01.11.2006, 3:32 pm - ben
World of Warcraft
The wonderful world of warcraft. This was my number 3 Christmas present this year (behind koto and nano) and it's a blast. The last MMPORPG (MMRPGMO? MRPBMOGRUG?) I played heavily was Neverwinter Nights. That game is still brilliant, but I would relegate it to a tool used to supplement traditional live roleplaying D&D. As a "game" it was a lot of pretty pixels followed by left click left click left click... *pause* ... right click left click..... pausse.... That was it, man. I never could find a really good "persistant" (supposedly some derivation of permanent in MMPRORP speak) world, though I did run across some adult roleplayers that made it somewhat fun for a while.But WoW is a different breed. Never played EQ, so can't compare, but I think this is the best RPG game engine since Infinity. I am absolutely certain that the Blizzard game developers thought very carefully about minute details that annoyed them about other MMPROGRM games. And killed them. For example, in WoW, dying isn't such a big deal, really. Experience happens pretty quickly. They put the "game" back in PC game, in that it takes a hefty learning curve to master combat a-la Streetfighter style with hotkeys and mouse movements like crazy. It's laggy sometimes, but like all of Blizzard's products, the game is rock solid and runs smoothly. Good programming, good art, and as always, a kick ass storyline. That was the biggest secret behind the Warcraft series. Sure, it's known for it's insane magnetism to irritating 13 year olds with no lives, but as an adult who appreciates good mythos and fantasy, they always had some beautiful artwork, scenery, characters, sound, everything. And now, they have a chance to go as deeply into their world as they want — and you can tell they enjoy it.
It's this level of pure fantasy that tempers the presence of l33t gamerz. I mean, if you go to one of the pure PVP realms, it's going to be straight up fragging and kiting and Cheap Shot Sinister Strike x2 Gouge Blindness Vanish Backstab EVICERATE BABY!! Ok, sorry... I'm playing a rogue. And if you don't play the game, that probably makes no sense. But you get the point — by selecting a roleplaying server, you still get to PVP, but on your own terms. And, some people do actually roleplay, assisted greatly by a rich tapestry of gods, heroes, drama, and the very RL whims of Blizzard. From what I understand, there is some kid of massive apocalypse coming down the pike known as The Burning Crusade (expansion) whereby a whole new race is showing up and shaking it up.
If you've read this far, then I'm going to share with you a real jewel of an idea I had that's straight out of a Gibson or Sterling novel. The future is well on it's way folks and it's FUCKED UP!
The Harvesters — A Solution
I was surprised to discover that the economy in WoW is very solid. Very little inflation going on, no real hacks, etc. However, it was with real interest that I discovered that WoW gold has a very real exchange rate Basically, 10 gold pieces is a dollar. Yeah... so a WoW gold piece is worth a dime! Now, it's pretty damn hard to come up with gold, but if you really worked hard at just collecting gold and not all this PVP RP whatever else, you could make thousands. Of gold pieces. Nonetheless, it's enough to employ Chinese (Romanian? Indonesian?) harvesters. That's right, there are these chinese kids who are paid to harvest items and money in the game. One of the most successful features of WoW is the AH, or Auction House, combined with an in-game e-mail system whereby you can attach items (!) to send to people instantly. If you find or acquire good items, you can sell it at the AH for pretty good money because many many players are there shopping, like a virtual ebay.
So, these harvesters are frowned upon by players. They aren't any fun to game with, that's for sure. I'm not sure what Blizzard really thinks about them, but I imagine it's a problem to deal with, especially considering they go to great measures to keep the in-game economy balanced. So, I have the perfect solution.
Virtual rice patties!
That's right. All Blizzard has to do is to spawn some of the best items in the game in giant rice fields or similar specifically designated area that is solely for legitimate farming. The harvesters would go out there and spend all day harvesting the rice searching for the best "drops" to appear. They could then auction these to the rest of the players. I mean, the game does invovle some amount of repetitive skill learning, but it's very entertaining — not tedious like these harvester players make it. They want tedium? Let's give it to them. They could all go to their separate place, the AH would have better shit, and it'd be the most fucked up virtual experience I could imagine.
Tags: warcraft
Leave a comment:
