Ye Olde WoW Hate

This topic has been done to death, I know, but with the inevitable coming expansion, I feel it deserves some re-discussion.

At the this very moment (and for the last week or so) I will be the first to tell you that I am none too happy with ol' Blizzard at this point in Warcraft's lifetime. Not being able to log-in to one's first and favorite mmo will do that to a person. But, it is precisely because I love the game so much that not being able to play it causes my frustration at the company. I fully understand my current feelings for the game and thus am able to cope with not being able to play it for some unknown time. What I don't understand is why any WoW news at all brings out the haters, with the sharpest criticisms usually coming from former players.

Yesterday I was checking Massively and WoW.com for any new stories when this jumped out at me, as I'm sure it did to many others. My first and only thought concerning this revelation was that it sounds totally awesome, if it proves to be true. Now, perhaps it is because these days I mainly read mmo game sites for news, but I was quite taken aback by most of the non-mmo gaming communities reaction to the news. A little while ago I was checking Gamespot's "Latest Headlines" and two things caught my eye. One was this, which just caused me one more groan of Nintendo bewilderment. The other was, of course, Gamespot's own rumor mill reporting of the WoW.com news.

Jesus, god. Please take some time to scroll through the hate. Here are a few of the best:

"Can this game get any gayer?"

"No more new races will be added. This article is pure BS except the fact that the next expansion will be called Catacalysm. Expect a new hero class."

"This game has been going downhill since release, I didn't even bother with WOTLK, it'll take a lot more than Goblins and Worgen to bring me back."

"I don't play WoW anymore but all my friends are still addicted. Just wanted to comment on this. Ok I can see Goblins joining the Horde but Worgen for Alliance? How does that make any sense? Am I missing something? Seems like just a random choice because Worgen don't really fit as Alliance at all. But I guess if all people care about is "cool playable werewolves!" then why should Blizz care if it makes sense."

"and WoW becomes even more stupid, glad I left this piece of crap months ago"

"enough of this game already."


Most of this nonsense is easily brushed off with, "read the damn lore," and, "stop speaking out your ass on a game you have likely never played" but the comments from former players are what bug me the most.

What is it about this game that causes people to feel so burned when they finally call it quits?

• Did they take it too seriously?
• Did they not get out of it as much as they put into it? (time & effort vs. rewards)
  
• Are they just mad at themselves for playing the game for so long, but never really 'getting' what it is about?
• Or, perhaps after all that time spent did they never create the experience they wanted? As we all know, because of the social nature of mmos a large portion of that experience is player created.
• Lastly, maybe they just saw how much they had paid for the game and had a heart attack!

I am no psychologist so this is as far as my gamer-mind evaluation goes. But, perhaps those bullets are something to consider with regards to reasons for Warcraft burnout.

Lastly, when I started to write this post I remembered something Shawn Schuster tweeted the other day:

"Man I hate when sites write about MMO news and don't even play them. Don't you?"

Yes, Shawn, I DO hate that. I'd say that hate even extends to regular gaming sites that only partially cover mmos, but that have a rabid user base of mmo haters.

-Max


"WoW was the Nirvana of mmos"
-Michael Zenke in reference to wow's inevitable legacy

Caution: Devastator's Balls

For those that care, this blog is still deeply under construction.

So, tonight I just thought I would do a short post on what I'm playing/listening to.

Games:

• WoW Peggle - Only during podcast listening, don't worry.
  
• Guild Wars - I've been trying to get a friend of mine to play with me on odd nights, so I've just been popping in and out. Hopefully this time I can stick with it, the first time it didn't rub me so well.
• New Super Mario Bros. - After watching the Mario Marathon a couple weekends ago I got a huge itch to play some jumping plumber games.
• *I'm on the verge of giving Free Realms another shot. I think I should rotate all the unpaid professions; I got frustrated with mining pretty quickly.

Podcasts:

• Pretty much all of Virgin Worlds
• The perennial Shut Up. We're Talking.
• The extremely entertaining Van Hemlock
• The informative Massively Speaking
• The rare but delightful How I WoW
• The apocalyptic Through the Aftermath
• The obvious WoW Insider Show
• The Star Wars hype machine The Holocron
• Finally, ever since Epic Dolls went the way of the dodo I've picked up on the Turkey's other podcast Spouse Aggro. It is very quickly becoming a new favorite, due in most part to Beau Turkey being an awesomely entertaining commentator!
• *Also, I would give both my pinky toes to have The Online Gamer's Anthology come back. Please Jonathan, come back to doing what you do best: reminiscing!

