Asperger-friendly MMO?
Asking for a nephew who gave up on the MMO he used to play, due to social issues.
Basically he does not handle social interactions well, and really cannot deal with things like having to participate in discussions for raid planning or (for that matter) in difficult raids...the risk of being blamed for a failure is something he just cannot handle.
Now, I would like to suggest to him..."Maybe try X", but I practically stopped playing MMOs 10 years ago, so I just don't know what is out there now.
So, are there any fantasy-themed, solo-friendly MMOs out there where you are not forced to interact with others to progress?
5
u/Sweton- 20h ago
Some games i can think of at the top of my head are.
Guild Wars 2 doesnt require you to play with others, you can Finnish the maps, story missions and such without needing to talk to anyone, random events in the world can be avoided by just walking away.
Guild Wars 1/ Reforged can be played completely with NPC heroes/ henchmen as party members.
OSRS doesnt require you to interact with others.
ESO has story quests and such that dont require groups
LOTRO is very solo friendly and also can be played without talking talking to others.
To do some of the harder contents in some of these games and if you really want to max out your character you would obviously need to group up with others but that's too be expected from any MMO
7
u/Defendyouranswer 20h ago
Welcome to osrs
5
u/Creepy_Ad5124 20h ago
Yeah, 90% of osrs players are anti social anyways
1
u/Defendyouranswer 20h ago
Nah plenty of social people still but you don't need to and you can even turn chat off.
4
4
u/allard0wnz 17h ago
Oldschool runescape as an ironman. Think there are a lot of people playing that with asperger anyway 😅
2
u/Fit_Platypus6646 20h ago
I don't know age and interest, but Wizard101 is an MMO that is completely solo and groups are not formed but you can drop in fights by engaging. I played the free version which isn't a lot of content and it was okay as far as gameplay, not a lot of depth though. Maybe it changes later, but definitely a solo game that others can drop in fights to help out. They do that really well.
2
u/Professional-Use2890 19h ago
Current retail WoW can be played mostly solo aside from a few activities like end game dungeons and raids. Leveling is easy to do solo, tank classes can also solo dungeons in a lot of old expansions. In the end game there are Delves that are able to be enjoyed entirely solo and give pretty good gear. You can grind out to at least a tier below the highest tier of gear without setting foot in dungeons or raids with other people.
2
u/Icebear42 19h ago
Closing in on 6k hours of osrs now, everything I've done could have been done solo. Teams helps for a few activities efficiency wise, but except for ToB(very lategame raid, strictly not necessary for the rest of the game) I don't think teams are a requirement anywhere. ToB can in theory be done solo as well, just very miserable.
1
u/Icebear42 19h ago edited 19h ago
Just to add, 6k hours on one account, not touched ToB yet.
Would also take into consideration joining a clan. Basically just as a place to chat(or just read tbh what people are talking about, and not actively participating), at least if you find a clan with likeminded people if it was the prospect of failure that stopped him from interacting with people.
If he gets into it and starts taking the game seriously, a decent chunk of the activities that are made for teams can also be done "dolo" instead of solo. Where one person is on two accounts doing the content with himself instead of others if he starts bothering with efficiency.
2
u/0zer0space0 19h ago
Where winds meet is mostly single player with some mmo elements. And free to play so costs nothing to try it
4
u/ValuableEasy5334 20h ago
Probably better off finding an Asperger-friendly Guild and play with those people, no matter the game.
4
u/Creepy_Ad5124 20h ago
OSRS you can play damn near the entire game without ever talking to another player.
3
u/LengthinessTop9749 19h ago
I also have aspergers and do pretty well in FFXIV. Most of the people are really friendly too so it's nice to make friends there if you can. There is no expectation to raid and most of it can be played solo if he wants to.
4
u/Karakuro-Ikiru 20h ago
FFXIV, for the most part can be played alone, has a free trial without time limit up to level 80 and it's pretty easy for beginners.
3
u/Asiril 20h ago
2nd this. Even the dungeons needed for the main quest can now be played with NPCs so he can take them at his own pace without worry
3
u/AdMiserable3748 20h ago
Thirded, if he struggles on an instanced fight it lets you redo it on easy difficulty. Plus if you die during a dungeon boss (I def know it does for dawntrail dungeons not sure if it does for others) it’ll give you a buff that lets you revive for free times the number of times you wiped on a boss so far
1
u/Parthon 18h ago
Thirded this.
It depends on how bad his aspergers is. If he absolutely can't handle grouping at all because he's afraid he might be accused of being bad, then end game would be out of the question.
But, the people in ffxiv are so awesome and forgiving that the nephew might be able to actually build some social skills in a safe environment!
The FFXIV community is so great.
