I absolutely loathe the WoW achievement system. There I said it. Both in it’s design and implementation Blizzard has created an obnoxious cuckoo clock that pops out every so often to annoy you and those around you with some banal fanfare. Is this what passes for state of the art game design these days? A database that catalogs your every burp and fart while you play your favorite MMO (most MMOs have “achievement” systems in one form or another) seems to be a step backwards for advancing the potential of virtual worlds. Instead of getting serious advances in design and technology that could really start to make virtual worlds actually live and breath we get a feature that belongs more in a daycare center then in a massively multiplayer online world called Azeroth.

Here are a few reasons why I don’t like WoW’s Achievement System:

Achievements Erode Immersion

One of my main problems with the WoW Achievement System is the method by which the player is notified that they have completed a particular achievement. Upon completing the requirements suddenly the player sees a graphic pop up notifying them of their accomplishment accompanied by a sound effect. Just who exactly is notifying the player? Some deity or omnipotent force? In fact it’s the “program” itself that is communicating with you — not a deity, a trainer or even another player.

It’s almost like the WoW client is like the fictional HAL computer that acts like a talking travel planner to notify you of the fact that you have explored all of the areas of a zone like Loch Modan. To be fair, the WoW client already communicates with you in many ways such as: “You have earned a new level!”, talents points and so on. The problem is that those kinds of mechanics destroys the immersion for the player if it’s done in a lazy and haphazard as Blizzard has done with WoW.

Now if WoW was a sci-fi MMO then each player could have either a personal computer, PDA, cell phone, GPS with them to explain this and it would make perfect sense. However, if your personal device had all the information then exploring would be pointless as you’d never be lost making the “achievement” pointless.

Achievements Are Infantile

As players, do we really need to be congratulated by the program when we have explored all the areas of an area? Exploration should be ample reward in itself — not a few more meaningless “points”. A true explorer doesn’t need bells and whistles to congratulate them when they have scaled a mountain top or found the darkest depths of a dungeon. Achievements in WoW remind me of how children in primary school have to be continually motivated by politically correct teachers obsessed by ensuring that their students are subject to false praise for completing the smallest tasks.

WoW with it’s Achievement system really feels like an extension of that very same warm and fuzzy self-esteem movement that passes for *coughs* game design that has infected other video game systems like the XBox Live. It’s like a comfortable soother that helps ease Xbox Live kiddies into MMOs like WoW.

If Real Life Had An Achievement System

To illustrate the absurdity of most of the achievements in WoW, let’s take a typical day with a Real Life Achievement system. It would go like this:

*You showered without dropping the soap! Congratulations you get 5 points!*

*You shaved without cutting yourself! Congratulations you get 7 points!*

*You made it to work on time without getting killed in traffic! Congratulations you get 20 points!*

*You survived another day in corporate America without getting laid off! Congratulations you get 50 points!*

Did that make your day go a little better? Every day, I somehow manage to complete those “achievements” without the need for an omniscient voice cheering me on. It’s called adulthood.

Achievements are Worthless to Achievers

I find it ironic that in a MMO that caters almost exclusively to achievers that the achievement system is largely worthless to achievers. What is the point (no pun intended) of all those points anyways? You can’t spend them or trade them in for any kind of worthwhile items. Sure there are some titles and mounts but they are only attainable after a player has usually completed hundreds of painful pre-achievements. Now this may be fine for hardcore players out there living on welfare or a disability but what of the players that don’t have obscene amounts of time to devote?

The fact that there are no achievement quartermasters is rather appalling considering it’s from Blizzard — the zen masters of the reward, reward, reward game design mantra.

A False Sense  of Accomplishment

Probably the worst thing about an achievement system is that it gives players a false sense of accomplishment for doing trivial and menial tasks; this ties directly into the above reward philosophy du jour of video game production. The problem is that these achievements can be quite addicting as noted in an excellent article by Gamespy a few years ago entitled: Are You Addicted to Achievements? which I found by way of a superb article on achievements at Werkkrew.com which discusses virtual achievements vs. real achievements (that’s another discussion for another day).

Here’s a quote that I am shamelessly borrowing from Werkkrew who quoted it from the Gamespy article:

Hello, my name is Will, and I’m addicted to achievements. Not the real-life kind, mind you, as I’ve pretty much given up on those (just getting out of bed in the morning feels like an achievement). No, I’m talking about the kind of achievements that you can only get by playing Xbox 360 games. At first, I didn’t really pay much attention to them, although I did feel a slight sense of accomplishment every time I was informed that I had received one. Lately, however, I’m finding that I can’t stop trying to get them. It’s gotten to the point that I’ll stay up late into the night just to get an extra 10 points added to my gamerscore. I … I think I need help.

It used to be that in MMOs we as players were addicted to the formerly hard achievements like leveling up, killing named mobs, killing bosses (yes those things used to be difficult many years ago). Now it seems even the smallest tasks performed within a MMO have the capacity to addict us — by design. Clearly the Blizzard devs are fully aware of the addictive nature of officially sanctioned achievements but they implemented them anyways. I suppose WoW just wasn’t addictive enough. Translatation: more addictive features helps keep people subscribing.

I guess I need to be realistic. Achievements as a feature seems to be here to stay in video games and MMOs — at least for now until the public wises up. So what is to be done? If you absolutely feel you need to have an achievement system in a MMO then here’s what I would have done differently:

Change the Lame Name

The Achievement system is a blatant theft from the Xbox Live Achievement System. At least other MMO companies used different names like Warhammer’s Tome of Knowledge and Lord of the Rings Online’s Deeds, Traits and Virtues.  If you truly feel you need an achivement system in your MMO then at least have the decency to disguise it’s name. Calling something the “Achievement System” makes about as much sense as calling new content a “patch”. With all the supposed talent working at Blizzard you think they could have at least called it something more imaginative and organic; something that actually makes sense in the context of the world of Azeroth.

Use NPCs to Acknowledge and Reward Players

WoW achievements could have easily been broken down into a number of areas overseen by in-game organizations of NPC’s. For example the Explorer’s League run by dwarves already exists and could have easily handled the administration of all of the exploration type achievements. Their representatives could be placed in most towns and neutral cities so that Alliance players could interact with them for acknowledgment and rewards. Instead of being notified instantly for completing an achievement, the player would have to physically speak to a NPC for recognition.

Other societies and organizations could easily be created for the other types of achievements. Players already have to talk to NPC’s to get quests, get trained, bank, purchase goods and items, why then should achievements be bestowed without having to visit an NPC? At least it would make sense and build more immersion for the player rather then eroding it.

Conclusion

The WoW Achievement system as is, feels disconnected to the other parts of the MMO. It should have been designed and executed with more artistry and professionalism. They could have at least disguised it as a tome or journal a la Mythic or Turbine but instead they chose the easy route. I do realize that many players like the seductive nature of being praised and I respect that; for them it has helped give their play experience in an aging genre some fresh air. It also appeals to the collector mentality that seems to be all the rage these days in the video game world. If that’s what turns your crank then all the more power to you.

But let me ask you: did you really start playing WoW to collect *every* vanity pet and cooking recipe? As players are we so mindless and spineless that we will perform any task (read: time sink) that a MMO company sets before us — just because it’s there? Do you really need your every action and step within a MMO to be noted and praised by an unimmersive game mechanic?

For my part, I like MMOs that don’t insult my intelligence. The Achievement System lacks originality, imagination, context, harmony and cohesion. Blizzard would have done well to study Warhammer’s Tome of Knowledge for an example of an achievement system done right. Honestly, it just feels like it was retrofitted into the game with a hammer and nails.

Not only does this make Blizzard look bad, it speaks to the sorry state of mind of the typical WoW subscriber. If today’s average MMO player feels they need a childish system like this to hold their hands and make their play time meaningful then this genre is in serious trouble. Even worse, if Blizzard designers felt that by adding a trendy feature from a console game system was the best they could do to improve WoW then it’s a sad day for all of us who still believe that virtual worlds have tremendous potential. By continually appealing to the lowest common denominator and dumbing down the MMO genre, Blizzard will most certainly not be the video game company that will take us to the virtual promised land.