So that is it. Please check back soon!

-Max

Early Adoption and the New MMO Gamer

As I mentioned in the first post I am a gamer new to the mmo scene. Without giving my full gaming history (I am saving that for a future post), I'll just say that my first experience playing video games was on an extremely old mac at my grandparent's house playing a game in which two apes threw exploding bananas at each other. Since then I've owned several consoles and handhelds, although I continually find myself coming back to the pc to play games.

So, where am I going with all of this boring personal history?

It makes me sad and lonely to say, but I have not yet had the opportunity (privilege?) to be part of a newly launched mmo. Yes, I tried my darnedest to get into that weird two week Free Realms beta and when the game went live I gave it a shot, but eventually decided my awkward ninteen-year-oldness was at the polar opposite region from the age group they were looking to attract. Who knows though, perhaps in the coming months I will go back? That's the beauty of free to play.

To be perfectly honest I have played WoW on and off since the summer of 2006, but it was not until this past January that I truly immersed myself in the massively multiplayer online culture of games and began to think of myself as an mmo player. To be less label-y: this year the genre began to appeal to and interest me in an entirely new way. I realized that there were plenty of mmo's out there that were not Warcraft.

This brings me to my main point of the post (finally). Star Wars: The Old Republic might as well be the only game on the release calendar, for all the rest of eternity. Global Agenda, Champions, All Points Bulletin, Aion...these are not games I will probably ever play and certainly not on day one of release. SWTOR, however, is one game that I will reserve and stand in line at midnight at GameStop for.

Being part of a game in all its newly released and exceptionally buggy glory has never been appealing to me until now. I'm a moderate Star Wars fan and I'm a huge KOTOR fan so this game is right up my alley, if you will. I want to be one of those (usually annoying) people who can say, *in a crotchety old man's voice* "I remember when SWTOR (insert changed game mechanic here). It's a totally different game these days!" Of course the day when I utter those praises and complaints might be three months after release. Nevertheless, I will have been a part of, what I believe is an experience integral to the genre: The Release.

Reading about so many launch reminesces on sites like Massively and listening to podcasts in which the hosts wax romantic about the glory days of their favorite mmos has got me wanting that same type of experience, and when The Old Republic launches I mean to get that experience.

They say you always have fond memories and rose colored glasses for your first mmo. I think the same must also be true for your first mmo launch.

-Max

Begin Blog: NOW!

Beginning to write is always the hardest, most awkward part. It's as though I'm waiting for Garrick Padfoot to spawn and who should turn up right beside me, but you, dear reader. Might I say you are looking lovely in that standard issue leather armor. But now the big question: Do we group, or are your intentions simply to ninja this mob I have been waiting on for nearly five minutes?

I will do the noble, nay, heroic thing and send you a group request. So, will you accept...?

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I hope (perhaps out of that silliness above) that you will be so kind as to befriend me in this world of massively multiplayer online games that we collectively call home. My name is Max and I have for some time entertained the idea of starting a gaming blog to cover and convey my thoughts regarding video games in general, mmo games in particular, and perhaps a little random music as I see fit. Finally, I decided (out of an abundance of free time) that it was either put up or shut up, and like many current bloggers I like to hear myself talk. It inevitably had to be the former.

So, a little about myself:

I am a second year college student who, in the last several years, has developed a keen taste for online games. If the first generation entered into the massively multiplayer game space with Everquest and the second generation entered into that space with World of Warcraft then I am solidly of the second generation. However, currently I have let my WoW account slide and am beginning to dip my toes into other games, beginning with Guild Wars.

I have to admit I am somewhat of a lonely gamer. Unfortunately, very few of my friends are at all interested in my gaming hobby. This fact alone is probably the main reason why mmo's are such an appealing genre of entertainment to me. *Millions of people on this series of tubes who share my passion?! Sign me up!* (For the low, low price of $15 a month)

Also, before we get any further I should state quite plainly that I am a Noob. Most of the time I will NOT know what I'm doing. Awareness of one's own inability is always a plus, right?

Finally, my writing ability. I can promise that my grammar will not always be perfect and my perspectives not always the most well-thought-out, but I can and will guarantee that every post on this blog will be written with an honest passion for massively multiplayer online games.

So, to wrap this first post up I'd just like to say thank you, dear reader, for showing even the most meager of interest in what I have to say. Maybe we can quest again together, hopefully very soon!

-Max