WoW Bad!

[Winnow]

http://www.gdhardware.com/ed/gaming_cynic/wow/001.htm

Let’s start this article with a few analogies of what WoW (World of Warcraft) should be considered to stand for:
- World of Whiners
- World of Weenies
- World of Waste of Time
- World of Waste your money

The list, I’m sure, could go on quite awhile as you think of your own acronym to use. There’s no doubt that the financial success of World of Warcraft is not only insurmountable but had single-handedly carried parent company, Vivendi Universal through some tough financial times.

A few months ago I finally caved in to trying this game out to see what all the uproar was all about. I personally find it offensive that certain publishers have the gal to charge you $50 dollars for a game and then another $15.00 per month for the privilege of playing the game you just spend 50 bux for online! However, what is even more of a mind-bender for me is that over 4 Million suckers have fallen for Blizzard’s lure.

For those who’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 years, World of Warcraft is the most successful MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the history of PC gaming. It dwarfs its closet competition. The lure for so many is the ability to play a character of their choosing in the fictional Warcraft Universe which attracted so many people over the past decade or so with the hugely successful RTS (real time strategy) games of Warcraft Warcraft 2 and 3.

What’s equally amazing to me is that so many of the gamers who get sucked into this game rarely realize that Blizzard is masterfully sucking their wallets dry by purposefully making things in the game take more time than they really need to. There are so many obvious “time sinks” in this game it’s crazy, but perhaps the most obvious is the way Blizzard makes you travel!

Do the stupid gryphons REALLY have to take the long-way around to get from point to point? Whatever happened to the old adage of “a straight line is the shortest distance between two points”? Good Lord! Taking some of those flights can take over 15 minutes! Additionally, what the hell is up with those ships or Zeppelins one must typically take between the continents? Why can’t we just take birds which use the same flight path as the ships or Zeppelins? I’ll tell you why; because that would speed things up too much and Blizzard wants nothing more than to make sure your happy-ass is camped in front of the PC looking like a complete geek while you watch your “toon” fly around aimlessly on a griffon – flights that take more deviations from a straight flight path than flying on Southwest Airlines from L.A. to New York.

Then there’s the added drama of Guilds and guess what? You’ll spend a LOT of time grinding away at PVP faction for the good items if you don’t belong to one as all of the higher-end armor pieces and such demand that you spend time in raid groups (a large group that consists of 10 or more people – sometimes as many as 40). These groups will allow you access to instances where you can obtain the “good loot” but be prepared to (I know, this is a shocker) spend MORE TIME (at least 4 hours) for the average large instance such as Molten Core.

I can’t begin to tell you how many guilds I’ve seen fall apart and how candy-ass they are to be involved with in the first place. Everyone in a guild – regardless of whether they admit it or not – are self-serving bastards who will cry till the cows come home if the loot drops don’t happen to go their way! Add to this the severe personality clashes and you have the makings for quite the in-game drama of “oh, did you hear so and so left the guild today for that other guild called “eat my shorts”? It’s enough to drive one crazy.

The game caps out at level 60 and really leaves you with nothing more to keep going for than to hang out with your in-game “pals” only because you’re such a social invert that the thought of actually going outside and making friends IRL (in real life) makes you break out in a cold sweat. Blizzard has no real compelling story line to keep one interested much at all once you achieve level 60 – they rely (much to their own $ucce$$) on the notion that you’ll too get hooked into making new “pals” who’ll keep you churning along month to month making their pockets grow fatter.

Don’t take me wrong, I’m a capitalist and I love the free enterprise market we have in this great country and as far as Blizzard making all the money they can? I say more power to em’.

But you need to realize as you continue to camp yer over-weight ass in front of their game that there’s a lot of devious, purposeful thought that they put into their game and its subsequent patches all in an effort to keep the monthly revenue streaming in faster than Ted Kennedy leaves women in rivers.

To make matters far more grave than anything Blizzard could come up with are the realities that once your true gamer friends find out that you’ve succumbed to the “dark side of gaming” you’ll be the laughing stock of their jokes. Really, this has happened to me as the staff at GD continues to this day to say such snide remarks as “get your ass off that pos game” “ and don’t you know that you make the baby Jesus cry every 6time you enter Wow”?

