More power, more efficiency – the best of the best. That is the goal of many players. But that’s exactly what kills the fun faster than you can see.
In MMORPGs, most people want to be “the best”. In games like World of Warcraft in particular, personal performance is important so that the group is also successful.
Guides for your own class are studied, “BiS lists” for the best equipment are looked at and each new item is first pulled through the simulation to see whether it represents an improvement.
A few months ago, this attitude also caused me to lose interest in World of Warcraft – at least as far as PvE content such as dungeons or raids is concerned.
I had to decide: Do I want to play the mathematically “best” Shadow Priestess or do I want to play one that I enjoy playing? Do I just want to try out new pieces of jewelry for a while, or do I prefer to read up straight away whether it’s a damage loss or a damage gain for me?
For many, that’s probably a pretty simple answer, but it wasn’t for me. In the back of my mind I always have a competitive idea, which of course also includes team aspects. I want to be useful to my raid group, and as useful as possible. That means I should actually choose a clear set of talents and look at which items are “Best in Slot” for me or which piece of jewelry “sims best”.
I decided against the “optimal” playstyle. I picked the talents that I personally enjoy, even if the numbers aren’t that great at the end and I could be up a spot or two on the damage meter.
Of course, the idea that trying to play a game too efficiently kills the fun of the game isn’t new. The makers of Civilization realized this years ago and said: “If you give players the opportunity, then they optimize the fun out of a game.”
A truth that the quite analytical YouTuber Josh Strife Hayes emphasizes again and again:
If you want to kill your love for a game, get efficient. Unfortunately that is the truth. If you want to kill your love for a game, if you want to suddenly hate your hobby, get really efficient at it. (…)
The process of finding something optimal can be fun. The process of figuring out what works and why it works. This is a fun process in itself. But notice that I say here: The process.
Just telling someone what works is not part of the process. It’s just you saying, “Hey, I already did that. I’ve already done all this. Here’s what you should be doing.” So most of the time it’s a bit boring.
The way to achieve the best play style with the greatest efficiency, that’s fun. But simply copying this efficiency from guides – that leads to a loss of fun.
And, of course, these limits vary from game to game. I still see a guide to a raid boss in a game like World of Warcraft as a necessary prerequisite for a raid evening.
But when I see how players around me have to whip their character through simulations to see if the new jewel is a 1.2% increase or a 1.4% increase with every loot distribution, then I roll my eyes inwardly .
I also see it every time a new patch is released. Addons are immediately installed with friends that immediately mark all treasures and secrets on the world map with an explanation so that you can tick them off quickly. Then for one evening you have the good feeling of being “finished” again – and two evenings later you wonder why there is actually so little to do.
It helped me to sacrifice the demand for perfection for the fun of the game in WoW. Does that make me a slightly worse group member? Mathematically, definitely. But the alternative would be that I’m no longer a party member at all because I’ve optimized the fun out of the game.
Do you share this view? Or do you only enjoy MMOs and other games if you can get the most out of them and familiarize yourself with guides?