Why I Play World of Warcraft

Before I start I need to clarify something. I dislike competitive computer games. I probably need to narrow that down even further. I don't like competitive computer games against other people. I don't play on-line FPS games for this reason. When I've played real-time strategy games in the past I've never gone on-line and battled other players. I'm happy to just play against the computer as a game to be beaten, rather than a competition to be won. I'm not interested in on-line competitive play because I'm rarely good enough to beat anyone, which I'm perfectly willing to admit, and I find a lot of the communities around these activities, by and large, annoying, and in some cases abhorrent. It's true I have played competitive computer games on-line, largely first person shooters and real-time strategy games, but this happens under relatively unique criteria. I'll come back to that.

What I really don't like, is when a competitive game links having more of a resource outside the game to ones effectiveness in the competition.

Collectable Cards Are For Suckers

We can take collectable card games as an example, say Magic: The Gathering, though innumerable other card games exist. This type of game doesn't appeal to me for a number of reasons, one of the primary ones being I don't have the attention to detail or willingness to work out all the strategies and the maths to win regularly. It's just not my thing. The thing is, even if I was so minded, and I was actually quite good at it, I'd not touch a collectable card game. Period. The reason for this is simple, effectiveness in the game is intrinsically linked to how much money you are willing to spend. This means you have to admit you'll be at a disadvantage or obsessively collect.

It's not just about how good you are tactically, or how much practice you've had, it's also about how big your pockets are. You see the more cards you have the more strategies and deck builds you can put together. It gets even worse, some cards are actually rare, and as such the person buying the most booster packs has a higher chance of owning these rare cards. Even worse, the rare cards are bought and sold on an internal collectable card game market, and therefore people willing to burn money have an even bigger advantage. It's not an equal playing field.

I have no problem with someone being better than me due to natural skill. I don't mind people practising to be better at the game. I do mind having less chance of winning just because some idiot spends a fortune on cards. I realise spending money on more cards isn't everything, but it can be a significant advantage, most other things being equal. I feel at this point it no longer becomes a game just to be enjoyed, it merges into being something else, something obsessive, collectable, potentially even a lifestyle.

As a result, I just don't get into hobbies or games that use that whole synergy between competition, collecting and out of game resources increasing effectiveness. I think this explains my view quite succinctly, and provides an easier introduction before we move on to World of Wacraft specifically.

Time: The Ultimate Resource

As someone pointed out to me when I raised my dislike for out of game resources returning an advantage in game (above and beyond practice), World of Warcraft, and the MMORPG genre, should be something I'd hate and stay well clear of. I'm not going to say they are wrong, and that's the reason I didn't touch a MMORPG for ages. I knew that people with more time had a significant advantage over others. I knew that the genre followed that exact tactic of playing on the synergy of competition, collecting and out of game resources (namely time) to create an environment that services obsessive playing, and the 'enforcement' of that obsessive playing to keep playing.

It might be best to say what isn't an issue for me first. I don't mind that someone with more time will level a character faster than me. He will get to higher levels faster and may well level two characters in the time it took me to level one. This has happened in World of Warcraft, and beyond losing the ability to group with people, which is a pain, this is fine. But he's still become better than you due to having more time? True, but I don't mind, as long as when I am a similar level to him, at whatever rate I level, I'm equal. Levelling is an issue of getting somewhere faster, not being better for that investment. Level progression is just how progress is measured through the game, the same way in other games it might be getting through various in game levels or through various zones, or beating various maps. Whatever. Levelling faster or slower is not an issue, as without other influencing factors characters of a similar level are by and large equal.

What annoys me is when having more time makes characters not equal at a similar level.

So, everyone should get the same no matter what effort they put in? No, but it shouldn't purely be a function of time. You should get a reward for beating elements of the game. This is how it usually works. You play the game, you may invest time in terms of practice to get better, you beat it and you get a reward. It doesn't work like this in World of Warcraft.

I can use the whole idea of raiding as an example of what I mean. You are raiding an instance, say Zul'Gurub, that takes time, effort, practice and skill to beat. At this point it is a game. When you beat individual bosses or the instance itself you should be rewarded. If you beat Zul'Gurub and other people don't there is no problem with you having access to something that makes you better, usually an Epic item. You got it for beating Zul'Gurub. This isn't how it works though, as what follows on from beating Zul'Gurub is the farming of Zul'Gurub, and at that point the acquisition of the Epic items becomes purely a function of time invested and luck. Time has given you an advantage over someone else. As I say, I know why this is the case from a game design and commercial point of view, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. It amazes me how some people just accept it and are slightly astounded when you challenge it. Well it doesn't in some ways, because some people are heavily invested in having that advantage over others, of course.

