What's so addicting about MMOs?

[richardd]

man, i made more REAL friends off this game, than i ever did IRL lol, aka people who will know me better than most of my family do. thanks to FFXI, there are people i will tell my grandkids about and know until i die and have absolutely 0 regrets. the realest people i ever met had pixels behind their faces, lol. and thats the tr00f.

[Reuniont]

I believe people get addicted because the game is their only means to strive to accomplish goals, quickly none the less.

Instant gratification is essentially the addiction.

[Lucienne]

I believe people get addicted because the game is their only means to strive to accomplish goals, quickly none the less.

Instant gratification is essentially the addiction.

I disagree. I've accomplished most things I wanted so far in rl and I still found XI incredibly appealing. It might offer fast gratification, but there is definitely more to it than that.

[Brutala]

Because they're designed to be (more substantial articles linked from that one).

Hah! #2 Makes that guy in almost every pickup PT literally begging for the last 5k for his level and getting mad when you have to leave even if he was getting great exp/h the whole time all the more funny.

I can't get sucked in by the social aspect, the collecting instinct, the escapism or even the prestigeous AFKing in WG with the rarest/priciest piece in every slot in an overall useless setup which when seen by people who don't even care about it is supposed to somehow fix the AFKer's RL anxieties! What had me by the balls in pre-abyssea FFXI was the gambling sort of addiction the article lists under #3. With noone wanting to PvP and wins on almost all the content being guaranteed, I had to find outcomes to be uncertain about.
"Are we going to claim? Is it even going to pop this window?"
"Will this longass solo end with a dumb mistake under 25%?"
"Do these pickup people I spent an hour putting together suck too much to beat this chariot?"
Good thing abyssea eliminated enough of that for me to quit.

[Reuniont]

I disagree. I've accomplished most things I wanted so far in rl and I still found XI incredibly appealing. It might offer fast gratification, but there is definitely more to it than that.

Addiction doesn't equal enjoying the game though.

I'm talking about people who get withdrawal symptoms if they're away from the game for more than a week.

[Brutala]

withdrawal symptoms

That's possible? O_o

[Niiro]

If you've become solely dependent on one thing that your brain is convinced it needs to feel happy, yea, it can be similar to withdrawal.

[Reuniont]

That's possible? O_o

Go on any mmorpg based forum and look for any thread involving a long maintenance or downtime.

[pohibaba]

Being on a higher plane than other people.

[Plow]

what's amazing is that's exactly what I thought when I saw you were the last poster lol