For some reason, whenever I think of that song all I can think about is Aretha Franklin belting out sock to me! (just a little bit) over and over again. It’s my little earbug from the queen of soul.
Music references aside, I’ve had a strange thing happen to me this last year. I’ll be playing a game and on one hand having a good time but, on the other, feel like there’s something missing all the while. It’s good but not as good as it should be.
Have you ever had that feeling? It’s like you’re playing something to get by or kill time instead of having the experience you’d like to have. In other words, you’re not getting the satisfaction you know you’d have if you were really enjoying yourself. One word defines this: shallow.
For me, I first experienced this when I left WoW. As my first true MMO, nothing else seemed to fill its shoes once we’d parted ways. Even WAR, a game I had a vested interest in, didn’t totally get rid of it. I finally conquered the feeling by playing some Darkfall with the Keen and Graev community.
Yet, like most bad feelings, it has a penchant for rearing its ugly head now and then. I thought I had it beat, most of a year past leaving WoW, but over the last two days that feeling has sunk in again when I’ve consider playing LotRO. I’d been having a good time playing my Guardian but all of the sudden my gamer side seams to be heaving an enormous ‘meh’ towards the idea of logging back in.
I’ve put a lot of thought into this topic this past weekend and it’s all related to the home game philosophy. The idea is tied to the notion that no MMO can equal your first because, well, you can never go home again. The “firsts” you had there have come and gone and, even when things are shiny and new, there’s no returning to the innocence you started with.
That’s why one of the main times I tend to feel unsatisfied in any game is when another one I’m excited about is about to launch. New games have the potential to emulate those first feelings and give us the chance of finding a new “home.” Maybe this time you’ll feel the hook again. Maybe it’ll even make you want to invest yourself into it more than the ones that came before (funwise, anyways). You really don’t know and that not knowing breeds anticipation and excitement. Hell, that’s the reason why I’m looking forward to Aion even though I really don’t expect a ton from it.
That feeling of dissatisfaction ultimately comes from not doing what you’d rather be. In the end, it’s really too bad we can’t be newbies forever. That childlike sense of wonder is something to behold and I consider the people having it lucky. Kids and noobs alike have a unique outlook on things and I’d bet they find themselves a lot more satisfied than most of us vets a lot of the time.
So let’s keep looking forward! The cure for these issues is to find something to be excited about, even at the risk of being a fanboy/girl for whatever it is. There’s so much negativity out there these days that blogs like Frank’s Overly Positive are a breath of fresh air. And look, Frank’s happy.
The motto for this Monday? Be like Frank.
Happy Monday everyone!
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