If you’re married and your spouse doesn’t play with you, you should also know that you’d best get some thick skin to handle all the negativism that’ll surely spew out of their mouth as you spend more time in the Ironforge Auction House than you do playing with your kids are taking care of house hold chores. I’d love to see stats as to how many divorces this game has indirectly caused by those who have no self-control.

I’ll be the first to admit that many of my gripes with Blizzards calculated ploy are not unique to World of Warcraft and have been used in other games like Everquest and such. But hey, it’s always easier to go after the 900lb gorilla isn’t it?

[Sargeras]

Why can’t we just take birds which use the same flight path as the ships or Zeppelins?

Because obviously the gryphons have enough strength and endurance to carry one person not only across the land, but across an entire ocean, and then have enough to make it to that land on the other side.

Since when did Miir start working at GD?

[Animalor]

Holy shit, I haven't seen this much biased writing since this thread

[Aruman]

For those who’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 years, World of Warcraft is the most successful MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the history of PC gaming.

That is quite a stretch. Short term, yeah. Long term. I don't think it will last. 10 years? Where is this guy getting information from? WoW 10 years old?!?!

When WoW gets to be as established in the long term, and still has that many individual subscribers, then sure, I think they could make that claim then. Let's see if WoW is still nearly as 'popular' 4-5 years from now.

[Bubba Grizz]

The game is not for everyone. The lifestyle is not for everyone either. Who is to say what is right or what is wrong in this regard. There can be strong opinions yes but what is right for some may not be right for others and it should be left a such.

[Winnow]

The game is not for everyone. The lifestyle is not for everyone either. Who is to say what is right or what is wrong in this regard. There can be strong opinions yes but what is right for some may not be right for others and it should be left a such.

Jeeze Bubba, you didn't need to write a serious response. That's the first sign of addiction!

WoW is a lifestyle? Creepy! Come on over to Second Life Bubba! I'll show you some creepy lifestyles!

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

The game is not for everyone. The lifestyle is not for everyone either. Who is to say what is right or what is wrong in this regard. There can be strong opinions yes but what is right for some may not be right for others and it should be left a such.

Jeeze Bubba, you didn't need to write a serious response. That's the first sign of addiction!

WoW is a lifestyle? Creepy! Come on over to Second Life Bubba! I'll show you some creepy lifestyles!

Keep your brokeback lifestyles to yourself Winnow!

[Bubba Grizz]

The game is not for everyone. The lifestyle is not for everyone either. Who is to say what is right or what is wrong in this regard. There can be strong opinions yes but what is right for some may not be right for others and it should be left a such.

Jeeze Bubba, you didn't need to write a serious response. That's the first sign of addiction!

WoW is a lifestyle? Creepy! Come on over to Second Life Bubba! I'll show you some creepy lifestyles!

Hehe I just happen to know a few people who have their lives centered around leisure. They are married and don't have or want kids, they have the computers set up in the living room, and own a few different game boxes. That is the life they choose to lead. It is right for them. I learned not to judge them because they are happy with what they are doing and I can't fault them for that. I am sure this is just one example and there are many many others out there who feel the same way.

Is it the lifestyle I would choose for myself? Had I not gotten married and started a family I might have. I certainly have no regrets and I am sure they don't have any either. I just kind of cringe when folks say that people "Should" be a certain way or "Should" do things differently. Like when the religious folk come knocking on your door trying to spread their belief system on you. *cringe*

[Chidoro]

this clown is the perfect candidate for ProgressQuest.

"hey, i can improve and all i need to do is spend a little more on electricity to keep my computer on!"

oddly enough, this schmoe probably spent more time playing the game than most of it's populace

[Zaelath]

For those who’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 years, World of Warcraft is the most successful MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the history of PC gaming. It dwarfs its closet competition.

Gay dwarves make me giggle!

As for travel in WoW being a time-sink..... BAHAHAHAHA, has this guy been on the interweb before?!

[Aslanna]

Holy shit, I haven't seen this much biased writing since this thread

What's really biased about it? He tried it and didn't like it. It's an opinion piece from someone titled Gaming Cynic. What did you expect?

[Animalor]

Holy shit, I haven't seen this much biased writing since this thread

What's really biased about it? He tried it and didn't like it. It's an opinion piece from someone titled Gaming Cynic. What did you expect?

Based on the fact that it was mostly a rant and not a review. The fact that he and his peers seem to scorn MMOG's outright as per the article.

