Last week I broke down and admitted the sad truth: I am an MMORPG junkie. I love them. I crave for them. I hate to admit it, but I impatiently wait for the new crop and hope that at least one of them will be as good as promised. I try not to be affected by the hype and wait until the game actually comes out before getting too excited, but sometimes I must admit it's pretty hard. So it's a perfect world then. I love and crave for MMORPGs, and MMORPGs love me, right?

Houston, we have a problem...
But there's a problem. It's the general focus of these games that is seriously lacking in my opinion. Up until now the focus of all MMORPGs has been combat, and as far as I can tell even most of the upcoming next generation games will have the same problem. There are some notable exceptions out there of course, A Tale in the Desert comes to mind as a non-violent MMORPG with an interesting twist. Although I haven't yet tried it myself, it shows great promise to those looking for something different and honestly focused on interaction and cooperation. But still most games have their core system built around combat and experience points gained by defeating opponents.

Unfortunately that's a general problem in the modern RPG genre. Combat seems to be the focus of many games, even though that's not really what the more hardcore Role Playing Gamers crave for. A good dosage of combat is appreciated, but then again too much of something is as bad as too little. Combat ends up destroying the interaction between players. It gets tedious to run out and find some monsters to fight, get a level, and then repeat. It's tedious but it's the only way to even advance as a player in these games. I could be the best role player in the game world, I will be looked at like a zoo animal unless I am also good at fighting and killing things.

Shifting focus
Let's just say for instance that we shift the focus of any given MMORPG from combat to interaction. What if you were given skills based on how successful you are at functioning in the group instead of the kills the group makes? What if you were not so much rewarded by how many critters you killed, but how many people you saved, or how many times you took the blow for a mortally wounded friend? What if you were able to train skills in understanding languages, and could suddenly start comprehending what other players from other corners of the same game world would say? Interpreters would suddenly emerge, you would be given experience for creating a group of people who can't understand each other and make them work together. What if you could see further than anyone else, and be able to draw maps that you could sell to those lacking any kind of sense of direction? What if I explore the world and am rewarded when actually avoiding creatures and combat in general? What if your non combat skills suddenly mattered? I'm not saying combat should be totally taken away though. I like to go on an occasional hunt as much as anyone, but I think it shouldn't matter as much as it currently does.

Right now it feels more like we're playing online action-RPGs than anything else. And even the action is sometimes lacking. Combat is often simplified to the extreme: target, push attack button, wait for monster to die. There are a few refined versions of this system where you have different attack styles you can use during combat, but that still becomes tedious in the long run. So, if combat is tedious, why focus on it? Why have 50, 60 or even 100 levels of experience if all I can do to advance is fight? In some cases the last few levels will need a few thousand kills before actually getting them. That's not much fun. Why couldn't I be rewarded for stopping a while and working on some other non-combat skills?

Freedom of choice
I still fail to understand the inherent focus on combat most current MMORPG implement in their systems. I just don't see the long term benefit at all, yet every single new main stream MMORPG that comes out seems to lean on a hefty system of rules based on gaining experience through combat. Is it because the developers fear the players might shy away from a game without the need for so much fighting? Why not give them the choice? I'm sure it's not impossible to make a game in which combat is as important to gaining levels as the player wants it to be.

Maybe, in the end, it all comes down to the fear of exploitation though. I'm sure the developers are afraid that a system that doesn't lean so much on combat would open the door to some people having an easy way up the level ladder. Imagine some player who quickly gets to level 50 by sitting in town and crafting all the time. When he reaches level 50, he picks up a weapon and goes to kill the highest level monster in the game. His first kill. Imagine the outcry... Then again this is only possible because the experience system is based on levels, not skills.

Finding Freedom
I would love these games to adopt a system similar to that which Morrowind uses. I pick the skills that I like and will use the most, and level up accordingly. If I don't practice my sword fighting skills at all, I could have lots of problems fighting even lower level monsters with a sword at level 50, and that's just the way it should be! If I chose not to put any effort in my fighting abilities, it's because that's not what I want to do, isn't it? And that might even alleviate one of the most important complaint in any current MMORPG: lack of high-level content. A system like Morrowind's would not end once you reach the top level since you could start working on your minor skills, refine your character even further, do something else you haven't done before, try things. It's all open ended, there's no limit to what you can do. If you want it, you can do it. You might just have a hard time at first, even though you're at the top of the level ladder. Is that worse than starting over from scratch with a new character?

I have a dream!
Bah! I must be daydreaming. Still, I think it's time for MMORPGs to really grow into something more than what they have been since their beginning. I want something more than a virtual chat room with pretty 3D graphics and a combat engine. I want to have an alter ego living in a world of possibilities, where I can't really be sure what kind of adventure I will have from one day to the next.

There are people out there that will tell me all those things I mentioned can actually be found in some game or other, but I've tried many already that have come up short of what I am dreaming about (Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, Anarchy Online, Dark Age of Camelot, not to name them). I've had fun with most of these games, but they all lack in some way. I can't get the adventures I want to have in them. Their worlds are too rigid, too hostile. The stories I have to tell are the same as anyone else who has ever played them. For now I guess I'll contend myself in dreaming of a better future.