Zero Punctuation: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

[Speakercone]

You mean the part where you urge people to quit if they play. Frankly your whole wall of text could of come from Jack Thomson.
What?s the difference between you Blaming WoW for whatever problems your friends are going through and him blaming games for violent acts?

Jack Thompson never sat down and got to know those kids? The game's designed from the ground up to be addicting. It's not really a surprise that addiction is often the result.

Extra Credits covered this in one of their episodes. WoW doesn't addict people, it offers rewards for actions. In short it's a skinner box. It doesn't addict people, it conditions them. There is a difference and I recommend watching the relevant video. Personally I think Blizzard are better than having to resort to that, which is why I'm happy to see a lot of interesting gameplay and storyline in the new levelling experience of WoW. There is less skinner boxing going on than there used to be, but it's still there.

If only to finish putting the finest of points possible on this, Spending all your evenings and weekends for a month playing a game is a far cry from prostituting yourself for a hit of crack.

 

[Nounverber]

You mean the part where you urge people to quit if they play. Frankly your whole wall of text could of come from Jack Thomson.
What?s the difference between you Blaming WoW for whatever problems your friends are going through and him blaming games for violent acts?

Jack Thompson never sat down and got to know those kids? The game's designed from the ground up to be addicting. It's not really a surprise that addiction is often the result.

So is every other game, they are meant to be time consuming.

I don't believe this is true. For most other games, the fact that they may waste your time or "suck you in" is only incidental. WoW is *specifically* designed to do this as its end goal.

I barely consider WoW a "video game" at this point, to be honest. It has far more in common with those Zynga Farmville-style Facebook apps than anything else (ie. the goal is simply to keep you playing through operant conditioning and social obligation rather than deliver any sort of meaningful gameplay experience).

 

[CeilingNinja]

Admittedly - as a WoW player myself, I found the video so very true. It is all about numbers in the end. I'm a much more casual player - an hour a night usually - and play on one of the RP servers so I'm much more about socializing with the other characters in my guild than raiding (and yea.. I do care if my sword doesn't match my boots.)

WoW can be drawn into two classes of people - those who like numbers, and those who play cause they've got a good group of people to talk to.

I'm not addicted, I can stop any time I want. Besides... I don't have anyone's life to ruin besides my own (not married, no kids.)

 

[Ghengis John]

So is every other game, they are meant to be time consuming.

A valid point Blitz. But this boils down to personal opinion. I think WoW is particularly insidious of what it asks from people and how surreptitiously it invokes addiction, you don't. With 12.7 million players can you honestly say they're the same as their competition when it comes to addiction levels? I don't think you can. Clearly you disagree. And there's a difference in my opinion between simple time consumption and addiction. Time consumption might just see people playing a game for as long as it entertains them, who plays through hours of tedium in any other genre?

Also you still haven't answered my question:

I find it very amusing that for all this sites bitching about how video games are blamed for every social ill that any of you would actually believe in MMO addiction.

What's that supposed to mean? Are you with the thought police? Aren't we allowed our own opinions?

 

[Reveras]

Well, to be quite honest I would actually be happy to die by that Dragon. It's epic and sick altogether. Then again I agree - it's like a "Awe, look at the Noob dieing! His first time!" kind of Achievement. It makes me feel like I am being adored like a toddler for being owned in such a way. But, you already expressed how I would feel so that's cool Yahtzee.

I also must admit - why are all the females within WoW so attractive? Like the males of the orc and other races look demented or "off" while the females are as beautiful as they come. I know it's probably to get the male's attention and make the game more interesting, just I feel it's highly unfair.. but, I shouldn't complain because I don't even own the game nor even have a WoW account/game.

Troll, Orc, Tauren, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin females are attractive to you? Ummm ....ok....

 

[Ghengis John]

As someone who played WoW since "Vanilla" and just canceled his account last week, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to type that up. A lot of people won't want to hear it, for sure, but I think more than a few need to.

Well thank you man, but I suspect I'll be hearing from the people who don't want to hear about it for days.

 

[Nomanslander]

Pointless is the same thing as a waste of time. Moreover, by your own definition of "leisure" if you enjoy throwing your life away to World of Warcraft it's not a waste of time, now is it?

Yeah, but what I meant was WoW isn't pointless when you're playing it on leisure time. Time spent when you're not doing something constructive, everyone needs recreation and video games and all hobbies can pretty much fill that slot.

But you're right about the whole throwing away your life thing, if you don't care about wasting time or spending time not doing something constructive (generally work) then it doesn't matter.

Been there, done that myself back in 05-07 when I did nothing but play WoW. But now I see things differently.

 

[llubtoille]

The only problem I have with WoW is that in order for a new player to experience the Cataclysm content (IE new races), they have to spend $120 (Vanilla/BC bundle + Wotlk + Cata). They really need bundle vanilla/bc/wotlk all into one $40 bundle and not have WotLK at he same price as Cata.

they did prior to cata launch, don't know if it's still going now tho
think it was $5 for vanilla, $5 for TBC & $10 for WotLK

 

[Britisheagle]

Number One: I thought he wouldn't review this game.
Number Two: I'm susrpised he likes it... Each to their own I suppose but never appealed to me in any sense of the word.
Number Three: Great review

And yes, they are all... NUMBERS!

