07-27-2004, 02:04 PM
Hi,
While WoW is a whole new game, it is a sequel to all the WC games till now. But those were thrown together without he thought of supporting anything bigger than themselves. So they have neither a history nor a geography that would support a MMOG. Happens all the time in all shared fantasy worlds that are not well thought out.
But what does Blizzard do? Tries to make the game as appealing as possible by adapting it to a cultural facet (which is fine by me); but they do it so badly that it becomes a Frankenstein-like construct with the crude stitching clearly visible.
Yep. But it doesn't really matter. If Blizzard took the backstory and the world seriously and expected the players to do the same, then the backstory would be a major flaw. Since Blizzard continuously trumps any attempt at seriousness with inappropriate (for the backstory) humor, the whole thing is one big running joke. Does anyone ever care if the background to a joke is consistent? Or even plausible?
That attitude is both a weakness and a strength for Blizzard. A weakness in that it breaks "immersion". Even as I laugh at a Zeppelin ticket seller called "Hin Denberg" (approximately), it causes my mind to veer out of the game and flash to *this* world and what I know of lighter than air craft here. Whatever immersion I had is gone. A strength in that humor breaks what is ultimately just another level/gear grind.
But the backstory to WoW is something that will not be of importance to me or to most of the people playing the game because the backstory has no effect on how we play the game. And that is sad, for if what we did were somehow more influenced by the desire to bring some vast saga another step forward and less by "another three critters and I'll level and be able to buy the next mace in a never ending series of 1% better maces", then WoW would have a chance of engaging our intellect as well as our appreciation for beauty and humor and would possibly be a "lifetime" game. People could then indeed *be* their characters.
I don't know how such a game could be made. I don't even know if such a game could be made. I do know that it will not come from a company that is trying for the least common denominator of dungeon crawls.
--Pete
While WoW is a whole new game, it is a sequel to all the WC games till now. But those were thrown together without he thought of supporting anything bigger than themselves. So they have neither a history nor a geography that would support a MMOG. Happens all the time in all shared fantasy worlds that are not well thought out.
But what does Blizzard do? Tries to make the game as appealing as possible by adapting it to a cultural facet (which is fine by me); but they do it so badly that it becomes a Frankenstein-like construct with the crude stitching clearly visible.
Yep. But it doesn't really matter. If Blizzard took the backstory and the world seriously and expected the players to do the same, then the backstory would be a major flaw. Since Blizzard continuously trumps any attempt at seriousness with inappropriate (for the backstory) humor, the whole thing is one big running joke. Does anyone ever care if the background to a joke is consistent? Or even plausible?
That attitude is both a weakness and a strength for Blizzard. A weakness in that it breaks "immersion". Even as I laugh at a Zeppelin ticket seller called "Hin Denberg" (approximately), it causes my mind to veer out of the game and flash to *this* world and what I know of lighter than air craft here. Whatever immersion I had is gone. A strength in that humor breaks what is ultimately just another level/gear grind.
But the backstory to WoW is something that will not be of importance to me or to most of the people playing the game because the backstory has no effect on how we play the game. And that is sad, for if what we did were somehow more influenced by the desire to bring some vast saga another step forward and less by "another three critters and I'll level and be able to buy the next mace in a never ending series of 1% better maces", then WoW would have a chance of engaging our intellect as well as our appreciation for beauty and humor and would possibly be a "lifetime" game. People could then indeed *be* their characters.
I don't know how such a game could be made. I don't even know if such a game could be made. I do know that it will not come from a company that is trying for the least common denominator of dungeon crawls.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?