The Choice to Play Realm is a Mad One

#15

Ah, you see, I have mastered the art being able to do both at the same time. This is how you do it: here

#16

I am now enlightened.

######i saw it coming…

#17

As you should have. The suspicious link that uses the word “here” instead of the actually link is usually false.

#18

If you don’t like it, why play, or even be on the forums? If it’s a waste of time, then writing a review about it is even more of one.

#19

I feel like a lot of you took this a tad too personally or something, preventing you from seeing that this is actually thoughtful (case in point, ConsoleMC’s line-by-line “takedown”, which completely misses the point of the post as a whole). OP’s feelings are perfectly legitimate. I feel like a more complete picture would be drawn, though, if OP had finished with how despite a lot of these flaws that modern RotMG has, how the game was different and hooked him or her and the enjoyment that he or she had back when he or she started. The game is very different now than it was five years ago.

#20

I like the way you write. I guess I’ll touch on a few points.

Regardless of the community, it’s hard to take a game seriously. Because it’s a game. I’m not saying games can’t or shouldn’t be taken seriously, I’m just saying that it is hard to do so, because most of them are made to be fun. RotMG, I believe, is one of them.

This is an interesting way to put it, and one I can get behind. Blaming the victim is not going to solve the problem, but I would never encourage people to not get smarter and learn how to avoid scams.

Like any other community, you have to separate the good apples from the bad apples. And there as much of the former as there are of the latter. You have to dig and find the part of the community that is right for you. This forum right here is an example (mostly) of a basket full of good apples.

That’s a weird thing to say about a rogue-like inspired game.

The way I see it, it’s the other way around. RotMG was designed from the ground to be an anti-MMO: one that is not based on progression, but based on skill.

You see, most MMOs out there aren’t hard. They take a long time to get to end-game, but it’s not hard, it’s time consuming. But, in RotMG, if you’re a quick learner, it’s the other way around.

In the beginning, almost everything supported this skill based gameplay: from the lack of level requirement on items to permadeath (and it bugs me that there’s a leveling at all, but that’s another topic). It’s made for you to not care about your character, but about the experiences you had with that character.

But apparently, this doesn’t sell. So over time, we got more and more progression based systems, from UT soulbinding to pets. So now the game is in this metastate where it tries to please two different kinds of players, but may end not pleasing either (I talked a little more about it here).

The player can kill bosses real good because it’s fun, and I think this is the biggest problem with your relation to this game. If you’re not having fun, then there isn’t a reason to play. And I get the feeling you’re not.
#21

I had originally given my like to the OP, but after seeing your work of art, you deserved it more. :wink:

Woot

#ConsoleMc for Rotmg president!

#22

After seeing how much you destroyed him word by word, line by line, I really feel bad for @Jduxdude now.
That was brutal.

#23

I like the title, but if you hate this game so much then leave

#24

#Firstly, welcome to the forums @Jduxdude!
Have a :rant:!

TL;DR: In essence, what you’re saying is that Realm Of The Mad God is a rather BAD game because of the COMMUNITY. Sure, it can’t be argued if it’s what you think. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, I would have to disagree with your statements.
##Debating your introduction.
What you first say is that the realm COMMUNITY is horrible. The subreddit is by DECA, but most of it is the community. The players in the game do not affect the game in general, but it affects other players. The comments on YouTube videos are complete irrelevant. Even if the community is immature, how is the game? You should judge the game on the content that it gives and not how other players treat the game. When you really think about it, it’s not malicious. Avoid the players. Dragging can be easily avoided by moving away from the dragger or just leaving in general. Scamming can be avoided by not dropping and by looking carefully. Scamming isn’t a good way of giving your judgment on the game, just because you play a game with scammers does NOT mean you are mad. Furthermore, using big words doesn’t make your argument better. It’s not apathetic at all. DECA’s least concern is scammers, as adding new and better content is probably prioritized. Just because someone does not take action, doesn’t mean that they don’t care. DECA obviously cares about how their game is doing.
##Social Aspect

Social Aspect

Hmm? Players are the ones who create this. RWT spam can be avoided by /ignore. The economy is supposed to change. Bots can’t be stopped, but the businesses can be ignored if nobody buys from them. Gambling is of other people’s concerns, not anyone else’s. If someone decides that they want to gamble, so be it. The game doesn’t bombard the player with reminders, it’s only one or two messages that you can X out on the opening of the game. How can they survive with no revenue earned? The game is free to play but gives the player several options if they do decide to spend some pocket change. It’s free because they want more players. It’s greedy because they need money. So what do they do? They try to convince the players themselves to buy.

