Good Morning, ZAM! 8/8/2009 Weekend Edition!Follow

First of all, just getting non-gamers to become gamers can be counter productive... on the level of trying to teach a pig to sing (it's a waste of your time and it just annoys the pig!)

Console gaming is much easier for the non-gamer since the control surface only has a few buttons and is easily understood. Therefore, even though they will tend to suck at all but the most fundamental actions, twitch gaming is more geared to instant gratification and therefore more suited to the casual non-gamer.

Contrast this with PC gaming which, in my experience, is far more complex (and offers incremental reward) and you have a situation where unless someone has at least some innate desire to explore and understand it they are unlikely to have any interest in sitting in front of their computer for long enough to learn the basic concepts involved in successfully playing an MMO.

Just think for a moment about how many things you have to explain to a potential convert...

1) this is how you move around
2) this is how you kill stuff
3) this is how you take stuff
4) this is how you buy stuff
5) this is how you make stuff
6) this is how you sell stuff
7) this is how you save / store stuff
8) this is how you quest for stuff
9) this is how you talk to people

That's a short list and any single item on it is potentially FAR more complex than your average ego shooter or racing game... I mean just explaining "here are your options for creating a character" is enough to make an average non-gamer's eyes glaze over!!!

In the past, my methodology has been to explain what I do to non-gaming friends in general terms and then to include a no-strings offer to help them learn the systems should they feel a desire to participate. This nest can then be feathered by sending potentials a few emails including screen caps from in-game, ("look what I did this weekend"!), and/or by the inclusion of the topic in casual conversation. The offer is out there on the table to all my friends... and I periodically update it by telling them what is going on in the world.

Years ago, I had a couple of buddies at work who seemed to be likely candidates for MMO gaming. (one was already a console gamer but the other was a gaming virgin!) I cultivated them by first explaining EQ2 to them and then by showing them print outs of zone maps and character screens along with some screen caps of my main in action.

They both expressed interest in trying it out, (one even remarked, "wouldn't it be cool if we could all play together"?) so I suggested they download the free trial and offered to roll up a new character to walk them through the early stages. To make a long story short, they both did and we played together most evenings for months. I rolled a healer (who eventually became my main!) because one of them wanted to tank while the other wanted to DPS. We even started a voice server so we could chat in real time while we played.

I spoon fed them lists of early quest locations for good rewards, taught them to harvest and craft, explained how to use the broker and instructed them in a myriad of other aspects of the game. I even helped them both get into my guild so they could expand their area of group contact beyond our initial trio.

Initially things went smoothly and the nightly sessions lasted till the characters were in their late 20s or early 30s (leveling wasn't quite so fast in those days!). I think we made it into EL before their interest began to wane... The problem was that one of them was married and had other priorities while the other had never gamed before trying EQ2... EVER!!!

Slowly but surely one or the other of them began to skip a session here or there until we were a duo far more often than we were a trio. Ultimately, the situation reverted to my telling them what I had done the night before while we all stood around the water cooler at work... Full circle!

So, can you turn a non-gamer into an MMOer? Maybe so and maybe not but why would you want to?

If someone wants me to teach them about MMOs I'm all in, but why spend all that time and effort on folks who would rather be watching "America's Next Top Nimrod"? It's like trying to teach a pig to sing...

I'll respond being an Ex-Console gamer myself. My first PC game seriously was EQ2 back in 2005. For eons before this all I ever messed with was various consoles over the years and more games than can be listed or even remembered. Anyways, about a month or so ago, I bought a rebuilt PS2 just to mess with. And tried to play several games I bought. OMG I now suck! lol Not sure what happened but my vast skills "I used to have." Are now gone as far as playing console games. Not sure what exactly happened over the years of not touching a console. But I gave up, and realized PC games are for me now, most likely the rest of my life. I must be a big dumb animal, because change doesn't seem to be something I handle well, lol. Currently I am still playing EQ2 on the Everfrost server. And now working on getting my 4th character to level 80.

If the FF console/pc experiment is any reflection on where the game makers are going with future games. I fear the worst. I hate the UI and controls used in that game, and prefer games like EQ2, WoW, CoH the list goes on and on. So far from my experience, when they make a game that is for both platforms it just ruins it for us that play on the PC.

As far as converting someone from one platform to another. Not really sure it's needed. I know many who play both. I'm just not one of them I guess, hehe. And a total non-gamer into games, I dunno. Usually when they hear I play games they just roll their eyes, in an "OMG your such a freak!" way. So I don't even try. =(

Same here, Hubert. I've been playing this game off and on since release and last night my main just dinged 74. Granted, this is not my original main, nor my original server. I think this is "main" number 4 or 5 and server number 3, haha.

I have found that friends with certain personalities are drawn to CPU and Console games. Also, friends that grew up playing D&D, playing Atari, Nintendo, etc.. seem to stick with games until life gets too busy.

Addictive personalities (not just drugs,alcohol) seem to be attracted mainly to MMORPGs due to the never ending storyline and alts. Most MMORPG's provide unlimited playing opportunities for these types of people.

My good friend was addicted to golf before I got him started on EQ2. Now he has 6 toons at level 80 adventurer/tradeskill, raids 3 nights a week. Its way too much for me but he seems to enjoy it. He still makes a very good living as a CPA and doesn't need a lot of sleep.

In comparison, I have one level 80 toon and 2 level 80 tradeskillers. I have been playing EQ2 since it came out quitting every once in awhile for a few months or so.

I only play long periods of time if I have a good supply of alcohol...