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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
| WoW Teaches the Wrong Things @ Gamasutra |
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Game development site Gamasutra has a Soapbox article titled <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060222/sirlin_01.shtml" target="_blank">World of Warcraft Teaches the Wrong Things</a>. The argument is predicated on a definition from Raph Koster - and although that might sound like a dodgy start it's ultimately a list of design complaints in WoW:<blockquote><em>Before we get to World of Warcraft though, let's pause to learn from Raph Koster. Raph is no stranger to MMOs, as he was the design force behind Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. He wrote an excellent book called A Theory of Fun that you all should read. I tend to put "fun" in quotes, because it's a pretty nebulous thing that I don't know how to define. Fun is like pornography; I know it when I see it. Raph was brave enough to attempt an explanation of "fun."
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<br>Fun is learning in a safe-environment.
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<br>Those few words have a lot of implications. Games are mini-worlds where we can try out all sorts of ideas and possibilities, and see what works and what doesn't. Games let us fail with little penalty and then let us try again. Games teach us how to time our jumps, how to aim, how to solve puzzles, and how to manage resources. They teach us strategy: when to attack, and when to avoid a fight. It would be great if they taught a wider range of lessons, but as Raph says, that's up to us game designers to make it happen.</em></blockquote>Free registration might be required. |
Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:50 pm |
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| SWG guy commenting on WoW? How ironic. |
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LOL, this is funny coming from Raph. He's definitly no stranger to MMOs. SWG FTL! 
I look forward to his next big embaressment. |
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Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:52 pm |
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Hindukönig
Guards Lieutenant
Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 170
Location: Halle (Saale) / Nuremberg [Germany] |
quote:
Originally posted by xSamhainx
"arent you reading a little too much into this whole thing??".
No.
I love analyzing game mechanics, and I although I find the article's strong focus on morality a little bit awkward, it's a nice play of thought. Think of it as the next step to integrate games into art and culture. |
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Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:35 pm |
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xSamhainx
Paws of Doom
Joined: 11 Sep 2002
Posts: 2192
Location: San Diego |
Sure, I can see how studying game mechanics and their intersection with human psychology can be quite interesting, but this is no study. This is merely the author's personal views and those of someone else about two games, WoW & Street Fighter, dressed up to look like some kind of brilliant insight. Quite frankly, it's about as narrowminded and focused on bashing a game and elevating another as an uninformed, biased, bad review. WoW bad, StreetFighter good is essentially his point. Want me to "look too deep" into the games and see too much?
For instance, in his rant(s) about " Group > Solo", he comes to the conclusion that WoW somehow inculcates within young minds that self-reliance is no good, since the obviously tougher parts of the game cannot be solo'd. I'm as big a fan of self-reliance and individuality as anyone, but I also recognize that there are just some things people cannot do by themselves. We arent omnipotent beings in WoW, nor are we in real life, and there will be times on and offline that yes we will need the help of others. I solo'd the first 2 months of my WoW subscription, and after a while I realized I just wasnt going to be able to do some things myself. So, I came out of my shell and asked for help, or banded together with others who were in the same boat. I made alot of new friends, and eventually rose to second in command of my guild.
So it could be said that little Johnny the introvert having to perhaps humble himself, accept that he cannot do everything himself, and seek the help of others is beneficial. He has a chance of making friends, he learns to work with others, and he learns that he is not some all-powerful being who must always bear his own crosses in life, by himself.
Sometimes you have to "do time". I worked my ass off for my gold in the game, grinding away for hours at a time. I did spend alot more time than others I knew, playing the game all hours. It could be said that this is a valuable life's lesson as well. Teaching that toiling away at something you particularly dont want or like to do, like a real-world 40 hour a week job, pays off in the end when you can run to your local vendor and buy what you want or need. You want a lesson in self-sufficiency Gamasutra, try paying for an epic mount by your own devices alone! That's more a hard-won personal conquest and life's lesson on self-reliance than being able to down some level 60 ogre with two swipes of your overpowered blade.
I mean come on here, the Terms of Service thing had me in stitches 
Meanwhile Streetfighter, a completely 2D in every sense of the word rote repetition and twitch-timing button masher, which is essentially about beating someone else into total submission for sport, is held up as some sort of valuable well of life's wisdom. It's just hilarious.
GTA is a game about being a misanthropic gangster. To say it's simply a game of "exploration and freedom" is like saying a Hustler magazine really isnt pornographic smut for people to get off on, it's really just about "reading and learning about sexuality". Dont fall prey to the "Smut Facade" it appears to be, lol. I wish this kind of logic would have worked on my mother when I was growing up.
If the GTA missions were simply "go explore the golf course" he may have a point, but since the fact that you end up literally beating someone to death with a damn golf club when you get there is the real purpose of your day on the greens, his point rings completely hollow with me. Every game is about exploration (seeing new areas, getting to the next level) and freedom to do things we cannot do in the real world, but what you do with your freedom is what the game boils down to.
What's this guy doing in games, he should be a defense lawyer!
That's why I have to laugh when I see these wannabe high-minded intellectuals waxing eloquent about such things, when they obviously have one or two absurd points alone that they flog you to death with until youre humming the same tune, all the while ignoring the big pink elephant in the room - common sense.
I cant wait to see old Aristotle's next big article here, It'll probably be all about a pre-teen gamer's "right" to play explicity violent and sexual games, and how beneficial they are to a developing mind and soul. Ah yes, gamer oppression, a blight on the face of our society... 
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“Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving.”-Mark Twain |
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Sat Feb 25, 2006 3:04 am |
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