Final Thoughts

Well, this is going to be the last blog about WOW. My time is up. Song is over. Thought I'd something more to say.

Alright, Pink Floyd references aside, there are some things I've wanted to talk about. This seems perhaps awkward for a last post, but some of them refer generally to the greater purpose of the game, so I suppose that may actually be a good way to end things.

I recently saw this trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFTWDJ25zdc
It was the second time I had seen it. The first was when I was thirteen, before the game was even released. After having actually played the game and gotten some perspective on it, I have one comment. There is remarkably little boar killing in that video. That video only shows action-packed violence and battle, not the extremely mundane, albeit aesthetically pleasing world I encountered. The shocking absence of war in world of warcraft has not slipped by me, and I have been wondering what might have been a better game.

I read an article about games being used as art, and in it the author described a game which came out in the 80's which was a simulation of the cold war. You can play as either the U.S. or the soviet union, and the game is made up of either invading or supporting smaller countries. The author of this article said that that game was art because playing actually challenged the players world view and assumptions about war.

All of this got me thinking.

What if World of Warcraft was not a simulation of fantasy life, but a simulation of fantasy war? What if your character could register with a commanding officer and be assigned to a squad and be sent on missions overseas? What if the horde could actually invade and potentially take over Alliance cities? What if there were periods of living under a tyrannical regime until other Alliance cities came to your rescue? Imagine if you could abscond and work as a spy for the other side? Imagine if such a game painted a striking and at times poignant image of war and the common man's place in it.

Obviously blizzard would need to find ways to keep things balanced. They would have to make sure that one side couldn't just over run the other and devastate all the n00bs. Another criticism of this idea could be that there are many people who actually like the grind and don't want the game to just be about war and fighting. Well, there are ways to accommodate both sides, while still giving players incentive to put themselves on the line. There are many aspects of WOW which aim for realism. Your equipment wears out over time, rest makes you feel better, etc. However, I think if they are doing this, they should go all the way. I think it would be cool if your character could starve to death, or die of exposure? Its fun to make money by crafting items and selling them, but what if I would die if I didn't? Not only would this be an interesting economy simulator and add extra tension and stakes to an occasionally boring game, but if the army paid well and provided meals that would make players want to go to war. They would have to decide if the money and food was worth all the fighting, much like many U.S. have to do for college. The whole idea fascinates me, and sounds much more fun that the game I am currently playing.


Its actually been a lot of fun playing and blogging. Peace!

So, I recently reached level 10. Let me tell you, was I in for a surprise.

There are a couple of interesting things when I finally hit double digits. First of all, one of my biggest issues with the game got addressed, however briefly. I don't like the impersonal feel the game has. The little intro cinematic told me that the fate of Ironforge was in my hands, but at this point I mostly feel like an intern running errands for the people with enough sense to build a house and stay put. When I reached level 10 however I received several quests which applied to me specifically (or at least created the illusion) regarding my hunter...dom. My hunterdom. I was taught by some hairy old dwarf hunter master how to tame animals to be my freinds. This took a little while, but eventually I left with a whole bunch of experiance and some neat abilities. While this still isn't as intimate as I would like the world to be, it certainly was a step in the right direction.

Immediatly after that fun little excursion I left snowy dwarf land and entered sunny dwarf land, which is gorgeous, esspeically Loch Modan which I just wanted to run down to and swim in (I wouldn't recomend it--there is an abundance of creatures normally ascociated with a certain other Loch). This new place introduced a whole number of interesting things including a new found ability to ride griffons which is so much fun it is actually worth the money I lose from not just using my hearthstone. However, the most relevant development I found was spiders. Giant spiders. Giant tarantullas more like it, actually. Naturally I tamed one as soon as I possibly could.


Hunters: the game COMPLETELY changes once you get a pet. My spider has more health than me, and does more dammage. It is like suddenly getting twice as powerful. Since taming Winsor (the name I have given my new partner) I have leveled up at least twice per session, not even close to my previous crawl (I hit level 14 by the next day). In addition it emphasized how much of a team game it really is. While he (or she?) runs up to our enemy, I just stand back with my gun and rattle of a bunch of shots and spells. There are few things we've encountered, including things four or five levels above us which don't go down almost immediatly.

So, I don't really know what this says about the game. It picks up, that's sure. I'm still not sure if it has picked up enough. After all, the excitement of running around with a gigantic spider is bound to wear off eventually. Until then though, Winsor and I are going to see how much dammage we can do to ourselves by jumping off cliffs (our current record is 256 dammage each).

Bonus Question: Which two words in this post would make the best movie title?
Answer: "Taming Winsor"

I found something really cool

So I was doing some research for a paper about video game design, and I stumbled across this article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupted_blood

Here are some videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiEFR1Y3fm8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAEhyHiNdrA&feature=related

I think this is awesome. Using WoW as a control in an experiment is something which had honestly never occurred to me. So it looks like WoW might actually have a use after all.


No one ask why I was on Wikipedia for a paper.

Some House Keeping

I am currently drafting a post about a really exciting development in WOW, but for those elite among my audience who are actually grading these posts, I should probably inform you that my new non-trial version character is named Abpeum, and I am on the Elune server. I hope that clears up some things.

Next time on WOWblog (spoilers): I got a pet spider!!!!!!!!

Exploration!

Followers of this blog will remember that I frequently state that my favorite part of WoW is the exploration aspect--quests are a fun incentive to get better stuff, but at the end of the day I'd rather be wandering around in some valley or new city. Most of the quests are just there to encourage the player to leave their comfort zone anyway, so I often just cut out the middle man and go on an "un-sponsored" adventure.

You can imagine my delight and shock then when I was wandering around in the dwarven capital city and discovered a subway stop. Curious, I waited for the next train to come (I have always wanted to play on the tracks of subway stations, so I missed my train three times while frantically trying to avoid being hit) and hopped on, not sure of what would happen. A few minutes later I realized that my mouth was actually hanging open. The train sped underground at breakneck speed while my dwarf stood there and shuffled from one foot to another. We actually shot through an underwater tunnel, and I found myself looking at fish flying past. Then, we screeched to a halt, and I found myself on the other side of the continent, in the middle of an imense human city.
The landscape is beautiful. They have the perfect ratio of warm greens and blues with flashes of red and orange and brown in the flowers and critters. I spent a good forty minutes just orienting myself without doing a single quest. My suitemate who has been playing for a while peeked over and said, "dude, what the HELL are you doing over there?!" It was a triumph for exploration-based gameplay!

My suitemate also recomended this great site: http://www.wowhead.com
Its just a massive database of wow information. Search the name of your quest, and they'll walk you through it. Awesome.
I will also link to this, not becuase it has anything to do with Wow, but becuase if you are into folk music this is the folk music equivilent of Einstein and Jesus doing a colaberative project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr9nf2ZGWhc

This is Awesome

http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlockes-guide-to-azeroth/the-five-stages-of-warcraft/599411p1.html

A Tale of Beer and Tauren Interest

Today I had to do one of the most complicated quests I've had yet, and it was defiantly my favorite. I mentioned in a reply to someone's comment that I wish WOW let me glimpse into some interesting human interest (tauren interest?) stories which I could become involved in, like a widower trapped in an abusive relationship with her brother and this quest was interesting in how close it came to that. There were two beer breweries which got into a rivalry, and I had to switch the beer in one with a nasty concoction to ruin their reputation. This involved an elaborate scheme to distract the guard (help received here: http://www.warcraft-world.co.uk/wow-quest-guide-bitter-rivals.html) which I ultimately pulled off. Hah. Fun times. I hope it comes up again later.