I think someone should do research and write an paper on pre-MMO launch A.D.D. It happens to me every single time a highly anticipated MMO is less than a month away. I have all these great games at my fingertips — some I’m in the middle of playing and some I haven’t even touched — yet I feel like I can’t play any of them because of an impending MMO.
I started Arkham City for the first time yesterday (awesome game) but instead of playing it I sometimes just browse the internet or stare at my desktop. I have Fallout New Vegas ready for me to just dive into and get lost in, but something in me says “no, sit there and do nothing.”
Graev is uanffected. His game of the year could release tomorrow and he would still be fine tootling away in whatever game he’s playing. He may even play harder to finish as many achievements as he possibly can before he knows he won’t be playing again. Not me. I think, “why bother?”
Do any of you experience the same phenomenon; That feeling like nothing you have is quite good enough because something ‘better’ is on the way? No need to point out the obvious flaw in logic here, given the past ten MMO’s *haven’t* been worth the A.D.D., but that just makes this all the more perplexing to me.
One of you smart academics interested in psychology should write a paper. I think it would be fascinating.
oh man, you just hit it right on the head. i spent way to much on steam summer sale and have ton of games sitting there and i cant to seem to get into any of them – instead i keep watching gw2 beta videos still trying to decide what class i am going to play. how crazy is that?
Feel the same way Keen. Bought a few games during the Steam summer sale and I have barely touched them. Lately I just end up surfing the web or watching others play various games on twitch…
Yeah my steam sale items are sitting idle as well. It’s the same reason I don’t eat before I go over to my mother-in-laws for Thanksgiving. I want to leave as much room as possible for the good stuff.
I’ve been feeling the same way. I’m sitting on a pile of games from the Steam Summer Sale but have hardly touched most of them. I’ve been messing around with Terraria and playing Orcs Must Die 2 with friends but that’s about it. Following the announcement of Vanguard going F2P on the 14th I found an old SOE account with the 45 days playing time still available on it (from the Sony hacking debacle). I’m downloading Vanguard now to check it out again and kill some time until the 25th.
I’ve been feeling that way, but then a friend pulled me and a few others back into Star Trek Online now that it’s free. I don’t think there’s any chance I’ll keep playing after GW2 comes out, but while we wait it’s been fun to fly around together. They certainly up the leveling speed, logged in at 24 on Tuesday and as of Friday night I’ve hit 37.
It’s been a while since the anticipation has been strong enough to focus the attention exclusively on the release of one MMO. For me, it’s a happy place to be as I haven’t played the beta I have no form of disappointment whatsoever, just frenzied anticipation… love it!
Before every anticipated launch, I get the same feeling of lethargy that I associate with birthdays when I was a child. Perhaps, (though I say we I speak for myself) as we grow older we only change in segments and nuance, and the part of me that came alive the first time I played Secret of Mana on the super nintento is dead set on what it wants. Being an anticipatory gamer is like being in love when you’re on one of those cruise-orgies. You can have anyone you want, but you’re really only capable of enjoying yourself with one of them.
Thanks for the Smite key!
I often have the “nothing is quite good enough” feeling, but not because something better is on the way. I’m stuck in the “maybe I’m getting old” phase you seemed to be in a while back. Maybe because I’m really getting old. It’s fun to see so many people with a fresh, youthful enthusiasm over this one, though.
I didn’t really like most of the Steam sale games I bought, with the exception of Fallout New Vegas. But because of a beta expansion & of course GW2 most games I have will be forgotten soon.
I got a whole different problem.
It is not like the anticipation of a soon to be released game is making me enjoy games less.
Its just that my standards for games are set so high somehow, that I can not enjoy games that do not feel fresh or better then what I played before.
I can wait for GW2. Having fun right now with orcs must die 2, Batman arkhamcity ( its not pulling me in yet.. it feels like been there done that) and ahum a game in closed beta. ( NDA’s are so annoying )
And if I get bored and want a new competitive game I’ll get into smite.
Hardly played that, while its a good game.
i have this problem. i have RAGE, New Vegas, Arkham City, Assassin’s creed revelations, la noire and darksiders installed and i got all of them like last month during the sale but i can’t seem to play any of them, i keep existing and looking for any news of upcoming mmos and i really want to finish at least one of them before guild wars 2 gets released.
I do get it, but not until a day or two before the actual launch date. Until then I’m fine carrying on with whatever I was doing.
I wish I could buy that memory erase device they use in man in black.
Oh to play great RPG’s again and have them be fresh.
“starts singing…. memoriesssss”
I have so many games from the Steam sale just sitting waiting for me to get to them but lately I have been doing a lot of gaming with my daughter trying to get our Skylanders all up to level 10 before Giants comes out. My daughter and I are about enjoying the heck out of Awesomenauts too. At just a month under 7 she is a far, far better Battle Arena player than most of the people I have played other Battle Arenas with. By the way Awesomenauts is just that Awesome.
I am very hyped still about Guild Wars 2 as I have taken a week off for it’s launch but between all the games I have still to play from Steam Sale, Awesomenauts, Mechwarrior Online coming out this coming week and Legends of Pegasus to try out, not to mention playing more SINS and Endless Space I have more than enough to keep me busy.
The only problem is until Guild Wars 2 comes out I continue to grab any game I don’t have when it comes on sale. 90% of I will most likely never play.
You have hit the nail on the head indeed, I too get this but have you ever considered that the MMO genre as such as left a sour taste in your mouth that your just not into it any more… this is a question that’s been going through my mind for a month or so, yet i still urge that MMO feeling the world the people classes etc…
I personally have been playing a little BF3, PS2 and a dash of city of steam this weekend. still hasnt got my MMO rush which i will have once GW2 is released…
just my 2 cents
I dunno I’m at the point sadly where I feel I have seen the best and experienced it when it comes to mmorpgs. With so many bad wow clones lately it’s hard to get excited about upcoming mmos, even those that “look” good. So, I used to be like you with the pre mmo syndrome but nowadays I find myself questioning every release and usually pressure buying due to friends playing. The genre is definitely in need of a big innovation currently, and it’s hard to get excited about AAA titles when they arn’t innovating much at all.
That said, the next few months I’ll be busy, huge backlist of games to play. The few I’m dabbling in at the moment are Orcs Must Die 2, Mount and Blade Warband, Skyrim Dawnguard, and oldschool Everquest on an emulated server. Then GW2 I’ll try and a month later the WOW expansion I’ll have to try as well. Too much too close together.
I have something similar, I tend to BUY a lot more non-mmo games in the month or two before a big one is released, its silly really and sometimes I only play them for an hour and never touch them again >< I guess its cus once an MMO is out I don't touch anything else for months, so I have to try and experience a bit more in between them.
On the other hand, when I KNOW I am going to be stopping an MMO (IE: Playing WoW knowing SWG was releasing in 4 months) I start doing what you said, sitting here looking at a blank screen thinking why bother.
Just go's to show that what i really want in an MMO is long term
This, this a thousand times this.
I totally get the exact same, for the last 2-3 weeks i just havent been able to give a flying crap about playing anything! and your right it happens every single time lol.