Saw this email invitation to a MMO game (Malaysia-Mandarin server) and I still remember playing my very first MMORPG (Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game) many years back and I can assure you, it's actually a horrible experience. Why?

The initial stages where you are a brand new player is fun, no doubt about it. It's literally a "brand new world", but in the world of the MMO you are playing in. So many things to explore, so many things to do. So much so that you end up forgoing meals and sleep just to explore even more.

But the "trouble" starts when PvP (Player Versus Player) comes into play. What started as fun and something to do in your free time soon turns into a rat race to spend more money on a fantasy world, trying to be better than the next person who played beside or alongside you. And before you can even catch your breath and congratulate yourself in getting quite the good stuffs in there from using your real money, bang!

Level cap raises, new gears comes out for the next level cap, and the gears you worked so hard on with your real money becomes useless. As you need to spend even more on new stuffs, no thanks to level cap being increased. And this cycle goes on and on, and you keep pumping more and more money into it. Instead of using that same money to buy yourself a decent meal, or to pamper yourself.

Soon enough, whatever you worked for ends up paying for your MMO addiction and you can't seem to stop. Because even more stuffs will be introduced roughly every 6 months or so. It goes on and on in a vicious cycle, never to end, until you force yourself to stay away from anymore MMOs for the rest of your life.

So, take care and take extra caution when playing MMORPGs, especially if you are a brand new player.

Just enjoy it as a casual game to pass some time on and off. Never ever join alliances in MMOs, as you will need to spend real money to keep up and compete with your alliance peers. (If you really need to join one just to have people to talk to, find, choose and join one that have members who play for leisure and fun, not for competition.) And for what? You can have the spankiest, best and most awesome stuffs in a MMO and no one who knows you in the real world knows about it. Only you. And the people who you call "friends" in a MMO. That's about it. Pretty sad huh? When you consider how much money goes into something that you cannot even show off in the real world.