MMORPG Culture - Roleplaying, Marriage and Casual players

There’s a lot of little things in MMORPGs which I never really understood. One of the big ones is why do people Roleplay in MMORPGs? What’s the point? I can see it being fun if EVERYONE participated, but that’s rarely the case. In PvP heavy MMORPGs like Darkfall, Perfect World and Eudemons Online it’s even more difficult, because people can PK you anywhere in the game world. If everyone isn’t participating and roleplaying, it’s sort of easy to get distracted, especially when someone is jumping up and down and spamming “NOOB” as you try to roleplay the scenario out. Modern day MMOs just aren’t good platforms for roleplaying. At least the MMORPGs. MMOs like Second Life work well in roleplaying, as these games are designed for it. MMORPGs are designed with game mechanics in mind, not roleplaying, so it makes sense that the vast majority of people that play MMORPGs play them for the mechanics. Roleplaying in Second Life can definitely be fun. Especially since you can roleplay in any environment! Sci-fi, fantasy, modern-day, anything! I guess I understand roleplaying, but I find it silly when people try to do it in games like Fiesta Online and Fists of Fu, as these games are NOT designed for it.

One really silly thing in A LOT of MMORPGs is marriage. Yes, Marriage in MMORPGs. A few games that support marriage are Ragnarok Online, MapleStory and Secret of the Solstice. Many other free to play games support it as well. I know Frogster recently updated their flagship game Runes of Magic to add support for marriage as well, but even less known games like Grand Chase and Trickster Online from Ntreev have in game marriages. My question is, what’s the point? The person you’re marrying is probably a dude anyway, as there are no girls in gaming! Girls in MMORPGs… Psh! What a funny concept! I jest of course, as with half the world’s population being female, it would be ridiculous to say girls don’t play video games, as they do. But I can’t see why people marry each on in game. There’s absolutely no reason for it. In most free to play games, you actually have to pay for the privilege to marry someone as well, so not only is it pointless, it costs money! Some games actually give you bonuses for marrying, which is the only reason I could think of to get married in a game.

What are some other weird phenomenons that occur in MMORPGs… Hmm. How about casual players vs hardcore ones? Most games have both kinds of players, I tend to be a hardcore player, as when I play a game, I usually play it for many hours each day. It’s really the only way to get ahead. I can’t imagine playing a game like Atlantica Online from Ndoors or Cloud Nine from Netgame for only an hour or so a day. In like a year, you would be nowhere. It would take weeks to level up! Do you folks consider yourselves casual or hardcore players? I’m Curious!