MMOs 101: How To Avoid MMO Burnout

Hello students. Now that the holiday festivities are over, class is back in session. So sit down, shut up, and pay attention. (Yes Timmy, that means you too.)

Today we’re going to be talking about the dangers of, and how to avoid, MMO burnout.

There are two types of burnout that plague MMO players everywhere. We’re going to start with the most common:

Individual Game Burnout

Most MMO players can regale you with tales of individual game burnout—times when their favorite MMO wasn’t enjoyable anymore, or when they played a game for a week nonstop and then never touched it again. It happens to all gamers at some point, but it’s not a fact of life you simply have to live with. We’re going to cover each issue that causes burnout and how to avoid it.

1. Overindulging in Alphas and Closed Betas

This is a rookie mistake just about everyone makes at least once. You get invited to the closed beta or alpha of the most highly anticipated game of the year and play it to death—reaching max level, getting the premiere armor you wanted, reaching the upper echelon of the server rankings, etc., until BAM, the game goes into open beta and a server wipe occurs. Now you’re stuck starting back at scratch and the game isn’t as fun as it once was. Now you’re just going through the motions, playing catch up instead of enjoying the game like you once were.

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Playing an MMO too much during an alpha or beta is the best way to get burned out on it. You’re essentially setting yourself up for failure, like you’re handing someone your account information and asking them to delete your character at random.

Avoiding the Issue: The obvious way to avoid this issue is to not play in alphas or betas, but where’s the fun in that?! If you’re going to play an alpha or beta a great deal, play it differently from how you intend to play when the game is fully released. Play another class or focus on some other form of content. Don’t rush through the game and take a leisurely stroll. Anything you achieve is going to be reset anyway, so you might as well stop to smell the roses.

2. Gaming Overdose

If you’ve ever spent twelve hours a day for multiple days at a time playing the same game then you’ve probably overdosed on a game before. This is great if you’re a professional gamer trying to stay at the top of a competitive scene, but otherwise you’re essentially trying to burn yourself out on a particular title.

This is most common form of gaming burnout, which usually occurs because:

A. The wait for a game you’ve been incredibly hyped for is finally over.

Or

B. You’re paying a monthly subscription and want to ensure you’re getting your money’s worth.

Avoiding the Issue: You’ve probably heard people say to “game in moderation,” which is perfectly acceptable, and probably the best way to avoid a gaming overdose. But let’s be honest, that’s not always a viable option. Instead of gaming in moderation I’d advise varying your experience. Focus on crafting for a bit, then focus on questing, then focus on dungeon grinding, etc. Overdosing occurs more quickly after you’ve spent hours upon hours doing the same thing over and over again. Mix it up and you’ll be a lot less likely to become fed up with your favorite MMO.

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3. Social Stagnation

Even best friends get sick of each other if they spend every waking hour together. MMOs are social environments where players tend to segregate themselves into individual groups and social circles. This is fine until you realize that you don’t want to party with Joe Schmoe and Co for the millionth time, at which point you’re burned-out on the people you’re playing with.

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A Change in the Lesson Plan

Have you ever been sitting in class listening to a teacher or professor rattle on before changing their tone all of a sudden? When they close the textbook, throw it in the trash and decide to talk to everyone on a one-on-one level? Well that’s what’s happening now.

I’m going to leave everything we’ve already discussed as is, because it’s all still relevant to the discussion and may help some of you out there overcome your sense of MMO burnout. However, I’m also going to cut the crap and speak to everyone gamer-to-gamer.

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The real secret to avoiding gaming burnout of any kind is to simply have fun. As long as you’re having fun you’re not going to experience burnout, because burnout only happens when you become tired and fed up of doing a chore. Yes, there are unavoidable chores in just about every MMO out there, but you’re not going to end up burnt-out as long as those chores are balanced with fun.

MMO burnout is experienced by a vast amount of gamers because they don’t realize when the game stops being fun. They get caught up in achieving a certain task, like trying to reach max level or obtain an ultra-rare piece of equipment, and they don’t realize that the game has become more of an achievement hunt instead of an actual enjoyable experience.

I’m sure plenty of you are thinking, “Well I’ve played X-game for X-amount-of-hours doing X-task and I’m still having fun.” That’s fine. Hell, that’s great. But your experience isn’t indicative of everyone else’s. We all have a different burnout threshold, which is why some people get burned-out after a few hours and some never experience it. And that’s okay.

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If you want to avoid experiencing burnout, just have fun and be mindful of when something stops being fun. If the latter happens, diagnose what’s caused your gaming experience to stop being enjoyable and correct it accordingly. Maybe the person you’re playing with is ruining the game for you. Maybe you’ve just had your fill of the game and it’s time to move on. Maybe you’ve been using the same skill rotation for too long and it’s time to switch things up. Hell, maybe you just wanted to reach max level in ELOA in four days just to say you did it and never intend to touch the game again. (And maybe that last one was just me.)

The point is that you have complete control over whether or not you get burned-out on your favorite MMOs. Be mindful of the joy your receive from a game, how you derive that joy and when it’s missing and you’ll probably find yourself more burnout free than the average MMO player who doesn’t follow MMOs.com.

That’s all there is to it. Class is now dismissed. Until next time, I’ll see you on the servers.