Why World of Warcraft: Forever is Not for Me
What has become clear to me over the years, is that fans love for World of Warcraft is not solely based upon the game itself. Often those who enjoy the game qualify their feelings within a wider context. What made WoW so great for them was the time, the place and the people. Where people where at in their lives. The group dynamic is a major aspect of this as Raids are a key part of WoW and not an optional extra. Often fans cut their teeth with WoW at a time when it was “the” MMO and there wasn’t as much competition. Gaming was also a far more niche pastime in the early 2000s and as such fostered a somewhat unique sense of camaraderie. Hence WoW is more than just a multiplayer game but a pop culture archetype. I suspect that this is what Blizzard wants to tap into with WoW Forever. Older players may well rediscover the old magic. However, I don’t know if a comparable experience is available to new players.
Guilds Are Not Group Therapy
I was recently trawling through some screen captures from 2009, taken when I was a very active player in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Several included the chat window as I hadn’t turned off the GUI when I pressed “print screen”. Hence I read a few fragments of chat which subsequently reminded me of a problematic situation our guild experienced for a couple of months. That being when someone joins your guild and at first seems like a good fit but later starts becoming difficult and unreasonable with regard to their expectations and online behaviour. The person in question in this instance eventually stated that they had mental health issues but by the time this was raised a lot of harm had been done to all parties concerned. They ended up leaving after an argument centred around perceived personal slights and a lack of support for their needs. It was an upsetting experience that was poorly handled, although it wasn’t any particular person’s fault.