Fun and games revisited

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Having realized I'd written a post about MMORPG's and then said nothing more about it, I guess it's time for a little update. I still wouldn't call myself a hard-core gamer of any sort, but I'm starting to develop an appreciation for these kinds of games.

First, I haven't played AdventureQuest or MechQuest in quite some time. I played so much MechQuest that for a while I was starting to feel like I was getting somewhere. Then, having played that so much, I was never playing AdventureQuest and not enjoying it as much when I did. But something else dawned on me, which I guess I knew but hadn't thought about, and it's that because AdventureQuest and MechQuest are Flash games running in the browser, they're not truly an MMORPG. There may be a crap-load of people playing at any given time, but they're never interacting in any meaningful way. MechQuest, which I loved so much, was becoming just like any other game.

I did start playing Anarchy Online, though. After a rough start where I nearly gave up on it, I gave it another chance and finally starting getting into it. I really enjoy it now, but it takes so much time to play a single session, that I don't get to it as often as I'd like. Plus, something else came along... (dun dun duunnnn).

I'd remembered hearing about Disney's Toontown some time ago, but hadn't given it much thought. I'm not sure what my thought process was when I decided to give it a shot, but, good Lord, it's like meth candy. The graphics are bright and clean, gameplay is relatively straightforward, and the limited chat makes it easy to play without getting too annoyed (at other players, that is).

I enjoyed Toontown so much that soon everyone else in the house was playing it (yes, everyone). We don't allow the kids on the computer as much, but my brother became even more addicted than me. So much so, in fact, that now he tells me he's reached the natural end of the freebie account, and if he wants to do more, he'll have to pay for a subscription. Um, no. The point of all this is free, after all.

Still, I have a ways to go before I reach that point, so I'm still enjoying it. And if you're playing and you run across Izzo, stop and say "hi."