##Immersion

Immersion

What do you mean by this?

There’s no PVP because the game is PVE. Why would they want to introduce PVP when they can release more content for PVE (what the game is solely about and why people play it). I can argue back and say that people play this game to grind. Some people really enjoy grinding pots, UTs, etc. But in this game, p2w isn’t that bad. What this game requires from the player are skills. With money but no skill, the player will fall short. Being the best is kind of subjective and rhetorical. There isn’t really a “best” player in this game. Nobody is the best because of how rich they are. Nobody is the best because of how much fame they have. Nobody is the best because of how much skill they possess. Being the best means you can outclass everyone in everything. I don’t believe that there is one player that can do this so easily.

##Competitive Aspects

Competitiveness

Yes, Realm is fun because of how people progress from a bad player to a pro. Let’s see how your argument isn’t really correct. The game itself commends you on how many stars you have. There can be a set chat-star requirement. This can be bypassed by being a higher star level. Upgrading pets and getting fame only upgrades your level of play. With this, a snake pit to a light blue means a tomb to you. It only gets easier. However, people will praise you for how good you’ve become. Some people enjoy this game because they have all these things: stars, pets, fame, good guilds, etc. Even some people log on just to see their wonderful guild members.
The point of realm is permadeath. Sure, many people do quit this game because they lost everything, but that’s the point, isn’t it? To rebuild again and again, with better equips, more skill, and a better attitude next time you do die and realize that IT IS POSSIBLE TO REBUILD. If you want to quit the game because you lost your best character, that was on you. You shouldn’t have entered the dungeon, you shouldn’t have played right now, you should’ve did your homework. But this game will always come back. The fun that you first experienced will pull you back in. Try playing again by releasing your maxed pets. Then play the game. See how compelling, but how frustrating it can be. That’s the point of the game.

##Progress + Power Aspects.

Feelings of progress or power

Realm is free because it can be.
Realm is greedy because it can be.
Realm is hard because it can be.
Realm is easy because it can be.
Realm is addictive because it can be.
Realm is boring because it can be.
My argument right now is bad, right? Well, it is, but I’m only copying your format. Your argument isn’t effective. You can call this game a sandbox one. These problems happen in every single game, ranging from trollers to hackers, realm is no different. Besides, if the game is so broken, why is it still up? Why do players still buy things? Why do people still PLAY THIS GAME?

You want the answer? It’s rather simple, don’t you think?

#25

If the game wouldnt be fun, why would so many people play it?

#26

The ConsoleMC administration.

#27

Make Rotmg great again!

#28

So, outside the P2W discussion, I see two main points:

  1. Realm has a nasty, childish community
  2. Permadeath, grinding, and the lack of a win condition make playing the game an exercise in nihilism once you’ve mastered it

Nothing in the content of the game (except microtransactions?) really targets Realm toward older gamers. Deca would flood the servers with new, young players if they could, but they can’t – at least, not as long as the game is on Flash – so their focus is more on catering to experienced players than bringing in new ones. Still, immaturity is guaranteed in any MMO, almost by definition.

And yes, plenty of awfulness comes out of it. Players kill and scam other players. That’s always been true to some extent, so you’re told to ignore and avoid it, which fails to address the problem. And the problem can be self-perpetuating; if you learn from bitter experience that dragging godwalls is acceptable, you might do it too.

Realm of the Mad God is not supposed to be a competitive game! Or at least not so integrally that it makes other players the enemy. I know that’s not how you meant it, but if you want PVP, not the game for you. (Unless you’re in Elitist? does that joke still check out?)

