So, I enjoy endgame in MMOs. It's usually pretty fun, and running group content that's entertaining is a good time. If the group happens to be a bunch of people you enjoy spending in-game time with, that's a bonus.
Unfortunately, being successful at challenging endgame content takes time and effort. Just like improving your skill with an instrument, there's an investment/reward element. You seek outside help, you get critiques, you work for it.
More after the jump.
The trick is figuring out just how much time and effort you should invest in a game. It's a hobby, sure, and people have varying levels of dedication to those across the board...but there's a negative stigma that comes with spending a lot of time gaming. Tell someone you spend 8-10 hours a week working on carpentry, you'll probably get some "wow, that's cool!" type comments. Say you spend 8-10 hours a week raiding with your friends and you're suddenly this guy:
A lot of people are too happy to overlook the fact that running group content at the level of most raids (not counting entry-level stuff that you can queue up for and run with strangers, more on that in a sec) takes a remarkable amount of coordination, concentration, and trust. Think about it: you're performing a variety of roles, often with different skills/abilities, while being mindful of what a handful (or dozens) of other people are also doing in a 3-d environment that is usually changing every ___ seconds...per encounter. With people you have never met, across the globe.
This isn't platform gaming we're talking about here. This is stuff that uses the exact same skill set as several jobs in the military. It takes a good bit of mental flexibility, and patience.
It also takes practice. I used to be required to take trombone lessons with a Dr. Cox, who was always a big stickler on devoting time to practice. If I remember the soapbox correctly, the story was: "I used to go to class, then go to the practice room, and practice. I'd do that for three or four hours. Then, I'd put the horn down, go get a pizza, and go back and practice some more." Unfortunately, there hasn't really been a good analog to the practice room for raiding...you just have to get it right at the time of performance, aka raid night.
Until now, that is. One of the cool new things in MMOs is raid content that anyone can queue up for, get automatically grouped, and try out. The mechanics are usually pretty similar to the original content, with a little bit more forgiveness, allowing players to get a good feel for the encounters without having to worry about screwing up their raid group's efforts when it's showtime.
Even with the huge amount of awesome in this tool, you're still looking at a time investment. The question remains: "how much time in-game is too much?" I've been in guilds that regularly raided for 3 hours a night, 3 nights a week, period. They were fun people and I usually enjoyed the experience, so it never bothered me that I was spending longer than a typical person's workday in a digital world, killing fake monsters and villains.
But, if asked whether or not I could go out for drinks on ___day night, I'd have to pull the "I'd like to, but I have...pre-existing plans" excuse because if you try to explain that you have a raid group commitment, the reaction is usually along these lines:
It's dumb, but with the rise of casual gaming across the board, it will eventually die off. Hopefully. The stigma of "Oh, you play an MMO? You must have no life and live in your mother's basement" is fading, slowly. This, too, shall pass.
In the meantime, may all your hits be crits and your lewt phat.
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