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World of Warcraft Editorial: Ups and Downs of the End Game
Our staff writer takes a look at the good the bad and the ugly of WoW's endgame.
By David Souza on December 08, 2006
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World of Warcraft: Endgame Ups and Downs
Editorial by David Souza
Have you ever played a team sport? Baseball, Basketball? How about doubles tennis? If you have, you know that personal interaction is the most crucial element of teamwork. Communication is key to keeping the relationship between you and your teammates healthy and progressive. Good communication will lead to personal and team growth. Adversely, poor communication will lead to breakdowns of functionality and conflicts of the team's collective interest. I've just told you what you most likely already know. So what's my point? Well, for anyone who has played the high end of many of the MMO's out there you have likely seen the difference between the endgame and how it affects the guild social dynamic. The endgames of many MMOs (certainly almost all of the most popular ones) follow a similar paradigm. This nuances of the paradigm shift slightly from game to game, often as the selling points for the more "hardcore" audience. Some promise less downtime, others smaller raid sizes and yet others dynamic and detailed progression tracking. What nearly all share is a greater investment of time, dedication and resources than any other content the virtual world has to offer. Now imagine playing those sports I mentioned above and imagine going pro. You are still playing the sport you love but the undercurrents of the game have just shifted. You're now getting paid (many guilds in large MMOs use a type of currency, DKP, or Dragon Kill Points being the most popular and recognizable one to most gamers), have more demands on your time and interact with your teammates much more often than you likely have previously...and for longer periods of time. Often you must prepare for a match (raid) by getting your gear up to par, making certain you have materials required for high-end performance and scheduling larger blocks of time to play. Oh, did I mention that your team size and playing field have grown? You're not playing three on three with the Buick being one end zone and the Nissan being the other. You're now on a full 100-yard field, with uprights for extra points, and crowds looking on. Gone are the days of touch as you now get hammered hard every time you have the pigskin, and you're wearing full pads to take those hits...shorts and a ripped Maiden shirt won't cut it anymore. Your team consists of eleven on the field and many more on the bench. (It's not just Timmy standing behind the Buick hoping George will get out of detention so it can go four to a team). There's more, but for argument's sake, we'll assume this is enough to carry the basic point to conclusion. So it's the same game you've been playing from the start, just more grandiose, right? Wrong. In my experience playing endgame content in many of the leading MMO titles for nearly the last 10 years, the endgame is often an entirely different animal. While that statement is somewhat of a generalization, it holds true enough to illuminate my point. Is the payoff of the endgame content more exciting? Often, yes. Is it more rewarding? Almost without exception. Does it cause closer bonds with the friends within your online gaming group? Absolutely. Does it cause more stress between you and your friends in that same group? Absolutely. You're thinking to yourself, "Wait, he just made a typo..." No, I absolutely did not. Just like any other social group, online gaming groups have the same obstacles to overcome. There are introverts and extroverts, optimists and pessimists. Caregivers, corrupters, mendicants and philanthropists. Idealists and realists. It parallels a large family...that you take to work...and to play. Of course I'm understating slightly...my current WoW guild boasts over 100 "brothers and sisters" of mine. So you're now playing a game that you love, taking part in adventures that only a small population of the playerbase can even hope to glimpse. It's glorious and empowering. Then you discover the varied definitions of concepts like dedication (large amounts of time) focus (concentration without distraction), strategy (practicing with your team more often and more vigorously), etc. While still fun, the challenge of the high endgame is often fatiguing and monotonous in a similar way that doing the daily grind at work can become grey and doldrums. Keeping perspective on the line between "work" and "play" can often become taxing, and it's more than the occasional player that finds themselves in something akin to a love/hate relationship with their hobby. So now you're asking yourself, "Is this guy trying to scare us away from hardcore endgame play?" No, I'm simply trying to shed some light on the expectations that come with the game on such a level. It's really no different than any other social challenge in life. A healthy working environment, a good rapport between parent and child and close friendships based on trust all share similar elements. All are valuable things, and all take hard work...and can offer frustration and stress along the road when conflicts between people occur. But what can be gained from overcoming these challenges is worth more than any quest objective or item drop. Here are a few tools and tips for dealing with the interactions of high end MMO gaming. I'll refer to the group as a guild here, since it's so popular in many MMOs, but feel free to substitute the proper term for your game (Super Team, Fellowship, Collective, Etc.) Get Out Some: Log off, shower, put on some shoes and go out. Go to a movie with friends, dinner with your boyfriend or fishing with the guy from work. Get face to face social interaction. Being with people in a real life environment often reminds you of how human the people you play with online really are.