-Wolfshead

Given the repugnant nature of actually being asked to torture someone — even in a virtual world — it’s only reasonable that many players would feel very uneasy about engaging in this activity. Bartle has rightly asked some serious questions about competence and motivations of the designer of this quest. Why didn’t the game designer responsible at least offer some alternate way of getting the same result given the controversial nature of the quest?

Regular readers of Wolfshead Online know that we dealt with this very same question quite extensively only four months ago in an article entitled WoW: Is Blizzard Promoting Virtual Torture and Murder with the Deathknight Hero Class? Back in July of 2008 I was the first blogger to publicly raise questions about a Death Knight quest in Wrath of the Lich King that involved torturing innocent civilians under the protection of the (conveniently) evil Scarlet Crusade.

Some Choice Please Mr. Designer

At a glance the sensational issue here is the that a Blizzard quest designer would ask WoW players to engage in torture to complete a quest. However, the real question gets to the heart of the fundamental flaw in mainstream MMOs today: why don’t players have real and meaningful choices?

Bartle asks this core question in a quote from his website:

Now while this means that WotLK is not yet torture for me, there is some torture involved. Specifically, this quest. Basically, you have to take some kind of cow poke and zap a prisoner until he talks.

I’m not at all happy with this. I was expecting for there to be some way to tell the guy who gave you the quest that no, actually I don’t want to torture a prisoner, but there didn’t seem to be any way to do that. Worse, the quest is part of a chain you need to complete to gain access to the Nexus, which is the first instance you encounter (if you start on the west of the continent, as I did). So, either you play along and zap the guy, or you don’t get to go to the Nexus.

This is precisely the same point that I made back in July in my original article that was somehow missed by Scott Jennings and others in the mainstream blogosphere. Except in the example that my article was based on, the player playing the Death Knight has NO real choice to refuse to torture civilians. If they refuse, then they can not proceed out of the phased Death Knight starting zone and are condemned forever in virtual Limbo. Therefore the player must do evil deeds in order to progress with his/her Death Knight. Not only is there no choice, the player is forced into role-playing a morally “evil” alignment and then at the conclusion of the grand quest is forced yet again by the designers to play a morally “good” alignment. Are we getting dizzy yet?

Comparing Apples and Oranges

I’d like to briefly address one of Scott’s points on the issue of torture that is not really related to the issue of lack of choice for players. He makes the rationale that torture in the grand scheme of things is not as egregious as thousands of untold killings perpetrated by the typical WoW player:

Which is all very ironic considering that games like World of Warcraft are all about slaughtering millions of creatures so you can take their stuff and get more powerful so you can take more stuff from more creatures you slaughter. In that context poking people with a painstick before you slaughter them seems like a minor issue.

I would contend that in the case of humanoids, they are by design hostile to you and killing them is an act of self-defense which is morally acceptable. This is why that Blizzard doesn’t allow you to kill NPCs of your own faction who are not hostile and of course children NPCs. Even opposing factions can’t kill the other faction’s child NPCs. Torturing someone is not an act of self-defense. Killing someone who wants to kill you is.

Can a Computer Make You Cry?

The exchange between Matt Mihaly and Richard Bartle is well worth reading. Mat commits the classic “it’s just a video game” fallacy. Dear Matt, the whole point of MMOs and virtual worlds is that you are *supposed* to willingly suspend your disbelief and feel that the world and its inhabitants are *real*. I recall the early Electronic Arts ad campaign that posed the revolutionary question: can a computer make you cry? Every designer worth their salt should read that manifesto.

Great works of art, literature, film all have one thing in common: they transport us and they move us — even though we realize they are representations and interpretations of the world around us. It is our primary function as game designers to convince you that our game worlds whether fantasy or real are as consistently believable as possible. That is why I become a game designer.

Concluding Thoughts

As is typical these days on forums and blogs, the usual gang of sophomoric idiots has attacked and vilified Richard Bartle. Bartle has defended his position quite eloquently to the masses — most who just stepped off the Counterstrike bus and who have no clue about game design. It’s clear that many people who play video games and MMOs have become desensitized. These “gamers” enjoy the sense of amoral escapism that has little to no consequences and are only too willing to attack Richard Bartle like he’s some kind of MMO version of Jack Thompson eager to snuff out their virtual freedoms. I hope we have Richard Bartle around for a long time to keep asking the inconvenient questions that the poor little darlin’s have trouble answering.

-Wolfshead

Today’s events come as no real surprise as I have been a big critic of Blizzard’s self-indulgent foray into the risky realm of e-sports. The abomination that is Arena PVP has been a major waste of time and has detracted from PVE and quest-driven gameplay which is what WoW was fundamentally designed for. When you start eroding the fundamentals of your core game, you invite disaster.

On October 8th of this year I predicted that Blizzard will cancel their WoW e-sports PVP Tournaments. From my article:

The Death of E-Sports - Blizzard will cancel their PVP Tournaments marking the end of their self-indulgent foray into e-sports. Blizzard has recently revealed that they are refocusing their PVP development on Battlegrounds. Good riddance!

Given the fact that Starcraft II is in the works and Blizzard products have a fanatical following in South Korea, it remains to be seen if Blizzard will actually abandon their support of e-sports as a focus of their company. However it is almost certain that their WoW e-sports venture has suffered a serious setback and will cause some serious rethinking in Irvine.

We are finally starting to see a chink in the previously impervious Blizzard armor. Suddenly their grandiose plans for world domination are not so certain. Despite their success and hubris, they aren’t perfect and not everything they do turns immediately to gold.

In light of the news of CGS’s sudden demise, they may want to reconsider their involvement in other projects. For example is it wise to make WoW into a major motion picture? What if it flops? Then what? WoW will most surely be in decline by the time that movie is released.

Today’s annoucement is a cold, hard reality check for CEO and wannabe impresario Mike Morhaime who had high hopes for elevating Blizzard into an e-sports phenomenon. Hopefully Blizzard will have the good sense to abandon this costly, divisive and unproductive diversion and focus their efforts back on what they do best — making great games.

-Wolfshead

Eventually every MMO blogger worth their salt ponders the impact that blogs have on the MMO industry as a whole. Of course we’d like to think we are somehow making a difference and it’s an admirable goal in a world where blogging has become a big part of the Internet and is intertwined with the social networking movement. Today, it seems that everyone has a blog. And why not? It’s a great way to revel in one’s passion for a particular subject or hobby. It’s also useful to have a permanent record of one’s writings as opposed to the black hole that is otherwise known as discussion forums.  All of us who blog in some way do so because we feel that our opinions *matter*.

The question is: do our opinions have any impact on the people in the MMO industry that can effect real change?

Why We Blog

Most of us who blog like to feel that what we are writing will have an impact on the MMO community. Nothing can describe the feeling that one gets when you discover that there are other like-minded people out there who feel passionate about the very same issues. Whether it’s a discussion about the latest nerf to your class or some small esoteric part of your favorite MMO that you really enjoy, it’s reassuring to know that other people are in the same virtual boat as you. Blogging has become a great community building activity that helps keep fellow enthusiasts in-touch and motivated about their MMO.

Now it’s all fine and well to look at blogging as something that helps bring a sense of community to MMOs albeit in an offline capacity but what about the importance of blogging having an impact on the MMO industry? Is there any evidence that MMO devs are reading and listening to the opinions expressed on the literally thousands of blogs our there? Should they care? Should we care if they don’t care?

The Reality of the Video Game Industry

I remember when I was putting in 12-16 hour days in the video game industry. Back then my focus was so intense on my current project that I really didn’t have the time nor the energy to read other people’s opinions as I do today. It’s not that public opinion didn’t matter, it’s just that it wasn’t a priority. Sure we cared about game review scores but we found ourselves absolutely loathing professionally game reviewers. After all, how could they possibly understand what it takes to make a video game? In the end you don’t need the distraction and inconvenience of other opinions (especially from outside the industry); if you are a developer the only opinion that matters is your own and your bosses.

