Does the constant online "grinding" to level up in MMORPGs shy you away from the genre altogether? Gamesutra writer,David Langendoen, feels he has come up with a potential "solution" to this. Have your online persona's do low-level adventuring while your off-line, which would give you minimal experience boosts to help you towards that next level.

Quote: Originally Posted by Gamasutra My level 37 Blaster, Vanille Ice, is languishing on the City of Heroes Triumph server. I imagine him sitting on his frozen couch, twiddling his frosty thumbs and wondering where his crime-fighting days went. My level 34 Barbarian Warrior, Atalanta, has been stranded in South Karana for over three years now. She had a moment of hope, a while back, when I logged on to demo EQ for a client. There she was in her resplendent Crafted Armor, aching for adventure. I had her kill a couple of Aviaks and then camped. I have not returned to relieve her tedium. Full story at Gamasutra

I have to honestly say, this idea that Langendoen has come up with, would really help me get back into MMORPGs. I hated the feeling that I had to play so long to level up. Granted, that is the whole point of the genre. I just didn't like that when more important things came up in my life (school, work, relationships, eating, etc...) I'd fall very far behind my friends in the online world.

In fact, I was part of a guild for a bit in World of Warcraft while my little brother was away to boot camp in Illinois (haha, my character was RICH...I mailed all his money to mine...), and I was one of two high level warriors in the game (45-48ish at the end), and the other "warrior" would complain constantly and consistantly because I was playing more than him, and he couldn't "keep up" with what I was doing.

If this system was ever adopted by an MMORPG developer, I'd really appreciate it. Now, when I take an extended break (like the year and a half one I'm on now from WoW, don't worry, I don't subscribe to the game anymore...I'm not that dumb)...my character, would have leveled up quite a bit and keep me in contention. With any "friends" I may still have online there...

Ok, i will concede that the autor does have a point, however, i'm not entirely enthused about his suggestion. WoW does affer an XP boost to toons that have been parked in an inn/haven't been played for X amount of time (the longer X is, the longer the xp boost lasts): that is pretty much the limit of what i'm comfortable with. What the autor is suggesting is Power-Leveling lite: you get something for essentially doing nothing. Is that as bad as buying a max level toon from a third party farming company? No, but imo it's in the same ballpark.
I think the root of the problem is holding a player' interest, and the majority of complaints that i see relate to a redudant nature in the leveling process. I think that a better solution would be to come up with gameplay that's more dynamic and offers the player more interesting options on how to gain xp.