The MMO industry has grown exponentially in the past years and we have witness tens of games coming out every year. A great number of these games are free MMORPG games. Some require you to buy the game then you are able to play for free. Others are free to download and play but, for those really interested in the game there are cash shop where you can use real money to buy exclusive items and bonuses. It is said that these free to play games are outmatched by any pay to play MMOs, but more and more companies are turning to the free model (Dungeons And Dragons Online, BattleForge, The Chronicles of Spellborn) since games like MapleStory, Perfect World and Runes of Magic are drawing a massive fan base. It is true that you expect a game for which you pay to have great stability, little lag and great value but there are a great number of games that didn’t survive. It is more than just stability that we desire in a game, it is an experience, a fun community or some amazing characters and equipment.

First and foremost when you ask someone did you like that game the first response you get is regarding graphics, because we have to face it, if a game looks good it will draw our attention. This does not mean we are shallow, we see pictures of cool looking graphics and think that if they put this much work into the graphics the game must also have had a lot of work put into the gameplay. Sadly most of the time creators put so much time into making a game look good that they forget the rest of it. Priston Tale 2 boasted great graphics for a F2P game (the Unreal engine) but upon entering the world you were faced with horrible lag, a tutorial that didn’t clarify any questions and by system requirements higher than Unreal 3. When looking for a game it is ok to look for graphics, they make the world come to life and provide a beautiful experience. With this in mind we must always remember that graphics mean system hog, aim for a game that matches your computer or you’ll be left playing a gorgeous game with the graphics turned down so low that it will look worse than your other games.

Moreover when you try the game out for the first time don’t get discouraged quickly. Usually most of the great features of the game are available to higher level players, such as mounts, and special items. Explore the world and interact with the players, see what sort of community this game holds since if you decide to play you will spend most of the time in their company. As you progress through the game you’ll eventually end up in a guild in order to survive and unless you enjoy the people you play with, the game up till there will account to nothing. Furthermore just as in real life you will have to deal with the community around you, their talking or even spamming, threats and PKs, it is important to make sure that you make sure this is a community you would like to be a part of in order to enjoy the game properly.

Furthermore always look at a game from a sum of its parts view. No game is perfect considering producers try to aim the game at a wide range of players and so it is common to find even in a really great game some parts that you might not like. Enjoying the game as a whole is important, sure you might find that there is too much grinding, or that a you might get disconnected from time to time, but as long as there are only minor inconvenience and you love the game why should you ruin this experience. Of course you can still look for another game, and that is what we all eventually do but in the mean time try to savor the game you are playing while it entertains you, who knows, in the end you might find that this was the best choice.

Looking for and choosing a game that you will dedicate some of your precious time to is a difficult task. There is plenty of content in most games that yearns to be discovered and the only sure way to uncover it is by playing. But is it really worth it to grind your teeth or fall asleep on your keyboard just because your friend tells you it’s going to get more fun as you get into it? In the end it comes down to each person to decide what they look for in a game. Maybe they enjoy a pretty game, maybe they use it as a social tool to make friends and have a good time online, even if it means killing a horde of creatures and a huge boss or maybe they just want to fill some time up until the next game comes out promising to be the pinnacle of MMO gaming. Either way, one thing is for sure, stop, look and try the game out, you don’t know what it may hold.

Article by Cosmin Uciu, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 8/29/09