John Smedley is – rightly – never going to live down the reputation that he got from insisting to Star Wars Galaxies players that no one wanted to be Uncle Owen. What he meant is not really up for debate; he was telling fans who liked being crafting-and-culture focused that they didn’t actually want to do that. But I think there is a deliberate misinterpretation that is worth considering, the idea that what was meant was that nobody wants to be the equivalent of a minor character whose role is to die in order to advance the narrative.

I, of course, am not saying that nobody wants to do that (although I imagine few people want their MMO characters to permanently die). No, this is a question. Do you want to be a minor side character in an MMORPG? Not the hero of your own story, not the story of how when other people were fighting monsters you were building a mercantile empire. I’m asking if you want to be the equivalent of a minor innkeeper who is a fairly minor element of the overall story. Is that a thing you’d like?

Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!