During my time working in the industry, my own blog shamefully suffered during those 2 years. I would go months without publishing any articles. Somehow keeping a blog updated wasn’t a big priority when you are giving every ounce of your energy to the creation of a video game. Back then I recall thinking how irrelevant blogs and discussion forums are to the whole grand scheme of things. I used to think of the public: talk is cheap…you really want better games? Make them!

On the occasion when I had a few minutes of free time, I would dutifully skim through various discussion forums and official MMO company websites but that was about it. Therefore I can honestly appreciate devs who work for MMO companies like Blizzard who aren’t very vocal on discussion boards or blogs. Yet given the social nature of MMOs as opposed to single player video games, failing to build in time to allow your devs to communicate with the public each month is a terrible mistake.

Blogs Are a Good Predictor of the State of Your MMO

After being out of the industry boiler room for a while I have had the luxury to re-think some of my positions. I would venture to say that to the discerning reader there *is* great value in what is being written in blogs and in the comments in the blogosphere. Often big trends and glaring problems usually surface on blogs months before the MMO company is even aware of what is going on. Bloggers have a unique perspective in contrast to the typical over-worked MMO dev in that they are a fresh pair of eyes unsullied from the rigors and demands of working in the industry.

While the average employee slaving away at a video company can’t be expected to spend 4 hours a day reading and discussing issues on forums or blogs at the very least MMO companies should be hiring people who’s sole job it is to be taking the temperature of the community, the commentators and the pundits. These employees should be giving feedback directly to the people in power so that issues can be addressed before they spiral out of control. How often have we seen companies ignore the warnings of beta testers on their forums and ship an MMO that is doomed to fail? Too damned often.

Don’t Ignore Your Community

Video game companies need to understand that MMOs are an entirely different creature then a single-player video game that you sell once. Never before has an industry ever had such vocal customers who are so passionate about the products and services that they consume. As customers, we should be heard instead of “managed”. Woe to the MMO company that fails to listen, consider and acknowledge all of the voices in the community. Case in point: the official Blizzard Wrath of the Lich King Profession forums. Months went by before a Blizzard rep even bothered to post on those forums. The forums themselves were a terrific repository of expert players offering sage advice to Blizzard. As for the Blizzard lead dev responsible for professions Jon “Where’s Waldo” Lecraft he’s been conspicuously absent. The last anyone has heard from him was a Blizzcast earlier this year. Who knows, maybe his face will soon be making an appearance on California milk cartons?

Digression - People who are involved in the creation of video games are a very opinionated lot; they are not easily swayed by the opinion of the “street”. You have to be ultra-opinionated to survive in the industry as failure to have an opinion that you can logically defend will end up in you being steamrolled by the alpha males during the endless stream of meetings that one must endure during the course of an average week. An interesting aside in the industry is that the more you get paid, the more your opinion seems to matter. People who have entry level positions don’t really need opinions — instead they are the worker bees that implement the opinions, ideas and dreams of the people in executive positions of power.

Rolling the Dice With Opinions

I wish I could definitively say that blogging has an impact but I’m really not sure as it would be impossible to measure without some actual evidence. One would like to think that in a perfect world that a well expressed idea *will* have some kind of appreciable impact; it’s the chance we all take as bloggers. Sometimes we get lucky and we strike a chord with the community, sometimes we strike out but that’s ok too. My heart goes out to many of the posters on official MMO forums who write with such unbridled passion — they earnestly hope that their post will hit pay dirt, grab the attention of a “blue” (WoW player lingo for “company employee”) and get their issue addressed. Some do get lucky and the devs seem to wake from their sleep-deprived stupor and actually implement some changes.

Concluding Thoughts

All of us who dare to put pen to paper whether real or electronic do so because it’s a part of human nature to express oneself and want to be heard. As bloggers and posters, we need to be realistic. While what we do may not be changing the MMO world with great fanfare, we are making an incremental grassroots impact nonetheless. We need to be satisfied and delight in those small sparks of recognition for our observations.  Just knowing that our opinions are out there for the world to read and evaluate keeps me blogging. Often I will get comments and emails from my readers expressing how much they enjoyed the article. For me, that’s all the impact I really need.

-Wolfshead

Now that online gaming has evolved into MMOs and virtual worlds we are seeing a mass influx of the second generation of Internet users. Many of them are crude, rude and sophomoric. Why? Because they can get away with it. And it gets worse. Soon an even newer generation of gamers will be entering your favorite MMO: the Xbox Live people. What brought my attention to this was an outstanding article I found that is basically a survival guide to the types of players that one commonly encounters when using the Xbox Live at ToplessRobot called The 10 People You Meet On Xbox Live.

Here the author warns us about the common annoying personalities found there:

Seriously, Xbox Live—the #1 online console gaming service, as Nintendo and Sony desperately make there’s far too complicated—is full of idiots, most of which are the same idiots. No matter what their screen name is, chances are you’ve heard their special brand of idiocy already. Here now are ten types of people you are guaranteed to meet on Xbox Live.

Now here is a brief listing of the 10 types of Xbox Live personality types in all their comic glory:

1. The Frat Boy Who’s Certain You’re Gay
2. The Manic Teen Who Loves His Own Voice
3. The Juvenile Delinquent Who Kills His Own Teammates
4. The 14-Year-Old Racist
5. The Redneck Who Modded His Truck
6. The Egomaniac Teen Who Blames Everyone for Losing but Himself
7. The 8-Year-Old Without Enough Ritalin
8. The Late 20-Something Who Should Stop Playing and Deal with the Issue Going On in the Real World
9. The Late-30s Mensa Member
10. The Beleaguered Girl

Most of us that have played MMOs for any length of time have already started to notice these people creeping into the MMO community via chat channels and voice communication. If they haven’t already arrived, expect them very soon. They are the barbarians at the gates of our virtual worlds; fresh warm bodies, eager to supplant the existing culture and gladly welcomed inside by video game companies hungry for new subscribers.

What really worries me is that as these new people invade MMOs and virtual worlds for the first time, their behavior and lack of social graces will drive out the previous generation of subscribers who no longer feel comfortable. Since the concept of “churn” is so vital to the longevity of MMOs we veterans of the community may soon find ourselves an unwanted and displaced demographic. If the elders of the community are gone, then who will teach the younger generations about the basics of gameplay and social conduct?

The core of all of these problems is that some people are self-absorbed and selfish. They wantonly impinge upon the enjoyment of everyone else by their reckless behavior and hide behind the anonymity of the Internet. If the Internet is to remain a viable form of communication and entertainment then we as human beings need to start treating each other civilly. Naturally some of us do that but there are many that don’t. To combat the offenders, the people that administer the networks/games/communities must be proactive and enforce a code of conduct that makes the online games and virtual worlds an safe and enjoyable experience for the majority of their users.

The legacy of thousands of years of civilization is that we as humans have elevated ourselves because we made rules and followed them for the greater good. The only alternative is anarchy, which pretty much describes what you see in most online games and MMOs these days thanks to a laissez faire philosophy of indifference on the part of companies like Blizzard.

While the Internet has brought us closer together in some ways, in reality it’s created a bigger gap between us due to the incivility that has become the new standard of behavior. The current state of cyberspace is that we enjoy all this freedom without any real responsibility. As long as most of us remain silent and uncaring about the quality of our online communities we shall surely get the Internet we deserve.

-Wolfshead

Here is an excerpt from his interview with Wired’s Earnest Cavali which I found very revealing:

Morhaime: At a high level we’re very committed to e-sports, we’re very committed to supporting the community. So, community features, e-sports features, and what shape that takes, I guess we can talk about later.

E-Sports?

