Meet the new grind . . . same as the old grind.

Nick Yee lists five motivating factors for playing an online game as Relationship, Immersion, Grief, Achievement and Leadership. As I’ve reached 60 and find myself grinding as hard as I ever have, I am questioning my own motivation. Why do I keep playing this damned game?

It used to be for the relationships on some level, but my life has taken me away from the game more and more and I feel less and less connected to those within. There are the constants of Hal’ and Twink’, but my ‘relationship’ with them exists more outside the game than inside.

I am not really into the immersion aspect. I’ve yet to be bothered to learn exactly what the scourge are or why there are large floaty things outside the cities. I know names like Licch King and Dark Tower and have a vague understanding of their place in the mythology, but it does not drive me.

Grief? Err . . . well . . . hmm . . . Yeah, I’ll have to cope to this. I love to see how folks behave in the game when I tweak them just a tiny bit. Sometimes it is more of a motivation than kill yet another thing in front of me.

Achievement might be the top of the list for me. Grinding to 60 had little to do with the above and was more an arbitrary goal that I made a personal goal. Now I am up in the Eastern Plaugeland grinding out reputation with the Argent Dawn for no reason that means much more than getting 60.

Leadership is important to me as well, but I exercise it in a covert fashion. Leading parties or guilds does not appeal to me. I prefer more of a servant-leadership approach when not questing or grinding. By this I mean I prefer to offer support or goods and goodies. When out and about, I am MUCH more comfortable letting just about anyone take the up front position when in a party. I prefer to hit and rinse and repeat as opposed to taking the responsibility for the group.

So, if Achievement, apart from the minor distraction of griefing players, is my real motivation than why am I fixated on MMOGs when I could be playing a solo game? I don’t know yet, but I’m thinking about it.