Are MMOs too time-consuming?

I think that this depends entirely on the kind of player that you are and what you need to get out of the game in order to feel like it's "worth it". My husband and I are both very different kinds of gamers. He has a full time job where he works lots of overtime, and I am a full time mom. Yet he plays video games more often than I do. Part of that is my desire to make it easier for him to come home and unwind by playing for a little while. My husband is all about getting all the achievements and beating every dungeon. He wants to have all his job classes leveled as high as he can, and he wants to have the best gear for each class. I, on the other hand, am happy having a single job leveled and geared, and I still manage to do the end game raids with my husband. I don't need to tackle every achievement in the game for it to be a fun release for me. The subscription price is well worth that little bit of fun (and it's something that I get to do with my husband, so we also manage to work in a little quality time and do something that he has enjoyed for most of his life). I think if someone is all about the glory and not about the experience...yeah, it would be hard to do with limited time. I enjoy it though, even though I generally don't get to log in every day.

 

That is kind of the whole fun of it isnt it? Putting your time and actually being emotionally invested in the game!

 

MMOs are only as time-consuming as you let them be. The same goes for any hobby. Some people have more free time than others and don't have the same set of priorities, so they spend more time on gaming. In modern society though, at some point life should take precedence and override any previous unnecessary hobbies. I'd say the same is true for other things as well. i.e., one must forgo wasteful consumption in order to afford medical bills.

 

Yes, definelty. MMO are the most comusing game in the market right now because they involves a lot of different things that make them enjoyable from the social interaction to the RPG.

 

Honestly? They are super time consuming. Ever since I started to play MMO's remotely seriously, I've found so much of my free time just... gone. In the end, I enjoy playing them, so it's not a huge deal.

 

I do put too much time in. However, it's a better escape than other options. Or, not better, but something I enjoy more. So, some people put too much time into watching tv, doing drugs, whatever. It's about doing what makes you happy. I don't feel guilty about pouring time or money into something that makes me happy and generally, doesn't have any negative side effects.

 

The reality is that he THINKS he needs to keep playing a game he pays a subscription for. What exactly is $15.00 worth? That's $0.50 a day. Which translates to returning 10 pop cans to the store, 5 beer bottles or about 1/50th of my average hourly wage. How much do you need to play to make it worth $0.50 of your day? 10 minutes? 1 hour? 12 hours?

Sometimes, I play WoW 3-4 days straight. Sometimes, I play twice a month. I don't look at it as a daily cost. I look at it as a part of life's whole package. For example, my wife has an active WoW subscription right now, but she has been playing Sims 3 and Sims 4 for the last three days. The only time she logged into WoW was to give me some bags, gold and check her mail box.

The bottom line is that if you can afford it, then this is a non issue. If you're worried about money, then prioritize. $0.50 shouldn't be a reason why he feels he needs to play every day.

 

In my opinion they aren't too time consuming if you are able to manage your time with them and have other hobbies. If your only hobby is to sit by your computer all day long then it is very likely to get addicted to the certain game and then it will surely consume all of your available time.

 

They are definitely too time consuming, and that's part of why are they so addictive. Depending on the game you have to spent many hours before getting something nice, but it feels really good once you get it. That's one of the reasons why I consider subs a waste a money, I simply don't have the time to fully enjoy the game.

 

Depends what would draw you in. If you're into lots of dynamic gameplay and hate grinding then yeah MMOs are a waste of time and money haha. If you're social then that's a different story. An MMO has limitations and generally it's up to the player to make due with it be it social aspect or the competitive aspect. In the past yeah I could afford the time to be on an MMO but these days I don't have it in me to constantly grind for gear or level up a new class/character for raids or relearning an entire class all over again. So yeah it's too time consuming to put forth the effort into it if you don't have a lot of time on your hands to catch up to the same level as everyone else who's been playing for years. Generally for people who are more casual about playing, I'd generally suggest MMOs that are free to play or have a similar model to GW2 since you're not obligated to fight against the clock to enjoy it, where scaling is a little less of a rat race as a new player.

 

I would assume so, due to the influence that it has.

 

Not only do these games have a big influence on one's persona in what concerns the time they wither, but also, they are money-leeching, like you also said. I suppose the former is equally as bad as the latter, with a little emphasis on the latter though. I would be more pissed off if I saw I spent thousands of dollars on a game rather than thousands of hours personally, but that's just my cup of tea!

 

Oh for some no doubt. If you're balancing stuff multiple jobs and family and such, Azeroth may have to wait.

 

MMOs might be time consuming if you go in with a certain mindset. But if you are just looking for casual fun every once in a while, they are perfect. You just have to prioritize.

 

It really depends on what type of MMORPG you want to play. The problem with the WOW-clones is that they have millions of players who want to be entertained for dozens of hours per week. Because of that, the devs have to design the game around repeatible, grindy content. If they built games for casuals, or for 5 hours per week type of players, then a large portion of their players would quit because ´there is nothing to do´.

Sandbox MMORPGs like UO are a bit better in that regard, but if you get to themepark MMORPGs, yeah, they require a lot of time just because the game is built for people who play a lot.

 

I'd say so, yeah, from my perspective at least. I'm in a different situation to where I was years ago though. Back then I would play every night at least a few hours and those were the highlights of my days. Getting online and seeing all the same people, playing games with them, having fun... Nowadays, I only play single player games.

 

I do have to agree, especially with WoW. If you pay up the monthly fee, but then never play, you feel cheated. However, if you're going to get anywhere with the game play, you have to play a good bit of time. And if you have friends who can play more hours than you.....well, you're left on your own in the dust. Not very satisfying in that case.

Now, if you don't mind "not keeping up" and just enjoy the occasional hour or two of game play, then it's not bad. It really does depend on what you want out of it, and what you are comfortable putting into it.

 

Generally yes, in that they don't respect the players time. It often takes a lot of grinding and time to get anywhere in the game. Still, it's as consuming as much as you let it be.

 

Yeah...I'm the type to play games sporadically unless it is a game I'm looking forward to and I'll play the hell out of it for the first month before life pulls me away and I soon lose interest. I avoid games that have subscription fees like the plague since I know I wouldn't play enough hours to make the cost worth it. That and most Subscription games also have micro-transactions that will take as much money from you as possible on top of paying for the base game and the monthly fee.