The lessons from this presidential election can be applied to World of Warcraft. With McCain and Obama battling for the hearts and minds of the middle class in America, I’m reminded of the forgotten middle class in the Eastern Kingdoms.
No really, keep reading.
Blizzard announced on Friday that subscriptions for the game have reached 11 million. That’s more people playing one game than people living in the country of Hungary.
The thing is all those people can’t be the hardcore, 40 hours a week Sun Well Plateau players. A lot of these people playing are going to be anyone that plays casually and will never see Illidan in the Black Temple.
Blizzard is happy to accommodate these players with a series of handouts if they use the “Recruit-A-Friend” program. Drag one of your unwilling friends that has a pulse and a valid credit card and poof, like a trick from the magician at your fifth grade assembly, you are up for a slew of welfare gifts. Eased leveling when you and your amigo are together – remember this is on top of the already watered down system – a super secret friend to friend decoder summoning stone - the super secret friend to friend decoder summoning stone is in fact, neither super nor secret and doesn’t decode anything - even the deluxe Zhevra mount, a terrible looking unicorn-zebra hybrid, that you get at level 30; remember, that’s after the lowered the level requirements from 40.
Seems so long ago when you had to bust your ass for that stuff.
What about those players that are completely consumed by the damp darkness of their mom’s basements, who’s only source of light is the soft glow of Orgrimmar on their screen; well, they don’t need hand outs. Blizzard is happy to accommodate them by pitting their guilds against - from what I’ve heard - absurdly complex boss fights and gear with godlike properties and DPS counts that will make your opponent shit their brains onto the arena floor.
What about – cliché, I know – “Jhett the Warrior”?
I know there are handfuls of you saying “fool, STFU you’re a casual player”. I’m not. I used to be hot shit back in the day, running Molten Core and Black Wing Lair when they were the dungeons to run. But, I’m in college now and I refuse to fall back into the darkness that consumed my high school days. Why? Simply, I got more shit to do
So, where do the middle class players fit into Blizzard’s game plan? What about the players caught in obscurity?
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Also, I really don't get how WOW players always assume people know what they're talking about when they write about this bull. By posting this in the CBLOGS you are addressing the community and not solely the WOW heads. Therefore if people don't know what the fuck you're talking about (Without explaining it) you defeat the purpose of even wasting the time to write this in the first place.
I'm truly sorry if I've come off a bit strong on you, but you're a WOW player and that sums it all up.
Wow. You're a jerk, huh?
the header clearly has WoW in it. anybody can immediately assume that the post will be riddled with WoW speak. and why are you even here? to simply berate the original poster?
"I stopped considering WOW players as people, no matter how "casual" or how little they play, they're still WOW players and they don't matter. In fact, I really don't even consider them gamers."
that MUST make it true. if YOU think so. i don't consider Halo players gamers either. just a bunch of 12 year old yelling obscenities into a mike while teabagging everyone they meet. must be true because I said so. WoW players are gamers. MMO gamers. the fact that it's just exploded into something so huge that it has its own class doesn't change the fact that they are playing a game.
Here's where the problem lies - if you aren't part of a militant, 5 night a week raiding group or only log in 5 hours a week there isn't a great deal of satisfaction to be had. Sure you can PvP, but most of the good players you'll know have a team or raid group to whom their loyalty lies and random battlegrounds get old fast. I think for the time and commitment I am willing to invest in something, MMORPG's just don't have anything to offer.
Not that this matters, (Read this again before you say anything about my next comment), but the only reason I don't like WOW players to begin with is because of their obsession with an old game, that perpetually sucks on their brain like a mutant parasite and their choice to pay for said game every month for X years (because you know your not just going to play it for a month or two). I've lost too many friends to WOW (Again, not that this matters) and so I feel the need to express my opinion about WOW, which is rarely talked about on Dtoid, in general, without insulting it's user base as a whole.
I'm not here to start flaming, but to simply drop a comment on my views. Should I have made a CBLOG post right after this to express myself and to go into more detail? Why? So that WOW heads like yourselves could post your arguments, that I really don't care about. Take this how you will, but I really don't care how you do...
I think that's why they let you have the choice of pvp and 5 man raids tbh, that stuff is easy to pick up and do for a few hours every odd day. But I would like a more middle class targetted WoW.
Look forward to your other posts :D