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World of Warcraft Teaches the Wrong Things?
Gamasutra has a 'Soap Box' editorial up discussing the bad lessons World of Warcraft teaches. From the article: "1. Investing a lot of time in something is worth more than actual skill. If you invest more time than someone else, you "deserve" rewards. People who invest less time "do not deserve" rewards. This is an absurd lesson that has no connection to anything I do in the real world. The user interface artist we have at work can create 10 times more value than an artist of average skill, even if the lesser artist works way, way more hours. The same is true of our star programmer. The very idea that time > skill is alien."
World of Warcraft wasn't designed to teach you anything. It was designed to entertain you.
True, but for the exact same reasons as TFA, I don't feel very entertained by the values in WOW. I've avoided MMOGs like the plague because I so thouroughly dislike the fact that someone who spends more time on the game can whip my butt even though we both have the same skill.
When I play Unreal Tournament or Counter Strike, we all start the same. Though it's true that most players who've played alot will be more skillful, the fact is that their skill is in their own head and reflexes, not stored up in some 60th level ass-kicker of a character.
Imagine if were playing sand-lot baseball and one of the neighborhood kids showed up with his baseball-playing robot that has all the skills of Barry Bonds. Personally, I'd tell the kid to fuck off. But what if I couldn't get rid fo the kid because baseball was structured so that everyone got to bring their kick-ass robots any time they want? Well I'd say that the people who claim to be "playing baseball" aren't really playing baseball at all. They may, in fact, be competing at building robots or growing robots or earning money until they can buy the best robot, but they are not playing baseball.
When I show up to PLAY video GAMES, I want to play the game that's on the screan and I want to be playing against the skill of the other player. When I get in a sword fight, I don't want to lose to someones "skill" at buying a great character on e-bay. That, to me, is not "fun"
Life lessons be damned. I just want to play a real game. To me, WOW doesn't count.
TW
Personally, i know that i have almost no artistic talent at all, and my attempts at art throughout high school usually prompted ridicule. According to the WoW (or more genreally, ORPG view) If i keep drawing crap for a long time, suddenly i'll be a better artist than someone who may have had no lessons or anything, but turns out to be the next monet.
If i'm awful at sports, yet i've played a lot, will that make me better than a natural athlete?
Sure, practice at a skill can make one better, but the amount of practice doesn't completely overwhelm natural ability, like the WoW model seems to say it does. That's what the author seems to have the most problems with. If I were to play someone in another game like starcraft, warcraft, street fighter, counter-strike, etc. Yes, it's probably the person who has practiced the most who is going to be better, and going to win. But the reason they win is because they are the better player, and both people go into the game on an equal footing, and it's not the practice itself that determines the winner, but the skill that develops as the result of the practice. Compare this to WoW, where if you have played longer, you have a "better" character.
Sure, for a lot of jobs, if you put enough time into something you can do it well, but only the people with natural gifts are going to become famous athletes, musicians, artists, etc. and the way WoW works is the oppposite of that, it's not the people with the most skill who become the best at what they do, it's people with the most time.
If there's anything more important than my ego around, i want it caught and shot now.
Computer games aren't supposed to teach values!?
fuck! I bought my kid GTA a few years ago and haven't bothered to check back since! I thought it would be okay!!
The other day I heard my 16 year old daughter telling a friend that you can sleep with the proffessor to get a good grade in the Sims 2 University expansion pack. To the best of my knowledge, the thought of this had never occured to her before playing this game. She's got very good morals and a strong sense of ethics, so I don't worry about her, but it sure made me think twice about how video games might affect them.
TW
To the Slashdot crowd: I know there's a humor potential here, but I'd appreciate your respect for my very real daughter. Thanks much