Let’s deal with e-sports first. I have to wonder why Mr. Morhaime wants to continue to support e-sports for Blizzard products especially the WoW Tournaments. Where is the evidence that this is what average players really want in WoW? Has Blizzard ever once used their polling feature on the official forums to ask the players what they think of Arenas or e-sports? Of course not. I believe this is an unhealthy distraction for Blizzard, when instead they should be focusing on improving the core fundamentals of their MMO business: improving the core game and releasing content in a more timely fashion.

I wonder how much revenue is being generated from e-sports? Is it that profitable to have a “high level” of focus by Mr. Morhaime and his associates? I seriously doubt it. How about the cost of resources that Blizzard has expended in balancing class abilities for PVP and PVE? One thing is for sure: those 11 million WOW subscribers are subsidizing their e-sports venture.

Maybe the real reason for Blizzard’s focus on e-sports is that they believe it will keep WoW alive long after it’s shelf life. Here’s a quote from May of 2008 with Tom Chilton Lead Designer and PVP architect with e-spots website GotFrag:

Chilton: For our company, eSports has been a key to the longevity of several of our titles. With StarCraft celebrating its 10th anniversary, there are still active communities and eSports organizations that support it along with our other titles. The Blizzard eSports group is responsible for developing Blizzard Entertainment’s presence in the increasingly popular eSports scene. Its main role consists of preparing and operating tournaments around the world. Additionally, it provides third-party support for various eSports leagues and communicates balance feedback to the developers.

It seems they are hoping for WoW to continue on in the future morphed from a PVE based MMO into a PVP e-sport. The problem is that WoW is a MMO, unlike Warcraft and Starcraft which were RTS games. How they believe they can really transition WoW into a full fledged e-sport is beyond me.

Another reason that Blizzard cares about e-sports is the buzz that announcing tournaments can provide. It helps keeps Blizzard in the news which is key to helping their stock prices.

Community?

What I really take issue with in the Wired interview is the references to community. Here are some more comments on “community” from Morhaime:

Morhaime: When you think about World of Warcraft as a social network, and you think about the future version of Battle.net as Blizzard’s social network, then you wanna stay connected to your social network.

Again it seems Mr. Morhaime is falling prey to trends and is interested in creating more press for WoW by equating it to a “social network”. Give me a break! While WoW has probably become part of popular culture, WoW is not a social network — it is a massively multi-player online game.

Of course WoW has a community but what has Blizzard really done in the past to demonstrate they even care about their community? Very little. Their discussion forums remain essentially a cesspool of unmoderated chaos and juvenile bravado. Blizzard knows it but they allow it. Some community…

If Blizzard is so concerned about enhancing the sense of community, why have they failed to proactively police public chat channels in-game? Why is the /ignore list so small? Why are they so slow to ban repeat offenders that hold us all hostage with their offensive babble and rantings in the General and Trade channels? Blizzard has the most lax and forgiving enforcement policy in the MMO industry for one reason: they don’t want to ban repeat chat offenders because that would cost them precious revenue.

But hold on, there may be a ray of hope for the forums. During the Wrath of the Lich King beta, an irate Jeff “Tigole” Kaplan went on a banning spree on the beta forums — too bad Blizzard didn’t hire him as a community manager, we might actually have clean forums right now.

Do As I Say, But Not As I Do

Now I’ve made this point in a previous article but it’s worth repeating: if WoW is such a wonderful social community why do Morhaime, Metzen, Pardo, Kaplan, Afrasiabi et al never or rarely post on the official forums and participate with their beloved community? For example, Jon LeCraft the person in charge of professions has never once posted in the official profession forums. So how does one get a job in the video game industry today without having exceptional communication skills or the desire to do so? (Note: every Blizzard job application requires the applicant to have “strong communication skills”).

It seems they are afraid to mingle with the great unwashed masses of players in that wonderfully awesome community of theirs. That’s understandable. After all, why would they want to subject themselves to the scorn and ridicule that the rest of us face in their largely unmoderated forums? Oh, and if you want to mingle with the Blizzard brass be sure pony up lots of money for tickets, airfare and lodging to attend Blizzcon and please bring your binoculars.

Lack of RP Support

Finally, why hasn’t Blizzard done something to support their role-playing communities in a purportedly role-playing game? Most RP servers in WoW are besieged with disruptive idiots who choose offensive and out of character names in order to harass the RP communities that have tried to establish themselves there. Beleaguered role-players have been crying out for support for years now only to have their pleas fall on deaf ears.

In the end, talking about social networks and community makes for a witty and clever discourse in an interview. He can talk the talk all he wants but he doesn’t walk the walk when it comes to facilitating a better community for WoW subscribers. If he would spend just a few minutes reading his own official forums or go online to listen to the Trade channel perhaps he’d get a clue of how atrocious his community really is; a community which he and his cohorts have enabled and let fall into complete disrepair.

Conclusion

I wish Mr. Morhaime would make more of an effort to communicate with the WoW community. I hear he’s a standup guy. It would be nice to hear Mr. Morhaime talk more about making a better MMO instead of the usual hype that you get with most CEO’s. Being able to passionately address issues like improving the profession system in WoW, creating more content for role-players, and revamping older content would demonstrate that he actually understands the game and is in touch with his player base. After all he’s the supreme leader of a virtual country of 11 million subscribers.

-Wolfshead

There have been many great reviews of this game which are far more comprehensive then my efforts here and I advise everyone to check them out at the news area of the official website. Here are some of highlights of this game presented in no particular order:

Pick Your Hero

You can choose a warrior, paladin or mage. Depending on which class you choose, your troops will enjoy special bonuses and abilities via a talent system akin to Diablo/WoW. As the hero you control the movement and decisions of your troops on the battlefield using a turn based mechanic. Normally you fight against undirected opposing troops but occasionally you fight against mini-bosses and big bosses who are tougher and have better loot.

Gameplay: Adventure Mode and Battle Mode

There are two types of gameplay in King’s Bounty: adventure mode and battle mode. Adventure mode has you traveling about the world in Diablo-like fashion but battle mode has you face to face on a grid like battlefield with your troops on one side and your opponent’s troops on the other side.

Battle Mode: The Heart of the Game

Probably the most addicting part of this game is battle mode where you the hero get to control your troops on a grid system superimposed over a wide array of landscapes and dungeons. Each type of troop has their own abilities, speed, damage, defense, etc. that you can control using a turn based mechanic. You as the hero direct your troops and depending on the decisions you’ve made with your talent tree (again thanks to Diablo) you can cast spells and use the Chest of Rage at certain intervals.

Words can’t express how refreshingly *fun* this kind of combat is after playing years of real-time combat in various video games and MMOs. There is also a special “auto combat” mode that the player can turn on if they feel like sitting back and watching the carnage unfold. It’s also a great way to learn how to play the game as the AI casts spells from your spell book and uses the chest of Rage which can give the beginner some good strategy tips. I do recommend playing with it off once you get the hang of how combat works.

Old World Storyline and Feel

I was very impressed by the European feel of the story arc and the quests. As a child and teenager I used to haunt our local library and read every book on fairy tales from all over the world. I grew to love many of the folktales from Russia and other European countries. King’s Bounty has really managed to capture an authentic old-world feel that is sorely missing from the politically correct, overly-feminized offerings of today’s RPG games and MMOs. I think this is because of the unique cultural context that comes from the Russian developers. I’m quickly becoming a huge fan of Russian video games!

Politically Incorrect: Load Up the Wife and Kids

You can only create and name a male character. How deliciously politically incorrect of them but it makes perfect sense as it’s in keeping with the old world high fantasy tradition of fables and folklore. You can have a wife and eventually have children which give you special bonuses. Also each wife and child has special abilities which affect you in combat. You can even equip your wife with special items for more bonuses!

Female troops that appear later in the game possess certain abilities which cause opposing male troops to get “distracted” and miss against them. Again, not very politically correct but very much appreciated by a gamer like myself who is weary of the gender neutral orthodoxy that has infected much of society and gaming these days.

