Collecting is My Bag Baby!

In all MMO's there exists various types and forms of playstyles. The PvPer, the Altaholic, the Raider, the Roleplayer, the Achiever, and my personal favorite the Collector. What the hell is a collector you might ask? Well I am for one! However, as a simple definition anyone who enjoys collecting things as a sub-aspect of the online game they play. I might even goes as far as saying the Collector is the rarest of the MMO subtypes. For them the simple task of collecting their objects is just as satisfying if not more then the usual aspects of playing an MMO. Everyone can have aspects of all these subtypes, but the true extremists/OCD types will go all out.


The extreme PvP'er lives to kill people, his playtime isn't satisfying without a challenging duel, several arena matches or ganking some noobs. The Altaholic lives on leveling jobs/classes etc. and loves to quest or grind, his/her satisfaction derives from having multiple level capped classes to choose from or just re-living content through the "experience". The Raider of course lives to raid!!! They want to eat through new content and dominate the PVE scene. The Roleplayer likes to live through their characters own personal storyline and their satisfaction derives from sessions of social interaction while in character as well as questing and "developing". The Achiever wants recognition, whether through titles or points. No matter how inane the content is, if their is an achievement for it they will do it!  The Collector on the other hand has gotta catch em all! Whether its cosmetic wear, furniture for houses, fancy mounts, or vanity pets, a collector is addicted to needing this stuff to supplement their gaming experience.

As you are reading this you may be saying, well I share all those aspects at some point or another. Of course you do! It's all part of the MMO experience and content. But I am talking about true satisfaction, the thing that keeps you logging in. Myself, I am the Raider at times, and I enjoy the competitiveness of beating content, but because I hate leveling and don't love pvp as much I find "side" things to do while not raiding, and inevitably get drawn into a collection of some sort.

In FFXI, you only got 1 character and could switch to different "jobs". However, I found the grind of leveling much to be desired and in 5 years only really level capped 3 jobs. I lived for the endgame, the HNM's, the competition! As time continued and content started to lose its luster, or when my playtime exceeded my linkshells activities I turned to collecting furniture for my moghouse. Soon I needed every rare or seasonal piece to complete my collection. Space was no object!!! After all I only had 3 level capped jobs so gear didn't take up that much room. I even had seasonal floorplans I would switch in and out throughout the year.

One of my earlier screenshots while collecting furniture

Another period during my FFXI playtime I became entranced and addicted by modding the personal character data (on my side only of course). Different outfits, weapons, hairstyles, re-coloring monsters, re-coloring summons, I went all out!

I don't even know where to start with the various mods in this pic....

After I switched to LOTRO I of course leveled up and raided, but then they introduced housing...and cosmetic outfits. Well if I wasn't leading raids or taking care of kinship business, I was re-decorating the kinhouse, changing the music that played inside, redoing the outdoor area and changing decor to reflect seasons. If my housing was satisfactory I would look for new cosmetic outfits to wear, because in LOTRO you could put any clothing over raid gear and your stats would remain unchanged.

Here was my mining set...didn't care much about camouflage at the time I see. Don't mind my fashion inept friend:P

And there there is WoW....oh lord. WoW is by far the king of all MMO's I have experienced in tempting a collector. First off there is the mounts, tons and tons of different mounts both for ground travel and flying. Some are purchasable and some are very rare drops which require a lot of work or a lot of luck. Then we have cosmetic fair. WoW never did make true cosmetic clothing so this hobby is indeed a real space drain, but alas I fell into that as well. Finally, there is the cosmetic pets or vanity pets. They serve no purpose other then to travel at your side, but I fell hook, line and sinker for these. Currently I have every obtainable pet in game that isn't a collectors edition, TCG pet or something given away 2 years ago.

Myself and one of my favorites, the sprite darter hatchling.

 Unfortunately FFXIV has no real content as of yet and therefore nothing to rope me into wanting to collect. I would love another mog house to decorate or something to "want" to get excited about, but alas, there is nothing so far. Except for the long, long grind of leveling.

Yes, I know...I have a problem. I feel I am far less addicted to MMO's themselves then to the mini collections I have going inside of them. So...am I alone in here? Any other true collectors out there?