This issue is raised by people who don't have much time, of course. They don't even have the option of working to beat Zul'Gurub, never mind to invest time farming it for items afterwards. The trouble is, I don't necessarily agree with their point of view either, as they want to a system which allows them to work at something over a long time in smaller chunks. This seems wrong as well, as you're avoiding getting rewarded for playing a game completely, as you didn't even beat something like Zul'Gurub, at the point at which it is a game, you just went straight to paying for it with time.

I shouldn't even get started on reputation rewards, as that is just rewarding those with more time purely for the sake of having more time. There is no 'game challenge' at all. You basically farm certain materials, raid certain instances or kill certain creatures for days or weeks and eventually you get to the correct status and you get items or the ability to build items (often involving more time). This is one activity I don't get, and the weird thing is, people do it anyway, despite, in some cases, being bored every minute they do it, just so they can access a virtual item to give them an advantage in game. No wonder everyone wants in on the MMORPG market, you can make the game boring, waste your customers time and they pay to do it!

I think the whole concept of time invested getting you rewards is wrong, and a bit lame. Don't get me wrong, I know why it's done from a business perspective: it gives a largely obsessive customer base a way to get sucked into the game, play more for better rewards, which they have to collect because they are prone to do that, or so they are more effective. This then feeds into the competitive play elements of the game in a glorious feedback loop which keeps people playing. After all, having numerous time sinks designed into the playing model, and to have the audience love you for it is a ridiculously good position to be in (though Blizzard gets away with it less, which is a good thing).

Basically, time is the ultimate resource in World of Warcraft, and it's a resource outside of the game, which has nothing to do with your ability to play the game, or anything internal to the game at all. In that way, it's a bit like Collectable Card Games, except you've swapped time for money.

You Said You Didn't Play Competitive Games?

As I said in the introduction, I don't play competitive games on-line, largely because I'm usually nowhere near as good as the people playing in that environment of 'kill or be killed', and because I largely find the communities based around such activities abhorrent. The truth is, as I also said, I have become embroiled in competitive FPS games and enjoyed it. A few things have to happen for me to get involved though, and this links in to World of Warcraft. In order for me to play competitive games on-line the co-operative and social element has to be more important than the competition. This is what has happened in the past, for example when playing Americas Army, for a while the co-operative, tactical play was very good, as was the social element of playing it with family. The same can be said of FPS games on Xbox Live.

This links in to PvP on World of Wacraft. I've got no interest in aggressively pursuing PvP ranks, or playing PvP largely solo to farm the Battlegrounds for rewards. I would be interested in organised Guild PvP using voice communications though, as it then becomes a co-operative tactical exercise and may well be great fun, and also have a social element. In short, it's an example of elements I like in games taking enough prominence to tempt me into trying a side of a game I don't like.

The main problem with PvP on World of Warcraft is it's the major aspect of the game where having more time as a resource gives you significant advantages over others. Individuals who dedicate more time to the game are more likely to have Epic Items, either because they've farmed the high end instances or because they've farmed the Battlegrounds. If your team goes up against a team so equipped, all other things being equal, you will basically be creamed. The game makes efforts to make sure only people of a similar level fight each other in the Battlegrounds, but at level 60 this means nothing as better equipment changes everything. This element of PvP could seriously ruin it for me even if it has become a good team and social-based activity. To be honest, PvP at levels lower than 60, say in the mid-range, may well be a better option as it's less equipment focused.

Can You Compensate For Time?

Can you compensate for your lack of time? Of course you can. You use the tried and trusted method for compensating for lack of time: you throw money at the problem. This is viewed as cheating in World of Warcraft, and it's actually against the terms of use. Now, it's not something I'd do, as I disagree with the fact that time gives people a significant advantage, so I'm hardly going to be pulled into the whole charade by spending actual money to compensate for it.

I can see why others do it though.

Look at this way, if you've beaten an instance, let's stick with Zul'Gurub, and it took your Guild lots of trips, lots of effort, and even cost some in-game resources, but you finally have that instance on farming status. You are now free to go there repeatedly for weeks hoping that the items you want drop and you win the roll. Even worse, you might have to mindlessly collect drops from the mobs in the instance to trade in for something. If that's not fun, and you're doing it just to get the item, why not just buy the item or the gold (so you can buy it) from a website? It's cheating. Is it? The person who gets the item the supposedly legitimate way has beaten Zul'Gurub and he chose to spend his time to get the item. The purchaser has beaten Zul'Gurub and chosen to spend his money instead as he doesn't have the time. It's not that different, both players have chosen to spend a resource outside the game to be better at the game. If someone did it I knew, even if I'd gone on to do ten more trips to get the item 'legitimately' it wouldn't bother me because I'd have enjoyed the process. If I wasn't enjoying the process then I'd be the sucker, not the person buying the item. You also have to consider that some people join guilds with certain instanced on farm status and may never actually face the challenge of figuring out how to beat it.

