But What If I Wanna Play with Myself... errr... by Myself?

Ha! I shall never run out of annoying things to rant about. This one irks me whenever I see games like EverQuest and Ultima Online, and the huge number of games coming out now that resemble these games. I have to say the current climate of MMORPG is disgusting.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think gaming Online is a great innovation. The ability to play with your cousin sitting next to you as if he was in Sweden is fantastic. It's all about playing with a ton of people you don't know, or do know and don't want to really know, or people you really know and wish you didn't.

What irks me so bad is how they are currently handled. I don't know how many of you played in the olden days of the net, when most games came with a FREE place to play Online, all because you paid for the game.

So you could go and play as much as you liked Online, for free. No monthly fees, no hidden costs.

Now, we have RPGs that cost you every month, not to mention the cost of the game. It irritates me that if you don't take it Online, you can't play. Final Fantasy 11 is what gets me the worst. You buy a game the FF series, you expect it to last forever... What happens of the game (unlikely but possible) doesn't take off? You're out 50 bucks.

It's not like everyone does this. Pick up a copy of Phantasy Star Online Guess what, you can play it offline. And it's fun. Especially if you do multiplayer. But you can't do that with most.

And it gets worse when you realize that practically every game is doing it now. FF, Worlds of Warcraft, the Sims, Lemonade Tycoon... well, maybe not the last one... But still.

I offer no solutions, just a bitchy rant. So there.