Do MMOs/ GaaS/ live service games take up too much of your gaming time?

[mudai]

I love PSO2 but it definitely made most of my gaming time in 2020. I didn't mind at first, but around fall I realized that I couldn't beat or play some other games I wanted because I tried to keep up with the constant content updates, which to be fair were were dropping weekly because they tried to catch up to the Japanese version, meaning we got almost 8 years worth of content in like 9 months or something. However, I made the decision at the end of 2020 to reduce my PSO2 time a bit and only do the minimum to keep up so that I have to time for other things (not just gaming) during my limited free time (which frankly is quite limited at the moment sadly). So far it's working. I think I'll be able to keep this up in 2021 with New Genesis dropping because the content updates won't be as frequent going forward, after all it'll be an entirely new game. I love playing it, I love hanging out with my friends in it. But it certainly took away my limited time to do other stuff I also love.

That being said: While MMOs or GAAS do take up a lot of time, there are certain times when they are really perfect. Like when you really want to dive deep into a game, maybe because it'll be your comfort zone etc. And PSO2 definitely helped me through some rough months when it launched in English on PC.

 

[TitlePending]

Apex Legends was my 2019 Most Played Game by an obscene margin, and I think it was also in 2020 but not quite as much.

I dropped it once the PS5 launched and may get back into it with the upcoming content drop. But there are so many PS4 games I held off playing until the PS5 launched that I'm not hurting for delicious content to keep me busy.

 

[Deleted member 13496]

Zero.

Can't stand games like that pretty much across the board.

 

[Kwigo]

Exactly ;)

Spoiler

You do get what I meant though... right? lol

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

sure, I just wanted to mess with you :p

 

[Ploid 6.0]

Only if I like the game enough to give it a lot of my time, and I think that's a good thing. If I don't like the game too much I leave. I wanted to get sucked into DOTA 2 like other people were but I didn't like it.

I loved Final Fantasy XI and during my time with it, I didn't need other games, I thought, and still think that was a good thing. I could focus my time with a game I know I loved. Similarly I really like Final Fantasy XII and continue to go back to it giving it a ton of time, as well as the Dragon Age games.

 

[tyfon]

I've played a good amount of MHW, it runs wonderful on the ps5 btw, and it's nice since I can do it solo or with the wife and you can just pop in to do a monster then continue other irl activities so I don't feel it steals the time like other games of the type really.

 

[ghostcrew]

No, because the ones I play I enjoy. If I didn't enjoy the time spent with them I'd play something else.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Kinda

I pretty much play Rocket League and Fortnite the majority of the time with bouts of Modern Warfare. The small gaps between is chipping away at backlog

 

[fluffydelusions]

They used to but I stopped playing them quite a while ago because they started feeling like a chore/work more than fun trying to do dailies/weeklies etc.

 

[Ladomania]

Not really. I play FF14 like once or twice a week.

 

[Zen]

I knew this was a FFXIV thread haha

FFXIV is what I play when I want to unwind and chill out. Just finished replaying Xenosaga, and am about to dive into Xenoblade Chronicles for the first time properly with the context of Gears and Saga behind me. Also playing FF8 again to mess around with the combat system so I don't annoy my girlfriend with backseat gaming. I think I've struck a good balance.

 

[PJsprojects]

Yes I do struggle to find time for single player games.
Origins took me over 2yrs to complete main story.
I got TLOUS2 at release and completed the hospital section today (about a third in)
My daily is FO76 and I do a bit on Destiny or Division 2 if it has new content.

 

[Subxero]

I like the continuous trickle of content but I don't like the season/limited time garbage. I don't want to miss out on stuff because I either play a lot of different stuff and or don't want to play a game like it's a job. If I buy a season I should be able to finish it as I can. If I buy a expansion I shouldn't be time limited on the content.

This kinds ruined Division 2 for me. I bought the New York expansion and didn't get to play for a week. They made the enemy bosses weekly content. So I started out missing included content that I paid for. I stopped playing after that. I feel like I should be able to play content naturally as I get to it. It doesn't bother me to have content backlog, what bothers me is missing out because it has a time limit.

 

[LilScooby77]

Destiny was 50% of my gaming time. Since the next gen upgrade it's almost at 90%.

 

[Puru]

Yeah, that's why i mostly stopped playing pso2 much recently. Still playing but only like one hour per day.