I understand that buying items and gold with real money causes problems for the game other than the individual actually having the gold or the item, as it creates a market for these goods and as such sweat shops in China farm the game, and it causes problems with the internal economy. I'm also not naive enough to think people don't just buy the item without beating the instance at all, and it may be for a second character, etc. There are many reasons why I don't support buying in game resources with gold. In principle though, if the element of the game is beaten, and you choose to follow that up with spending a monetary resource to get your item rather than a time-based reward, I don't see a problem (while acknowledging that slightly artificial situation).

So, Why Do You Play World of Warcraft?

So, why do I play World of Warcraft? Not only that, why has it become the game I've probably played for the longest? And will certainly be by the time the expansion comes out in June? The answer can be found in the simple fact that people play games for different reasons. In fact, the reasons and goals people have when approaching any particular game, particularly role-playing games of any variety, can be startlingly different.

This is certainly the case with World of Warcraft.

It's a testament to the design of the game that I actually continue to play, and it's undoubtedly the reason it's so popular. World of Warcraft has a slightly different market to most other MMORPGs in that it brought a lot of people into the genre that wouldn't normally touch it. To be honest, some of these people are the sane ones questioning the whole idea of being significantly disadvantaged due to having less of the ultimate resource: time. They question the whole model of time sink based rewards.

I play World of Warcraft for numerous reasons: exploration, story, digital dungeoneering, co-operative play and the social element. These things can't really be viewed in isolation, but we'll separate them out for ease of discussion.

Exploration. I want to see new things and experience new environments. Looking back a good number of years, one of my favourite games was Tomb Raider. Why? Because it pulled you in, and it kept you playing so you could see the next fantastic location and explore it, whether it be an ancient Egyptian Tomb, some underwater base, or whatever. It was like being in an epic adventure movie. World of Wacraft has the same effect, or at least it does until you've been everywhere. It's an epic fantasy landscape, and the graphics have a visual flair which make it much more interesting than the realistic portrayals you see in most other games. The grand, Tim Burton-style Undercity; the epic cities of Iron Forge or Stormwind; the endless, searing desert of Tanaris; the 'Land that Time Forgot' inspired Un'Goro Cator; the horrors of Sillithus; the various instanced dungeons (the Sunken Temple is breathtaking on your first visit, as is Dire Maul); the list goes on and on. It may not even be new environments, it could be the first time you see a Dragon, the giant Devilsaur Dinosaurs, or a massive walking tree, etc. When levelling my first character it was this that kept me going, new equipment and powers be damned, I just wanted to explore.

I also like experiencing a story of one kind or another. I realise this is not a massive element in World of Warcraft, but it is present. I'll also admit, being a role-player at heart, I'm sometimes willing to add more than what is there myself. The whole story of the Scarlet Brotherhood is great, and elements of it continue all the way through to the end game when you discover why they've lost their way and become complete zealots. It's a similar sort of deal with the Defias Brotherhood on the Alliance side, as you do quests that involve multiple dungeons. Okay, I admit, the story is quite thin, but it makes things interesting, and adds an element beyond just killing various mobs or collecting various materials. At times the whole experience can feel like you're in an epic fantasy, this is especially true at various moments in the game, such as defending the top of the altar in Zul'Farrack, or fighting your way up a mountain to destroy an evil altar while under a time limit (with an associated story behind it, of course). It adds a certain drama to the game, and it is good how the stories have been woven together to build up in scale and potentially lead to an instanced dungeon or two.

The concept I call digital dungeoneering is a type of game I've always liked, I've mentioned it numerous times on Fandomlife.net, it even inspired the article Yellow Wizard Shot The Food. It goes way back to playing Gauntlet in the arcades and games like Dungeon Master. The whole idea of taking a group of heroes into some sort of environment and then killing things and taking their stuff. The game may involve a tactical element to one degree or another, but it's not entirely essential. World of Warcraft has proven to be one of the best digital dungeoneering style games because of the instances. Every so many levels you come up against an instanced dungeon, which represents a challenge to beat. It is a tactical challenge as well, and more than that, it's a team challenge. It's probably safe to say, along with the exploration, I play the game for the instances, and as such it's essential they keep adding more instanced dungeons, whether 5-man or raids. It's also true that they represent a synergy of stuff I like: exploration of the environment (new things to see), it's a tactical challenge to beat, it's a team challenge and it's a social experience on a Guild run. A positive synergy of things from my point of view.

