Multiplayer Sub-Genres I’d Like to Like (But Can’t Yet)

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i wish i may i wish i might perhaps ill play these games awright, MMO, mmorpg, multiplayer, multiplayer strategy, new genre, pvp, pvp mmo, pvp mmorpg, sandbox, sandbox mmo, sandbox mmorpg, strategy, strategy game, survival, survival sandbox

A couple of years ago or so, I kind of made a promise to myself that I would investigate more sandbox MMORPGs in an effort to appreciate just what the hell it was made them perceptibly better than themepark MMORPGs. After some time achieving a bit of this by way of the Choose My Adventure column, I can kind of say that there are sandbox games that I genuinely enjoy even if I pretty much grew up in this genre with themeparks (I don’t think EQOA or FFXI count as “true” sandboxes here).

So with that idea in mind, it has me thinking… maybe there are other MMO and multiplayer sub-genres that I can dig in to? So that’s today’s topic: What other kinds of game types could I try to dive in to and find enjoyment in?

A Shortlist of Long-Term Gaming Goals

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dauntless, elite, elite dangerous, elite dangerous odyssey, ffxiv, final fantasy xiv, gaming, gaming goal, gaming goals, goal, MMO, mmorpg, mmorpgs, multiplayer, multiplayer gaming, xiv

Yep, I’m pretty much ripping off other bloggers’ post ideas for today’s posting. In my defense, I don’t make this a regular feature on my blog, so I think that gives me a free pass. Also, like, it’s Blaugust 2021, y’all. Sometimes post ideas are hard to drudge up.

Whining notwithstanding, I actually am beginning to find that putting down some long-reaching gaming goals is pretty helpful for keeping motivated in multiplayer and MMO titles. So with that in mind, I felt that I should share a few of the things I’m reaching for in my favorite titles.

Early Access Games That Aren’t Trash

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craftopia, early access, fps, hardspace shipbreaker, multiplayer, online gaming, online multiplayer, sandbox, steam early access, survival sandbox

With all of the itchy, uncomfortable, and downright exploitative ways game dev studios are trying to monetize their game, it’s easy to pass off anything other than “gold product” as nothing more than a scam. And for the most part, you’re right. Even I can admit that crowdfunding a game is a whole lot riskier and possibly more scam-adjacent than not, when previously I had foolishly hoped that it would open up a lot more doors and ideas.

One of the most recent and proliferous forms of “alternative” game monetization schemes is the early access launch, which asks folks to buy an incomplete game, provide feedback, and watch it evolve into a fully-launched product. It’s, at the brass tacks level (and grossly oversimplified), spending money to be a tester instead of letting professionals do that and get paid for it. However, as vile as that sounds, there are a few games that I’ve come across that actually are worth the buy-in cost in my opinion, and so I wanted to take a moment to highlight them with today’s post.

The Thrival Sandbox or How I Learned to Love the Grind

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elite dangerous, MMO, mmos, multiplayer, multiplayer gaming, no man's sky, sandbox, sandbox mmo, survival, survival sandbox, survival sandbox mmo

I’ve made no attempts to hide my distaste for survival sandbox MMOs and games. They’re one of the laziest forms of game design and I still hold to that opinion for the most part. That said, I have slowly begun to find a few exceptions to the rule that have endeared me to at least a couple of aspects to the sub-genre and, perhaps in some small way, helped me to build a bit of empathy and appreciation for those who love these kinds of games.

Send the Clowns Away

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aaa developers, anthem, anthem game, curse of osiris, destiny 2, developers, forsaken, game dev, game devs, looter shooter, MMO, multiplayer, online multiplayer, online shooter, shooter, the division, the division 2

Yesterday, I picked up The Division 2. Haven’t played it yet at the time of this writing, but I had some extra money to light up and I’ve been looking at it from the sidelines for a little while as something different to try out. Coincidentally, I had picked up Anthem just after it released and played that a fair bit, too, but also completely stopped.

