I'd rather pay not to play.

So, its been a while.

Ive done alot of things regarding MMO's lately. I took the plunge as it were, in 2008 - and tried out Lord of the Rings Online. It was interesting, it held my attention for a while. I liked the lore the game was based in, I enjoyed the time I spent there, but I came back to WoW.

The Realization was that whilst I enjoyed what LotRO was, and appreciated how it played - as I said, it was interesting, even though I never got beyond the first few levels.. It wasn't fun.

Now, dont get me wrong, and perhaps this is what I can't understand myself - It was a good game, It just wasnt fun. Yet I went back to WoW back in the Old daily and rep grind fest (Which it still is, albeit to a much lesser extent on the latter). How is that fun?

I came to WoW from SWG, As I didn't play it for very long, when the NGE hit I didn't rage the same way many of older players had. I did keep playing for a while, mainly because it was the only MMO I was familiar with, and I'd heard the horror stories about EQ (Although I understand EQ is a majorly different ballgame now, as it were).

Ultimately, I bought WAR, I enjoyed that, It was interesting - Indeed, for someone like me who isn't the biggest PvP fan in the world, the fact I played it to level 20 (No idea what pvp rank, probably 15 or something) was a phenomena. As usual, though - it was "interesting" and it was "enjoyable". But it wasn't fun.

I assume there was always that feeling that I was just playing a pretender. Whilst comestically different, with some new gameplay mechanics - they were basically, to be blunt - WoW without the polish that time had given it.

I started up Age of Conan the other day - afterall, it had been given about a year to sort its problems out, but whilst the combat was interesting - the game wasn't fun. So ultimately, I come back to WoW every single time.

The interesting thing is, without direction like a raid guild (been unlucky in that respect lately), I basically pay to not play WoW.

The interesting fact for me is, I'd rather pay to not play WoW than actively partake in the games ive mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I'm for diversification, and each of those games plays to something in particular, and will always have its market.

Perhaps I just find it interesting I find it more fun to pay to play WoW a few hours a week than to even play the trials of its competitors. Maybe its just burnout with misguided loyalty, I don't know. The difference is, If I joined a raid guild I'd be back to playing WoW all the time.

Nonetheless, yeah, you guessed it - It's interesting. I just can't figure out the reasons why.