This is war..

There's a contingent of self-appreciating E-Sport fans who want to turn our once beloved fantasy world genre into lobby based instanced battlegrounds.. The power balance shifts and as they call for change so must I.. Of course in the opposite direction

Author: Vyeth

I know, I know.. I used caps and probably made that achievement years ago but it's used to illustrate my point of the "WoW Effect".. One that straps a number of millions with a useless stat that has no bearing or anything but to try and push itself into the faces of the "fair weather fans" who only want to play your game if it is tied to the word "millions"..

The latest offense and one that made me come here and write about it? On another MMO news site I read a report about the game Mythos having had "1 Million Dungeons cleared."..

I had to look away from the screen and try to gather why that was important enough to have been announced, but then I came to realize that over the course of the years, especially on this site, people tend to rely on stats tied to the word "millions" to try and put themselves in a group of many instead of the lesser..

You see it everywhere now.. Browser games tout how many players have registered in "millions", even if only 100 or so are actively playing per month.. Some MMO's make the claim too, only to have 1 or 2 servers that are not even half way populated..

I find it pretty sad that the industry feels they have to report such useless facts as how many dungeons were cleared, how many pre-orders or even beta sign-ups a game gets in order to feel valid in the sea of WoW..

Chances are, and this is just speculation, but chances are that the higher and more prominant you make your stat seem to the people you are selling it to, the higher they will place their expectations of said product.

"Oh, so they got "millions" of registrations? This must mean a lot of people play it and it's an awesome game!"

At some point in probably the not to distant future, I will have made my millionth lifetime dollar.. But I don't have a million dollars and am not a millionaiire so why would that stat even matter?

Interesting to see the whole campaign about "skill based" MMO's and how the users should feel about those who obviously don't like or want to play them.. You are sissy's dressed up as wizards, compared to the more MMA savvy "skill based" crowd..

I never understood this mentality.. I've seen it in games like League of Legends where the population considers it a "hardcore" experience because you have a certain group who take it really really serious, but is that an example of being "tough" or simply just being passionate about what you are doing?

Lets face it, so called skill basd MMO's can be just as "candy-land" as other MMO's we consider too easy, the factor it seems everyone is assuming on this is the side of PvP.. And if I am not mistaken, playing against a human opponent is ALWAYS tougher or more "hardcore" than a computer controlled opponent which doesn't really take the actual combat system or mechanics used to make that much of a difference..

What would make people think that aiming a skill is something that only "hardcore" tough MMA fighters can do? Is it really that new of a thing for MMO's when FPS games have been skilled aim games for years..

It's really strange to me the things people would compare themselves to in order to seperate themselves from everyone else..

I'm not sure I agree with the "I am the hardercore generation" sentiment thats going on..