What makes me think that The Division 2 will stay in my gaming rotation when Anthem fell away? There are a number of ideas, but chief among them is that even though I really do enjoy Anthem’s gameplay, I also really can’t bring myself to fire up a game when the developers are making clownshoe decisions. I have managed to be convinced to fall out of love with playing in a giant, pink, stompy robot suit, which isn’t a sentence I expected to type.

The Pink Cadillac, moments before it started collecting dust.

Singing the Anthem

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anthem, anthem mmo, anthemgame, bioware, demo, fps, looter shooter, MMO, multiplayer, online, online multiplayer, online shooter, shooter

Thanks to some extremely good fortune, I was granted access to the VIP demo (read: pre-order bonus) of Anthem, the upcoming looter shooter from the folks at BioWare. Unfortunately, I only was able to get my code on Sunday, which happened to be the last day of the demo. As such, this is less of a deep hands-on than an initial impressions piece. Not a complaint, though, because I really had fun.

Not least of which being the ability to wear a thick, bright pink robot suit.

Nice Things About Disliked MMOs

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bad games, champions online, eve online, good games, lord of the rings online, lotro, MMO, mmorpg, multiplayer, overwatch, world of warcraft, WoW

Over a week ago, Massively Overpowered posed a question on its regular Daily Grind column asking readers a nice thing that could be said about an MMO game they didn’t like. I definitely chimed in on this once, since my useless mutant superpower is finding something to like in games I hate, but the more I pondered the question the more I came up with multiple answers.

So, why not take that bit of random inspiration and run with it? Here’s a small list of MMO and multiplayer titles I’m no fan of yet can admit that they do something really well.

The Acceptance of Not Understanding

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battle royale, community, fortnite, fortnite battle royale, fortnite br, gaming, gaming community, multiplayer, multiplayer gaming, pubg, video games, videogames

So there’s this rap song made by this kid who is very, very clearly a fan of Fortnite Battle Royale. It crossed my Twitter feed a week or so ago and it took me just about as long to process, as this young boy was trying to turn his ability to play a shooter well into several bars’ worth of lyrics about their own superiority.

At first blush, it sounds a lot like 2018’s answer to the Numa Numa Dance. But after some introspection, I’ve concluded that the problem isn’t him, but me. Its reinforced something of a lesson about how some games or genres are beyond my comprehension and that’s okay.

Who knew this little dude would pack so many mental exercises into two-and-a-half minutes?

Monster Hunter World vs. Dauntless: Post-Launch Edition

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action rpg, dauntless, hunting, MMO, monster hunter, monster hunter world, multiplayer, online rpg, rpg

I wrote this before, but when I did Dauntless was in closed beta and Monster Hunter World just had their try-before-you-buy “open beta.” Now that MHW has been released on console for a while now and Dauntless is in an open beta, and since I’ve logged plenty of hours into both, I figure now was as good a time as any to revisit this little comparison and see if my initial instincts were right.

Oh, and for the record, though Dauntless calls itself open beta, it’s doing progressive updates and is asking money for a cash shop. That’s a launch product; you don’t get to ask for money and also say you’re still in testing.

Besides, you’re pretty much feature-complete. You’ve launched.

My Top 5 MMO Tank Classes

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gaming, mhw, mhworld, MMO, mmo class, mmo classes, mmorpg, mmorpg class, mmorpg classes, monster hunter, monster hunter world, multiplayer, multiplayer gaming, tank, tank class, tanker, tanking

My past couple of posts this Blaugust have been Debbie Downer-y, so I decided to take my own advice and focus on making a little love wave. And this time I’m going to show some of that love to my all-time favorite class to play, the tank.

I actually wrote about tanking early on the last time I participated in Blaugust, so I suppose we’ll consider this something of a natural progression from that thought on why I love tanking; I’m going to take a moment to think about the best games that gave the best MMO class the best treatment.