Project Lore

MMORPG designers are a crafty bunch.  The genre may be relatively new, but by using design philosophies from single player titles, mainly standard RPGs, the minds behind MMOGs learned to keep a players entranced quickly.  Blizzard has nearly perfected the art of retaining its player base by implementing the relatively ancient knowledge of past video games into World of Warcraft.  They don't even hide their lifting of another company's ideas, as evidenced by the blatant use of Achievements, which is their most recent addition.  In all fairness, damn near everyone from Sony to Valve is ripping that off due to Microsoft's highly praised implementation.

The massive flattery of the Achievement system is simply because it works.  The added goals, no matter how fleeting they may be, add to the longevity of any and all titles.  It was only a matter of time before MMOGs began implementing them in full force.  And what a powerful force they have become.  However, the age old catch - just gotta get this next mob/drop/quest/level - continues to drive my elongated playing sessions.

I spend most of my time during my journey to Exalted for my third Northrend faction completing the group's half dozen daily quests.  But I always queue up for various Heroic dungeons, especially those that may have some piece of gear for Solidsamm.  Being of the overpopulated DPS archetype, I often grind through the dailies, get annoyed at never finding a group in under an hour and log off for the night or afk to make dinner before the raid.  Well, that is what used to happen.  Lately, right as I go to log I get ninja invited or join this or that party/raid.

My original intention when I sign on these days is to complete an instance quickly.  Doing dailies is supposed to be the distraction during group formation.  After waiting so long, then getting ready to log, the late invites and formations can be hard to stick with.  In the end, it isn't any fault of Blizzard's that I hang around past my personal time limit.  Even after admitting that to myself, I can't shake that nagging feeling in the back of my brain that some designer in Anaheim is celebrating his small victory over my lack of willpower.  Bastard.

Anyone else have this problem?  Do you always get pulled back in when you are on your way out?  When was the last time a 20 minute session became two hours for you?  And to those of you with willpower, can I have some?  Please?  Sugar on top?