How do you deal with Maplestory burnout?

pr0n

 

be glad you moved on to other things in your life and stop wasting endless hours on maplestory <3

 

For me, I'm an avid MMO player. I love MMO's and it seems to be all I actually want to play when you muscle it down. All MMO's have a burnout or some sort of period of time where you sign on and just don't feel motivated to do anything or there's nothing to do (We call these lull periods; Or Quiet periods). Everyone experiences these at different times, and a lot of people correlate these feelings with "I'm done with this now", especially with games like Maplestory since it's generally an endless grind.

So what do I do when I'm in a lull period or feel my progress has halted?


I simply play something else. If you keep forcing yourself through hopeing to get over it, there are two outcomes (Or 3 if you look at the extreme of flat out quiting).

1) You do happen to find something else to do in the game, as someone else had mentioned. You re-evaluate your goals and set realistic expectations of yourself as you play. Shorter goals bring quicker satisfaction leading to more play time and less burnout.​

2) You take a break before you cut the burnout too deep. Focus on something new and refreshing from the mundane activities you have been doing on your current game so that when you do come back, your brain is re-energized so you can focus on what you're doing again.
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For me, I hop MMO's, especially since Final Fantasy XIV is my primary MMO at the moment (and has been for almost 9 years). Right now I'm going through a raiding lull, and even though I am still raiding every weekend and they did release a new raid within the last couple of weeks, My group has no intention on doing that raid at the moment, so it's the same routine for me over there. Usually in these situations, I'll seek something else to do outside my committed raid times. At the moment, that happens to be Maplelegends.

Another thing I do, despite being in a lull period or not, is make sure I play new games I'm excited about when they come out, or keep them backlogged for when I feel like playing something else. The biggest misconception with MMO's is that you feel like you have to play it everyday to benefit or progress any further. This isn't true. It's still a videogame, it's a hobby, not a profession. Take things at your own pace, you're the only one that knows your limits. Whenever you stop to take a break, your progress stops where it's at, it never declines. It's okay to play other games. If you feel the urge to revisit a game, or happen to look up another game and feel the urge to play it, hop on it. Your brain is craving fresh stimulation at the moment, so cater to it. The second you start treating an MMO like a second job, is when the burnout is going to approach (if it hasn't happened already.).


Everyone is different, but these are just personal notes about my gaming and experiences with MMO burnout, and the one place I experience the most burnout with has always been Maplestory. Being able to know my limits and how to handle them moving forward through all the years keeps me active between two or more games. If you find it hard to separate yourself, try setting a schedule. For me, my weekends primary focus in the evenings right now are FFXIV, and the weekdays are Maplelegends. If you have game you've been sitting on to play, take a day or two this week or next week and sit down and enjoy it for a little bit. Heck, take time to revisit one of your favorite games. If you want to keep playing it, do it.

This was a bit lengthier than I anticipated, and turned more into a suggestive piece rather than straight out telling everyone my short answer, but I'll tl;dr that. Thanks for taking to time to read this if you have, and I'd be interested to keep hearing what everyone else does as this thread keeps staying active.


tl;dr : I play at least 2 MMO's at any given time with more focus on one over the other to shift brain activity. On top of that, I play new games as they come out, or revisit old games I really enjoy to break from mundane cycles MMO's always lay out for players.

 

If I ever feel burnt out I typically go for a walk, play another game for a day(I'll log in for an hour still maybe). Watch a movie, cook something new, read a book.

Basically if I can force myself to miss the game without it feeling fabricated, my motivation can come back.

But sometimes you really do just need to take a couple months to a year off. And that's okay, too.

 

Maplelegends won't pay your bills. To me burning out is the best outcome, it means I've squeezed out the utility of playing this game, as is the purpose of any game, in the first place.

To me trying to figure out ways to enjoy a game I've burned out on is like trying to figure out how to reignite a gambling addiction. You're now free mentally to spend your time in other ways but you want to learn how to reinvest it in mushroom MMO for ... For what? Go on son be free my majestic bird

 

you'll be fine take care <3

 

What is this "burnout" you guys are talking about? I don't get it.

In all seriousness, sometimes I get a hankering to play something else, I play it for a little while, and then come back. The burnout sensation hits me when I'm not making progress on my goals. My goals are HUGE but obtainable with persistence. I make sure I don't overplay and I make sure if my mind feels like doing something else for a while then I allow it as long as I come back relatively soon. It should have taken me 12 months to get my 12 characters from Tier 5 to Tier 10, but it ended up taking 16 months because there were times I just wanted/needed to do something else. It's all about small bites out of your big goal and allowing yourself to vacation a bit when needed.