From Raph Koster’s notes on GDC… a stunning insight into the innovation WoW brought to the MMO realm… given the chance, players only group less than a third of their playtime and for the vast bulk of their playtime, like playing solo, but still chatting and being part of the community.
This is why I hardly play EQ1 anymore. Sitting LFG for three to four hours just to get a horrid pickup group because as a cleric there were no other options took all the fun from the game.
In WoW, EQ2 and LotRO… I can be part of the world without having to be part of a group. And that’s the takeaway lesson here.
From the PARC guys. Q: why do players spend so much time playing alone? Players who said they were playing for others, were actually not doing so. They only play with others 30% of the time. The rest,they played alone. Players favoried the soloable classes by a high degree. 56% of WoW players are not guilded. Or if they are, they are the sole member. So, there’s a new middl ground to social play. They take the gamers are their word, but gamers get the benefits form shared presence, little or now directed interaction. Playing “together alone.†Any MP game can take advantage of this middle ground.