Charming Writing

The writing in the quests even while occasionally having some errata as a result of the translation from native Russian to English is charming and wonderful. The result is that the characters that you meet along the way really come to life with their predicaments and situations. The dialog has a certain sense of innocence and elevation that is tragically missing from the typical offerings of Blizzard quest writers in World of Warcraft as they strive too hard to make their game appeal to the current edgy generation of over-stimulated and petulant teenagers.

Art Direction and Animation

The art direction is spectacular and immersive. The developers were definitely inspired by Blizzard here (check out the credits): I’d say it’s Diablo meets WoW. You’ll see wonderfully detailed landscapes and structures but with enough caricature to give it a unique look mixed with that bucolic Thomas Kinkade type of storybook feel. Every bit of art has been produced like it’s a labor of love — the Blizzard team could learn a few things from these folks. The animations of the troops are splendid and very pleasing during combat.

Nighttime Actually Means Something

What I love about King’s Bounty is that nighttime actually means something. Undead troops get special bonuses during nighttime both if you fight them and if they are under your command. There are talents you can purchase that also make your troops more effective at night as well. Many MMOs including Blizzard’s WoW could do much more to make their worlds at night become more alive and different. The artwork as well admirably falls under the spell of the night as you travel but beware of what lurks behind the next hill or dale!

A Vast World of Adventure

This game is an explorer’s dream come true with travel on horseback and sailing ship in adventure mode. Every nook and cranny has something worth seeing and exists for a reason. You can even dig for treasure in the most unexpected spots! I’m probably only half way through this game but I’d say that there are probably 500 hours of gameplay and various difficulty settings that one can choose which makes for infinite replayability. Every battle plays differently depending on whether you choose a warrior, paladin or mage from the outset.

Special Mentions

The soundtrack is haunting and beautiful. There are some great songs in the elven lands which have some wonderful female voices similar to the sound of the elves used by Howard Shore in his entrancing Lord of the Rings score in the Peter Jackson movies. The sound design is first rate with some very pleasing sound effects and creature/troop sound effects.

The Chest of Rage is great fun and eventually you’ll appreciate the benefits from controlling these special spirits as the game progresses!

Note: they have released their first English patch for the game at their website which addresses quite a few issues.

Conclusion

Even though I have yet to complete this game, King’s Bounty: The Legend is an enthralling masterpiece! If I could score this game I would give it a 10/10. This is easily the PC Game of the Year. Beware: if you love old school high fantasy turn based games and even if you haven’t tried them before — you will be addicted and hooked if you purchase this game! If I had one PC game to take on a desert island it would be this one. After years of playing old and tired MMOs, this surprising offering from the immensely gifted Katauri Interactive team has made this rather grumpy and cynical gamer fall in love with computer gaming all over again. Now where was I? In the name of King Mark, troops prepare for battle!!!

-Wolfshead

Predictions: What Blizzard Will Do

1 ) Timely Expansion Release Date - Blizzard realizes that they have to start releasing expansions faster. Due to the quick leveling and easy accomplishments players are getting bored of the content and tend to unsubscribe once they reach the level cap. With the release of each expansion, players are reaching the tedium threshold much sooner. Pressure from Activision shareholders who will want to see some return for their investment will also be a factor in Blizzard creating expansions on a more timely basis.

2 ) Restructuring of Development Teams - Due to the fact that they are lagging behind in their promise to release expansions in a more timely fashion, Blizzard will eventually realize that they need to create two distinct teams: a live team to manage the day to day WoW and an expansion team to develop and implement future expansion content. Blizzard has no excuse now as they have a shiny new headquarters and lots of money to hire new people.

3 ) Raising the Level Cap to 90 - Blizzard feels that 10 more levels will provide casual players with enough content to tide them over until the next expansion. Expect Blizzard to follow in the footsteps of previous expansions here.

4 ) Seafaring Expansion Theme - I fully expect Blizzard to create a seafaring based expansion theme full of goblins, pirates and naga. I believe the Maelstrom and the Undermine will play a big role in determining the geographic locations. Also expect to see the inclusion of the human city of Gilneas. You’ll most likely see Queen Azshara and Neptulon as raid bosses.

5 ) Personal Water Travel - Without a doubt there will be some kind of water based travel that Blizzard will devise. Expect to see gnomish water machines and/or surfboards for players. Players will literally be able to jump the shark with Blizzard’s help.

6 ) New Hero Class - Blizzard will most certainly create a new hero class and it will tie in to the lore of the new expansion following the precedent of the first hero class: the Deathknight. The new class will probably be caster or range type class or even a new pet class — pet classes are very popular with players. Also the new class will probably have the ability to heal as healers are in short supply; Blizzard used the first hero class to address a tank shortage so it’s likely that the next hero class will address some need. Expect the class to start at level 55 like the first hero class.

7 ) The Death of E-Sports - Blizzard will cancel their PVP Tournaments marking the end of their self-indulgent foray into e-sports. Blizzard has recently revealed that they are refocusing their PVP development on Battlegrounds. Good riddance!

8 ) Player Housing - It’s now or never for Blizzard. By the time the 3rd expansion comes out I predict WoW’s subscriber base will be in decline. Blizzard will implement player housing as way to help stop the bleeding. Players have been clamoring for this feature for years now only to be vetoed by someone at the top in Blizzard.

Wishlist: What Blizzard Should Do

1 ) Customer Loyalty Program - The 3rd expansion will probably be released between Christmas 2009 and Spring 2010. By then many WoW subscribers will have left the ranks of the 10 million for other MMOs. A customer loyalty program will help keep people subscribing. SOE created one for their EverQuest MMOs a few months after the release of WoW due to falling subscriptions.

2 ) Five New Levels Instead of Ten - Blizzard doesn’t need to release 10 new levels each expansion. Instead they should double the amount of experience needed to reach each level and only have 5 new levels. Fewer levels puts less pressure and demands on developers who have to create half the content and half the time testing new class abilities. Slower leveling means that players will be forced to enjoy the content at their level instead of bypassing it by madly racing to the level cap.

3 ) Live GM Events - Facing decreasing revenues from fewer subscribers, Blizzard should introduce live GM events in order to stop the hemorrhaging by renewing player interest in WoW again. Live events would go a long way toward making Azeroth come alive.

4 ) Azeroth Reborn Expansion Theme - Forget adding new areas to WoW. The boring, repetitive and unchanging content of old Azeroth has become a major liability. New quests, NPCs, stories and dungeons (instances) need to be developed in order to revitalize all of the old areas. Give players a reason to roll new characters. Also new players (who are the lifeblood of any MMO) would be able to experience more advanced quest technology that is currently being used in Wrath of the Lich King.

5 ) Role-Playing Support and Mechanics - Eventually Blizzard will realize that role-players are a very valuable asset to their much beloved player “community”. Players should be able to go to special vendors to purchase role-playing support which would include being able to spawn special NPC’s. Imagine being able to host a wedding, a treasure hunt, a party, a tug of war game — the possibilities are endless.

6 ) Guild Halls- This is a feature that players have been requesting for many years. Guild halls could provide guild masters and officers with many management features that are critical in managing a guild. Guild trophies of recent kills could be displayed. Statues and memorials to guild members could also be created here. Also they would provide rank and file members with places to congregate before and after raids.

7 ) Player Housing - Yet another long requested feature that Blizzard really needs to implement. Player housing gives players more of a stake in the MMOs they inhabit. They are also a great way to revitalize crafting as many crafted items will be required to decorate those homes. Player housing is the biggest no-brainer for any MMO and Blizzard can easily afford it.

8 ) Clean Up the Discussion Forums - Probably the most disheartening thing about WoW is the terrible forum community that has emerged. The WoW forums are a disgrace. The forum meta-game has become all about oneupsmanship, trolling and sophomoric nastiness that has managed to drown out the thoughtful and legitimate posters. If I was a new player researching a potential MMO to play I would be appalled at the forums and shy away from WoW. Blizzard needs to clean them up or remove them completely.

