Do you still expect MMOs to be 'fun'?

Though the game is a bit out of our wheelhouse, Massively reader WNxArcticwolf tipped us off to a GDC talk this week about Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry, in which the developers argued that games no longer have to be fun. Admittedly, the developers are were attempting to justify confronting players with hard choices and uncomfortable situations via the plot, but the brazenness of the statement struck me over here in MMOland too. How many MMOs actually promise us fun when they're rattling off their feature lists? They'll promise grinds and raids and PvP, but as players, we process those things as achievements and challenges, as activities that were satisfying to have done, not fun to do. In fact, fun is almost seen as a dirty word, something casuals might seek.

Do you actually expect MMOs to be a fun experience, or are we playing for something else entirely?

TH