General Discussion

As a gamer what is it exactly you want/expect from a game/mmorpg. I ask this question because picking a game has become complex because theirs so many choices. I think if devs really knew what gamers wanted their would be more succesful games/mmo's. Feel free to make your own list and explain your preferences.

My gaming preference: (listed in order of importance 1-highest)

(I'm sure I'll add more but this is all I can think of atm)

1. Graphics - 8800gtx sli (I wanna see what I payed for lol) I need graphics as an immersion factor.

2. Gameplay - Smooth animations, "fluid gameplay",

3. Content - Content is actaul activities/items/places ingame. I liked wow b/c of the random cool items/places you could find. It seemed like the devs put the item/place in the game just for you to find:). Also ingame events, Winter festival, fireworks, etc are really cool.

4. Genre - Scifi is my main gaming style but I was forced into fantasy and I enjoy it.

5. Grind Factor - I have a job so I can't play/grind all day. I don't mind levels but grinding mobs all day is not my idea of fun. Lotr online takes care of this problem by having tons of quest avalible for the gamer.

6.  Community - I enjoy the lotr comm, laid back, willing to help noobs out, just a fun community.

7. Responsive Devs - Devs that are want to hear your comments/ideas to improve gameplay.

You could almost take your list and put it in reverse order for ME.  I , too, have an 8800 gtx, yet graphics for me are the least important.

I like to be fascinating.  I like to "feel" as if the character that I develop is unique and part of something large in the world I am exploring.  Content is crucial in all respects from grouping to Questing to tradeskills.  Community is increasingly important, I think, because I enjoy the social aspect to MMORPGs more, today, than ever before.  

1. World Immersion
2. Story-book feel
3. Content
4. Community
5. Audio
6. Visuals (aka graphics)

Well, for me, community isn't entirely important, as with a very small community, you get to know everybody that plays the game (and I do mean, practically, everybody) and you get a much more sense of "togetherness" with a group that you know personally by first name and even remember where they live.

To me, graphics aren't that important. While I do agree that playing with extremely high graphics where everything looks good and realistic, yet runs very smoothly is cool, graphics aren't everything. Games that were made in the 90's had crappy graphics, and as far as they went, the developers knew they were working in a box sealed with Duct tape, so they concentrated on the content. Content is very important for me, because if there isn't a lot to do, how are you going to keep my attention? I''ve been hopping around from one game to the next simply because there wasn't a lot of beginning content, and they really didn't make it interesting straight from the start.

Those are my two big concerns when I load up a MMORPG for the first time, and everything else isn't as important. If a good community (big or small) and good content are present, then I might worry about the details. Like whether the leaves on the trees actually look like leaves.

1. Gameplay

2. Content (not quests, real content)

3. Graphics.

4. Community  (Nothing can ruin a nice game as much as the retards playing it)

5. Responsive Devs (we dont need another NGE)

1.  Community - Friendly, talkative players willing to group 100% of the time.  If a game doesn't have this I don't stay very long.

2.  Content - I like to play in a virtual world, not just a game.

3.  Gameplay - Is it fun?

4.  Graphics - I would include animations here.

5.  Genre - I prefer fantasy over sci-fi/modern, but will play the latter if 1-4 are good.

6.  Low Grind Factor - If a game meets the quota for me for options 1-4 I can live with a little grinding.

7.  Responsive Devs - After 11 years of playing these things I know that most developers don't really listen to their players.  So I've stopped caring about developer contact.

A combination of these 3:

1. community - if I have to play alone, I probably will stop playing.

2. gameplay - by this I mean every aspect. For example: it HAS to have keyboard movement; I find it boring just using a mouse. Quests should not be repetitive, and there should be a variety of things I can do if I dont feel like grinding, like a good pvp system.

3. graphics - although these matter when I pick a game, it wont bother me if I have to give it up for the other two.

I'm going to shuffle your list a bit:

1. Community:  Like you said about LOTRO.  Laid back, friendly, talkative but not WoW retarded.
2. Gameplay:  As long as it's bug free and doesn't crash to the desktop or get me stuck on random things in it's world then I'm fine.  Also I prefer a virtual world kind of feel rather then just a multiplayer experience.
3. Content:  Having interesting places to go and find interesting people to experience it is always something I look for.
4. Responsive Devs:  As long as they stay current with what's going on in the game and fix bugs I'm ok with that.  Having devs that listen too much is as bad as having them not listen at all.  It just means that every bleeting lamb gets to get it his/her way which unbalances things in some other way that later needs more work to fix.
5. Graphics:  As long as they're fluid and don't get in the way of my experiences I'm ok with them.  They just need to fit.
6. Grind Factor:  It all depends here.  I've done the quest grind in WoW and I hated it.  I've also done some "camp" grinding in DAoC and I actually liked it quite a bit since it gave me a chance to interact with my groupmates.
7. Genre:  I'll play just about anything.

My list might not be all that accurate.  I've basically just listed all your stuff and gave my thoughts on it.

Originally posted by Illius

1. Grind Factor:  It all depends here.  I've done the quest grind in WoW and I hated it.  I've also done some "camp" grinding in DAoC and I actually liked it quite a bit since it gave me a chance to interact with my groupmates.

I agree. Quest grinding not as fun as camping with a good group.

1. Community:  I honestly feel that a healthy community is a necessity for an MMORPG.  I don't play an MMORPG for a single-player experience, since I can get a better single-player game in a number of other places, and without the monthly fee.

2. Gameplay: A game that isn't fun to play is a game that's not worth playing.  This folds into the monotony of a full-on grind too.  A good community can help with this at times, and make a lesser game tolerable.  But it can still be a heavy burdon for a game to press on through if the gameplay isn't great.

3. Customization Options: Not having a ton of these isn't a deal-breaker, but I feel they're important enough to warrent a mention.  Giving players the option to look unique, or to play uniquely, is something very worth looking into for any prospective MMO designer.  Making the players look nearly identical based upon their level or class, or forcing them to play the game a certain way, can really get very dull very fast.

4. Graphics: This is listed for the opposite reason that most people list graphics.  I am aware that many people still play MMORPGs in fairly low-end equipment, and it is important to not make your graphics too high-end as to not cut too heavily into how many of these players your game can have.

5. Setting Creativity: The MMO market is stuffed with medieval fantasy games.  There are tons of other settings that your game could potentially use, ones that won't get it chained to the massive albatross that is the term WoW-Clone.  Right or wrong, nearly every fantasy game with gnomes and dwarves and elves and so-on, is going to be compared to that juggernaut, and that is a fight that, right now, no MMORPG can win.  Instead, offer the players something completely different, and the simplist way of doing that is to give them a unique setting.  But we have a numb