Conclusion

Players are getting tired of the predictable gameplay in WoW. The flaws in their MMO are starting to stick out like a sore thumb and it will only get worse in the next year as players experience more of the same fare with the release of Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

One thing is certain in this world: all good things must come to an end. WoW will not be at the top of the MMO heap indefinitely and their current business as usual attitude will need to change and evolve. It will be interesting to see how the inevitable reality of declining subscribers influences the decision making process at Blizzard with regard to new expansions.

-Wolfshead

Exploration has always been a central theme in adventure games, RPGs and MMORPGs — that was until WoW came along. Even in MMO’s the relationship between achieving and exploring was symbiotic and healthy. Players who wanted to explore dangerous territory needed to become more powerful via leveling to do so; players who wanted to become more powerful needed to explore uncharted territory to gain that power. With Wow, the thrill of discovery which was crucial in motivating a large segment of gamers has been relegated to the sidelines in order to appease the dominant player culture: the achievers. So what is an explorer anyways?

What is an Explorer?

Before we go any further it would be helpful to understand the MMO definition of an “explorer”. Richard Bartle’s classic paper Players Who Suit MUDS gives us some good insight. Note: I will be using his achiever, explorer, killer and socializer terminology extensively in this article. Here is just one quote among many that explain the motivations of explorers:

Explorers are interested in having the game surprise them, i.e. in INTERACTING with the WORLD. It’s the sense of wonder which the virtual world imbues that they crave for; other players add depth to the game, but they aren’t essential components of it, except perhaps as sources of new areas to visit. Scoring points all the time is a worthless occupation, because it defies the very open-endedness that makes a world live and breathe.

Unfortunately that explanation may seem alien and unfamiliar to the current typical WoW subscriber. After all, who isn’t playing WoW to “pwn noobs” and get “phat purple epix”?

What Empty Towers Taught Me About Blizzard

Back when I first started playing WoW, what troubled me was how often I was let down by Blizzard when I explored structures. In the beginning human lands of Elwyn Forest I would often climb to the top of towers and find nothing there — no guards, no people, not even a scroll, treasure chest or book of lore on the ground. I soon realized that exploring most buildings was pointless and a waste of time as there were no secret entrances to dark mysterious caves at the bottom of the inn just behind the barrels. I guess it’s too much to ask that people who take the time and trouble to investigate their surroundings are rewarded. I can’t help feeling that Blizzard has created a MMO for idiots that need a flashing neon sign that says, “DANGEROUS DUNGEON HERE!” for all to see.

Reality Check: Exploration as a Means to an End

Given the casual demographic of WoW and the fact that it’s an achievement based MMO, many players look upon exploration as a necessary evil. Tim Howego in a recent article looks at exploration from the point of view of an achiever: it’s a means to an end, instead of an end in itself. Traditional MMO exploration is a way of gathering information which helps players to enjoy the game by becoming better achievers. He contends that due to players having a lack of time and the copious amounts of information in WoW, that as the game becomes more complex as per the “easy to learn, hard to master” mantra that players must become selective in how they obtain that information. Ultimately they end up turning to 3rd party sources such as the web or strategy guides. Here’s a quote from his article:

So why continue to build game worlds that require so much exploration? Exploration has become redundant for most players, because the only skill they need is information management. Explorers are a minority group, that games like WoW already fail to completely satisfy.

This is an excellent analysis of exploration from the point of view of a non-explorer player who thanks to Blizzard has become the dominant play style in WoW these days. But what of players who are inclined to be traditional explorers? Do they still have a place in MMO’s like WoW? Would WoW be a better MMO if more explorers were brought into the fold?

WoW’s Golden Age of Exploration

Back in the original WoW, it was common to explore areas of the world and find unique people and places. In game design parlance these are known as points of interest. Many of us while flying between flight paths were treated to surprises such as the mysterious airport above Ironforge, the ongoing battle between a dragon and dwarves in the Searing Gorge — all existing for the simple virtue of helping to make Azeroth come to life. Even the achievers and killers who play WoW must admit that these kinds of seemingly trivial things add meaning and depth to their play experience.

Explorers like to dig a bit deeper then others for their treasure. I wonder how many people who played the original WoW missed clicking on Morgan Ladimore’s grave in Duskwood? How many ever swam beneath the Thandol Span and clicked on the dwarf skeleton and got the waterlogged letter which starts probably the one of the most heart wrenching quests ever? Not many I wager. These days finding little gems in the world that exist only for their sheer intrinsic value is rare indeed. MMO assets are only valuable if they have a purpose such as being part of a quest line or story arc. Blizzard has embraced a design philosophy of utility that is aimed primarily at satisfying the achievers.

Enjoyment for Explorers Not Important

While the landscapes and settlements of Azeroth are startlingly beautiful and ripe for exploration they largely exist to provide a sense of context for their target audience: achievers and killers.

While Blizzard still manages to create some interesting content for explorers, they have managed to negate it by their incessant publication of content spoilers on their website and forums. By marketing and advertising content with such detail they are removing the sense of surprise and thrill of discovery for not only explorers but all players. It seems that Blizzard is wholly prepared to sacrifice the potential enjoyment of explorers so that achievers will feel compelled to keep subscribing.

For evidence of this, we have only to look to two recent news items found on the official WoW website in the past week few weeks.

Example One: Northrend Interactive Map

The first was the introduction of an interactive map of Northrend which is where the bulk of the new content for the upcoming expansion Wrath of the Lich King takes place. The player can view an overview of Northrend complete with maps of all of the major zones, towns and outposts. Links are provided in each map where even more information about the bestiary and level requirements is given to the player. Players don’t need obvious spoilers like this. They should be required to discover the areas themselves. So much for the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of finding something by yourself.

Example Two: Pirate’s Day Event

The second example last week was the promotion of Pirate’s Day one day event in WoW. Blizzard leaves nothing to the imagination as they explain in detail every aspect of the festival. Here’s an excerpt from the description of the event:

First, talk to any pirate commoner to receive a costume to help you get into the spirit of Pirates’ Day. Once appropriately attired, head down to Booty Bay to join in the fun. There, look for Dread Captain Demeza and her crew, who have taken over the roof of the Booty Bay bank and auction house. By talking to Captain DeMeza, players become an honorary crew member and transform into a pirate of their race and gender for 12 hours. This costume buff may be clicked off but persists through combat, mounting, death, and so on.

Other highlights of the holiday include:

• A large crowd of pirate revelers (”Dread Crew”) who dance, talk, eat, drink, laugh, and shoot fireworks. Ask Baron Revilgaz what he thinks of the visitors.
• The Tauren First Mate Hapana and his giant South Seas assault parrot, Nyuni.
• A trio of cannons and cannoneers who periodically fire out into the bay - at times, just barely missing the sails of the incoming transport. Those crazy corsairs.
• Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket, two curiously-named pirates.

After reading this detailed description it seems rather pointless to even attend Pirate’s Day if you are an explorer. Nothing is left to chance as you are told who to speak to and what reward you will obtain in advance. Why would anyone want to attend the event after Blizzard has released spoiler information? Would you cheerfully attend a film if you were given spoilers about the plot? Must every detail in WoW be constantly promoted and advertised?

On a side note, the way this event is described leads me to believe that Blizzard is targeting a pre-teen to teen audience. I feel like I’m reading a travelers guide to Disneyworld where you are told when and where Mickey Mouse will be so you can get his autograph and pose for pictures. Blizzard should stop insulting the intelligence of it’s players. Yet this is to be expected from the company that created the first MMO for Dummies where players need to be guided from one area to the next via large yellow exclamation and question marks positioned over the heads of NPCs.

Given the fact that people today are pressed for time, live in culture of convenience and are just *gasp* plain lazy, it’s not surprising that Blizzard requires so little from it’s players by providing them with a constant trail of breadcrumbs. Sheer exploration for the fun of it seems like an anachronism in the fast paced world of busy WoW players furiously racing to the level cap.