Communicate Effectively: Say what you mean and mean what you say. The majority of problems stem from poor communication and text-based interaction is often misinterpreted (experts say anywhere up to 70 percent of communication is lost without the addition of body language and tone of voice). Be as clear and concise as you can be, and ask for and offer clarifications when discussing topics.
Respect the Chain of Command: Guilds generally have hierarchies to keep the ball rolling. Let's face it, too many cooks spoil the soup. It's the responsibility of the leaders of the guild to gather information, make the best choices they can and then to communicate those choices to the guild as a whole. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, it takes more work than you may imagine, and helping to facilitate communication by using the proper channels and speaking to the correct people can go a long way towards smoothing the cogs in the guild machine. Use the right tools given you, whether it's a specified forum for bank requests, a specific individual to deal with certain guild aspects or an email address used for guild suggestions.
Keep an Open Mind: It takes all kinds...I love that saying. Cliché, maybe, but nonetheless true to the core. Although a guild will likely come together under the banner of mutual goals, the means to realize those ends will be varied and many. Though you may not agree with another player's viewpoint, he or she has a right to it. Learn what you can from others, adopt what feels right for you and steer clear of what doesn't. But respect how others play and ask the same of those you play with.
Take Time for Other Things: Gaming is a time-consuming hobby, and high-end gaming often goes into overtime. Make sure you get enjoyment from the other things in life that you love. Take your dogs for a walk, tend that garden in the backyard or go shoot some hoops with your brother. The game isn't going anywhere and will be waiting like a patient concubine when you return. You may find yourself appreciating your time in game a bit more as well.
Lighten Up!: It's a game. We've all dealt with it, either from ourselves or from others. Maybe your boss denied your raise, your dog ate your shoes or your wife ran away with your sister! In any case, the game is there to entertain and offer a fun and stress-relieving environment. If you find yourself in a poor mood in the game due to real life events try to put them aside for awhile, or, failing that, log off for a bit and come back when you're in state of mind more in parallel with having fun.
Know When to Hold Em...: And know when to fold em. Sometimes, no matter what, you're just in a group of people that's not right for you. It doesn't mean you're evil or they are space aliens...it simply means that the interests and personalities don't click. This isn't work, respectively tell them that you want to move on and find a group that's a better fit for you.
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Course, I'm no writer and I can't think of anything else to write about either so i guess i'd write about WoW too...
/logs back in to get his third char closer to 60...
Maybe this is an indication that the typical end game needs to change. If you guys are going to turn it into something other than a game, you need to seriously consider your mental health. You people are too serious about something that has no bearing on real life what so ever. I feel sorry for people who would rather spend their waking moments raiding with fictional friends rather than deal with a real life. Why would people pay a company to foster this kind of "game mechanic"? I'm still waiting for a MMO that will entertain me rather than make me work and charge me for it to boot.
Kovah, you are being overly critical and perhaps you are one of the ones who need to hear it again. The author makes some very valid points..., points that are forgotten many times over in the day to day posts out there concerning effort and time having to be given to a MMORPG.