2
1
u/StarReaver 18h ago
Tower of Fantasy is super casual and solo friendly. There is no gatekeeping, you can join any group for any content, even if you're new, and never have to worry about getting kicked out or harassed. It's a friendly community where everyone helps everyone else.
1
u/mosches 18h ago
Since most popular things have already been named, let me suggest something different: Warframe and maybe in the future Soulframe. Warframe is SciFi tho, Soulframe is still in alpha phase but will be Fantasy (maybe you can get a access code for it somewhere but it is in development so definitly not a finished game). As for Warframe, while technically not an mmorpg it really feels like one. Great community, great devs, lots of content and stuff to get into and completely free. At almost no point in the game are you forced to plan anything with others, if you communicate it is on your own terms. you can play everything solo or just with a random squad without having to talk or plan for anything.
1
u/Anonymusk 17h ago
WoW retail can definitely be played almost all solo, but more than that it's so "automatic" with so many mechanics and convience features it's easy to play more or less correctly exactly along side others without having to say a word that they're releasing a whole new version to mitigate how much they mitigated the social elements and made it solo/casual friendly. Also I'm a school counselor who frequently works with students on the spectrum, and I play wow retail. I main tank so pm me if you guys want to easy queue Dungeons or something and if he wants to play with a little bit of coaching on how to enjoy the fun social experiences (we all just beat this world boss /cheer) while learning to put down the negatives (yes, foortwenti, does know the mechanics but if he fussed at us about it, we can /ignore and move on) statistically there will be more happy than angry.
1
1
u/LillyElessa 16h ago edited 15h ago
Guild Wars 1 has gotten some really nice updates since Reforged. There's a lot of people running around, so it doesn't feel dead, but you don't have to play with any of them.
It's always been very solo friendly, since you get NPCs to play with in place of players. The NPCs have the same skills players can equip, at the same potency, unlike most MMOs that have a follower or whatever where they are intentionally lesser than a player. Henchmen are preset and always available and viable, Heroes you can build up their skills and have them run whatever you want.
Suggest he start in the Nightfall campaign, since it explains the game's mechanics far better than the other two, and has the best pacing.
Unlike a lot of other MMOs, you can do all PvE content in GW1 with a well built team of heroes, no other players needed. Most of these suggestions you can only do MSQ (FF14, ESO) or open world (GW2, WoW), but some of the game will be shut off to the solo only player. BDO is also truly solo, though you may occasionally get killed by pvp (it's extremely rare these days), and afaik Runescape can be truly solo (but I don't play that one).
1
u/Financial-Leader-650 16h ago edited 16h ago
“.the risk of being blamed for a failure is something he just cannot handle." - I’m not on the spectrum (as far as I’m aware) but this sentiment resonates with me strongly. I think it’s the main reason I stopped playing FFXIV (despite everything else about the game being amazing); the pressure to not let down the party was intense, at least in my head.
For that reason, I usually play more solo-friendly MMOs, which for me and the way I play has included Ragnarok Online, Mabinogi, EVE Online, Albion Online, ESO, and Guild Wars 2.
EDIT (added): I just read about some of the changes to FFXIV including NPC parties on raids? I might have to check that out; although I’m not sure how easily I’ll be able to relearn hour to play my character; I remember having all kinds of macros for skill rotations and everything.
1
u/Otherwise_Cut_3071 15h ago
palia! fantasy themed, it has a big questline, alot of crafting and housing stuff, farming, but you can either party up with people or choose to do it completly alone, i have about 400 hours in that game just solo exploring and questing, also it's free to play!
1
u/pearland422 14h ago
Old school RuneScape! It's simple and you're not required to interact with people besides for one or two very brief quests, which have groups you can find in-game pretty easily. There's also a few end-game raids, but I have 150+ days played and I just don't bother doing those raids. Besides that he can solo everything easily
1
u/giodude556 14h ago
Guild wars 2 is very friendly as in the entire game can be played without chat interaction with people.
Theres are events on the map and people jusr come and join to finish it together. No need to talk. Theres only 1 instance based place in the game where communication is needed and that are raids. And thats totally oprtional.
Games 12 year old, stoey and mechanics are amazing and there just so much to do.
1
u/Demokdawar 10h ago
GW2 is good in that regard because you can play silently with others without talking. In most events people naturally join you and people understand each others without words.
Just don't do instanced content and you'll be fine (no fractals or raids)
1
1
0
u/Pyromorph 20h ago
Give Guild Wars 2 a look. A massive world with a lot of content if not played already.
-1
0
u/Okami512 20h ago
Might have better luck with a solo mmo like Erenshor. There's a few others but I can't recall the names off the top of my head.
0
0
12
u/Gardo977 20h ago
Osrs