Slashdot Mirror
WoW Helping or Hurting the Industry?
alstor writes "The New York Times has an interesting story about the success of World of Warcraft, and whether it is hurting or helping the gaming industry; this goes along with an earlier post on an article from CNN. From the Times article: 'WoW is now the 800-pound gorilla in the room. I think it also applies to the single-player games. If some kid is paying $15 a month on top of the initial $50 investment and is devoting so many hours a week to it, are they really going to go out and buy the next Need for Speed or whatever? There is a real fear that this game, with its incredible time investment, will really cut into game-buying across the industry.' What is the Slashdot opinion on World of Warcraft's impact on the gaming industry?"
I don't believe WoW is the 800-pound gorilla yet, because there are still ways to serve the market.
One request that has often been asked but hardly answered is the free-game-with-subscription model.
While almost all pay-$50-then-$15-monthly gamers may have been attracted to WoW, there must be even more gamers who are only willing to invest in a game which allows them to pay-as-they-play. Is any leading publisher willing to take a risk of no initial income and bank on the monthly subscription?
So I think WoW is in a way helping the industry to identify this subscription-based market, but if the rest of the industry is trying to do the same thing, they are likely to be a distanced also-run.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
This too will pass.
Yes, it probably is. Since I started WoWing I haven't been playing as many other games and definitely not buying any. It doesn't help that there haven't been many games that have been released lately that interest me. Eventually I'll grow tired of WoW and the next new big games that interests me will come along and I'll stop. But until then I won't be spending my money on other games.
"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
Maybe, if the games industry would make games worth playing ( instead of the affore mentioned sequels and the like ), people would buy them.
Just a thought. However, name a game that has the same level of enjoyment as Sam and Max. Or Grim Fandago.
Or wing commander. Xcom.
Just to name a few. Everyone lately seems overly obsessed with graphics, completely ignoring the plot and gameplay in some cases.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Speaking as a kid who grew up playing Nintendo (the original one you had to blow on to make the cartridges work) I say that the amount of time spent playing WoW and PS2 and watching DVDs and so on is going to have a serious impact on child development including aspects of:
- social interaction
- physical activity
- addiction
- valuing human or animal life
- respect for authority / oposite sex / themselves
Just like ice cream and candy, video games should not be something chilren should be allowed to binge their bodies and minds on.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
People get bored and move on, at least most. A select few will stick to a single game like that and play for huge amounts of time each day every day for years, but for the most part people not only get totally bored and move on to a whole new game entirely after a while, but they get bored on a day-to-day basis and play other games just for variety. It may be an 800lb gorilla right now, but it will grow old and die, or more likely, be unceremoniously butchered by the -next- 800lb gorilla to come along. Aside from that, you also have to recognize that while MMORPGs are growing in popularity, the people that play them still are not such a huge target audience that a game company would go broke simply by failing to market to them altogether.
Unpleasantries.
I play WoW about 15 hours a week, Deathwing server FTW. But I still find time to play alot of other XBOX and PC games.
Um... do I ask 13 year old boys about hedge funds? Who is this guy and why is his laughably out of touch opinion anchoring this article? It's like some talking head in 1890 going "this whole electricity thing is a fad. A few electric lights here, an automatic phonograph there. It will fade after the novelty factor wears off."
Seriously, how out of touch can you be with the growth of online gaming? Someone should show this idiot his quote in 10 years.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
It isn't like MMOs didn't exist before this.
It also isn't like Blizzard hasn't ever made a game before that was so absorbing that people just stopped playing anything else.
I don't see any examples of World of Warcraft hurting "the market". What I see in this article is examples of poor game developers, being hurt by capitalism. If Need for Speed is bad enough that spending $12 on WoW makes Need for Speed not worth buying, then the problem here is that need for speed wasn't good enough to be worth $12 to that person. The reason why Matrix Online got "downsized from nine virtual "realms" to three" is because Matrix Online sucks. Notice in the article that NCSoft, who actually makes good games and is competent enough to compete in a fair market, doesn't seem at all worried?