I think people need to be reminded that MMORPG's are a social endeavor and require the same amount of attention as other social endeavours. I also think people hide being anonymity and forget that they need to show respect to everyone. Guilds are exactly what they sound like; a group of people that have a common goal with a HIERARCHY. People need to respect the chain of command and stop being asses just because they think the guild leader might be a child or that his is just a game and doesn't matter.
I like the way the author uses sports and an analogy for gaming hobbies. They both are actually similar, but MMORPG gamers don't take gaming as seriously as they should, because of the anonymity factor. WoW isn't my style of game and neither is their raiding, but I do understand that it is a legitimate end game and that it is akin to sports in the way that you need to practise and take it just as seriously.
I believe that people who do not take the gaming seriously do not belong in guilds or games that require seriousness. This is a trend I see among newer gamers as opposed to older (Pre-WoW) gamers. MMORPG's are hobbies for many of us and we take them just as seriously as the person that fishes or plays professional football. We play to have fun, we play to win, we play to build and to advance. We play for many reasons, but above all we are all committed to the game and understand that hobbies take work. It is about time that these passerby gamers realize that they stepped into a serious hobby, not just another console game.
You have some ill concieved notions of gaming. Fishing, sports, woodworking, and many other hobbies doesn't really have a bearing on real life either. Gaming is a legitamate hobby and people like you need to realize this. Gaming can also become an addiction, in which case the person could use some help. But I myself have a very healthy lifestyle (family, education, social life) but I also enjoy my hobby (MMORPG's) and enjoy having a virtual life. By the way, welcome to the 21st century; online friends are just as real as offline friends. They have the same feelings, lives, and values that your offline friends might have. Do not think that just because a person isn't tangible that they do not actually exists. You should read up on MMORPG's and realize how many social gatherings actually happen with online friends meeting and hanging out through out the year. What about online match making? Many couples have met their soulmate online. Many people have found their careers online. Doing things online is legitamate and so is having online friends.
The question you should ask yourself as everyone else will be: Who are you to tell a person what hobby is good and what hobby is bad, who needs mental help and who doesn't, and how they should live their life? Are you trying to say that you are perfect, have a very successful career with no problems, have a very successful social life and have only hobbies that benefit your real life. Are you trying to say that you are one of the worlds leaders, because your head is screwed on so straight, your shit doesn't stink and that you hold Doctoral degrees in philosophy, psychology, and many other areas, where you can tell us what is healthy and what isn't. I didn't think so.
Why are all of thies about WoW?
Very good article that applies to any team based online gaming. The same problems crop up in a shooter clan as in a MMO guild.
I have always felt like a good group based MMO should feel like a team sport. I think FFXI managed to do this even at the regular XP group level. Timing secondary vokers with SATA and the magic burst on skill chains all took practice and a good group could really clean up.
I was stating my opinion of his piece. It's info that *I* already know and it's using mostly examples from a game that *I* am tired of hearing about. So I posted *my* opinion of his article.
/shrug
I enjoyed the article and do believe sometimes people need to realize that it is about personal fun and making friends. I read this and see why except for DAoC that I normally gave up when I hit endgame. The endgame no longer has the fun little groups I would enjoy because everyone is needing to raid and get the best gear. I am an explorer type so much prefer going all over and experiencing all the areas. I let people in the group I was a member of know that I was off and not sure if I would be back.
I just get bored with doing raids. This is why I like DAoC though. The end game raids actually did show me why my efforts were needed. I wasn't doing raids for the best gear. I was doing it to make my side stronger or defend what my side had. I have to say that if my guild had not slowly left DAoC that I would probably still be there. I enjoy the stories that I find through quests and talking to NPCs. After that is over though then I am probably going to be leaving the game because the endgame does not interest me. If I find one like DAoC and a good guild that would probably change for me. I am understanding of the people who love the endgame and want to be the best. I am not one of them but have had friends who were. I have to say that it does seem to work the way the writer describes about learning to function and being properly prepared. I have to say though that I rarely have the block of time required to do raids either. I got jumped on for not showing up at a required raid by a guild on the EQ Progression servers for learning to work as a team. I had said up front that weeknights were a time I never knew if I was free or not. This is when I know the fun is not worth the hassle.
