RPG's and MMORPG's (part 5)

What is the difference between an RPG and an MMORPG? Both are about designing and customizing your own character, from physical appearance to skill choices. However, RPG's typically emphasize deeper character development in regards to personality, background history, dialogue interaction with other players or characters, and the effect your character can have upon the story. In an MMORPG, few players take the time to act out a personality beyond a few simple emotes—it's almost all about the perpetual loot cycle, moving through the quests/chores as quickly as possible to level up faster so that better loot can be gained. As I played Final Fantasy XIV this past weekend, the best time I had was designing my characters during the initial creation stage: I read about and chose the part of the world they came from, the details of their classes, their racial background, and even spent a lot of time designing their physical appearances. But as soon as I entered the immense game world, I recognized the same conventions I've seen in other MMORPG's. Run and run and run to get from here to there (I have jokingly referred to WOW as a “running simulator” when I played it), watch as other players flit about and rarely stop to talk to anyone, and slog through the uninspired, repetitive combat with skills that seem to be recycled from other character classes, differentiated only by sound and graphical effects. I really wanted to like Final Fantasy XIV, but once again, it's clear that MMORPG's are just not for me. I hope those of you that enjoy it have a great experience, and I'm honestly a little jealous that it's fun for you—I really was looking forward to experiencing another Final Fantasy world again. With great disappointment, though, I deleted the demo from my hard drive and won't be buying the game.