5 Reasons I Can’t Get Into Mobile MMOs (No Matter How Hard I Try)
My butt shall remain in my chair at my desk in front of my PC...
Look, I want to like mobile MMORPGs. I’m not opposed to playing games on my phone, and sometimes I don’t feel like sitting at my computer. The couch or my bed is comfier. People even rave about playing popular MMOs like RuneScape and Albion Online on their phones. But every time I try one, I bounce off hard. Here’s why mobile MMOs just haven’t won me over (yet).
1. Pay-to-Win
The overwhelming majority of mobile MMOs are free-to-play, and therefore feature relentless monetization. Because that’s how mobile gaming be. It’s never just “buy a cool outfit” or “speed up crafting” — it’s usually five different currencies, a gacha pull for a mount, stamina that locks you out after five minutes, and VIP tiers that straight-up make your character better if you pay.
2. Auto-Play
I don’t mind quality-of-life features like automatic pathing or quest tracking, but when the game literally plays itself, what’s the point? Some of these MMOs will auto-everything while I stare blankly at the screen wondering what the heck I’m doing with my life. I want to play my character so I can escape into another world, not watch them live out my fantasy.
3. Touch Controls
MMOs usually require a decent amount of buttons to press. You’ve got skills to manage, mobs to kite, menus to navigate, inventory to juggle. Trying to do all that on a touchscreen is a nightmare. Even when the MMO is on the simpler side, it’s never clicked for me on mobile. And I see more of my thumb than the actual game. Maybe my fingers are just too fat.
4. Time Gates
Most mobile MMOs love to drip-feed content. You log in, do your daily quests/chores, hit the stamina wall, and then wait. Come back tomorrow to continue progress.
5. The Feel
Even if there’s guilds and chat, something about mobile MMOs feels hollow. The world’s on rails, the community is silent, and you wind up feeling alone — which is the exact opposite reason ofwhy I am a fan of this genre. MMOs are at their best when they seem alive. Mobile MMOs appear artificial to me.
I’m not saying mobile MMOs can’t be good — there are a few good-looking ones out there that I’d like to try. But they usually suck, and most don’t delineate from the bad reputation mobile MMOs have garnered. Until something gives, I’ll stick to playing MMOs on my PC where they belong.
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About the Author
Matthew “dinofries” D'Onofrio is a writer, content creator, podcaster and — most importantly — a gamer. With such a strong passion for video games and a severe case of FOMO, it's no surprise he always has his finger on the pulse of the gaming world. On the rare occasion Matt's away from a screen, you'll find him strumming away on his acoustic guitar or taking care of his cat Totoro.
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1. That's true for about 99% of free to play games, on any platform.
2. There's auto play functions in PC games too, even in non-online games. Then mobile games tend to target a very casual audience, that would like mundane tasks to be done for them.
3. MMOs aren't a genre, you likely mean RPGs. How many "buttons" are needed, depends on how a game is made. Some will largely get by with about four buttons, then use point, and click movement. While others will fill your screen with hot bars, and need pretty much your full keyboard, while also using key combinations (ex: ctrl+B) to deal with it all.
From there it depends on the size of your screen, if you have big hands, and want to play mobile games, maybe playing with a tablet would be better. I like using a trackball with my computers, while most seem to only use mice. Use what works for you.
4. You're kidding, right? Online games, of any genre, and platform, love putting in time gates. Often it relates to group content, like say a world boss, that only appears at a set schedule. Stamina systems started on PC online games, before modern mobile devices even existed. Then pretty near every online game, on every platform, has recurring tasks to be done daily, with some also having weekly, or even monthly tasks.
5. Some online games, on any platform, tend to cater more to the solo experience, some, are made to be very social. Again, this is nothing even remotely unique to a game being on mobile.
Otherwise, I've found several single player RPGs that are mobile, but some may have PC ports, but they are more about text and UI rather than graphics and thrilling action gameplay. Ones such as the Dungeons & Decisions series, which are text RPG adventures similar to the 80s/90s paper books about "choose your own adventure" where you read paragraphs of text with some illustration and you have to make one of several choices and the story changes and there is also an RPG system where you have inventory, HP, levels, skills and the such.
All of the ones I mentioned are not P2W or the limitations are insignificant and are ideal for light play or while travelling to kill time.
But lately I have almost zero desire to play games altogether, let alone on mobile, if I'm travelling, I prefer to either listen to music, read something or watch something. But nevertheless, there are still options to play games on mobile, just need to lower your standards and shift your preferences a bit.