MMO Funtime with Dad

So I've figured out (so far) how to get some game time in here and there, which is good. Sometimes I can get some game time in with Marcus present, sometimes mom and dad swap duties to give each other a break, and sometimes I get lucky and he passes out for a few hours, giving me some uniterrupted time to blast geth, locusts, zombies, Covenant, or what-not.

One thing I've found really hard to do lately is keep up with MMOs. Part of it is that with limited time I think I prefer shorter normal games that offer a sense of direction, resolution, reward and progress over a tighter span of time. I really want to love Star Wars: The Old Republic, for example, and it wants me to as well, but its a MMO disguised as a CRPG, and I have a hard enough time finding the timeblocks necessary to play Skyrim or Mass Effect, let alone the insanely time-demanding environment of an MMO.

I'm also terrible with repetition, and when a game has me doing too much of the same thing over too long a period, I can burn out much more quickly than your typical hardcore modern MMOer (i.e. my wife). I don't know why, it's just that way for me. So thus am I stalled in Guild Wars and Dungeons & Dragons Online, where the ability to finish a character to max level (or end of story in GW's case) seems like a nigh impossible task due to the unending grind.

But I did notice one thing, which might explain some of the long term success of World of Warcraft: that game lets you play the entire thing one handed with a mouse. A few years ago I might have cracked jokes about one-handed gameplay on FeatherMoon server and the proliferation of stripper night elf chicks. No more! Today I realize that being able to play one handed while you bounce a baby on your lap and keep him propped up is a distinct "game play advantage" that WoW offers, and a pretty compelling one.

I'm tired of WoW, have been for a long time, but getting my character to level 85 seems like a laudable goal if I want a bit of random gametime that also lets me entertain the kid (who appears to be fascinated with WoW's simple but elegant cartoon graphics).