It doesn't make it a silly conversation to have, though, considering most users of the GOG general board are going to support game preservation and generally not support many always online games.

Taking your point a step further, some people find stepping on nails or otherwise hurting themselves fun. Most find it a waste of time.

Fun is always subjective. The design of modern mmos is specifically designed to waste your time though, similar along with all live service games, who want you spending as much time ingame as possible because it increases the chances you'll spend money.

I appreciate your input though, even if we rarely see eye to eye.

Sounds also terrible that some games, like V Rising, added updates but current saves couldn't be transferred to play the new content.

The best MMOs are a thin veneer for a social experience. The worst MMOs are cesspits of toxic behavior and worse.

Me? I'm the kind of person who'd prefer to explore worlds without being bothered. Let me be a cartographer/mancer.

Thank you for that, it made it clearer, and I can see where you're coming from. However, I think you're conflating two separate issues. Yes, MMOs are designed to keep people engaged and to encourage sustained interaction, I completely agree with you. But that doesn’t mean people don’t genuinely find MMOs fun or believe the time they spend in them is worthwhile. Media being designed to retain attention, is true for all forms of entertainment. TV series are designed to make people want to watch the next episode. Single-player games are designed to encourage you to keep playing and buy the next title. Books are written to pull you through chapter by chapter, often setting up sequels. Films are structured to keep audiences engaged for the whole runtime and get them into sequels or franchises. But, even though these formats are 'designed for retention,' people still enjoy them, and whether or not they do is entirely based on personal preference. Just like you stopped playing WoW because you didn’t enjoy it, others might continue because they do. Being designed to hook a player is not mutually exclusive from being fun or fulfilling.

(Small side note: I do have issues with some games-as-a-service models, but that's due to predatory monetization tactics. That said, I also see that there are people who genuinely enjoy those games regardless.)

And with the danger of coming across as an ass here - but it sounds like you're just projecting your personal experience and preferences onto others: "I did not have fun, and I think it was a waste of time. Therefore you do not have fun! You are being tricked, this is not how you feel. You are having fun the wrong way!". That, to me, is just dismissive and arrogant. No one has the right to tell someone else how they should feel. If someone says they enjoy playing an MMO, then they’re enjoying it. If they feel that their time was well spent, then for them, it was well spent. Whether or not you feel the same way.

And the same goes for all other hobbies and entertainment formats.

(Except football. No one really likes football)

To be frank, I realized the other day that the whole life is a waste of time.

Not my life though, which is very important to me! I meant your lives. Total waste of time, yech!

Many of my MMO experiences are of the social aspect. It's the people i've met and the good or bad times i've had with them.
But yeah, the gameplay itself usually sucks.

I played ESO and SWTOR in beta a few times, then a little after release. Doesn't compare, the before and the after. It's like those gangs that corral the homeless of the streets, intentionally cripple them and then send them back out to beg for money. The only difference is that one product are human beings and the other are digital games.

What a confusing half-realization. Is this some kind of attempt at self-gaslighting to tell yourself one type of gaming is less of a waste than the other?

Did you have fun doing it? Not a waste.

Did you not have fun doing it? Why were you playing?!

Congrats! I realized this about 20 years ago, after the first 1 or 2 MMOs that I tried. All the grinding, lock-in, addiction mechanics, that try to make you feel obligated to spend X number of hours in your MMO per day. I can do without all that.

And that's not to mention that MMOs are just about the most heavily DRMed gaming experience imaginable, and almost certainly cannot be preserved.

Yeah ... bury the lot of them in concrete.

In my opinion, the whole idea behind the MMO games, and what these developer companies use to keep players "trapped" in their MMO, is the tendecy for comparison and superiority that most people have. E.g. "I'm better/stronger/smarter than that person". And what if you are? Is gaming a field worthy enough to brag (if you are winning) in front of other people? Winning someone by 20-8 kills makes you "better"?!! I think that was what amok was meaning. That's it's a meaningless "battle-field" for one to take seriously. We play to have fun, to pass some time, gather strength,a dn then return to real life matters.

I've never played those MMOs that require you to spend money monthly just to get your foot into the door. I won't even talk about if there's further monetization techniques (I wouldn't be surprised), but just that monthly fee is enough to make me feel like... I don't know. Like I might have stress over playing the game to justify spending that monthly fee.

A normal single player game like F.E.A.R.? Well my GOG receipt said I paid for it back in 2022. Here I am in 2025 getting to it, having finished the first expansion. So even though I spent my money way back, I didn't need to stress about it too hard. It was a one-time payment, I can get to it whenever I feel ready to tackle it.

Not with those MMOs I feel. If I pay the "get your feet in" fee for Final Fantasy 14, I'm set for a month, I don't think you can defer playing it to when you feel like it, and I'm not sure what happens if you pay and play for like three months, stop paying for a year and then come back, do you get to keep your progress or is your account destroyed? It's not like Minecraft which you can play for years but with long "breaks" sprinkled in.

After turning EVE online on'n off for years I got completely burned-out but I wouldn't dismiss it as a waste. Sure, I probably could've spent the time on other things, like reading a book, making more children, touch the greys a little bit more often, riding elevators up'n down for fun, walking the dog more, going to Ibiza and universo paralello with friends and party, taking more classes, you know - the more classic activities for a peaceful life.

No, games are made to be used as a break from the current day chaotic sphere (or rather - they used to be(!)). Let's not forget games are actually very stimulating for the brain in many cases, especially memory, eye-hand coordination and quickness, which withers with age.

I sometimes pick up WarThunder and now recently PoE2 for some "instant-coffee" then and there (just like CS and UT back in the day), but in the interest of preservation I'm staying with MMO's that are F2P knowing fully they are nothing more than just that. I mean, like in any other hobbies, if I want I can huckle up some money to buy more stuff like cosmetics for a short period.

And speaking of mechanics that are addictive - seems the EU commission is once again going after unethical techniques and commercial practices due to a pretty severe complaint: Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_831

Personally, I hope they take them so hard down that the other MMO's will think twice about their in-game mechanics and marketing. Then again, it might also harm mini-games in single-players...

It's all in what you value. Different people value different things.

I tend not to like round-based muliplayer games ATM. Running around an arena map trying to win a round -- only to be replaced by another round and another round and another round... -- seems like madness to me, but... many love that experience.

I've rarely been interested in MMO's, but three have caught my eye -- Lord of the Rings Online, Black Desert, and Age of Conan. I've started downloading each of them... but never finished. They've sat in my cue for years. There's just something about the MMO experience that makes me ambivalent, both attracted and repulsed.

And lastly there's... time. As I grow older and my time on Earth lessens, different experiences become more (and less) important. As a child it felt like I had all the time in the world. As an adult I thought there was plenty of time to do what I wanted. As an "older person," I know that there won't be time to accomplish all I had hoped... and therefore I have to be more careful with my time.

Or maybe I'm just thinking too much? Maybe I just need to play a game! ;)

I would never presume to tell others what they value. I think I forgot to add a giant "FOR ME" to my original post to clarify for those who think I'm telling others how to feel.

I am not. Your reality is your reality.

Playing any online game is meant for fun. Since so many people pay for stress and abuse, I often wonder when the online games will stop.