Lets see, with gaming, what skills do you develop? Hmmm Hand-eye coordination, teamwork, creativity, and that's about it. Other things probably exist but are probably game-specific.
Gaming is basically as helpful as watching TV.
Now lets look at fishing, sports, woodworking, and many other hobbies. You build endurance, strength, mental endurance if you do any of these activities for an extended period of time, not to mention hand-eye coordination, teamwork, creativity, and skills that can actually help you to survive and adapt to conditions around you.
If you want to expand your mind play something like Go or Chess. At least then you develop problem solving skills and quick thinking.
The best way I could put it is by saying what someone once told me... "If the world had no power, what would you have to show for those hours of gameplay?" Hell if the world has power, what do you have to show?
A bunch of pixels that take up space on a hard drive. Whereas if you practice a skill that is tangible and real, you have knowledge, know-how, and probably some kind of physical reward for doing it, whether it's a nice meal from the fishing, an athletic physique and great health from sports, or some furniture from wood working.
From gaming all you have left are some 1's and 0's that would dissapear if the game did.
Please for the love of humanity never compare gaming to "real world" hobbies again.
I'm sure your English teacher told you to avoid clichés.
An informative and insightful editorial.
I agree with most of it, I just don't know how it can be changed. I still stand firm that UO was the best MMO ever made and no game since has been able to include all the features in it. Altho now there's raiding which UO didn't have. UO was more commmunity and "empire-building" in the endgame...meaning that the end game was to build up your house that people could come and see or open a super mall etc. It wasn't as much about twinking your char with loot. Eve-online is empire-building oriented also but it still lacks something...dunno.
Anyway, some company some day will get it right again. The nice thing about the community/empire building games is that you don't have to dedicate 6 hours in a row to get through an instance.
My biggest problem with WoW raids wasn't total time involved, it was the continuous time blocks involved once you started a raid, if you wanted to get enough DKP for loot often enough, you were thre 6 hours. No going out for dinner or pausing to see a TV show.
Another major problem is that if you aren't raiding, there isn't much else to do =/
EQ2 has a lot to do when not raiding as it has some community/empire building feeling to it, but the game mechanics kinda suck..and the company blows.
Here's hoping for warhammer online =)
Anyway just my .02
The article isnt about wow alone it applies to all existing mmorpg games.
Um, that was't what the article was about at all. Actually reading it might've helped.
Back in the early days of WoW, I ran a guild called "Azeroth Remnants" on Khadgar server. It started as a group of 30-some odd casual players, and gradually grew to about 60. At this point the trouble began because we were getting into our level 50s and a couple of players wanted to increase the size of the guild, for raiding purposes. It made sense, so we did. Forums were set up, raids were organized, rules were written. Eventually the hardcore raiders split off and formed their own guild, and Azeroth Remnants splintered when I quit the game.
Why did I quit? Although I hadn't quite reached the endgame (level 58), I was close enough that it took me at least 3 hours each time I wanted to accomplish anything. PVP and raiding were barely more than repetitive grinds for "the best gear", and were less fun and more work. Ultimately it was a totally different game, and to me, wasn't worth the time or money.
I suppose that makes me a casual player because I don't enjoy endgame grinds, but whatever.
Best way to stay out of stupid trouble like this....
Don't do 25-40 man raids, that decides when you need to play, play when you want to play, after 1 year raidslave, it just caught me and found where the whole problem lied, playing because some stupid "meeting" told you to, from there on it's not a game anymore, it's only a game when you log on because you just felt like it, and wanted to play a LITTLE, and then stop playing an hour or so later.
