Lately, a couple of friends have expressed their interest in the newly released MMO, Tabula Rasa. Another buddy of mine is playing the game. Now I’m left wondering whether I should jump on the wagon, too.

I have mixed feelings about MMO’s. On one hand, I love what makes them ‘massive’ - how you can play with your buddies from half a world away, how you can meet new people and chat and run missions together. I’ve always enjoyed the alternate reality feel of MMO’s, the way you can mould your character into whatever and whoever you want. They can be just like you, or completely different. And if you’re a roleplayer, like me, half the fun is shaping a personality type and background into a unique character, and playing around with that in the game while interacting with other players doing the same thing.

On the other hand, MMO’s often eat up waaaay too much of my time and money. I tend to feel guilty about paying to play a game in the first place, and then I play so much so I don’t feel like I’m ‘wasting’ my money. I mean, naturally, you want to get the maximum bang for your buck, right? I also get frustrated by an MMO dominating all my playing hours to the point where I often don’t get to play many other games, if any at all. And MMO’s also have a tendency to get very monotonous after a while, doing the same things over and over and over and over and over……

So, after Everquest II, I told myself that it’s no more MMO’s for me. Since Star Wars Galaxies turned into a steaming pile of poo, everything else has been at a bit of a low point. Sure, WoW was good for a while, but it’s one of those games that just eats up your life, and I vowed to myself that wasn’t going to happen again.

But, sure enough, I couldn’t help but become completely enthralled by the new MMOs in development. There’s Tabula Rasa just released, Age of Conan in production, Star Trek Online and Stargate in pre-production I believe. And they all look and sound and seem so new and different and so very compelling…..

MMO’s, it seems, are one of those things in life I can’t decide I want to live with or live without, if you know what I mean.

So, since I’m at an extremely busy point in my life, have absolutely no time and even less money, and have previously decided I will no longer delve so deeply into any MMO game ever again… naturally, I want to play one.

It’s all your fault, mister Richard Garriot. :)