Suggestions for an MMO for a family member?
Friday, July 4th, 2008 - 11:33pm
Ok, with the recent upgrade of our computers, my mom thought it'd be fun to try an MMORPG game. I know absolutely nothing about MMO games, so I thought I'd ask the wise people here. Basically, she's looking for a RPG-style game, that's not too action-oriented. Having a nice community, and someone willing to show her the basics would be a plus.
Any suggestions?
Secret Asian Man wrote:
I have been penentrated from behind more times than Richard Simmons
Maybe Puzzle Pirates? It's sort of MMO-lite. You crew a pirate ship, and take a job, like manning the sails or fixing the hull or bailing the hold. Each position is a different puzzle, and the better you do at your job, the faster your ship sails. Your captain fights enemy ships, batters them into submission with cannon, and then you have a mass swordfight in which everyone is running the same puzzle at the same time... that one's kinda like Tetris, except you're sending your broken-out blocks to the enemy swordfighters. If your side wins, you loot the enemy cargo, and set sail again. Eventually, you divvy up the plunder, and then you can buy new equipment and even your own ship.
Eventually, you can own a shop, or even a whole island. The economy has a whole different set of puzzles to it.
I know it's a cop-out, but WoW is a pretty safe bet. It's a slower paced game than many, and I know a lot of "moms" who play it. You can either pick up the $2 dvd demo at gamestop/bestbuy/most game retailers, or go for the downloadable demo which is only like 500mb or so (not the full game, it loads content as the player needs it from the server). Either way she'll get 14 days to see if she likes it. The game is pretty good about organization and hand holding for the first 10 or so levels while it holds your hand enough to get you started, and there's usually a few people willing to help in the general chat if it's needed.
If she plans on playing solo a lot recommend a Ranger to her, and let her know that at level 10 she gets a pet.
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter circa Decmber 1932
I didn't want to be the first...but WoW is a good family MMO. In the GWJ Black Hand Alliance Guild, just as an example, we have several families that play together (both, as husband and wife, and more with kids).
That which does not kill you, still hurts like Hell. - Anonymous Soldier
None of us is as dumb as ALL of us. - Anonymous Staff Officer
Veni, Vici, Ridebam, Discedebam - "I came, I saw, I laughed, I left"
Dofus?
Just trying to suggest something besides wow.
Guild Wars is also nice. If you get Nightfall, you can build a nice party and it's very solo-able if you want to do that.
-Bad Mojo
And man that dog looks like he's having a good time, but that monkey is f*cking into it. This isn't his recreation; this is his life and he knows it in a way I will never know anything. --Danjo Olivaw
If you like tolkien its hard not to recommend Lord of the Rings Online it eases you in pretty slowly and its one of the better looking MMOs and once you join a kinship there is a real sense of community there.
Of course one of its most stand out features is the Lore and the fact that the world is so fleshed out and the storys so well developed.
And like WoW there is a free trial ... 14 days in US and Canada .... 7 days for us hard done by Europeans
Vanguard!
The democratization of the web ... has installed an illusion of a digital first amendment that protects speech no matter how poorly spelled or stupid. - Elysium
Wordsmythe is my hero. - rabbit
XBL: E Munnie
Very, very hard to say. Every MMO is "action oriented" in small bursts, or with respect to taretting, timing, etc... My wife was in the same boat (and who knows, maybe she's the age of your mom) and I quickly learned not to try and guess what she would like. She hates things I would swear she'd love and loves things I figured I'd never get her to play.
As I have to constantly remind myself, my parents weren't always my parents, so you may have no idea what sort of latent gaming beast is really lurking behind the momly exterior.
I would suggest free trials of anything you can get a trial of, but make sure you hit Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) and (of course) WoW. Vanguard and EQ2 are both very solid and fun, but have lots of "content" which sort of assumes you are familiar with the genre.
Age of Conan is very action oriented and very one-dimensional at the moment. Lord of the Rings Online has housing and a cohesive story arc, and can be solo'd except for a handful of story chapters and certain dungeons should she decide to do them.
FFXI is really way way too deep of a pool to throw a new gamer into.
Most free-to-play games would be so shockingly bad in terms of UI, translation, and community that I think it would be very jarring.