Topic: Persistant worlds and mmorpgs are bad for gamers

After playing destiny for almost 4 weeks, Other than Rogue legacy I cant put any time into anything else. Virtually every game I have been working on has fallen by the wayside. This has never happened before, however I've avoided mmorpgs like the plague. I'm hoping my addiction will culminate with the raid on Friday, but my question is this - have mmorpgs like wow or ff14 taken over anyone's complete game time?

I went a good 2 or 3 months where Monster Hunter 3 was the only game I played.

It all depends on the person really. I played WoW for 5 years and still managed to be able to play other games when I wasn't playing WoW. Its just how you manage your time that's all.

It's all a thing of will. If you'd forbid or take away everything people could potentially be addicted to we'd all be naked. And not even that. We'd look like Barbie and Ken in a completely blank world. What I'm saying is you can get addicted to anything. Most of us are victims of plenty addictions. Sugar. Processed Food. Smoking. Drinking. Just to name the most common. And yes MMORPGS are quite easy to spend HOURS on end into. But no one forces you to.

There's a saying: Time spent doing something that brings you fun, joy and entertainment is never a waste. So as long as you truly enjoy your MMORPGing I say there is nothing wrong with it within reason. If you limit your gametime to still be able to do your daily chores play as long as you like and don't worry about other games. Because being fun obviously is the sole meaning of games.

When I was playing MMORPGs back in the day (EverQuest, I'm looking at you) I always had a simple rule: NEVER was the MMO more important than real life. Meaning if a friend wanted to see me or go out, I went. I only played when I had absolutely nothing else to do. That way I got wonderful memories out of it and it doesn't feel like a complete waste of time!

I must admit since Destiny was released, my game time has been spent here. I have accrued 1500 hours on it (XB1) but managed to get every Exotic, VoG and CE weapons - I have 3 (different) level 32 Guardians too. However in the last few weeks, I have not played so much ass there is nothing to play for - Completing a Nightfall for example is pointless as I have everything, Even the weekly heroics have no appeal as I have 450 strange coins and Xur certainly won't have anything I want.
I recently bought a PS4 and also picked up Destiny Limited Edition (it was cheap) so I have all that to achieve again as well as a few extras thanks to the exclusives.
Having got to this point though (on XB1) and knowing exactly what happens in Destiny, it has enabled me to go back to other games I started or maybe as I haven't reached lvl 20 with my 3 characters yet and that's when the game opens up in my opinion it hasn't pulled me in so much. I have played through Infamous 2nd Son and got the Platinum, Playing through Diablo 3 and want to finish off the Evil Within, Alien Isolation, Lego Batman, Killzone Shadowfall etc etc - all games I got after Destiny launched and have Zombie Army Trilogy incoming too. I also bought Metro Redux a few days before Destiny launched and haven't even touched that yet... Talk about a backlog!
The main issue with MMO's is that there is generally no end point. There is always something slightly better to get, another level to gain etc. With other games, there is an end point. Once the campaign has finished, unless there are alternative endings or trophy/achievement challenges outstanding, there is little reason to replay. Even in MP there is limits like CoD's prestige system although those tend to have a shelf life and replaced by the next years version - kind of like Fifa. MMO's have to keep adding things in though otherwise they too would have an end point...
MMO's also have things in place that make you want to play daily, things like timed bounties, sales etc. You often think I just pop on to see what todays things are and then end up a few hours later still playing by which time its too late to play something else that wasn't time sensitive

How. Much. Time. Do. You. Have?!
staggered

From my perspective, I gotta say I picked up FFXIV:ARR at launch on PS4 and I played it solidly for about 2-3 months, literally not touching any other game, apart from the odd session of something on my Vita when away from home. I really enjoyed it, but it definitely also got in the way of other gaming.

That said, I don't have a problem with that really, as I said it's a cracking game and there is so much to do that I was always happy putting in to it the time that I did, and like Scollurio I never allowed it to take over other aspects of my life. I must say though, it is one thing that's got me repeatedly delaying taking the plunge back in to catch up with the latest story content. I'll probably go back at some point this month, but definitely want to play through at least a few other things first!

I wasted so much time on WoW that it is ridiculous. Then I stopped and never got back. But I do have a very particular way of playing games nowadays, as soon as I jump onto a game, I will only move onto something else until I finish the damn thing. I like to keep some indies that you just jump in at any point - Rogue Legacy, for sure! - and even got Driveclub because it's just an extreme pleasure to sit back and drive those beasts through that beautiful scenery, and mind you, no career to get on with.

That said, as soon The Elder Scrolls Online comes out you will all know where to find me. For a long, long time.