If i ever touch WoW TBC i'll only be doing Arenas or some 5-man instances with close friends, as soon you start raiding it's a not a real game anymore, this is ofcourse just my point of view cause, there are already enough of stuff in life to decide, when you have to be there, let wow and other games for that matter only be played, when YOU want to, not when the game wants to, if you know what i mean.
A little instance for an hour or so, maybe 2 hours of Arena if you felt like spilling blood... WoW's raiding system is just not "relaxing" enough, especially not the class i play in wow, being tank sucks, if you want to just relax/lazy around.
Teamspirit or not, you'll never really get to talk with all 39 people at the party anyway, other than maybe a "hi!" or "how are you doing?", else you'll really just be sticking to the interesting people... heh.
So far, endgame in every mmorpg is basically the same. It's all raids. I did that in one game, and I'll never do it again. When the game starts to feel like a job, I quit. I love mmorpg's from level 1 to endgame. But endgame to me..is end.
I would love to see a game come up with something else for endgame other than raiding, I have no idea what exactly, but anything but raiding.
Souza's article did a good job of discussing both the strengths and limitations of World of Warcraft after hitting the level cap. It certainly reflects my experience and articulates why I ended up leaving the game: finally decided that the time I was spending massaging the various egos in the guild wasn't worth it and ended up "folding 'em."
Thanks for a great thread.
The editorial is a moot point. Why? Simple Raid or Die is dead in WoW TBC will effectivly kill it and that isn't a bad thing. Blizzard realizes that killing the same dragon over and over and over and over and over and over again. is about as much fun as root canal without Novocain. TBC is the beginning ...the beginning of the end of Raiding The Elder game will be based on Non repeatable level based epic quest that require a small (As in Ten) group of friends. They will be able to do these quest in stages and in the end will receive a class specific epic for completing the quest.
Bullcrap you say? Nope, heard this one from Tom Chilton the new Lead designer for WoW. See Tom hates Raiding, and was hand picked by Pardo and Metzen to fix the two years of Raid or Die that Jeff Kapplen forced upon the community. So while TBC will have 25 man Raids Expansion Pack Two (Which will be announced in March 2008) will pretty much eliminate Raiding. Good Riddance I say as raiding has done nothing to advance the genre since that Idiot Kapplen first started crying about it when EQ was all the rage.
I despise raiding, I truly do. Not only due to the ridiculous time sink that it is, but the caste system it fosters. The whole haves and have nots, the elites vs the noobs, the hardcores vs the casuals. I absolutely hate that only one play style is ever given the best a game has to offer and to hell with everyone else, but I don't want to see it disappear. There is room in these games for many play styles, if the developers would just think outside of the raiding box and see that all play styles deserve the best rewards the game has to offer. If a person likes raiding, then who cares if you can get the same gear more easily in a solo quest or 5 man instance, they're going to raid. If they stop raiding, then that tells you the system is flawed and not fun. This preposterous idea that giving out equal rewards somehow demeans a different play style is the pipe dream of a hardcore developer.
Everyone puts effort into their game play and should be rewarded for it. Just because a hardcore feels casual play is easy doesn't make it so for the casual player, its all relative to the player. The primary mistake that developers make currently is to compare play styles rather than see them as legitimate time investments in their own right. Sadly, the market is saturated with raiding as the only real end game. This needs to change and developers need to start treating all play styles as legitimate gameplay and deserving of equal representation in their games.
/AGREE!!!!!!!
This is awesome, AWESOME news! I hate raiding, but with stages to end-game instance quests, you don't have to repeat the same part of a instance over and over to get further in the next time...and ten people or less...I can get into that. I just might be able to play end game again!!!
/cheers loudly.
Do you have a link to where he said this (if it was in an interview?) I always thought Chilton was part of the problem as much as Kaplan.
He was the lead designer for an Expansion in Ultima Online called Age of Shadows that broke Ultima Online's skill-based mechanics in favor of an item-based system. He comes onto WoW and the game that was being previewed in it's original beta as not being item-based turns into nothing but item-based upon release.