To make matters far more grave than anything Blizzard could come up with are the realities that once your true gamer friends find out that you’ve succumbed to the “dark side of gaming” you’ll be the laughing stock of their jokes. Really, this has happened to me as the staff at GD continues to this day to say such snide remarks as “get your ass off that pos game”

This is an article about a genre of game by a group of people that obviously favor a different genre of game - aka FPS in this case of you read http://www.gdhardware.com/ed/gaming_cyn ... ss/001.htm

They should stick to covering hardware..

[Aslanna]

I'm pretty sure it didn't claim to be a review. Any sane person can see it for what it is.

[Truant]

For those who’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 years, World of Warcraft is the most successful MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the history of PC gaming.

That is quite a stretch. Short term, yeah. Long term. I don't think it will last. 10 years? Where is this guy getting information from? WoW 10 years old?!?!

When WoW gets to be as established in the long term, and still has that many individual subscribers, then sure, I think they could make that claim then. Let's see if WoW is still nearly as 'popular' 4-5 years from now.

Of course WoW isn't 10 years old. But the MMORPG genre is now 10 years old. I thought that would have been obvious.

Whether or not it lasts 5+ years (I would bet the farm that it will) it already has the most subscribers of any MMORPG to date....by a long shot. The MMORPG industry has established that subscribers is how they measure sucess, and not longevity. (though it could easily be argued that subscribers are a contributing factor to longevity).

[Bubba Grizz]

How can 5 million Asians be wrong?

[cadalano]

This is an editorial whinefest about MMOGs in general.. pretty much everything mentioned is a part of any given MMOG currently released (and i'm talking about actual games. exclude any furry-harboring "social communities"). He gives it all a WoW twist because.. why else would you read this? Seriously, is there one topic in there that hasnt been covered a million times in gaming history? Holy shit, you will become so addicted to this game that you will neglect your health, your lovelife, and your children! That is some fresh material, poppa. No one has ever said anything like that yet about anything else!!

[Winnow]

Is it the lifestyle I would choose for myself? Had I not gotten married and started a family I might have. I certainly have no regrets and I am sure they don't have any either. I just kind of cringe when folks say that people "Should" be a certain way or "Should" do things differently. Like when the religious folk come knocking on your door trying to spread their belief system on you. *cringe*

I agree with you Bubba. There's a lot worse things you could do than center your life around computer/multimedia entertainment.

I'd argue that focusing entirely on one game is not the best thing for your intellectual growth but a healthy diet of computer activity including various activities that keep your mind active isn't a bad thing.

Need to balance the four food groups of the Computer Lifestyle:

MMORPGs
Leeching
Surfing
FPSing

[Xouqoa]

This is an editorial whinefest about MMOGs in general.. pretty much everything mentioned is a part of any given MMOG currently released (and i'm talking about actual games. exclude any furry-harboring "social communities"). He gives it all a WoW twist because.. why else would you read this? Seriously, is there one topic in there that hasnt been covered a million times in gaming history? Holy shit, you will become so addicted to this game that you will neglect your health, your lovelife, and your children! That is some fresh material, poppa. No one has ever said anything like that yet about anything else!!

That's what I was thinking.

Clearly you can't play an MMO and still have an active life since you are probably chained to your computer and unable to even go to the bathroom!

[Aslanna]

This is an editorial whinefest about MMOGs in general.. pretty much everything mentioned is a part of any given MMOG currently released (and i'm talking about actual games. exclude any furry-harboring "social communities"). He gives it all a WoW twist because.. why else would you read this? Seriously, is there one topic in there that hasnt been covered a million times in gaming history? Holy shit, you will become so addicted to this game that you will neglect your health, your lovelife, and your children! That is some fresh material, poppa. No one has ever said anything like that yet about anything else!!

Wow.. Astute analysis there Pedro.

I’ll be the first to admit that many of my gripes with Blizzards calculated ploy are not unique to World of Warcraft and have been used in other games like Everquest and such. But hey, it’s always easier to go after the 900lb gorilla isn’t it?

[cadalano]

don't insult my mexican heritage, whore

[Winnow]

You got your asses kicked by a handful of these guys:

[Bubba Grizz]

Cool hats.

[Nick]

He has both a musket and a sword, nothing else is needed.