry/Kiss/KillDon't Return Calls From" as applied to MMOs

Having taken this particular model, I find it an interesting way to look at things, so here's mine.

Marry:


1. City of Heroes


A first, true love and one that's still going. If alts were kids, I'd be paying so many schooling tuitions I could refund the country. As it is, we're in that casual part of the long term relationship where constant conversation isn't necessary because you're just as comfortable with long periods of silence. We still go out for a Task Force now and then, or get together with friends, but even though I'm not always home every night, I know CoX is there waiting whenever I do come home, and to say that she takes up a significant portion of my waking thoughts would not be an understatement by any metric.

Kiss:


2. Star Wars: The Old Republic


Yes, yes she is very, very hot. She hangs out in a lot of the same places as WoW, but her edge is a lot less rough. She doesn't seem to need the same constant crowds and the next newest thing, and long conversations over dinner are actually on the table, as opposed to what the next big social event that everyone else is focusing on is. I get the feeling that she's interested in something a little deeper than the rough, hard treatment most girls of her type go for, but she's not got the history and long affection of CoX. Still, I suspect we'll be feeling each other out for a while, and enjoying ourselves in the process.

Casual Acquantances:


3. Champions Online


CoX's younger step-sister, she was born after the divorce, and it really shows. On the one hand, her dad's a slightly better parent than he was when he was raising CoX, but on the other hand, you can still tell that Champs has all the same problems that CoX grew out of after she moved out. She's got a fancier wardrobe and she's got the same good genes as her sister, but in the end, you just get the feeling that for all that she's younger and hotter and a little more wild and crazy, there's an underlying immaturity whenever you try to just sit down and talk with her that just turns me off. We had a few dates, and maybe she'll grow up eventually, but for right now, we don't really hang out.

4. Star Trek Online


Champs' little sister, and a really smart kid, by all accounts. She lives with her step-mom now rather than her birth mother after *another* messy divorce (noticing a trend?) and from what I hear, it's for the better. Last I saw her, she was still gangly and gawky and definitely geeky, but with a certain intelligence that made you think she'd grow up real good. I hear she's gotten better since her step-mom seems more interested in raising her than just pulling a child support check, so maybe I'll see about asking her out for drinks at a later date. I hear she's got a real head for numbers if that's your thing.

Blacklist:

5. World of Warcraft


Ugh, this is an ugly story. I mean, I liked her back when we were both younger and she still went by Warcraft III. But these days, she's changed a lot to fit in with the popular crowd, and what I saw in her back then doesn't seem to be there still. All she seems to care about is expensive things from her thousands of groupies, and whatever she's into now, you know it'll be out of date by the time you can get to it. There's some people that're probably having the ride of their lives in the glitzy, high-profile world that WoW's made her adult career out of, but I'm not one of them. I just sort of reminisce now and then about those old albums of our younger days.
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"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

*takes a try at the list.*

CoX has the same spot for me, but in the Kiss category is STO and Warhammer online.

STO because I was watching Deep Space 9 at the time and was having a hoot just flying around and kicking Romulans and Klingons, may pay it a visit again now it's F2P.

Warhammer online is there cuz it was the second MMO I played. It allowed me to play in a world that I have been a fan of for over a decade (and unlike 40k, it has a some what consistent back story ). The only reason it didn't last is because I didn't have any friends to play with, so I quit and got around to opening the box of an MMO that MD had been bugging me for near a year to get into

WoW is defiantly a Blacklist for me, after spending a ton of free time to grind Warcraft 3, I got told half of the story was no longer cannon. That and between Greifers, PuG's from hell and every second patch lowering the difficulty level, I just got feed up and walked away.

My "Kiss" MMO is RIFT. Very pretty, and always willing to change things up to keep things interesting, but she's a major investment in time, and my love is still for CoX. That being said, if she's stays as cool as she is, I could be lured back.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

Marry: CoX is definitely solid marry. Four years and I'm still going, thanks to the people. It's become less of a "play solo for the story" game but always good fun to be had when people are around. That is the most satisfying type of fun; something I haven't found anywhere else.

Kiss: SWTOR is looking to be my new time-waster. Great fun to have there, no party required. The people there are appallingly like the warcraft lot, so it probably won't last past the content unless I find a gem out there somewhere. It will be somewhat sad when I run out of things to do, but by then if I haven't found a group then it's not worth worrying about.

I also have occasional forays into a NwN server running a Wheel of Time setting, which I've met a few good people and have had fun times. I've kinda slowed down of late, but that's been more reassigning free time rather than lack of desire. I'd definitely go back to full-steam if there were more hours in the day, or some of mine freed up.

Casual Flirt: Champions and DCU Online are good for occasional, diversionary fun, but I don't expect anything to come of it. There are bigger fish to fry, and those are just there to recharge the batteries if I'm a little overcome with ennui. I've tried RIFT, and it's kinda fun, but it's failed to grasp my interests as more than a passing fancy. I might try it again, some time, but it's not important.

I also have a confession to make. I sometimes play on the WoW PTR (since it's free with a previous account). Shameful, I know, but it has it's (rare) moments, as easy as it is to get lost along the way. I play with myself, or if I'm really bored and looking to amuse myself with the psychology of the troll, I heal for random PuGs (tanking is a lost art, and damage is a dime a dozen dozen). It's not something I'm especially proud of, or do very often. I don't want anything out of it but a cheap thrill, and it's usually good for that. As a free game it's on-and-off playable, when new content comes out or you just want to mess around; but it's definitely not worth any more than that.
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The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

Hmm...
Marry: CoX. Definitely. Seven years now. Got into it about four months after it launched, and never looked back. The game does everything right I like to see in a game, and doesn't make the raid-grind mistake a lot of other MMO's make. CoX is clearly dancing in some of the same clubs WoW dances at ever since it started experimenting with Incarnate raid grinding, but it's still just an occasional thing, not a prerequisite of spending time with it. CoX is - for me, anyway - about the people I run with, not the grind.
Kiss: SW:TOR. Fun, engaging, and clearly more interested in personal enjoyment than group fun. Can still party if it wants to, but even then, they're small parties and don't ask for too much commitment. TOR has some stories to tell, but it they may get old after a few retellings. Still too early to say, but for now, a definite attention-getter.
Casual flirt / Blacklist: I don't really do a lot of other MMO's, so no opinions about any of them. Most games I play, I want the advantage of actually having them on my system, but I make exceptions for a few games.
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Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.