I truly would like to see what you say happen to WoW Martinj63, but Chilton is a lead designer just like Kaplan, and it seems hard to believe he couldn't exert any influence to stop the Raid or Die mentality that took over the game.
The idea of a non-repeated level-based epic quest sounds awesome. But I haven't heard anything about that nor read anything about that on the BC beta forums (which are open to the public). I haven't been looking very hard, so maybe I missed it. If you find any links, please post them.
Until I hear otherwise (and see the results of the Expansion), I'll keep blaming BOTH Chilton and Kaplan for perpetuating the tired, worn-out raid game mechanics from EQ because of their lack of originality and general ignorance about what really makes good game play.
I think that this article helps people to understand gaming from another point of view.
End game ended stressed me alot at the end. Not the many days per week. But infact the "slackers" did. So i decided to take a break from the game. and who know i might try a new one out. Vanguard.
/thedane
lvl 60 priest lickie darksorrow Retired
lvl 60 paladin starman twillights hammer Retired
The idea sounds great on paper. Now try to imagine just how much content now must be added to keep people with something to do. If every "epic quest" is non-repeateable, and every attendant only get one class specific item, then damn it's going to be trivial and "boring" very fast.
How many different items drops from a boss mob? How many times can you kill a boss mob before there's nothing else of worth killing that boss mob for?
Let's say they added 100 of these "epic quests", each of them only possible to do once and only 10 per run. That means there are content for 1000 players. When those 1000 players (the key classes, those that are required to complete the "epic quest") they can't do it again since, yeah you guessed it, it's non-repeatable. Then what happens to the remaining players that now can't do those quests, because the key classes already did them and can't do them again?
Ofcourse I wouldn't think they didn't make some way to make the same people do the same quest over and over and over and over and over and over and over to help the rest through, they just have no chance of a reward whatsoever because they only got that only the first run (I'm guessing that's the "non-repeatable" part).
As for the amount of "epic quests" to do, Blizzard just made A LOT more work for themselves, with no more income to compensate. Why? Because a raid is repeatable. You can keep entire guilds occupied with that for months, and that's just 1 raid. Now you have a "epic quest"? One guild would do that same "epic quest" 5+ times (50+ members) and then they'd have to find something else to do.
Then there is the part about doing the quest in stages. I'm guessing the reward is only upon completion of the quest.
How long does that take? Hours? Days? Weeks? If it takes Hours or maybe even a Day or two, then it might be worth it, it's after all 10 people that gets an item each time. If it takes more than that, why waste the time on a reward several days away, when spending some hours doing a raid will give you rewards at the end of those hours of raiding?
Does it involve a lot of travelling? How much? Do you have to travel from one end of the world to the other several times to complete these "epic" stages? Or does it all take place in some instance equipped with a pause button? Once again it comes down to how much wasting of time there will be, before recieving the reward. Why spend hours travelling back and forth to no gain (except immense boredom) if you can clear an instance, kill a boss and recieve rewards?
Please note that my opinions and comments are purely based on what I've read in this thread. I know no more if the subject which I've quoted than what I've found in this thread. If I'm blatantly wrong on some points, then just say so and correct them.
Oh yea, and let's try seeing some editorials that doesn't have "WoW", "World of Warcraft", "Blizzard" either in wording or meaning in either Subject or Content. It becomes rather annoying to read one "WoW editorial" after another. Can just go read the WoW forums if I want the opinions and whatnot. I come here to MMORPG.com to see and read about more than one MMOG.