A Long Established Pattern

Blizzard has been spilling the beans on future content updates, gear and events for years now. They happily reveal the storylines and plots of major events complete with detailed quest and loot info long before these events even take place. Even the outdoor undead invasions that were part of the release of the original Naxxaramas were published well in advance. Events in WoW are simply not permitted to just happen — they must be fully promoted and discussed for weeks if not months before they actually take place. The element of surprise has all but vanished in Azeroth with no regard to the detrimental impact it will have on explorers. Anything to keep the salivating achievers subscribing

Trickle Down Design Philosophy

While the landscapes and settlements of Azeroth are startlingly beautiful and ripe for exploration they largely exist to provide a sense of context for their target audience: achievers and killers. Blizzard has never treated explorers with parity. Everything in WoW serves to reinforce the two dominant in-game activities: PVE raiding (achievers) and PVP (killers). How did it get this way? The current direction of WoW is largely the result of the personal preferences and resumes of the two designers in charge of these areas: Jeffrey Kaplan and Tom Chilton.

Jeffrey Kaplan who one of the two lead designers is in charge of the the ultimate form of achievement: raiding. He was the guildleader of one of the most notorious EverQuest guilds: Legacy of Steel. His guild was full of powergamers and min-maxers. Legacy of Steel became famous for many world firsts in EverQuest and epitomized the classic achiever paradigm.

On the other hand you have fellow lead designer Tom Chilton who is the architect of the WoW PVP system. His background was in Ultima Online expansions where he was in charge of PVP content. As a player, he was also a hardcore PVPer.

Here we have two lead designers that have extensive backgrounds in representing achievers and killers respectively. Where then are the lead designers in charge of exploration and socialization? Where is the equivalent of Raph Koster at Blizzard? The problem is that they don’t exist at Blizzard or are so marginalized that they have no power in the direction of WoW.  One wonders if Kaplan and Chilton have even heard of Richard Bartle or if they are aware of Bartle’s classifications? Perhaps they just don’t care.

It’s also entirely possible that they have consciously crafted a MMO that has utterly deemphasized the explorer/socializer (world) archetypes in favor of the achiever/killer (game) one. In the end, it may be that the game has won out over the world at the hallowed halls of the Blizzard headquarters.

Comparative Reward Structures: Achievers vs. Explorers

In order to understand why explorers are being shortchanged, it’s useful to understand that achievers and explorers are rewarded differently. Achievers are more likely to evaluate an activity or endeavor by the tangible gain that they can accrue in the way of better loot or more money. Achievers love to deconstruct games in order to get the maximum return on their investment. Achievers are easy to satisfy as you can keep creating better loot for them to desire which keeps them subscribing.

Explorers are not motivated as much by material possessions in game such as gear or money. Instead it’s the thrill of discovery that lies ahead on the horizon that keeps them motivated. Explorers also like to feel they are part of a living breathing world which conversely is not that important to achievers. As long as there are parts of the game world that have not been discovered and personally experienced by the player they will continue to subscribe. One of the problems with creating content for explorers is that content at any given time is finite. Technically speaking an explorer can exhaust content and become bored.

At first glance it would seem that raiding would be a way to keep both achievers and explorers happy as both of them get what they want: more gear and more exploration (new dungeons, new bosses). Raiding is an activity that is a classic example of the law of diminishing returns — a great effort for meager rewards. The difference is that an achiever will keep farming a dungeon over and over again in order to loot a piece of desired gear but an explorer will have long become bored of that dungeon and will be seeking new areas to explore and experience.

A Culture of Incentivization

Blizzard has created a MMO and a corresponding player culture that is almost entirely incentivized — naturally this favors achievers. Everything in WoW has a reward associated with it. The world is so reward driven that most players will only participate in something if there is some kind of benefit to be obtained. Wow players don’t seem interested in NPCs that don’t have question marks over their heads. Players are like worker bees only interested in flowers that can produce honey. Utility and gain are the order of the day. Blizzard has trained us well.

Ironically even explorers will be rewarded by visiting all areas in a map via the new Player Achievement System. So now we’ll have a situation where more achievers engage in exploration not for exploration’s sake but in order to achieve more. I believe this will manifest itself in exploration for all the wrong reasons and will do nothing to attract more explorers to WoW.

Why Most of the Explorers Have Left

One of the main reasons that most explorers have left WoW is due to the nature of finite outdoor and indoor content. Explorers are usually the first in and the first out. Tim Howego calls them “early adopters”. They are among the first to “discover” a new MMO and the first to depart when there is nothing left to explore. I believe this also explains why MMOs have more player diversity in their first few years. New players are naturally curious and eventually as the true nature of the MMO becomes evident those Bartle archetypes who don’t find that MMO to their liking just leave. Also this is true when you look at WoW when it’s punctuated by the release of expansions — people unsubscribe as the new content dries up and resubscribe when expansions are released.

In the case of WoW which caters exclusively to the achiever mentality, the scarcity of non-achiever content explains why there aren’t as many explorers or socializers still playing. As more and more explorers leave WoW, there is less concern and demand for more content that is explorer friendly. The remaining play styles end up becoming dominant and Blizzard caters to them with more specificity.

The Impact on Content

Tim Howego points out that catering to achievers has even affected the linearity of current dungeon design:

Open-ended exploration has been removed from a lot of content aimed solely at “achievers” - players primarily motivated by advancement and competition. For examples, examine the evolution of dungeon content. Some of the early dungeons featured a lot of open-ended mazes, with little structure as to how a group should progress through them - Blackrock Depths is a good example. Recent additions have tended to be much more linear: Exploration is bounded to learning how to kill individual enemies within the dungeon, rather than trying to find what needs to be killed.

Of course this new philosophy of streamlined dungeon design has been created to appeal to casual gamers with limited amounts of time. Exploration, map making and even memorizing dungeon layouts are skills that are no longer needed. One never feels lost in a new WoW dungeon; just hop on the car and enjoy the merry ride on rails to the boss. I can’t help but feeling that these instances have been developed for younger audience due to their child-like simplicity. We’ve come a long way from the dungeon masterpieces of yore found in MMOs like EverQuest: Upper and Lower Guk, Solusek’s Eye, Permafrost and Nagafen’s Lair just to name a few.

Why We Need More Explorers

According to Richard Bartle’s article Players Who Suit MUDS, players who play MUDS (the precursor to MMOs) can be broken down into 4 motivations: achievers, explorers, killers and socializers. In fact if you take the Bartle Test you will soon see that most players have varying amounts of each of the 4 archetypes as part of their play style. Bartle makes the case that for a MUD to be balanced there has to be recognition of each of the 4 archetypes. Here are a few excerpts with regard to balance from his paper:

Making sure that a game doesn’t veer off in the wrong direction and lose players can be difficult; administrators need to maintain a balanced relationship between the different types of player, so as to guarantee their MUD’s “feel”. Note that I am not advocating any particular form of equilibrium: it is up to the game administrators themselves to decide what atmosphere they want their MUD to have, and thus define the point at which it is “balanced”…

A stable MUD is one in which the four principal styles of player are in equilibrium. This doesn’t imply that there are the same number of players exhibiting each style; rather, it means that over time the proportion of players for each style remains roughly constant, so that the balance between the the various types remains the same.

Without a doubt, the current state of WoW has both achievers and killers as the de facto dominant play styles.  In my opinion this imbalance has harmed their MMO on a whole and degraded the play experience by creating a homogenized player base where everyone shares the same goals and behaves similarly. When everyone in your MMO has either one of two motivations for their involvement it lends itself to promoting a bland and uninteresting playerbase that lacks synergy and depth that is vital for virtual worlds to thrive.

Conclusion

Even if you are a hardcore achiever or killer, you need to realize that your MMO experience is enriched by the presence of explorers and socializers. Sadly, there is no evidence to suggest that Blizzard even cares about having any semblance of balance in the player archetypes that choose to play their MMO.

