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Why geeks play Warcraft
I have come up with a long tough answer as to why people play Warcraft. It's actually simple and obvious: WoW is an RP, so that means that the fighting is only a feature, but it seems to overshadow everything else. Like, people interact as their characters most of the time, and the number clicking is only a measure of skill.
It's obvious.
It's obvious.
Comments
Are you drunk? No... You can't be... Because I am right now and I still make sense.
*calls Mr. Period* Oh hey, so I don't really like you but, uh, I need you to do this job for me...
(that's lol to you...)
And, no, I have never even once played it.
I play WoW and i find it enjoyable exploring the world, interacting with other players, battling monsters and the usual stuff.
The levels just define how long you have been playing the game and what areas you can play in, rather then skill (Since you can't drop levels)
I have had WoW for months, and am level 20 at the moment. I play on and off for an hour or 2 at a time and don't find it very addictive.
I think you would be surprised if you played the game for a bit yourself, you may be surprised that it's quite fun to play.
I disagree with the whole "you're just incrementing numbers in a database" argument though, because that describes every videogame ever made. Super Mario Bros., one of the best games ever, can be represented as a stream of hex! Bashing WoW for any of the following:
- the main game is mostly running and killing things
- the fantasy setting, however well written the lore is
- the stupid degenerates spamming the chat channels
- the end-game is 50% waiting and 50% doing the same thing as 20 other people on command
is totally acceptable. Bashing it because you're effectively changing some numbers on a server, while still being ok with other videogames, is just silly. Personally, I found WoW to be amazingly fun for about 6 months, then my interest waned and I quit*. I will probably pick up the expansion and play that for a few more months when it comes out, then move on again. In either case, I find it hard to argue against the merits of a game that has pwn3d the internet. 6 million souls in thrall is a rather stunning achievement.
* Best argument to convince someone to quit WoW: "How would you like it if someone paid you $15/month to NOT play?"
I play WoW, I've played it since the beta testing before it officially released. I think it's a fun game, and what makes it special is being an MMO. I like playing WoW with other people, and I find it incredibly fun. I like the story behind the game too, and I take the time to actually explore the story in game, not just hopping from quest to quest killing/grinding meaninglessly.
Also, for almost my entire time playing WoW, I've been in a guild that is community based instead of leveling/raiding based. So in the end, WoW is really just a common ground for all of us to hang out together, and I think that's worth $12-$15 every month. I've actually quit WoW a few times for months at a time, but I always come back because I enjoyed playing with my friends.
Also, I've found since playing WoW, I don't buy regular videogames as often, so where'd I usually buy games ranging from $20 to $60 on a monthly basis, I'm paying Blizzard $50 for 3 months of gaming. So economically, I think I'm doing better with WoW than without.
Second Life isn't much better. As a social experiment and an example of some of the amazing things people can do with just some creativity and basic tools and the sort of economies and societies that can be made... sure. It really isn't a game; there are no goals, no direction, just a virtual space to goof around in. That, and you have to code an orc avatar yourself.
Note: Also, besides Rym and Scott everyone calls each other by their user names. You don't see anyone calling me by Julius.
(I RP on a forum just for you people to know.)
The game can be fun if you derive your own fun from it, and stop playing once it is no longer fun. That's my rule with pretty much any game; I play until I beat it or until the fun runs out, whichever comes first.
However, I've also been an advocate of other online games with player interaction, such as Battlefield, Counterstrike, Natural Selection. Each of these games I played with friends, was in clans/squads, competed in small leagues, and had fun. But ultimately, it got to the point where my friend's stop playing, and then I'd lose interest server hopping and playing by myself.
I've always sorta thought of most MMOs as chat programs with tons of features so you can do more than just chat. Given the massive amount of things to do in WoW and most other modern MMOs, $15/month isn't a bad price to pay. However, I know that some people take MMOs very seriously, often skipping school or work to play, and end up scheduling their live's around the game. I know I've been guilty of this a few times in the past, but I like to think that now I've matured past this.
In the end, it's just another hobby. And very often, only the hobbyist will understand the attraction of their own hobby, and other just don't get it, or it just doesn't appeal to them. (For instance: I can't stand oval track racing. But I love most other forms of motorsports.)
Chat programs do not cut it for interactions with friends. You go from spending time with these people and physically doing things together to waiting for them to reply to a bit of text. With the game you can talk to them in the chat windows and over ventrilo. In addition to this form of interaction everyone can do something together at the same time: Play and enjoy the game.
But it's all good because you're doing it with friends, right?
There are other worthwhile games you can play with friends far away. Play a game that helps build your reflexes, your thinking skills, anything besides repetetive menial labor with imaginary rewards. You can play a giant strategy war game. You can play a D+D campaign. You can start a wiki and write a book together. You can play fpses, at least Planetside builds the fps skills. With your DSes you can play Mario Kart, Tetris or Animal Crossing. Even making an MMO together is better than playing one.
If I gave you a program where you clicked on pictures of monsters and that caused numbers to increment, you say it is stupid. How come adding a chat box to the bottom no longer makes it stupid, yet a chat box on its own is no good?
Your argument that other games are somehow better and help to train reflex, thinking skills, etc while WoW does not is just an argument from inexperience. Sure WoW might require a different kind of skill, and that skill might even be easier to learn/master, but there is still skill involved. Games like WoW that are level based with a lot of equipment rewards have the natural problem that in general, level/equipment will always win between two players of equal skill level. However, at the same time a better player can overcome a level/equipment gap based on their own skill, though it is difficult. So in the end, playing WoW will challenge reflexes and thinking skills in order to be a good player.
I submit that your examples provide no more useful reward then WoW anyway. Other then interacting with friends, how does D+D give you anything of value in return? Same with FPSes, what good is FPS skill to you other then bragging rights? Tetris skill? Mario Kart? All of these games which you enjoy are very much similar to WoW. In the end you are performing a task, which is usually repetitive, and you get imaginary rewards which only serve as bragging rights to other players. Your "skill" in the game is meaningless to anybody else that doesn't play the game. The only advantage that these other games have is there is no monthly fee. Which it is up to the individual to decide if they are getting an enjoyment value greater then the cost, and to quit if the value is no longer worth it. Your opinion is obvious that you don't think it has value, but that is quite simply your opinion. Nobody is going to force you to play.
The other examples, reading a book, starting a wiki, are both good things to do with spare time, but are not a group activity. A wiki might involve a group of friends to maintain, but there is no interaction there. Thus it really serves no purpose in this argument.