 

[Pennybags]

While I HAVE been putting a lot of time into Warframe lately, it feels pretty noncommittal.

Its structure and PVE focus means I could drop it and come back sometime time later because very little of significance is absolutely exclusive to limited time events/etc.

It's really easy to get to a competent power level for 90% of the content in the game. There's definitely no "race" to keep up with the game's state as there may be with Destiny and others.

 

[Rae]

Yes but it's only FFXIV since it's a sub-based MMO. I feel like I'm not playing enough for it to be a good value so I will return for holidays and MSQ updates.

After quitting all my mobage I feel a lot better due to the extra time and freedom from dailies too.

 

[Deleted member 48991]

While not technically an MMO/GaaS or live service game, I tend to play Hell Let Loose (a more traditional multiplayer game) for a few hours every day, more during the weekend. Some weeks I average around 20 hours in it, so half a work week...

 

[texhnolyze]

Single player, multi player, MMO, it's all the same for me. If I enjoy the time I spend on them, then it's a good time I wasted.

I firmly believe that playing single player games only to drop them halfway is way more time wasting than keep playing MMO that I enjoy.

 

[Grettir_the_Swole]

Not intentionally. I'm all about single player stories. The most I've stretched that is with FF XIV and Destiny for the story. I get in, play through the story, and I'm out.

 

[ZiZ]

Yeah, temporarily dropped FFXIV for Genshin Impact. Not enough time to juggle both.

 

[DeliciousSunnyD!]

The real question people should be asking is "Do MMO's/GaaS/Live Service games take up too much of my time (life), period?" and the answer is almost assuredly yes, across the board.

I've recently gotten back into Apex, but it's currently the only one of these kinds of things that I'd even come close to fucking with. I try to be extremely cognizant of both the amount of time and money that I pour into it.

I spent way too much time on Destiny in the first ~2 years it existed. When it became an even greater time and intellect sink and when it became too hard to stay "relevant" in the Crucible (PvP was pretty much all I gave a fuck about in Destiny) without having to cycle a bunch of content I cared extremely little/to not at all about, I quit it like a bad fucking habit (which is exactly what it and everything just like it are).

 

[Zen]

The real question people should be asking is "Do MMO's/GaaS/Live Service games take up too much of my time (life), period?" and the answer is almost assuredly yes, across the board.

Click to shrink...

It's true that a lot of MMOs and GaaS/Gacha type games try to force you into playing constantly, which is why I don't play those or get into the gambling/FOMO elements, so I agree with that angle. However, as long as you manage your time and are aware of that, it isn't much worse than playing a lot of single player games and buying all their DLC because you like it. In the case of MMOs, people often form communities or meet friends/play with their friends in them, they become more like hangouts.

 

[Ashgarth]

If I'm paying monthly to access a game, it better take a lot of my gaming time.

 

[Transistor]

The only game of that sort I play is FFXIV, and even then it's only occasionally. So no, not really.

 

[Napalm_Frank]

Now that I'm back to WoW... yes, 100%

I have barely touched my PS5, I really should quit lol.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

Not anymore! I dropped every one of those bitches. WoW was the big one, I have played since the day the game launched and one week after the new expansion came out, I just kind of said why am I still doing this? Uninstalled and haven't had the desire to go back and don't see it happening either. Dropped all mobile games I played, stopped playing stuff like Warzone were I am chasing battle passes and shit. Outside of trophies which I will still try to go for, I am done chasing the carrots for these devs.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Not really. I hardly play videogames these days anyways. Now that my vacations are over, I just play at least WoW one hour daily and the next day another single player game. One hour only too. Weekends is kind of different, but also I try to not play too much WoW since my backlog is too big.

 

[Euler007]

My playtime is limited so when I fall into one of these holes I wind up missing years of great games while walking on their infinite threadmills. Whenever there's a GOAT-type game that I missed in the past I can usually link it to my FFXI/WoW/Destiny/MHW past addictions.

 

[BasilZero]

Nope - I avoid MP, MMO, BR, MOBA, GaaS games altogether

I used to play a lot of them years ago but thankfully I got out of the vicious cycle

I mainly play SP games

 

[DeliciousSunnyD!]

It's true that a lot of MMOs and GaaS/Gacha type games try to force you into playing constantly, which is why I don't play those or get into the gambling/FOMO elements, so I agree with that angle. However, as long as you manage your time and are aware of that, it isn't much worse than playing a lot of single player games and buying all their DLC because you like it. In the case of MMOs, people often form communities or meet friends/play with their friends in them, they become more like hangouts.

