Wednesday, December 06, 2006
World of Warcraft
WoW has many followers who talk about what a fantastic game it is, with its wealth of content, experience of playing with others and epic story. However I have played the game and experienced these elements first hand. When they say wealth of content, they mean is the same tired game mechanics repeated constantly. The story has less involvement than a Mr Man book, and about the same complexity. Also, the experience of playing alongside other people will quickly make you question the value of ever playing again.
I won’t deny the initial appeal of World of Warcraft. On paper it boasts a huge array of character options, vast worlds and exciting gameplay. When you play the game it is easy to believe this is the case.
Take, for instance, the character system. Eight races, nine character classes and twelve professions. You can equip your character with thousands of different pieces of weapons and armour. But once you’ve been playing for a while the cracks start to show. I can be an orc, a gnome, a zombie or a giant cow/person and it has almost no effect on the way the game plays besides a few different quests and a few different abilities. The game feels no different. You’re still forced to follow the same pattern of linear progression.
Character classes are also surprisingly similar. Either you attack or cast spells, and because of the startlingly regularity with which you find yourself in combat this dissolves into an abstract keyboard mashing exercise which alienates you from the action. The differences to class are highlighted by their absence. Other than the brief and uninteresting spell animations they offer little deviation from central models.
While the game insists upon its involving story, I can’t say I felt involved once. Besides its hackneyed, clichéd setting, the methods employed to relate the plot are totally pedestrian and unconvincing. Having spent hours killing giant scarecrows in the Wastelands, you can return ten minutes later and find that they are back terrorising the citizenry. So why did I kill them? Was I really these people’s saviour? Or was I, in fact, looking for items and trying to gain experience? The game does little to combat these holes in its suspension of disbelief.
The reason, we are told, that WoW is so popular is because it offers so many different things to its audience. If you don’t want to spend all your time fighting, spend your time making money at the auction house. If you want to obsess over getting the best armour you’re free to do so. People come to World of Warcraft because there is so much content on the surface of the game.
Once again I feel that this is a misrepresentation perpetuated by the game’s developers. The content is always limited by the player’s level and the amount of in game money they have. You are compelled to spend your time grinding levels by killing some of the endless supply of monsters and enemies. Every other aspect is supplementary to this central purpose and just as repetitive. All WoW does is pay lip-service to the idea of expanded gameplay, something you will understand after trying to make one useful item through blacksmithing.
Another thing often cited as one of World of Warcraft’s strongest element is its player base. Millions of people play this game, and to progress beyond the first twenty levels or so you will need their help. Most people will end up joining guilds or forming circles of, if not friends, at least acquaintances. This allows you to form strong enough groups to progress through the game
I don’t feel that this is a helpful structure. It leads to what many people wrongly term “addiction”. It is, in fact, practicality. Any guild or group has to progress at a similar level, or those who are lacking will be left behind. This means that the pace of levelling is usually set by the player who plays the most. Maintaining your place in a group is what drives most people to spend far more time on the game than might otherwise. If you choose to avoid guilds or building relationships you will have to rely on teams you don’t know, or trust, which won’t help your success rate.
As well as the need for teaming, there is the community of each server. The hierarchy of this community is decided purely by the achievements that players can claim to. You may be a doctor with a beautiful wife, two wonderful children and a Porsche, but if you’re three levels lower than that acne ridden thirteen year old child he may well act as if you are something he has scrapped off his shoe. I know that not many players take it to this extreme, but the implied superiority of someone who has been playing for two weeks longer than you is something that prevails throughout the game. Even people who try to help often come across as condescending, telling you how you should be playing.
If you crave this kind of false accomplishment then you may wish to open your door to World of Warcraft. But when you step back from the game you will see just how hollow these victories are.
The medium of massively multiplayer games is one with huge potential. It is a genuinely new genre in videogames, something very rare. But World of Warcraft fails to deliver on many, perhaps all of its promises. Online communities such as Second Life are already surpassing it in terms of content, interaction and opportunities for expansion. For the same price as the game and your fist few months’ subscription, you could buy several interesting games that would provide far more entertainment. I would recommend that this would be a better use of your money.