There are a number of developments in video games lately that I would describe as bad for the health of the video game market. World of Warcraft is not one.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
World of Warcraft is simply the most popular MMORPG right now. This same article could have been written about Everquest 1 a few years ago.
EQ arguably sucked even more time than WoW, and other PC games were still sold. There are many gamers who don't like the MMO thing and will continue to buy other games and consoles.
Eventually, someone will make a WoW-killer in the MMORPG arena. It may take a few years, but it'll happen.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
WoW appeals more to the noncompetitive gamer as time goes on. I had two level 60s before I quit, and it just wasn't as fun as it was frustrating.
More hardcore gamers crave PVP -- WoW PvP just doesn't cut it (balance issues, group issues, etc). It's obvious that individual skill isn't as important as time sinking, and WoW will never become a competitive game.
The game really does get boring. The game world becomes dull, and more of a drag to cross, rather than an adventure. Spending hours just to do high level instances just isn't fun. I'm just gonna use that gear to beat down other players, but even that part isn't fun.
Innovate or get out of the way.
Thank you! It's not that WoW is monopolizing. They just happen to have made a good game, and the consumer is speaking with their dollar. If a game comes out that can draw attention from WoW, it deserves the money. I'm sorry that EA can't pump out another Madden and make endless cash, but its about damned time that the Free Market and Economic theory returned to the marketplace. There is no anti-competive work at play here, supply and demand. Low supply of quality games, and a high demand for it where WoW fulfills the need.
Microsoft Sucks, F/OSS Rocks. I get mod points now right?
In terms of enraptured playerbase I believe Warcraft long ago surpassed evequest, in fact the only real contenders, now and in the past for playerbase are perhaps Lineage and its sequel. However, in North America, I do not believe any one MMO has ever captured such a large playerbase (1.5 million).
The scary part is the game isn't particularly good, or challenging, but that tends to be the standard rather than the exception in MMOs. At base the 'grind' to 60 (which people state is 'fun' but have you ever listened to them play through a VOIP conference? Most people are either a.) unsatisfied or b.) frustrated with the game and therein lies the addiction to it. All the time you invest getting to the 'maximum' level and the 'best' equipment is superfluous at base because it doesn't really teach you any skills you need to be successful (truth be told, there aren't any aside from some innate ones...). Most of the 'difficult' encounters in the game are a matter of organization and 'surprise' equipment, which leads back to the sole purpose of the game: to keep you playing longer.
And there are people who will continue playing until there are no new challenges to encounter and then contineu to play even beyond that as they are hooked by the feet to the mindless community they've spent the past year and a half with.
I think another reason for the popularity of the game is it doesn't take any talent to play the game (like nearly all rpgs, massive or not) and it takes little talent to play the game well (though you're likely to spend a long time attaining said talent as the game works to obfusicate the matters at hand from you).
Game companies like to pretend like an EULA is a legally binding contract but it's not, at least not yet, and we want to keep it that way. With a real contract, there's an exchange, and that exchange is agreed upon beforehand. Like my bank and I agreed that they'd give me money to buy a house, and I'd pay it back on a regular basis, with intrest. Also contracts are open to negotiation, since it's prior to the execution of the transation, the sides can bargain. The other side doesn't have to accept what you want, but they have to consider it. Finally, there's a signature, a real proof that that you agreed and (in theory) read and understand the terms.
EULAs are all ex post facto. You have already done the exchange, money for goods, you get home, open the box, and all of a sudden they try to hit you with a contract. No, wrong answer. Teh sale is completed, you don't get to dictate terms to me. I mean what if I don't agree? Espically given taht stores don't accept returns on unopened software.
I mean look at it this way, what if I put a blatantly silly term in there like "By buying this product you agree to pay me $1000 per month for a period of 10 years." Obviously that's stupid, however it's a clause that could be in a real enforcable contract. Nobody would say it should be enforcable for a peice of software who's box you happened to open, however.
There's also just some common sense to it. People should not be required to read and understand a 10 page dense legal text to buy a simple consumer good. A toaster maker doesn't expect you to read a 10 page EULA for a $50 toaster, why should a $50 video game be any different? I mean hell, the lease I signed at my previous apartment was, literally, shorter than a normal EULA, and easier to understand, and this was an important document about matters of thousands of dollars and the place I was living.
