Reworked Guild Wars 2 vs World of
Warcraft
-D (25-Jul-2012)
I was about to write a long dry
article comparing Guild Wars 2 to World of Warcraft. The article
provided an interesting way to apply the
Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) framework [1]. About half way through the general explanation of
what MDA is and how it shows two perspectives—Designer perspective
of games, and player perspective of games—I realized the article
couldn't work. My desire to build games is strongly overriding my
desire to explain games. A framework, such as MDA, can help
developers talk to each other about games, but the power of games
goes far beyond what language can communicate.
I am only aware of one 'public
figure'—Jonathan Blow—who seems to see this the way I do.
Fortunately a 'journalist' presented Blow's thoughts on games where
he brings WoW into the picture [2]. This is a good place to start
if you want to dig into my thoughts on the matter. Guild Wars 2
isn't innocent either, but its significantly more aligned with my
development philosophy.
My development philosophy was brought
to the forefront as I attempted to write the GW2 vs WoW article. The
philosophy is based on a few rules:
- Respect the Player
- No exploitation: skinner box/reward schedules, societal harm, time wasting, etc
- Don't hold their hand: give them their “ah ha” moments
- Respect myself
- Game development is the only remaining area of sufficient challenge for me
- Games must have the depth to interest me as a philosopher, programmer, and designer
- Provide 'good' embodiment experiences
Respect the player is first. WoW, and
their developers do not respect their players [3,4]. In their
defense, it may not be intentional. Those developers are probably
just trying to give their players an experience they themselves
enjoy. I find it hard to believe that they could maintain
ignorance for so long. Guild Wars 2, and their developers 'try' to
respect their players [5]. GW2 isn't a saintly game either, but
it's significantly more respectful than the tools employed in WoW. As
a matter of principle, developers that seek to improve the player's
life should be encouraged.
Even gamers that play for
“submission”—games as a pastime—should still prefer GW2 over
WoW [1]. The content in GW2 is never obsolete. It is
designed to keep all content current, the entire game is end game
content. Situations where WoW subscribers are forced to pay for
development of rehashed content—SFK, Deadmines, Zul'Gurub,
Zul'Aman, Naxx, etc, etc—cannot occur in GW2 because of their lack
of subscription and dynamic content adjustment [6]. This is just
one example area, I could go in depth into MDA or other features as
well. The bottom line is, the developers for GW2—ArenaNet—care
about their players and will respect their time; the developers for
WoW—Blizzard—really enjoy stringing players along on random item
reward schedules.
In the end it's the consumer that must
decide. The problem is, as Blow put it: “what I see right now is
that we're cultivating this style of gamer that just says 'I want
more of that because it tastes delicious, and that's all I know”
[2]. What he is hinting at here, beyond the direct meaning, is
network externality [7]. As the landscape of players is changed,
by various exploitation methods, they don't mind that they are being
exploited. Many even seek it [8]. Within the coming months we will
see what happens as Guild Wars 2 enters the market. Will respect
triumph over exploitation? For the sake of MMO players everywhere I
hope they can break the problem of network externality, and give us a
new experience.
[1] Hunicke, R. &
LeBlanc, M. & Zubek, R. 2004. “MDA: A Formal Approach to Game
Design and Game Research” Available online at:
[2] Brandon Boyer, Leigh Alexander,
2007, “MIGS 2007: Jonathan Blow On The 'WoW Drug', Meaningful
Games”
[3] Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw 2011,
“World of Warcraft: Cataclysm”
[4] The Game Design Forum,
“Acceleration Flow”
[5] Ben Miller, July 3rd 2012, “The
Golden Rules of Guild Wars”
[6] Guild Wars 2 wiki, “Dynamic
Level Adjustment”
[7] S.J. Liebowtiz, Stephen E. Marholis,
“Network Externalities
(Effects)”
[8] Richard T. A. Wood, July 2007,
“Problems with the Concept of Video Game 'Addition': Some Case
Study Examples”
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