World of Warcraft also has a strong social element, this is particularly true since I'm in a Guild in which the majority of people know one or more people in real-life. This creates an environment that is pretty unique in World of Warcraft. Instead of being an organisation like a Golf Club, full of petty politics, and with an agenda to achieve something, it's more like a group of friends down the pub. The social element reigns supreme, and doesn't get lost to mechanisms and rules for dividing loot and making sure people who put in more time get better equipment. I find it ironic, though great from a business perspective, that the player-base creates rules to reward those wasting their life on the game. In short, while some people may view this as a bit odd, the Guild instance runs are a bit like a night out without anyone having to leave the house.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to enjoy and play World of Warcraft without accepting the whole 'time as a resource that should earn you something' mantra. Indeed, I'd say the strangest people are the ones who accept that line wholeheartedly and play the game to maximise the resource of time to the max. They level characters as fast as possible, not savouring the content. They have higher level characters run them through dungeons even on their first time, thus never actually beating the challenge. They get to the end game and then mindlessly farm materials, instances, PvP Battlegrounds so they can have better gear than everyone else. It's either driven by a need to be better than everyone else, competitive advantage or obsessive collecting. If they are enjoying it, no problem, as that's the only reason to do it, but I suspect many people spend many hours doing things they don't enjoy over the course of their time with World of Warcraft.

The Potential For Ruin

There is always the chance World of Warcraft will be ruined for me, of course. As my reasons for playing are, in a way, always under threat from changes in the game or the social environment that supports it.

While I'm confident the process of levelling to 60 will never change, there is always the chance my enjoyment of the end game material will be made more difficult. The difficulty comes down to me believing farming is for suckers, either farming reputation, or endlessly farming for gold or rare items to create stuff. I'll do this only if the social element overrides the boredom, such as when farming instances on regular Guild runs. As you get to the true difficult instances, such as Zul'Gurub or above, even I feel the need to go into the dungeon with potions to enhance my character's natural resources. The trouble is, I'm not going to farm the resources for a Guild member to make the potions, every time I think of doing it I can think of something better to do. I could do with having a high First Aid skill as well, but I'm resisting farming the damned cloth to level the skill.

During the levelling process your equipment is rarely that important, you can quite happily level, and survive off the equipment you get naturally as you progress, potentially with the odd piece purchased and you will do okay. Once you enter the end game it's all about equipment, which increases the need to farm so someone can make better gear for you, so you can be better in the end game instances. This is even more true in PvP, as the people with better gear, most notably Epic items from Zul'Gurub or above, have a clear and present advantage. There willingness to spend more time has given them a clear advantage in the game.

I'm also quite focused on the Guild, if that ever broke up due to people getting bored with the game, which shows no sign of happening, then I'd probably stop playing. The game is the Guild really, if I was forced to play the game without a Guild, or be pushed into the highly political Guilds I'd probably get dispirited with the game very fast.

I'm still focusing on playing the game as I want to play it, and I'll have to see how difficult it gets over time

It's A Good Place To Be

To be honest, I think my way is the best way to approach World of Warcraft, but then I would say that. It limits your exposure to the more obsessive elements, which can result in the game being a serious time sink, and more importantly it can lead you to spending time doing something you don't actually enjoy. It's supposed to be a game and fun, not a job you don't like. I can happily enjoy the content of the game on my own terms, exploring and beating the instances as a game, and being happy with slightly less better kit than I could have if I sunk my life and soul into it. Even better, playing this way means you don't devour the content at a ridiculous pace and get ahead of Blizzard's ability to add more.

I can look forward to new dungeons and raids to beat, as a few have been added since the game launched, and I can look forward to exploring a whole new environment when the expansion comes out. Hell, when the expansion comes out you can even explore whole new periods in time. The expansion even opens up current content, as a group of 65 level characters will have an easier time of Zul'Gurub or higher instances should you have found them hard to beat due to gear, character numbers, etc in the past. Not on that, Blizzard are adding whole quest chains involving trips to 5-man instanced dungeons so that individuals who don't want to raid can get certain Epic items, which sounds exciting.

At the end of the day, as long as you're having fun, all is good. I just find that, at times, the assumption that one should accept using time as a resource to get advantages in game, even when it's ceased to be fun, should occasionally be questioned as the only way to enjoy the game, or if the model is fully valid at all.

Ian O'Rourke, as well as being the man behind Fandomlife.net, is also a fan of anything that engages his imagination, be it a book, comic, TV show, theme park, an IT Project or business change.