Sure it’s more of a challenge to design and implement content and mechanics that support exploration and socialization within MMOs. Still, that’s no excuse for a company that made $520 in profits from WoW last year. Its also worth noting that those kinds of virtual world elements are considered  dubious “experimentation” by a video game industry that is becoming more risk adverse. As well, catering to achievers and killers is far easier to accomplish as they rely on more traditional game mechanics that are easier to design and implement. Let’s be honest, Blizzard really does not have the genuine desire to create a cohesive virtual world. In my opinion, they are really only interested in making a game with a few “world” trappings.

If this article has but one point to make it’s this: Blizzard has alienated and forgotten explorers in its effort to pander to the new breed of achievement addicted gamers. Explorers usually don’t run large guilds or have flashy websites. Nor do they dominate the discourse on the official WoW forums. Despite the occasional thread asking for more support, non-achiever types are routinely ignored by Blizzard. While I’m afraid it’s too late for Blizzard to change the MMO mono-culture they have created with WoW, I believe there is hope that future MMOs will rise to the challenge. Eventually the bulk of Blizzard’s subscribers will grow up, discard their WoW soothers and realize that virtual worlds have the potential to be so much more.

-Wolfshead

This week Tobold revealed that Mythic had given him a free lifetime Warhammer subscription. On the surface revealing that information was a noble thing to do as it raised some valid questions with other bloggers as to the appropriateness of Mythic’s generosity and the criteria behind what they did. After all, aren’t bloggers supposed to be digging deeper and asking probing questions?

Video game companies have a long history of showing favoritism and handing out perks to certain influential community members. Back in 2004 before I started writing on Wolfshead Online, in a post on the Druid’s Grove forums entitled Conflict of interest? SOE paid for VIP’s and Community leaders to go to Fan Faire I exposed the fact that a MMO company was paying for the airfare and hotel accommodations of certain class forum leaders of the EverQuest community.

Needless to say, I got a frosty response from the people who had received perks from SOE and the thread was conveniently locked a few days later. It was clear that I had touched a sensitive nerve by daring to question the ethics and fairness of this practice. But I soon came to understand and accept the apathy of many MMO gamers; they don’t generally care about corporate corruption or journalistic ethics. After all, they just want to have fun right?

The Real Problem

My problem is not with Tobold’s revelation regarding his free subscription. It’s him making himself out to be a victim, his grandstanding and the subsequent promotion of his disclosure to gain favor with his followers in a blog entry entitled Toboldgate. Toboldgate? What?!? It seems that Tobold’s current plight is on par with unfortunate historical scandals such as Watergate. Unbelievable!

See if you can detect traces of an egomaniac in the following quote (emphasis is mine):

I have no idea whether I am the only blogger who got one, or just the only blogger admitting he got one. And I don’t know either why I received it. Was it my Paul Barnett interview? The 3,000 visitors per day, or 2,000 feed subscribers? My Blizzard press pass, on the logic that if Blizzard thinks I’m press then the other companies follow? Even if I’m the first, you might find solace in the thought that I probably won’t be the last. Your blog might be the next big thing if you put enough effort in it, and if it becomes customary for MMO companies to hand out freebies, then maybe one day you’ll get one too. It is not as if we bloggers had a huge income from our activity, so some recognition is nice.

Is it just me or is Tobold on an ego road trip of Cannonball Run proportions? Tobold is dangerously close to becoming a legend in his own mind. The arrogance on display here is astounding and unprecedented. Does anyone really believe that the normally all seeing and all knowing Tobold has had a sudden lapse of insight and has no idea why he got that free subscription? But you really have to feel sorry for him, because clearly he hasn’t gotten quite enough recognition from the MMO world.

Anatomy of Phony Scandal

Let’s take a look at the article called Toboldgate Biggest Scandal Ever that was the foundation and springboard for his Toboldgate piece. The title is pure exaggeration and a misleading fabrication on the part of the author. You would think that after reading about the “biggest scandal ever” that hundreds of bloggers and forum posters were calling for Tobold’s head after finding out that he got a free Warhammer account. Nothing could be further from the truth because at the time of that article being published there were only 2 blog articles that had expressed direct concern about Mythic’s practice of giving out free subscriptions to certain bloggers. That’s 2, count ‘em — hardly a revolution or scandal worthy of the “gate” suffix.

Let’s examine how Boatorious starts off the Toboldgate article which is an attempt to “educate” (his words) the great unwashed masses out there with regard to the finer points of press perks and influence peddling:

Madness ensued. Some people were jealous. Some people were cautiously accepting, and some were just mad — one guy in Tobold’s comments section went nuts.

Madness? Pray tell, where and who? Dear wannabe Dr. Phil, please provide us with some evidence as to this diagnosis. Then he claims someone went “nuts”. Oh really now? So the third piece of damaging evidence that qualifies this as “scandal” of Watergate proportions is the comments of a poster named Jason on the original thread. Here is the person that went apparently “nuts”:

Unexpected and unfortunate.

You’ve been fairly even-handed with your thoughts on Warhammer so far, but no matter how you dress it up you’re going to sound like a paid stooge now.

I love how you try to brush it aside as no big deal since you’re still going to pay for it so you can play on Euro servers.

I wonder…how many other bloggers out there are on Mythic’s payroll?

He’s hardly a nut and hardly a hater. Here we have someone who’s making some legitimate observations about the issue at hand, yet he’s pilloried by Boatorious for daring to question the great Tobold. Remind me to never disagree with Tobold or his legion of readers/followers as it could cause mass panic in the virtual streets of the blogosphere!

Another interesting thing to note is that out of 22 comments there was a maximum of 2 that could even be called remotely critical of Tobold and Mythic’s decision in the original thread. Combine that, with those 2 previous blog articles and you have the false and manufactured outrage called Toboldgate that would make the former Iraqi Minister of Information very proud. Instead of showing some true character by disassociating himself from the phony outrage, Tobold completely agreed with the Boatorious’s assessment and poured gasoline on the fire.

Even Mark Jacobs has indulged in the phony hysteria by setting Tobold up as some innocent lamb being led to the slaughter:

A mob of ANGRY people are gathering around a man named Tobold who is tied up and hanging over a vat of cold tar. Standing next to him are a whole lot of chickens and a man with a grey goatee and mustache wearing a white suit.

An angry mob eh? I guess Mark Jacobs knows an angry mob when he sees one. The so-called angry mob attacking Tobold was an invented fantasy all along and he fell for it hook, line and sinker. Read the vitriolic comments of various Tobold supporters and you may come to an entirely different conclusion who the angry mob actually is.

The Tobold Telethon

Poor beleaguered Tobold. It’s an unspeakable outrage how 3 people have expressed an opinion contrary to the usual “Go Tobold go!” mantra. Add to that Eric who displayed some real character and posted his own disclosure and you have a total of 4 possible angry mob perpetrators — send in the riot police! Now the routinely hegemonic MMO blogosphere who have missed the real story have arrived on their white horses coming to save him and decry the villainous Tobold detractors! You see, they are proud and protective of him. They are downright giddy that that in their minds the bloggers have arrived — we are important now and have finally gotten the respect of the video game industry. Woohoo! We matter™. In the words of Sally Field at the Oscars: “You love me! You really love me!!!”

In the end, Tobold, a very clever master of self-promotion wins — but it’s a hollow victory. He comes across as virtuous because he revealed the Mythic perk to the public. He then gets to explain why he deserved it by talking about how popular he is to his thousands of devoted fans. He also gets to wallow in the gushing support and sympathy from those very same “aw shucks, he’s just a blogger…give him a break!” sycophants and fellow bloggers. The newly crowned Blog Overlord also gets to further promote his recent induction into the MMO press corps and somehow rises above it all. Finally, he’s awarded the imprimatur of the Don Corleone of MMO blogs, Scott “Lum the Mad” Jennings and becomes a made man. And here you thought it was all about a free Warhammer subscription.

-Wolfshead