Just because it's written in an EULA doesn't make it legally enforcable and SHOULDN'T make it legally enforcable. We do not want a world where peopel can spring supprise contracts on you after you've already bought something.
No wonder the game is wildly successful! Blizzard did their homework and discovered the younger MMORPG crowd is attention deficient. My subscription ends this month. Flame on...
Blog: http://richardrandomrants.blogspot.com/
But the key here is that WoW also has a monthly fee that would have potentially gone to other games. StarCraft only had one expansion, and was never (is never) a monthy fee.
Should BLizzard be able to force you to do what they want with the game you have purchased?
Sure they can put it into there EULA, but that does NOT make it so.
I acn sell hammer and make you sign a piece of paper saying you will only use it with 10 penny nails. If I tried to get a court to stop you from using it on panel nails, I'd be laughed out of court.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I also agree to this. I previously played about 15-30 hours a week of PS2 games, and a bit of Neverwinter Nights. I even bought both expansions as soon as the patches for Mac were available.
Now, I play about 3-5 hours of WoW a night, and I have no time at all for other games. I even have a few pre-ordered games sitting on my shelf in the shrinkwrap. I bought WoW accounts for my oldest son and my wife. We play together daily.
To top this off, I am considering a new machine based largely off gaming performance for the first time in 3 years.
I'd say it definately has an impact. A game would have to be truly amazing to pull me off WoW. I didn't even like Everquest this much.
-WS
An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
Halo? Yes.
The point is, WoW is worth it. Need for Speed, OTOH, is just Yet Another Piece of EA Crap. Notice how they were up to six or seven before they started calling it "underground"? It's probably getting close to version 10 now, and still, nothing new to make it worth $50.
Halo 2, OTOH, is worth $50, plus whatever an Xbox costs now, even if you only use it for Halo. Plus a TV tuner card or video in line, if you don't have a TV.
Similarly, old as it is, Final Fantasy 10 is still worth the cost of a PS2, plus whatever the game goes for now. Final Fantasy 7 is priceless, although it can probably be had for under $20 and run decently on any PS emulator.
And Half-Life 2, with all of its mods, is a steal at $60 for the Silver Edition.
Would I buy Half-Life 2 if I was already playing WoW? Hell yes. Would I buy Need for Speed Underground Super Happy Drift Mode, if I was already playing WoW? Hell no.
It's not an 800-pound-gorilla (sony), or piracy, or the media, or dumber kids, or games that are too easy, or a lack of ethics (Hot Coffee) that's hurting the industry. It's that crap like EA is still seen as "THE Industry", and good indie and even free games/mods (Natural Selection, for one) are often completely overlooked in the media (Slashdot, IGN, Gamespy) orgy over inane things like hardware and the latest Doom/Quake.
We don't just need good, innovative Indie games -- we have those (Katamari, Natural Selection, Cube) -- we just need more publicity. Maybe even more piracy. Guess why a completely unknown and oddball show originally about "demon magic" is now the #1 Ninja Anime in America (Naruto)? I think the world is better for it.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
If people aren't buying games because WoW is so good, it just means the other games aren't good enough to buy. Why buy a bad or mediocre game when you've got WoW waiting at home? If developers want people to buy their games, they need to make them good enough to merit time away from Warcraft.
It's hard to strive for greatness when surrounded by the mediocre.
I didnt read the last 500 comments, so I dont know if this was already posted. But, to comment on, if its hurting the gaming industry by kids playing this all the time instead of buying other games like need for speed- well, first of all, need for speed is a crappy game, like a lot of other games. Not, using this specifially, but what I mean, is... is this hurting the industry? no. frankly, I wouldnt buy games like need for speed because they suck. a lot of games suck. WoW is a great game. So, other game companies need to get their ass in gear and make a good game, one that can compete with WoW. So, hopefully companies will realize this, and if they do, yes it will be good for the industry. But, in what ways could it be bad? well, i hope ea does go under. I cant stand to see another madden. Or else Im going to puke.
Martin