Interesting thread. I think I would have to say Eve Online. I really, really want to love this game. In principle, it's everything I could possibly want in a game:
Sci-Fi? Check.
In space? Check.
Huge universe to explore? Check.
Awesome technology? Check.
Skills training? Check.
Combat? Check.
Online play? Check.
Despite all of this and how much I want to love this game, I just find it so boring. There's sooooo much grinding needed to get anywhere, and every time I finish training a skills and grinding for enough ISK to buy and use the latest tech I've had my eye on, I just feel disappointed. All that work just lets me mine 2% faster. So I grind hundreds of hours of boring mining all so I can... grind hundreds more hours of boring mining. The expedition to faraway stations to collect my stuff is the most interesting part of the whole process, so I thought maybe I'd just go and explore to see what I could find. And you know what I found out there? Space. Loads of space. And not much to entertain me inside it. Even combat is tedious: lock on to target, turn weapons on, wait until the target is destroyed or you're nearly destroyed. If the latter, fly away before you explode, repair, then return and repeat until target is destroyed.
I think what's missing is more communication between players. Sure I could join a corporation, but that seems like a commitment I don't want to make. I want it to be more like Star Trek where people meet, have an adventure for a little while, and then go their separate ways. But that doesn't seem to be what Eve is all about.
Sci-Fi? Check.
In space? Check.
Huge universe to explore? Check.
Awesome technology? Check.
Skills training? Check.
Combat? Check.
Online play? Check.
Despite all of this and how much I want to love this game, I just find it so boring. There's sooooo much grinding needed to get anywhere, and every time I finish training a skills and grinding for enough ISK to buy and use the latest tech I've had my eye on, I just feel disappointed. All that work just lets me mine 2% faster. So I grind hundreds of hours of boring mining all so I can... grind hundreds more hours of boring mining. The expedition to faraway stations to collect my stuff is the most interesting part of the whole process, so I thought maybe I'd just go and explore to see what I could find. And you know what I found out there? Space. Loads of space. And not much to entertain me inside it. Even combat is tedious: lock on to target, turn weapons on, wait until the target is destroyed or you're nearly destroyed. If the latter, fly away before you explode, repair, then return and repeat until target is destroyed.
I think what's missing is more communication between players. Sure I could join a corporation, but that seems like a commitment I don't want to make. I want it to be more like Star Trek where people meet, have an adventure for a little while, and then go their separate ways. But that doesn't seem to be what Eve is all about.