No, I’m not talking about cybering on the Deeprun Tram. I’m talking about the community as a whole and its changing tastes.

Before you have sex for the first time, just the thought of it is exciting. “Whoa baby,” you think, “Gotta get me some!” Then you actually have sex, and it’s fantastic. Once you prove that it’s attainable, you run around like a bunny on Red Bull, looking for it every chance you get. Sooner or later, though, almost everyone reaches the point where just “sex” isn’t enough. You start fantasizing about trying different things, whether it be whipped cream or whips. Why?

Because sex is additive. Sooner or later, no matter how much fun it is, the “same old thing” gets old, and you look for something to spice it up a bit in an attempt to recapture that “Whoa baby” feeling.

Which leads us to MMORPGs. When you first encounter the genré, it’s all exciting. That first time…whew. You’ve never experienced anything like it. You become addicted, running through your day like a bunny on Red Bull just to get through with the requirements of life so you can get back to spending intimate time with your new love.

Eventually, though…the excitement wanes a bit. You start thinking that some of the other MMOs out there look pretty hot, and you give them a try. However, after a few flings, styles of MMOs start to become a bit stale, which leads you to look for something that’ll give you that “Whoa baby” feeling again.

If you’re lucky, you find it. But even if you do, chances are you’ll wind up getting back together with a previous love…usually when you realize that your new love doesn’t really offer anything your old one didn’t, except you’re used to the quirks and foibles of your last relationship.

Especially if you discover that your new love is completely insane. That’s when you wake up handcuffed to the bedposts, covered in whip marks and wondering where all the peanut butter came from.

Or even worse…they wind up being a lousy lay.

This is the trap that I feel most MMO devs fall into (not the peanut butter/whip marks, although Dark & Light came close)…they’re not building a relationship, they’re trying to provide “the next big thing”, sometimes at the cost of the relationships they already have. To me, this is why the most important part of an MMO isn’t the graphics, the gameplay or the setting…it’s the entire package taken as a whole.

When you fall in love, you overlook the various inadequacies of your love, because you love the sum of their parts. But if it’s just a fling based on physical attraction, they drive you crazy before you know it and you’re out the door.

Developers should quit trying to put breast implants, tummy tucks and dye jobs on their games, and start trying to make an MMO you’d take home to Mom. Stop designing for flings and start developing something that looks worthy of a relationship.

The MMO community is past the fling stage (unless they’re bored, and aren’t currently in a relationship) and are now looking for that one special MMO to spend the rest of their life with.

So to speak.

Of course, you could also just go the “quick and easy” route…you’ll have plenty of people at your door with that one, too. Hookers are recession-proof.

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Tags: mmorpg, relationship, sex