On the flip side, the lack of pressure that we put on eachother and the policy of kindness and generosity we treat eachother with keeps the game as fun as when we were all a low level guild. The game is still a place we can go to in order to have fun. It's not a style that's for everybody, and we have to be strict about booting less than mature members, but the guild membership grows by itself because of the way we play: We don't have to actively recruit and our membership numbers continue to climb weekly. We must be doing something right. :)
And just to say it has anyone seen the new WoW advertisement about the guy playing at work and he tells him off. If you are that person your addicted. comeon anyone who does that better be thinking of it as a proffetion now becuase the wont have a job anymore. this goes for any hobbies too.
"While still fun, the challenge of the high endgame is often fatiguing and monotonous in a similar way that doing the daily grind at work can become grey and doldrums."
Molten Core was a blast the first five or so times, but soon becomes a bit of a mindless dance. Once you learn all the right steps there's no challenge or even thought involved. You literally just do the same thing over and over and over. Then there's the prep time for it (gathering materials for potions etc.), the amount of time you spend farming the right gear to do it, all the time stuffing around waiting for other raid members to arrive. After a month of this I realised I wasn't having fun, and faced with the prospect that this was all that WoW had left to offer, I left.
For all his suggestions of getting out and taking breaks from the game his description of the WoW endgame as a monotonous grind is astute. And I for one don't want to pay $15 a month and invest my leisure time into an activity that is more work than fun. That would be absurd.
But that's exactly the situation with WoW and many other mmo endgames. Instead of being the escapist fun they should be, their imitation of real-life is too close for my comfort. Players become ensnared in time-consuming monotonous activities - trapped between the thought of not wanting to waste the time they've already invested and the lure of hard to obtain uber items which are nothing more than little bits of gamecode.
Rather than imitating the less pleasant aspects of real-life, what mmos need to do is live up to the escapist ideal - giving people what they can't get from real-life. One thing that WoW and real-life have in common is that they're relatively static. The average person doesn't have a huge amount of influence over their world - from day to day they'll interact with their friends and family, progress in their careers, acquire new possessions etc. but do nothing to change the world at large.
But several new mmos currently in development seem to have picked up on this deficit and are attempting to offer players more dynamic player-driven worlds. It's not a new concept - one of Horizon's few redeeming features was their attempt to give players the tools to shape the gameworld by building their own houses, towns and ultimately communities.
I hope they succeed.
Raids, and hardcore gaming as the sole end game content is pretty sad, afterall if all the casual gamers would quit games like Wow, they'd be under in a week. Times are changing, MMOs should change with it, not by getting rid of Hardcore end game content, but by expanding to support players that dont believe they should be paying for a second full time job. Which is the sole reason my group of friends and I leave a MMO, we all have jobs and lives, we shouldnt be required make a online game another full time job, epecially when its Entertainment, its suppose to be fun and relaxing, not a second 9-5 job.
Alot of people wont understand this article. The author did a great job articulating it.
Most people cant understand that some people can enjoy themselves by becoming totally invested in something. Sure it takes hard work, lots of practice, tuff decisions, stressful sometimes .... but its all worth it because at the end when everyone is performing at the top of the game and everything is going smoothly it all comes together.
Using the sports analogy. Sure pro's spend 6 days a week 10hrs a day practicing, "working hard", forming a team and buliding relationships on the team. But its all worth it for just the few hours of success at the end of the week. The bonds are so much tighter when people work hard to build them.
This applies not only to MMO's but everything in life. Work, hobbies, team sports, science, even successful releationships... basically anything people can become great at. Hard work and practice is the key, but it all pays off in the end.
People that dont get this article will go around there entire life, never experiencing the "end game". Never willing to put in the time to get the rewards. You will never see them as a pro athelete, olympic superstar, famous scientist, build a successful business from scratch, top CEO or anything else where someone can become GREAT.
Go ahead and live your average lives, "ignorance is bliss" as the saying goes.
