LAGWAR | GAMING'S BEST IN TOP NOTCH MEDIOCRITY

MMO’s are not fast food.

Let me explain.  Fast food is what you eat when you don’t have time or energy to make real food.  No one finishes a carton of chicken nuggets and exclaims how satisfied they are.  Fast food isn’t quality food, it’s just meant to fill you up.  That is why it appeals to people, it is based on convenience and ease.  As gamers though, we demand more than convenience and ease from our games, we demand quality.  We play MMO’s for many reasons.  Some people play for the challenge of completing a difficult instance.  For others, the allure of facing off against other player opponents and besting them in PvP is the drawing force behind their gaming hobby.  Others still play simply to relax and unwind in a virtual environment separate from the rigors of school or work.  No matter what draws you to play though, the quality of the game keeps you there and interested.  We don’t want convenience, we want challenging instances, cutthroat PvP, and immersive environments.

Money makes the world go round...even the virtual world.

Fortunately for us then, in any MMO, (WoW is no exception) players dictate the evolution of the game.  The livelihood of any MMO is based on the players who inhabit its virtual world.  Take away the players and the game dies.  As the developer of the MMO then, it makes sense to listen to players and allow them to guide the development of the game.   Our monthly subscription fee is the consumption of the end product the developer is selling, and as is commonly referenced the customer is always right.  It may take a fair amount of forum QQ’ing but as gamers and customers in the end we ultimately get what we want from game designers.

It's the MMO circle of life.

When gamers know the game and what they want out of it the system works really well.  Gamers post on forums, developers read the posts, integrate the comments into future patches of the game, the gamers are pleased and continue to subscribe to the game, the developers get raises and buy fancy cars.  It is the MMO circle of life.  It is why any MMO worth playing has forums.  No, forums aren’t actually designed to allow you to berate fellow players for being “n00bZ”, they are designed to get developers feedback about what the gamers want.  Gamers indirectly control the evolution of any game through its forums.  The forums then are an amazingly powerful tool for change.

The problem arises when the changes that gamers want to a game aren’t ultimately for the best; when the gamers want convenience and ease and don’t realize that they are giving up quality.  Developers are remarkably powerless to stop the cries of an estranged gaming community.  Remember the MMO circle of life?  Well, if gamers get mad, and developers don’t listen then gamers start to cancel their accounts, developers get no raises, developers get fired, and then developers have to sell the fancy cars.  Developers like fancy cars and don’t want to get rid of them.  They get the women.  So ultimately the developers cave and implement the changes the gamers want even if they know that the change is a step away from quality, a step toward fast food.

Why man invented the sports car.

That means that as gamers we have tremendous power over the evolution of the games we play but ultimately have no one to blame but ourselves if we wake up one day and realize that our favorite game has changed, and not for the better.  That is the sad fact that many people who play MMO’s don’t realize; they control the destiny of the game and the quality of it.  If the game is garbage it’s probably because they didn’t take the time to think about what they wanted and asked for the wrong thing.  If the game is great it’s because players contributed throughout its development to craft an enjoyable rich game.

WoW is no different in this regard than any other MMO.  Like other games players have ultimately been the driving force in the development of WoW, and certainly WoW has seen it fair share of changes since the game debuted in 2004.   Many of the changes that we, as gamers, have requested from Blizzard have been for the better.  In my opinion changes like new LFG systems, increased importance place on lore, battlegroups, changeable dungeon difficulties, graphical overhauls, 10 and 25 man instances, badge gear, dynamic quests, linked flight paths and auction houses, and many others have increased the quality of the game.  They have made the game more fun and immersive, allowed new players to come into the game, and supported a vibrant community.  These changes have added more quality to an already excellent game.

The "I win button" comes with a side of fries.

There have been some changes though that have been, in my opinion, steps toward fast food.  These changes have increased the convenience and ease of the game at the expense of quality.  Things like the introduction of threat meters, enemy casting bars, aggro buffs for tanking classes, the loss of instance attunements, decreased cooldowns (like hearthstones), and battleground remote queuing have taken away from the game as a whole.

Luckily WoW, its developers (and their cars), and us (the gamers) most of the changes to WoW have been quality changes and the game is still challenging, cutthroat, and immersive.  Remember though ultimately you decide the development of WoW.  So next time you are posting on the forums ask yourself “is this post going to make the game better?  Or am I really just asking for a side of fries?”