Click to shrink...

I actually think the "social element" is the worst, most dangerous, psychologically compulsive/strangling part to be honest.

People always like to point to it as it being "good", but honestly, I think having a circle of people that reinforces your psychology of "I should be playing right now, people need me" is actually incredibly insidious imo.

Like you said, it's all about moderation. I just think that games that prey on people's social proclivity, vanity, and gets them to run on endless treadmills chasing rewards that really mean nothing is actually not a great thing.

One of the things that eventually got me to quit Destiny and told me "yeah this is the kind of stuff you hate in games today", was near the beginning. I got on to play the game (when I played, I cared extremely little about loot because I straight up don't play games for that kind of stuff), and all my circle of friends wanted to do was stand in front of the loot cave and shoot dregs as they spawned, just because it had that broken drop odds spot. They wanted to do this shit for hours, instead of, you know, playing the game/multiplayer.

That was basically the point in the game I gave up on any pretense that my desires/values in the game and its play did not line up with what my friends wanted/what they played for. And yeah, that basically bore out even more clearly over time. I wanted to primarily play Crucible, they wanted to only run raids when they played so yeah.

 

[Fjordson]

Thankfully just World of Warcraft, but it's definitely monopolized my time in the past. I played way less games during the PS3 / 360 generation because of WoW. Still happens sometimes, like now with the newest WoW expansion coming out last month, though it's not as intense as it was back in the day.

I don't really regret it, though. I just love WoW lol

 

[JudgmentJay]

Years when I'm not actively playing WoW: 45-55 games finished, ~1,200 hours played
Years when I am actively playing WoW: 10-15 games finished, ~2,500 hours played

So yeah it takes up a ton of time when I decide to go all-in. I missed out on a large chunk of the 6th console generation because of WoW and FFXI as well.

It's the #1 reason I actively avoid all other MMOs, GaaS, and even most multiplayer games in general. With so many amazing games out there and an ever-growing backlog, ain't nobody got time for that!

 

[Agamon]

No, but I'll admit that thinking about such games takes up time I could use thinking of something cooler...

 

[cHinzo]

I'm getting less and less interested the more a game put their focus towards MMO or GaaS elements. I do love competitive games though. It feels like the replayability on those games are endless, since every game feels different.

 

[defaltoption]

Yea these days I actively avoid anything that markets itself as an mmo or GaaS or live anything

 

[pillowtalk]

In the last three years yeah, but I kinda like not spending so much money on games that I barely put hours in anyway. I'm usually hovering between a monster hunter game, ffxiv, and one new game every few months these days.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

Yes they do as they are intended to be that way but I have no regrets whatsoever between FFXIV and Fallout 76 I would say 65% of my gaming time is taken up by these two games one one upside being how much money you save because the question ends up being should I subscribed to FFXIV for another month or spend $60-$70 on a brand new game?

But why do you care OP? Your obviously enjoying the games since you keep coming back with them so what's wrong with them taking a lot of your time? Do you feel like your "missing out" on other games?

If so my suggestion to you is to drop all but one service game to make way for regular games but in my opinion you should keep FFXIV.

Since FFXIV is on a 3 month patch cycle (or 6 months between Expansion Patches) it's really easy to temporarily drop FFXIV once you caught up on the Patch content you like and unsubscribe from the game until the next patch comes out which is something I do all the time if I feel unmotivated or having "nothing to do" in FFXIV I just simply unsubscribe for about 2-3 months and wait for more content to drop in that game meanwhile I'm off playing other normal games.

 

[Schreckstoff]

They did that's why I stopped.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I mostly play single player games but I've been pretty addicted to Black Ops Cold War recently, even bought the Battle Pass, so yeah I can see how that would be an issue. I think if you only have one GaaS game in your rotation you can pretty easily work around it. If you have multiple, then that's going to be tough.

 

[SirThou]

League took up a ton of my time the past few years so since about the summer or so, I've been in a bid to include more variety in my gaming time. Feels good to not just grind, grind, grind. So I'm trying to avoid too much multiplayer, non-story based games for now.

Used to play mostly live service games including League, Runeterra, Apex, Valorant, Fornite, etc. They're all fun, but just gets a bit much to not feel like I'm appreciating enough games.

