Ulle
   |
Posted - 2005.12.11 09:21:00 -
[1]
WoW is the perfect mmog for the masses. It took them years, but finally game producers realized that the "players want challenge" theory was, for most players, false - it was true when mmogs were launched, but then the player mass at the time was D&D and tabletops roleplayers, while today true rpers are a little, vexed minority. Today players don't want challenges, they want the most gratification for the less effort, if you can max the gratification and min the effort you have a winner.
They will grind if necessary, if they can receive from time to time some shiny trinket, they will raid if that means someone else reading a script and they pressing X key when Y command is given, and if that means a chance for the Even Bigger Shiny Trinket. In EVE there is no real grind, the nearest thing being the agent runner career, but you can totally do without it, or change your mind months laters and do it.
In WoW, PvP is nothing more than glorified duels and confused zergs (=blobs in EVE lingo), with OMG Huge Shiny Trinket of Pwnzor as reward for the "effort" of killing a player that 99.99% of the times was easier than a same level mob because of your superior gear or levels. In EVE, PvP can be anything, from piracy to an important battle in a war scheme, to territorial defense, it can be warfare, it can be economical or even political, and it doesn't take you years and hundreds hours of raiding to prepare a kit, if your friends joins you after months you started you could kit him immediately, as soon as he has the skill to use them.
In WoW, the player career is linear, I want to be X so I have to do roll Y and do a,b,c steps, said steps being clearly documented as the effort of deciding what to do next is too much - WoW career is a railroad trip. After your EVE tutorial, you're left in one station out of thousands, without any special instruction other than "uh, there is this agent that could need some help, but also few hundreds more ...". WoW career is like sailing on open sea.
Like many said here, today in WoW is like yesterday, and tomorrow won't be that different, the only changes being patches, nerfs and revamps. Users believe (and the effort of convincing them is massive) they are the actors and heroes of the grand gaming history, but in truth they are just a decoration of the game environment, that will proceed of its own will without anything able to change its course but the next expansion planned by Blizzard. A single week in EVE will roll more player driven content that what a WoW player experienced since the game went live, plain and simple, and the right person in the right place and time can really change history.
But the bigger difference ... in WoW, it doesn't matter if you want to be the top dungeon raider or the bigger pvp gun, both ways you'll HAVE to devolve your free time completely. No ifs and buts, if your enemy will put 5 more hours every week, he'll be stronger and stronger than you.
and I don't want that, right ? I just need to play few more hours, I know I can make it, I could go to sleep one hour later or skip the gym on Wednesday.
Say bye bye to your RL. In EVE you have alternatives, when you don't have time you can set things so that your trading will go on anyway, your skills will train anyway, your ship will travel 20 steps anyway. Maybe slower, maybe less proficient, but still something and often more than something. You can have your RL without the hassle of feeling "forced" to log in.
There is more, but I babble too much :) The final note. This game isn't for everyone. If freedom of action scares you, if deciding your doom and being responsable for your choices is too much, if you think the time spent in a game grinding and raiding should guarantee you more safety than the social relations you built, then by all means go play WoW.
|