“there are games besides WoW?” Terra Nova says YA RLY. Make sure to check out the MMOGChart site. Note that World of Warcraft’s growth curve is almost a straight vertical line.
TN also comments on how “registered users” is a statistic used to inflate the value of an MMORPG, possibly in order to impress VC’s.
I’m French Canadian and it happen to me to answer in French to get rid of moron.
So there is this guy: “can I get gold, I will send it back to you by mail, I want to buy an epic”
Me: “pardon je ne parle pas anglais!”
Him: “WTF hey do you have GOLD”
Me: “Vraiment desole, je ne comprends pas!”
Him: “I’ll report you, f* farmer, china FARMER are the suckx!
And more on the “Chinese Goldgarmer” issue at the Daedalus Project.
“It is already impossible to ignore the economic impact MMORPGs are having on the tabletop sub-segment – they decimated it in 2005. Only time will tell if some value premise can be rebuilt from the foundations available to entice a new generation of gamers into the hobby – or if the battle has already been lost. Me, I’m betting on the guys with $480,000,000.”
Ryan Dancey, as resposted here.
“Here are some wolves and trolls that your dwarf character can shoot in the face.” – Mike Mearls was sold on World of Warcraft.
“Traditional rpgs built on long term campaigns are high commitment and very fragile social structures. MMORPGs do not require the high commitment at a single time, and are very resiliant to social shifts amongst the individual play groups.” – Chris
“So make RPG’s that offer other focuses, building on the Story & Role/Sim strengths of RPG’s, combat is cool and all, just don’t make gamist power-leveling and character strategizing a focus.” – Rob
“This is what RPGs lack. Even “light” games like PTA require (comparativly) lots of setup, lots of time, lots of organization [...] and I think that we should look to expand the territory they’ve opened up.” – Brand
“And yet even the undead have room for more diverse motivations.”—comment by Yrro on the “Horde is Evil” thread.
Also check out Arcady’s thoughts on “racism in fantasy”, specifically looking at WoW and D&D.
“The game world [of World of Warcraft] benefits from the ambiguity. What it lacks, unfortunately, is a way for players to make meaningful moral choices.” — Lydia Leong’s comment on Terra Nova, “The Horde is Evil”.
While I think that the Horde is not accurately “evil” (not moreso than the Alliance), there’s still a good point about the moral consequences of simply playing “evil” acts without taking some responsibility for what’s going on. There can be a mature gaming allowing for depiction of “evil” choices, but only within a framework that allows players to adequately separate themselves from what’s going on, and also be reflective about what’s happening. In other words, you need to play the rise of Darth Vader as the fall of a flawed hero into moral wrong, and not as a fun opportunity for griefing Alderaan.
“Some good guidelines to set before the duel is to disallow hunters using traps, rogues stealthing, warriors disarming, warlocks fearing, paladins bubbling, paladins healing, shamans touching the keyboard, and mages casting spells.”—Something Awful, “How to Properly Enjoy World of Warcraft”