Matt Stone
WoW has many followers who talk about what a fantastic game it is, with its wealth of content, experience of playing with others and epic story. However I have played the game and experienced these elements first hand. When they say wealth of content, they mean is the same tired game mechanics repeated constantly. The story has less involvement than a Mr Man book, and about the same complexity. Also, the experience of playing alongside other people will quickly make you question the value of ever playing again.
I won’t deny the initial appeal of World of Warcraft. On paper it boasts a huge array of character options, vast worlds and exciting gameplay. When you play the game it is easy to believe this is the case.
Take, for instance, the character system. Eight races, nine character classes and twelve professions. You can equip your character with thousands of different pieces of weapons and armour. But once you’ve been playing for a while the cracks start to show. I can be an orc, a gnome, a zombie or a giant cow/person and it has almost no effect on the way the game plays besides a few different quests and a few different abilities. The game feels no different. You’re still forced to follow the same pattern of linear progression.
Character classes are also surprisingly similar. Either you attack or cast spells, and because of the startlingly regularity with which you find yourself in combat this dissolves into an abstract keyboard mashing exercise which alienates you from the action. The differences to class are highlighted by their absence. Other than the brief and uninteresting spell animations they offer little deviation from central models.
While the game insists upon its involving story, I can’t say I felt involved once. Besides its hackneyed, clichéd setting, the methods employed to relate the plot are totally pedestrian and unconvincing. Having spent hours killing giant scarecrows in the Wastelands, you can return ten minutes later and find that they are back terrorising the citizenry. So why did I kill them? Was I really these people’s saviour? Or was I, in fact, looking for items and trying to gain experience? The game does little to combat these holes in its suspension of disbelief.
The reason, we are told, that WoW is so popular is because it offers so many different things to its audience. If you don’t want to spend all your time fighting, spend your time making money at the auction house. If you want to obsess over getting the best armour you’re free to do so. People come to World of Warcraft because there is so much content on the surface of the game.
Once again I feel that this is a misrepresentation perpetuated by the game’s developers. The content is always limited by the player’s level and the amount of in game money they have. You are compelled to spend your time grinding levels by killing some of the endless supply of monsters and enemies. Every other aspect is supplementary to this central purpose and just as repetitive. All WoW does is pay lip-service to the idea of expanded gameplay, something you will understand after trying to make one useful item through blacksmithing.
Another thing often cited as one of World of Warcraft’s strongest element is its player base. Millions of people play this game, and to progress beyond the first twenty levels or so you will need their help. Most people will end up joining guilds or forming circles of, if not friends, at least acquaintances. This allows you to form strong enough groups to progress through the game
I don’t feel that this is a helpful structure. It leads to what many people wrongly term “addiction”. It is, in fact, practicality. Any guild or group has to progress at a similar level, or those who are lacking will be left behind. This means that the pace of levelling is usually set by the player who plays the most. Maintaining your place in a group is what drives most people to spend far more time on the game than might otherwise. If you choose to avoid guilds or building relationships you will have to rely on teams you don’t know, or trust, which won’t help your success rate.
As well as the need for teaming, there is the community of each server. The hierarchy of this community is decided purely by the achievements that players can claim to. You may be a doctor with a beautiful wife, two wonderful children and a Porsche, but if you’re three levels lower than that acne ridden thirteen year old child he may well act as if you are something he has scrapped off his shoe. I know that not many players take it to this extreme, but the implied superiority of someone who has been playing for two weeks longer than you is something that prevails throughout the game. Even people who try to help often come across as condescending, telling you how you should be playing.
If you crave this kind of false accomplishment then you may wish to open your door to World of Warcraft. But when you step back from the game you will see just how hollow these victories are.
The medium of massively multiplayer games is one with huge potential. It is a genuinely new genre in videogames, something very rare. But World of Warcraft fails to deliver on many, perhaps all of its promises. Online communities such as Second Life are already surpassing it in terms of content, interaction and opportunities for expansion. For the same price as the game and your fist few months’ subscription, you could buy several interesting games that would provide far more entertainment. I would recommend that this would be a better use of your money.
Matt Stone
# posted by Matt @ 5:22 AM 
