Addiction

I am currently not playing The Secret World.  I must be one of a handful of the people on my Google + circle that isn't and I can't really tell you why.  Maybe I'm just not ready to commit to another MMO after trying to make Tera work and finding that people soon jumped when Diablo 3 came out or whatever the next shiny of the month was.  Hell, I was just as guilty as the rest.  I switch games faster than.. well just insert something here and think of it as ironically funny, but I do game hop a lot.  

So why no TSW as the young kids are calling it?  I really can't tell you.  I thought the beta was pretty good.  No issues with the game, the setting or the puzzle questing.  I did find one or two minor things annoying but nothing that would really stop me from picking it up.  The only thing I can think of is that it didn't seem addictive.  Let me see if I can explain.

With Tera, my last attempt at a subscription MMO,  I did not want to leave the game.  The combat was fantastic, different and exciting.  Learning how to target heal by reticle instead of clicking on a hotbar which was a lot of un.  From the moment I stepped foot in the beta I was addicted.  I spent as much possible time as I could in the testing the game and found myself at the end of the beta weekend hooked.  I did not feel that way with TSW.   Hell, I've not even felt that way with Guild Wars 2 but sad as it might be I'm still going through with my pre purchase because I have hope that eventually I will become addicted to it.  

Odd how that sounds, but for me to really enjoy a game I need to be addicted to it or I won't really keep me coming back.  I was addicted to Uncharted the second time I picked it up and that addiction compelled me to finish the game.  If it hadn't been addictive I'm pretty sure I would have just set the controller down and moved on to something else.  When I upgraded my PS3 recently, the first thing I downloaded was Infamous 2 thinking that could be a game that would keep me entertained, addicted but alas it did not and I've not touched my PS3 since.

I guess its all about the addiction factor. I was never addicted to WAR, LOTRO  or SWTOR so I never got very far in then.  I wasn't addicted to Rift during the beta so I didn't close the deal at launch.  People say addiction is a bad thing but if you don't get addicted to a game then you have apathy and the game just sits while you look for that next addiction, the next shiny, trying game after game till you end up returning too.. yes.. WoW, which I confess I did over the weekend.

Addiction is what gamers need, its what they crave.  We need to be addicted to a game or we won't ever finish it or stay with it.  I guess Addiction is at the heart of every successful game.