I blame pets for the death of co-op, but that’s a whole nother rant. Anyway, the solution to toxic behavior like I mentioned above isn’t ignoring it. The solution is making it unrewarding, though I’m not entirely sure how. I know griefing and harrassment are met with bans, and I imagine Deca’s more concerned with promoting co-op than Kabam was (Leprechaun is a great example of this).

You seem to spend a lot of your post asking “what’s the point?” The point is that it’s fun. If it’s not fun, don’t play. I understand if the toxicity of the community is enough to make you quit, but Realm’s social aspect shouldn’t just be pissoff randos. It’s also playing with your mates, people you actually like.

I also think some people are taking this discussion personally because it’s a criticism of the game that’s been so integral to their lives. It’s been a significant part of mine too, but it’s still just a game. Let’s treat it like one.

#29

I wouldn’t say ConsoleMC destroyed him, so much as he zoomed in so far that he completely missed the big picture and made himself look like a bell-end.

#30

What’s the point of ranting? Its not like DECA will read this and be like:
"Oh, yeah, this random guy is right, let’s remove and delete the game!

#31

What? My intention was not to destroy him.

#32

I’ve always thought that was just one word: bellend.

WAS MY WHOLE LIFE A LIE???

Okay, so for the sake of the discussion let’s assume there’s an actual point to this and OP didn’t just feel like waxing poetical one day but forgot to make a blog and posted the whole thing here instead.

Could you clarify what you mean by this? Because I don’t think this game was ever meant to be taken very seriously. I mean, it’s just a jumbled mess of old nerd references with no story or scenario, that was intentionally kept mechanically shallow.

Every single project that puts “social” and “online” in the same sentence is inherently a joke.

The internet fucks up social interactions regardless of what specific platform they occur on. Either you can deal with the rampant trolling and stupidity, or you should stick to real life and not bother with this pile of shit.

Looking at the graphics and overall lore, I would argue immersion was never the point.

The rest of the paragraph though is pretty solid: there is indeed a good case to be made against the current “free-to-play” business model, and RotMG is just one of many examples of how much it can both keep some concepts alive while at the same time fucking them up beyond repair.

The Arena is botched and the Leaderboards have been meaningless for a long time due to how easily exploitable the fame system is. That we can all agree on.

But I don’t think that means there is no competition in this game, just that it requires more player involvement because it’s not naturally built-in. Remember the Tomb Speedrun thread on the WS forums? That’s basically what we’d need more of.

But, what if linear progression was never the point?

It’s the possibility of death that makes this game interesting. It forces you to plan everything ahead and make decisions that will have a lasting impact: can I do this dungeon? can I play on this class? how many risks am I willing to take? when can I use this ultra-rare item? can I use it at all and wouldn’t it be better to just keep it in my Vault forever?

If it was a regular linear RPG, you could just run through everything and be done with the game in a matter of days.

The only real progression in this game is the one that takes place inside the player’s mind. It’s not about getting every single item and reaching max level, it’s about learning how to cope with loss and finally conquer death.

I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to take this all personally and start screeching like a banshee, but honestly this entire ending feels more like the guy writing it trying to convince himself to finally quit the game for good than an actual message to anyone who might be reading it (again, this feels more like a blog post than anything else).

You’re trying to find depth in something that was purposefully engineered to be a puddle from the start. You’re taking an online Flash video game way too seriously.

You should either try to change your perspective or just find another hobby, this is clearly making you depressed.

#33

… okay so apparently I’m physically incapable of writing a focused answer and ended up dissecting OP’s entire post. So I’m going to write a separate post to respond to this point specifically.

Is it really all that different though?

If you look at all the things OP is criticizing, a lot of it was present from the start:

-the game being permadeath

-the lore making no sense whatsoever and the plot being nonexistent

-addiction and repetitive grinding

-lack of meaningful built-in competition

Really, it just feels to me like the old players were carried by addiction and maybe the novelty of the game, then fed off pure addiction for years before finally caving in and/or being brought back to the real world, and that this listing of all of the game’s flaws is just a desperate attempt to either fight the addiction or rationalize a mere ragequit.

#34

total bs. @moderators please DO NOT move this to the WC- this is (to some extent) very good criticism of the game AND offers many chances to discuss the points he makes