Aaaah, the blissful cry of the elitist. You do realize you're talking about a video game, right? Nothing you do in a game has any bearing what so ever in yours or anyone else's life. It doesn't teach you any skills that will make your life easier or better. It doesn't pay the bills, it just bills you instead. You may make some online friends, but how many of those will you actually meet in person, let alone have any kind of meaningful relationship? You speak of goals and rewards as if they were real, even concrete, we're talking about pixels and code, you can't take a damn bit of it with you outside of the game.
Its people like you that take these escapist games and try to turn them into an alternate reality. You define nerd, geek and freak. I feel sorry for you guys who have to turn to a game in order to gain some sense of accomplishment, some misguided belief that what you do in game matters to the world at large. Its pathetic.
I would much rather have an average life than some fantastic fake one that can only be found in an online game. How sad.
How can you sit there and consider that motivation in a game is relative to motivation in real life? There are pleny of us casuals who do good and hard work every single day and the last thing we want is a "game" that expects us to work rather than play and relax. Raiding is a tedious and boring job. I have no desire to work a second job and pay some MMO company for the privelege. If this is the kind of content that these developing companies are going to stick with, then they've lost my patronage permanently. If they ever pull their collective heads out of the asses and come up with something actually entertaining for an endgame, then I might consider coming back.
Raids...WoW...this thought gives me a headache...really
While I see that some people like raiding. Thats a given. But, WoW especially for one...has driven this type of game play into the ground about as far as it can go I belive. Actually...to be quite honest, there are several games that have driven this into the ground way too much.
Raids being a nice unique type of gameing to satisfiy a certain type of gamer...has pretty much killed any fun that any other type of gamer can have in these types of games.
I've played WoW...I really liked WoW when I first bought it. I even played some 4 odd...charactors to 60 and joined a Hard Core Raiding guild to see what all the fuss was about...boy did I get my self into a mix! That is about the least amount of fun that I belive I've had in any type of game that I've ever played in my entire life. Since then I've quit WoW...Signed back up...Quit WoW...signed back up...a couple times before I realized. I'm Insane! I'm doing the same thing over and over and over again while expecting different results. So...
I honestly don't think TBC is going to get me back into that game...I mean really...I've washed my hands of it once and for all. After all that tourment we've been put through...I don't think I would play that game again...even if they gave me the expansion for free and gave me a years subscription to boot.
If thats the type of gameing i'm going to be subjected to for my $15.00 dollars a month. I'll find something else better to spend my money on...Maybe a gym membership so I can get my fitness/and health back up to par? lol.
I mean really WoW may have 7 million subscribers...but they are at least one more less now. Cause I quit!
Enough about WoW already please? This is fixen to be '07 and there is a host of games coming out this year that is going to put an exceptional dent in WoW's subscriber base I belive. They should have stuck with Raiding in TBC, cause they are getting ready to lose about every other type of gamer they have.
Sorry if this is off point, but I see so many discussions about "hardcore gamers" or "endgame players". I will go ahead and bet that MOST players, before WoW and after, will not be these "hardcore players".
And after all, I duel these hardcore guys ALL the time, in their massive gear, and win. (The stats are NOT that big of a difference!)Sorry, had to throw that in there.
AMEN! Brother...preach it!
Much of the editorial wasn't anything really enlightening. A good read nonetheless.
I disagree, however, on his point that raiding brings friends together. There have been many times it has the opposite effect. I've been in a helpful guild but once the Sword of Epic Uberness drops, greed begins to infect people. Some claim they "earned" more right to a drop than someone else. Others counter that they have family, work, etc and can't raid 24/7 so it's not fair. Bickering starts and eventually there is a large exodus of once happy guildies leaving due to excessive drama.
Plus comparing raiding to professional sports was pretty good except on one point: pros are paying you to do a job. A pro is making money based off his game performance, he slacks he gets cut, traded or fired. A game is for fun and should be played as such. Work, family and other such Real Life things take priority over any ingame raid. It's too bad some players stop playing the game to have fun and begin thinking of it as some form of "work".
Oh and I wholeheartedly agree with what Vrazule said too.