When a game is successful as long as World of Warcraft has been it is bound to have an effect in the gaming industry as well as the gaming community. With a once reported 14 million subscriber’s world wide, I think it is safe to assume that WOW has a huge gravitational pull on both of those communities. For good or bad, Blizzard will forever influence the MMO world.
The laundry list of MMO innovations and improvements throughout WOWs life span is impressive but remember dear gamer, not everything that glitters is gold. One of the side effects suffered by many a WOW player is something I like to call the “WOW effect.”
The “WOW effect” is some thing akin to, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.” Meaning if it feels like WOW and contains some of the same in-game elements as WOW it must be played like WOW. Unfortunately for us Blizzard has trivialized parts of the de-facto MMO game standard (WOW) and what we now consider normal really isn’t that normal after all.
As an MMO player under the hypnotizing “WOW effect” we have begun to minimize those areas of game play that Blizzard has chosen to trivialize. An example of this would be the leveling process in the World of Warcraft. Blizzards implementation of leveling has long been considered lengthy and some what of a grindfest. To put it bluntly, leveling in WOW is boring. To combat this Blizzard decided to make the process go faster instead of making it more enjoyable. Lazy indeed.
For years now World of Warcraft players have been saying that the game doesn’t really begin until you reach max level. For the most part they are right. With this being the model for nearly the last 10 years there is a hidden cost the player doesn’t realize they are paying. The “WOW effect” says that because the leveling process is boring and overall worthless in WOW it must be the same in every other MMO.
The question now becomes “Will a gamer suffering from the “WOW effect” be able to shake it off when given the opportunity?” I think on the whole the answer to that question is an overwhelming NO. As participants in the genre we have become programmed to accept the parts of the game Blizzard couldn’t get right as something that doesn’t really matter. Also, if another MMO developer happens to get those areas right, meh… it’s kind of cool but because of all of the other elements “It’s just like WOW.”
Now I am going to let you in on a little secret. The “WOW effect” does not apply to everyone but Blizzard. Soon enough they will become victim of their own creation. Remember Blizzard is currently working on their follow up MMO code named Titan. You see in the MMO genre it doesn’t matter if the theme is sci-fi, fantasy or good old fashioned super powers. It doesn’t matter if there are revolutionary changes to questing, crafting, instances or any other MMO characteristic. As long as the game fits the MMO mold, all of those players under the “WOW effect” will cry out in unison “It is just like WOW!”
Lately your articles scream WoW was the first MMO ever created. WoW didn’t invent long grindy leveling as you call it. Pre-wow (EQ, DAoC, SWG, AO) were in fact long grindy leveling. WoW leveling was the first MMO I played where leveling in fact really isn’t a grind, at least not what a grind used to be called. There arn’t spawn camps where you spend hours at a time “grinding” mobs. You level by questing. EQ and other pre-wow MMOs had quests but wern’t the primary leveling mechanic by any stretch of the imagination.
SWTOR is in fact quite similar to wow in that you level by questing, primarlily soloing. Yes the questing is more interative but I would still say it follows a similar model.
The biggest problem with any leveling via questing game is it’s horribly anti-social. Unless I play with someone else 100% of the time it’s less effective to play together. The second I spend an hour here or there questing while my buddy isn’t and our tracks get off we can’t optimally play together. Anyway gonna end here before I get any more rambly.
Maybe developers need to make a more conscious effort not to walk like a duck and quack like a duck?
e.g. if WoW has trained players that levelling is a chore to be completed as quickly as possible, and that the level cap game is the “real” game – then maybe try breaking with the herd and making a skillpoint-based system rather than a class-and-level-based system. If there’s no level cap how are people going to rush to it?
@ Dimli – The WOW / SWTOR comparisons are merely what I am observing as I play the game. If there were people saying “SWTOR is just like EVE”, I would write about that. I do agree that it is tough to play quest/leveling style games with others, it is very easy to leave someone behind in a few short hours.
@ Carson – What a refreshing change that would be – however the (a successful) model you describe isn’t anywhere to be copied so most these so called “developers” won’t go that direction.