World of Warcraft- I don't get it!

[tangaloomababe]

I think I might be missing something here but I don't understand the phenomenum that is WOW.
For instance last night my son packed up his super fast computer and screen and went of to a friends house so they could play warcraft together, ummm don't they anyway, they do quests together and chat at the same time, I don't understand why they have to be in the same place, I thought thats why they had the internet.
He spends every chance he can when he is not working or sporting or whatever playing WOW, they seem to run around doing quests and not much else.
Is there more to this game, why is it so popular?

[Hypes]

This really applies to any MMO, rather than just WoW. It's hard to pinpoint why exactly these games are so addictive, seeing as it's mostly just repetition of the same basic tasks ad nauseum. I think there are a number of attractions in gameplay found in MMOs, such as the development of your own character to become as good as you possibly can be (in turn branching out into player versus player competition, or just plain bragging rights), the massive social element of it, or the breadth of the world itself and the lore. In regards to the latter, popular MMOs that have been going for a few years are constantly updated with new content, giving you something new, or even an entirely new or different game, to explore.

For most people, it's an amalgamation of all these; for me the attraction lies in getting a group of players together and achieving a certain goal through teamwork. Mostly in a player versus player environment. For me, this is the ultimate challenge and why I keep returning to the MMOs I play. For others, especially in WoW, it's the same basic principle, but through PvE content such as raiding that give that same fix. In essence, overcoming a challenge and making friends is the process is the holy grail in MMOs. The nature of the challenge varies, of course.

As for packing up his computer and going to a friend's house to do the same thing he could be doing at home, for me that would simply be an extension of the social aspect of the game. Playing with someone who's essentially faceless can't hold a candle to being in the same room with them while gaming. Add onto the fact that it makes everything much simpler due to better communication, there's no reason to sit alone when you can enjoy the company of others while doing the same thing. It's just a much more personal experience.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by tangaloomababe

Is there more to this game, why is it so popular?

I wish I could answer that question. A friend of mine introduced me to the dubious delights of WOW about 4 months ago. Now I have no life.

[Simple Simon]

I think hypes sums up the positive sides of MMO's pretty well but they sure as hell have their bad side aswell. I played WOW pretty intensively for around a year and a half and finally decided to pack it in around 2 months ago, it's not that I stopped enjoying the game but I was coming more and more to realise that the time spent on the game in no way justifys what I was getting out of it.

The game can take up most of your free time if you let it since it is made in such a way that the more time invested in it the more of the higher level content you get to experience.

Also what I really think is the biggest downfall of these games is that once you have started to do something in game with a group of other people and something comes up in real life you'll either have to let down the guys in game or just ignore whatever it was that came up.

[tangaloomababe]

Yes Rangar my son took it up about the same time and since then its just WOW and more WOW, fortunatly he has commitments to other things otherwise I doubt that he would ever leave the screen.

I admit to being a little compulsive about certain things (chrons for example) but I do know when I have other things I should be doing and will reluctantly leave.
Oh well maybe he will outgrown it in a year or two!!!!!!

[Hypes]

Yeah, a good MMO can be extremely addictive. I never got bitted by the WoW bug, but I remember spending some countless hours on the previous generation of MMOs. It can really be detrimental to your life if you let it go too far. I have a cousin who's only 11 and he's gotten sucked into WoW and I'm a bit worried for him.

[Quokka]

I'm deliberately not getting involved in WOW or any other mmorps now, I know myself well enough to know that I'd get sucked into spending way too much time on them. I got into runescape at one point, played it for awhile, took a break and then got back into it. Then one night I realised I had just spent the last few hours, watching a little guy hitting rocks with a pick... I wouldn't be paid to swing a pick in real life and here I was paying someone else to do it for fun! and the higher you go the more extreme the commitment has to be to make the next level. I remember reading on the forum once about a player who wanted to get the last few levels in smithing and what he was arranging to do it. He had three friends committing to several hours a day 'mining' to supply him with the ores that he could in turn spend 3-4 (i think) hours a day nonstop smithying, and that was going to take like 6 months to get that top level. Now thats a lot of comittment and fair play to him if its what he wanted but....

Every now and again I look into different online games, there's a few strategy ones where the games reset after a few weeks, so instead of needing to spend months/years to progress each game it reguarly restarts everyone on an even footing. You gain something you lose something with that I suppose but it certainly suits me better. Something like Magic Online is also good because the account is always there if I want to go back and play one night even if I dont use it again for years (although they are very different to MMORPGs).

Like Hypes said no matter how good the NPCs its the player vs player aspect of the games that can be really be satisfying and these types of games really keeps the emphasis on that.

I've got fond memories of the ridiculous amount of hours I being spent on a MUD (text based online rpg) many many years ago but I'm just too busy nowdays to want to start something new especially since its my reading that's the first thing to suffer .




