Yesterday, I was excited about the money I'm starting to make with crafting. So much so, I yelped "YES!" after one sale. My wife heard me and asked me what the fuss was about (she sees me playing every night after kid is in bed and she usually ignores my gaming trysts:)). So I told her about what I've been doing here, in my first MMO, and really the first game I can truly say I'm addicted to (and that's after 20 years of gaming!). I gave her about a 20 minute rundown of everything I'm doing, my alts, my crafting, gearing, PvP, etc. Her response boiled down to "what's the point?"

So my initial instinct was to say "meh, you're not a gamer so you wouldn't understand." But that's too simplistic. She asked (and I'm "translating" her language here in paraphrase): "Say you level up all chars to 50, get 400 crafting for all of them, have millions of credits in the bank, have all highest purples in all your orange, crit-crafted gear, have full valor and legacy, the best speeders, etc. etc., what does that get you? Is there a Hall of Fame? Money? Do you win anything?"

Stumped. What is the point? I'm a (young) professional with a billion other activities to do and interests. Why do I (we) do this???? Why am I on this forum now? My best response was "it's the ride, not the destination." Other thoughts?

Short answer: It's fun.

Why do anything? The whole 'what's the point' argument is valid to infinity, when you think about it.

short answer: you enjoy it

long answer: you enjoy it because it's fun

The reason we do this? Check out the article:

5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted

http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html

It's a fascinating read, and the more I look at it the more I agree with it.

Probable need to feel success. To feed our inner narcasitical tendacies.

We may consider ourselves successful in RL terms, some ambitions are marriage and kids others to make money have elevated status.

Gaming offers reward in achievement within a safety comfort zone of little fall.. Lifes rollercoaster of good and bad times of hope new sun shine is devoid in the escape of gaming.

You play for your personal success, this is addictive and battery charging. Have you ever defended your ALt from criticism like their your own property? Have you ever just thought I could stop now but I owe it to my Alt to get it to next level or a certain statging area? The game becomes part of you it feeds on that human failure 'we never have enough and we want more'.

Joonbeams, that is an EXCELLENT question.

I have discovered several things about myself during my few years of playing WOW and now this game.

Granted, this only reflects MY personal experience and in no way implies this is true for anyone else.

When my husband and I played wow and raided seriously, we were both in very dark periods of our lives. His business was declining, money was VERY tight and I was spiraling down into a deep depression due to anxiety and my father's terminal illness. We WELCOMED the escape every night that allowed us to forget real life for a few hours.

For about two months, I was the second top geared discipline priest on my server. Whoop dee doo. LMAO. We did the grind, we died over and over. Heroic Freya in Ulduar aged our raid leader ten years I think...

Anyway, we traded our stressful REAL lives for a stressful ONLINE one. But I was someone important and vital. If I didn't log on, it put my raid in a bind. I NEEDED to be one of the best healers on my server. My real life was in shambles so I was VERY particular about my character and numbers and gear and all that stuff that was going to keep me at the TOP of my game. When I logged out, life sucked.

It sounds really sad now that I read that...but it's true.

Now, I find we are in a MUCH better place in our lives but we still enjoy MMOs...but it's vastly different now. Now, I MAYBE log in 3 days a week. I enjoy just...playing and shooting things. There IS no point to it other than to be a fun diversion on nights that I have absolutely nothing else to do.

TL;DR -- I think everyone's 'point' for playing varies...but I would be willing to bet that how much time a person is willing to invest in an MMO and how long they play everyday COULD POSSIBLY reflect their satisfaction or stress level IRL.

Say you level up all chars to 50, get 400 crafting for all of them, have millions of credits in the bank, have all highest purples in all your orange, crit-crafted gear, have full valor and legacy, the best speeders, etc. etc., what does that get you? Is there a Hall of Fame? Money? Do you win anything?

No, you will not win anything, because any "prize" for doing things would go to the first person who did it, and there are people out there with nothing to do all day except play SWTOR, and who are genetically pre-disposed to not need any sleep.

In short, someone will have beaten you to it.

Stumped. What is the point? I'm a (young) professional with a billion other activities to do and interests. Why do I (we) do this???? Why am I on this forum now? My best response was "it's the ride, not the destination." Other thoughts?

As an "older" professional whose girlfriend asked the same question, my answer was:

1. Relaxation - I can do this without the stress of my day to day job.

2. Enjoyment - completing a quest or gaining a level is a measurable and definable "success point" that shows definitive completion of an objective or progress towards a larger goal (fundamentally, I am a problem-solver at heart), rather than the grey area of closed cases and completed support tickets in my IT job that pays the bills.

3. Community - at work, I am part of a team but I work exclusively with the same 10 people 90% of the time. In this game, I get to work with other people.

4. Something I cannot do at work - in real life, I am terrible at making things, although I am pretty good at building computers from component parts (refering to the crafting/crew skills element).

5. Experiencing a story - For some people, if they want a story they will read a book or watch TV. My chosen medium is a computer game.

6. Control - When reading a book or watching TV, you are a consumer of the medium you are using, you have no direct control over the pace and flow of the story (aside from the pause button if applicable, or putting the book down). With a computer game, I still am not writing the story, but I have more control over the process, so I am an interactive agent of the story delivery medium rather than a passive consumer of the content. I find that more engaging than sitting brainlessly in front of a screen, although I am still turning into a couch potato.

Short answer: It's fun.

 

Why do anything? The whole 'what's the point' argument is valid to infinity, when you think about it.

This. Completely.

Why do we play anything at all?

Really this is a core question for games in general. The only thing that is taken away a bit when it comes to computer games is the personal interaction with other people - like as in right in front of you.

At least in MMO's there actually are other people vs single player games.

So, if you actually have to "win" something, all sims, sandbox games etc are ... pretty much pointless.

I would say that some people simply have a higher play-drive then others.

Community!!! You get to play with others and if lucky enough, get to build an extended family. An MMO player who is not in it just for themselves has the world open to them.

Also, you play because it is fun. You said yourself that you are having the most fun in this game than any other and you can't discount that fact.

Most good MMO's grow and you grow with it. I don't think BW will stop adding content and other aspects that will keep most busy. It is all in perspective really.