 

[IIFloodyII]

They did when I was really into Destiny, then Fortnite, then Destiny again, there was a 4 year period where they probably made up a good 90% of my total playtime. I pretty quickly burn out on never ending and always a new chase games nowadays, so outside of a month or 2 with Rocket League (with isn't too demanding time wise, it's just all about getting better at the game and you can put as much or as little time in as you want it's still fun) not really playing any for the past year. Been catching up on games I skipped.

 

[PenultimateFantasy]

No , but I think.you can only keep.uo with one at a time.

And if you can't be bothered to do the weeklies one week, don't worry

 

[ThatMeanScene]

Its all I play. Desiny, Dragalia Lost, Fortnite and PSO2. I skip most other games except for RE2 Remake and RE3 Remake.

 

[Calvin]

Yeah this happens to me all the time, and with WAY too many different games at a time (FF14, Genshin, Division, Destiny) I usually rotate and then agonize about which one I am going to play, and then my single player stuff ends up suffering. Right now I am trying to decide if I am going to get back into Genshin, still thinking about maining Avengers, doing FF14 dailies most days, and thinking about finally trying out RDR2 Online, oh also just started the GoT Legends mode. It's a constant mental battle to find one GaaS/looter game that can be my main single player alternative.

The funny thing is, I definitely enjoy single player stuff more and I want to play way MORE SP games, especially as I quite literally have zero/none/no gaming group or community to play with AT ALL. I just also happen to really like games with long-term, system progression systems, so I am always trying to find one to play, hence the above dichotomy.

It is very frustrating to me mentally and really disrupts both my gaming plans and gaming time, as I often actively waste time debating/thinking about what to play rather than just playing.

 

[Mukrab]

Yes. Its fun and saves me a lot of money.

 

[BlackheartVinyl]

Not enough of it, quite frankly. They are the most rewarding games to me.

 

[Seijuro]

Yes they do as they are intended to be that way but I have no regrets whatsoever between FFXIV and Fallout 76 I would say 65% of my gaming time is taken up by these two games one one upside being how much money you save because the question ends up being should I subscribed to FFXIV for another month or spend $60-$70 on a brand new game?

But why do you care OP? Your obviously enjoying the games since you keep coming back with them so what's wrong with them taking a lot of your time? Do you feel like your "missing out" on other games?

If so my suggestion to you is to drop all but one service game to make way for regular games but in my opinion you should keep FFXIV.

Since FFXIV is on a 3 month patch cycle (or 6 months between Expansion Patches) it's really easy to temporarily drop FFXIV once you caught up on the Patch content you like and unsubscribe from the game until the next patch comes out which is something I do all the time if I feel unmotivated or having "nothing to do" in FFXIV I just simply unsubscribe for about 2-3 months and wait for more content to drop in that game meanwhile I'm off playing other normal games.

Click to shrink...

Yes that's the plan. Catch up on FFXIV once the expansion hits, play that for 1 or 2 months, move on and come back once a year or so.

And yes, the problem is exactly I'm missing out on other games I'd also enjoy. I currently play between 7 to 15 hours a week, so doing dailies etc would take a significant bunch of that time.

 

[Calvin]

Yes that's the plan. Catch up on FFXIV once the expansion hits, play that for 1 or 2 months, move on and come back once a year or so.

And yes, the problem is exactly I'm missing out on other games I'd also enjoy. I currently play between 7 to 15 hours a week, so doing dailies etc would take a significant bunch of that time.

Click to shrink...

This is the most significant issue I face - I want to stay involved in too many games, which often means just logging on to do dailies, but when you do that it ends up adding up to a significant chunk of gaming time. Then I sometimes miss the serotonin hit of playing the GaaS or MMO and it makes it hard for me to focus on the single player games that I often actually want to play/experience more - they just don't necessarily give me that immediate stimulation that a loot game does.

It's a real problem for me and I end up straight wasting (through indecision, idling, etc) I would guess 25% of my gaming time. Combine that with flip flopping between games (mostly service/MMO stuff) and I also am often never getting anything accomplished - for instance, I STILL have not finished the FFXIV expansion and I have been subbed to that game at least 4-5 months total since the xpac came out :(

 

[Symphony]

Yep, I have two mobile games I do dailies on, have recently fully dropped PSO2 JP after playing that daily for years, then occasionally play Paladins, Genshin and 100% OJ during event windows. I absolutely dread another GaaS coming out that I actually want to play.