Edit for random thought: was just thinking that there's another downside to these games that may get more severe as they get more complicated. Even with updating they do still die out and new ones are created. I remember when the MUD i played went from being 20+ players online 24/7 to just a few and then after I hadn't been on for years I decided to stop in on a whim and it had finally been closed down, which was a touch sad, as you can imagine if chronicles was cancelled, the place had seen alot of fun and friendships and some poeple had spent many thousands of hours on characters . It wasnt a big issue then but I wonder if some players who have comitted so much will have trouble dealing with the lose of their favourite world, friends etc even if the characters can be transfered to the updated versions?

[tangaloomababe]

Yes 11 is far to young to be addicted to WOW, he will be at an age where he probably has homework to do and school to think about, not WOW.
We are moving in a week and the internet cannot be connected for anywhere from 5-10 days. Ya no WOW, trust me even if it comes on in 5 days, I will manage to stretch it out to the 10!!!! Cruel but I would like to talk to my son occasionally.
Gosh Quokka after reading your comments WOW seems like some bad drug. its like it has some sort of hypnotic hold over its players. Its pretty worrying really!

[Joel007]

It does tend to suck up large parts of people's lives. The main point where it becomes addiction is where it eats into the victim's social and work life

I just have to say congrats to Blizzard for another amazingly fun and addictive game though.

[Quokka]

Originally Posted by tangaloomababe

Yes 11 is far to young to be addicted to WOW, he will be at an age where he probably has homework to do and school to think about, not WOW.
We are moving in a week and the internet cannot be connected for anywhere from 5-10 days. Ya no WOW, trust me even if it comes on in 5 days, I will manage to stretch it out to the 10!!!! Cruel but I would like to talk to my son occasionally.
Gosh Quokka after reading your comments WOW seems like some bad drug. its like it has some sort of hypnotic hold over its players. Its pretty worrying really!

Lots and Lots of similarities but keep in mind the biggest thing that something like alcohol and WOW have in common is that the vast majority experience them in a healthy way with little or no negative consequences and that both have a minority that dont.

[Daenerys]

I never got WoW myself, but I do play MMO's. You have to have other things to do besides playing it, but I know the best experience of escapism is to get completely involved in it. That goes for any activity. I am happiest when I know I can spend all my waking hours drawing, or reading or playing games. But I hardly ever combine those activities.

It's just more satisfying reading a book for 12 hours than it is to read it for 30 minutes. I'd take 30 minutes of reading if I can get it, but to play a(n) (online) game for just 30 minutes limits you so much in what you can do!

That is why the pull is so big. Especially if you still have some homework that you'd rather not be doing.

I guess if I had a kid I wouldnt introduce them to online games until they left to live on their own... I would be that cruel. But it would be better. Do you know that I actually missed work just to stay online for a game??? I think that is when I realised it was ridiculous.

As for being in the same room when playing: of course that adds atmosphere! We play Lord of the Rings online or Guild Wars while sitting next to each other at our own pc's. I had to do an instanced quest at one point, on my own, and my boyfriend sat next to me watching my screen. But even when we are both in the same world online, just sitting next to each other and talking real time without some program getting in the way, is just nicer.Plus one of us gets the drinks every so often.

It may be a game, it is still a social thing. Especially online games. And it is a lot better playing with people you know. Though it is fun to meet new people too.

For kids though, you need to be there to guide them, as with most things. Show genuine interest. Watch that south park episode with them. Ask if you can create one character on their account to try it out, so they can teach you what they do. It goes both ways. You cant expect kids to listen to your wise words if they dont feel like you listen to them. And it is social, so share in their triumphs and be at the ready with cookies and milk if they lost. It wouldnt hurt to discuss the way people can lose their lives in a game. Give them a frame of reference what is normal time to spend on the game and what isnt.

Well... I dont have kids anyway. So what do i know

[Hypes]

Good thoughts, Daenerys.

[Lenny]

Now Guild Wars is good. I can't see how people can spend the time and money on WoW, when there are other MMORPGS, like Guild Wars, that are not only nicer looking, but free to play.

I find that MMO's (and RPG's) in general are great for relaxation - get home from a hard day at school or work, switch on the PC or PS3, load up Guild Wars or Oblivion, and just sit and play.

[Kostmayer]

I play Eve Online a lot. It takes up a fair amount of my spare time, but I know some good people on there and don't see it as any different then talking to people in Irc. Also, on missions like mining I can catch up with my reading while playing.

[Daenerys]

Guild Wars does look very nice. That's what got me started. I'm also quite scared of spiders and the like, so playing a game where I'd have to kill creepy scorpion thingies that pop out of the ground, or spiders that drop from trees is scary, but satisfying.

... although the spiders in Lord of the Rings online are scarier *shudder*

Anyway, I dont know why we decided to pay for LotrO. It looks good, I like the game play, but more importantly I, personally, liked the game atmosphere with the other players better than what I experienced in WoW. Strange how since we got our subscription we havent had time to actually play anymore.

If I analyse why (to help people play less), we have a busy life at the moment. So if you do want to play less or make someone play less, make sure real life offers as much of a challenge as the quests in game combined with the social aspect of lots of chatting.