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NYT on World of Warcraft
The New York Times (registration required) has a piece on Blizzard's World of Warcraft, discussing the game's popularity and high sales. The article also examines the design processes that go into the game, and the artistic outlook of the WoW live team. From the article: "From around a dark, windowless room, nine young men peered into the unfinished virtual interior of Karazhan, a haunted tower set in a forlorn mountain pass that will open later this year. 'As you can see, the architecture is a little ornate, a little Gothicky,' said Aaron Keller, a 29-year-old designer, gesturing to the 3-D model on the computer screen before him. 'We're thinking about turning these arches into horse heads.'
w00t! They must be talking about Medivh's Tower in Deadwind Pass! A lot of us old beta hands have been waiting to get in there. Given Medivh's prominence in the history of Azeroth, it promises to be an absolute bounty of Warcraftian lore!
Plus, Deadwind pass is just spooky. I mean, it just reeks with atmosphere =) How can the big instance in that not be cool?
Wood Shavings!
- Godai
Actually, I see this as the "next big thing" in litigation.
.mp3's but it's no where near as easy as it was with Napster.
First we had the RIAA going after Napster and Kaaza and others...can still get
Now we have the MPAA going after P2P bittorrent sites...fight not as easy as it was with Napster...but they're still throwing out lawsuits as fast as their little junior associates can print them off.
Next I belive the game companies are going to not only go after pirated games (already been doing this to mediocre success) but also going after IGE type companies and game cheaters and hackers like on Steam.
Will it work...probably as well as the others have done...meaning making a small dent yet not really doing much.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
I did not pre-order this game as I had been completely put off by other MMORPG experiences, specifically DAoC, SWG, FFXI, and a free trial of AO. These games amounted (to me anyway) mindless grinds and felt more like work than anything else.
I was HEARING great things about WoW, but I was convincend that playing these other MMORPGs that I will feel the same way: suckered that I spent $50 on a game I hated after a week or two of playing.
So, I stayed away from WoW. I was hearing great things and was starting to cave in to the temptation of buying a copy. I was on the fence when I hear about the server issues due to player volume. When I finally decided I wanted to get the game, there were no copies to be found anywhere; however, a week later, a couple of copies appeared at Target, and I snapped them up.
For anyone who has played a MMORPG and liked the concept, but hated the gameplay, try WoW. You will love it. The only time I have felt like the game was a grind was because I actually was grinding my skills. The second I was tired of it, I just stopped, did a quest, and I was adventuring again.
This game is so good, it convinced two of my friends who are stalwart enemies of the pay-to-play MMORPG to start paying to play this game. If I was a movie producer, I would call the game a "MMORPG Morrowind", but even better than that.
I have experienced MINOR server outage problems; however, I do have a 9-5 job and have other hobbies besides gaming, so it's possible I don't experience the issues as much as "hardcore" players.
I cannot say enough good things about this game. It is the best RPG I have played since Baldur's Gate II. I never thought the MMORPG could be done this well.
Respect It.
has a piece on Blizzard's World of Warcraft, discussing the game's popularity and high sales.
:)
A few of the things I like about World of Warcraft.
1. It's not a real 'grind'. You get an experence bonus for being offline, so you don't have to feel like you need to play all the time to 'keep up' if you are the keep up type.
2. There is a good questing system, that offers rewards that are at least as good as the rewards (ie drops) you would get from just farming mobs.
3. Decent PvP system. Those who want PvP join PvP servers, and PvP combat is limited enough to not scare off newbies, but prevalent enough to be enjoyed at higher levels.
4. Things aren't too hard. Most of the professions (ie crafting) aren't too comlicated which is nice for a casual player like myself who has a full time job.
I think WoW is the first MMORPG to really reach out to and reward casual players, and it's succeeding.
People tend to get confused and think that what IGE is doing is illegal, when it is not. What IGE does is against the Terms that you agree to when you play the game. From the terms I have read from a few MMORPGs that I have played, the only way they will/can do to you is cancel your account. And it is rare that they will even do this.
It is rather hard to prove that any single player is involved in the sale of in-game money. The only for sure way I've ever heard of would be to have the company (Like Blizzard), buying money from a site like IGE, then when the money is delivered, they cancel the account of the person who sent them the money. I don't see many game developers doing this.
Plus, IGE is only the middleman in the deal. IGE doesn't have anyone directly work for them that farms money to be able to sell to other players. IGE pays people as those people sell the money to IGE, then IGE sells that money to some other person. This makes it even harder for them to get caught.
Its not what it is, its something else.