Why do MMOG hags wander? Whyfor is there the incessant need to flit, to flutter, from world to world? When I think about my MMOADD, I’m not thinking about the usual locust-like consumption of content that all dedicated Massive gamers do. That’s the norm: As new games come out we rise as one, swarming like the plagues of Northwestern Africa (been watching Planet Earth) into a new world to level, grind, and consume.

When I talk about MMOADD, it’s a much more serious disorder. I’ll cop to it: I’ve hit max level in precious few games. Alt-itis was the cure back in the days of EverQuest, when there weren’t really many alternatives and I couldn’t afford multiple accounts. Now, though, players have a bounty of choice. I have – no joke – 12 different Massive games installed on my machine right now. That’s not even all the games I have discs for, just the ones installed. Thanks to my somewhat laughable designation as ‘journalist’, I get to play some of those games gratis … which makes it even harder to focus on the here and now, like Yoda wants me to.

Part of it, for me, is a lack of connection. In most games, I don’t have a regular ‘crew’ to run with. I tried so hard during  World of Warcraft’s launch, and got burned so badly, that it’s hard for me to trust total strangers in Massive game. I think I’m tagged in LOTRO because of some nice SWG veteran’s kindness, but otherwise I’m almost completely guildless.

Part of it is a surfeit of things to do in my day-to-day life. Between blogging, writing articles, playing non-Massive games, a wife, a day job that takes up 40-50 hours every week, and stuff like eating and sleeping, every moment I’m playing a MMOG is a moment where I should ‘probably be doing something else’. Of course, keeping up with Massive games is as much a part of my professional life as playing Overlord or Lair, so it’s easy to convince myself to play … but not always easy to actually find the time.

Part of it is boredom. I suffer from the same problem that all games journalists (the real ones; not bloggers like me) and game designers do: I’ve seen it all, to one extent or another. After playing a game for maybe 10-20 hours I pretty much know what the game is all about. Outside of raid content, I know the mechanics of WoW, EQ2, DDO, etc, etc, pretty cold. I know them much better having played them all copiously, of course, but I pretty much had the core concepts down by about level 20. The only actual conversation I’ve ever had with Richard Bartle was about this problem, and he confessed to getting bored really quickly playing most MMOGs. My tactic (and one I think he agreed with) is focusing on the stories … most Massive games do have them, you know.

Part of it is the joy of the new. Every time you re-up a game subscription there’s always that period of adjustment. “How do I do this thing? What have they added since I was last here. Oh, that’s new! When did they add that? Who thought this was a good idea?” Etc, etc. It’s not quite like launch day all over again, but there’s an element of that in every subscription renewal I’ve ever done.

Part of it is the sorrow of the high-end. By virtue of all of these other elements, I know almost certainly that I won’t see the highest of the high-end content. I’ve never run Molten Core. I don’t know what it’s like to take on the dragon in DDO. Hamidon has always been Hamidon’t. From an informational point of view, I’m fascinated by these encounters; I’ve read hundreds of pages of strategies, forum posts, and after-action reports on Karazhan alone. From a player’s POV, it’d be nice to feel included for once.

Thankfully, I think I’m getting better. I’ve cancelled all of my accounts I’m not actively playing, which has me pared down to two: EverQuest 2 and City of Heroes. Not surprisingly, these are the two games that I’m playing with my RL friends. CoH has always been a bastion for the Madisonian crowd (Pants Are Not The Solution, you know), and the weekly EQ2 sessions have been wonderful on many levels. Not least of which because they’re fun to talk about here.

Part of me, though, is scared: things are soon going to be bad. Tabula Rasa, Gods and Heroes, and Age of Conan are all probably launching soonish … and after them comes Warhammer. Eep.