Quote Originally Posted by Purrfectstorm View Post
The reason that there are daily/weekly bonuses and content lockouts is to keep people subbed. But a fun game would also keep people subbed. However, SE has chosen not to rely on intrinsic motivation alone by using these bonuses and lockouts. While this might make it more likely for players to remain subbed, it creates addictive behavior that might push some players away from the game. For example, who hasn't felt that they had to log on to do x, y, z or they would fall behind? Sure, in the short-term SE wins because that player is logging in every day, but SE will lose in the long-term because players will start to find grinding roulettes and challenge logs and capping tomes tedious rather than fun. When players realize it is addiction rather than enjoyment that is driving them, they will quit and find healthier ways of spending their time (that don't require their doing x, y, z every day, for life).
... sounds like speculation on your part, and no MMO creates enough content to work beyond gated content. I agree the grind is not "fun", but it allows the game to continue to be, MMO's are flawed majorly in the way that they need people playing to work/run. While a single player game does not need anything to keep it going, since it ends. Talking about addictive games LoL and Dota2 are prime examples of games that create addicted players (and have some of the most toxic communities). I mean if you play an MMO with casual mind set with other causal mind set players you tend to have more fun since having the best gear matters less and clearing the new content now is less of a concern. Meaning you can do stuff on your time and the gate is not needed, but many (most dare I say) want the best gear and raid gotten/done now, not in a month when their friend "bob" catches up.