 

[Ghengis John]

I just find it hypocritical, if I said that Doom was responsible for Columbine I would be shouted down by every member of this site
But a post like yours that can be summarized, as "Boo hoo I lost my friend to an MMO" isn?t met with the same response even though they have the same level of bullshit.

Well, did you say Doom was responsible for Columbine? I don't recall shouting anybody down for saying Doom was responsible for Columbine or anything like that? I mean did I? I don't think I did. Because if not, what's your problem? Why so upset? And how's that make me a hypocrite? You're taking shit out on me I've got nothing to do with. Get over it man.

As for Doom and columbine/Wow and wasted time, two totally different issues. Dunno how you drew the connection. You're talking about addiction vs violent behavior. The day some dude marches into the Safeway and starts cutting down people with a replica of Frostmourne while shouting "FOR THE HORDE!" maybe we'll have a chat then. I would come down on the side that says isolated wacko but i wouldn't shout. I'm not boo-hooing, and I didn't lose any friends to an MMO. I didn't see that anywhere. Anyhow, ultimately I left them. As for saying bullshit, well sometimes it's all about how you sell it.

If you made an eloquent and thoughtful post, I wouldn't shit on it even if I disagreed.

 

[Wuggy]

I do not raid for numbers nor items. I raid to see the content and to experience the encounters. The numbers and gear are a means to an end and not other way around. But then again, there is an awful amount of loot whores out there.

 

[KazOondo]

I'm amused how many people think Yahtzee liked this game.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Nnnnnn...

Don't agree with the numbers thing. Ultimately, all RPGs (and free-roam AA games for that matter) are about the numbers aren't they. Longest range, highest damage, armour rating etc etc, I'd be surprised if there was a game where that *wasn't* fully emphasized.

Just me?

 

[Srdjan Tanaskovic]

Well this is something I didn't expect


and I raid for fun. What are you going to do about that Yahtzee?

 

[lokiduck]

Pfft, why should I buy your book when I all ready did

I loved it by the way XD it was amazingly good and you have actually written some of my favorite quotes ever, though I don't think you need to hear from me about how awesome you are. XD

 

[The Human Torch]

Wow you're projecting/assuming

I didn't say it should be free at all

what I said (if you could read properly without assuming) was that the reason WoW can afford the constant patches is because it makes more then all other MMO's put togeather

sheash

also the statement "great game" is arguable, being an opinion I obviously don't share.

Unfortunately with nothing but internet posts to draw back on, I have to assume, since I am not getting a lot of information.
And WoW is great, just because you don't like it, doesn't mean that it's not great. 13 million players cannot be wrong. Even if a few of them play it out of sheer boredom.
Same reason why Mass Effect 2 is a great game, the reviews are all shockingly positive, the amount that it has sold is quite high, that means it's great. I don't like Mass Effect 2, but my personal opinion does not sway from the FACT that it's great.

And it's popularity does mean that they can afford a bigger development team for constant updates, but they have been doing updates since day 1, when they did not have 13 million subscribers. The reason they got more and more subscribers is (partly) because of their never ending and frequent updating, MMO's that get released and barely ever receive an update (or too late), are usually doomed to fail. Regardless of the size of the starting player-base (Age of Conan for instance). So yes, WoW is great. Blizzard is great. I am sorry if that does not fit in your perspective on life.

 

[samaugsch]

I swear, if there's one thing that actually might get me to stop playing WoW it's all the hate I get for preferring the Alliance. Someone want to tell me what the fugg is wrong with the Alliance? You don't ever see us going around rubbing our balls in the faces of people who prefer the Horde, so you can't say it's because we're immature when that's what every Hordie and his mum seems to do.

Maybe they just find the Alliance to be too mundane

With that said, I was a proud blood elf warlock

 

[ayailla]

As an avid WoW player, even I'll admit that everything he said was true and I loved this video so much it literally hurt to watch. I was laughing too hard.

And I already have Mogworld! Stop plugging it!!!

 

[KazOondo]

I swear, if there's one thing that actually might get me to stop playing WoW it's all the hate I get for preferring the Alliance. Someone want to tell me what the fugg is wrong with the Alliance? You don't ever see us going around rubbing our balls in the faces of people who prefer the Horde, so you can't say it's because we're immature when that's what every Hordie and his mum seems to do.

Maybe they just find the Alliance to be too mundane

With that said, I was a proud blood elf warlock

They don't call us mundane. They call us faggots, losers, immature, or unskilled. The more vocal part of the Horde community is snide, smug, extremely cruel and insensitive, and obviously anything but mature. They try to make it seems SOOOOO important what faction you choose to play. This video should serve as a welcome reminder that no matter how entertaining Yahtzee is, he's still a soulless douchebag.