1) i love gaming, and
2) gaming has grown stale.
yep, these two concurrent events might seem paradoxical, but they're nonetheless quite true.
a couple of things happened today which might help illuminate this subject from another perspective. the first is the letter of resignation from a WoW player named Muqq. First, a little background: Muqq has been playing World of Warcraft for five years now (read = exceptionally devoted), and has been a major community figure on Ensidia, an incredible example of a gaming fansite. Muqq has developed class guides, raid movies, and software performance guides for the general benefit of the WoW gaming community at large. in other words, he's a gaming hero, and one whose opinion should not be easily dismissed.
so, imagine my surprise when i stumbled upon Muqq's farewell to the land of Azeroth. i mean, this guy has put forth more effort than many professionals when it comes to collecting, organizing, and publishing data regarding WoW, and now he's quitting?!
how did this happen, you might ask?
it seems Muqq feels about WoW the same way i feel about the MMOs i've left. i won't blame you if you don't read his entire entry (he goes on longer than yours truly!), but here's an excerpt:
"...I think Blizzard have intentionally overlooked to adjust the game for their new target audience. In other words, the lack of character progression makes the game as it is today; boring, very boring. No amount of vanity pets, mounts, kill x, deliver y, collect z quests, mirrored instances, heroic instance zergs, arenas, battlegrounds and homogenized classes will change that fact. All to cater to an audience that won't be playing the game for more than 2-3 months at most.
The game philosophy has shifted, maybe due to the large turnover of players, or perhaps it might have been the reason causing it. Regardless, here we are today, playing a game with some of the best gameplay features any MMO has to offer, yet lacking the depth and character progression to go with it.
That leaves me here. With an account that's about to expire in a few days. This game is just not for me anymore. Perhaps I've grown to old, or perhaps I just have other things to do, but that's not really it. It's just not fun anymore, it hasn't been for a long time. I honestly can't see what other players are seeing in the game to keep them going, especially the veterans. It's not fun leveling an alt for the sixth or seventh time, it's not fun to raid either extremely toned down instances or doing heroic versions on my main, just to get an item a week for no real purpose other than to kill the boss a few seconds faster next week."
yep... the game industry has shifted their focus from game to industry. it's all about how to churn & burn the most money through the entertainment machine, with no attention whatsoever to the original concepts that made gaming the awesome experience it used to (and could still) be. difficulties have been (ridiculously) watered down, quests are written with no appreciation for the concepts of plot or characterization (who reads all that text anyway? just click "accept" and get back to the killing!), and character evolution has been replaced by a race to the level cap so you can join in the endless grind that is only epitomized by the never-ending crusade for phat lewt. if you can't keep interested the players who made your game the icon it has become, make it easier for the newbs to take their place.
upon the heels of this announcement, another seemingly unrelated event has occurred. Turbine, once the largest privately-owned MMO studio in North America and the company responsible for such industry greats as Asheron's Call, Lord of the Rings Online and the once near-death but now incredibly lucrative Dungeons & Dragons Online (which has made money hand over fist since the decision by Turbine to make the game free-to-play, a move which staggered many within the industry), has just been acquired by Warner Brothers Home Entertainment.
i'll let that sink in a moment.
the people who manipulated the creativity of artists like Frank Zappa and Prince now own a huge corner of the MMO business.
...
"hi, table for four?"
"yes, we have a reservation. the name is Horsemen of the Apocalypse?"
"ah, yes, right this way!"
what does the future hold for gaming? i have no idea. many great game concepts have come and gone, none of which really delivered upon their own potential for various reasons (or their own promises, for that matter). the games which are receiving the most funding seem to be those which most closely duplicate the models of those which have done well in the past, which is exactly why there are so many games out there that look (exactly!) like World of Warcraft. and why not? a quick web search will reveal many players who want exactly that: another game like the one which is already established (?).
unfortunately, it is the original gamer here who gets discarded. the focus is no longer on quality of entertainment, but how to draw in new memberships to replace those which are no longer active due to lack of long-term playability. ultimately, it's cheaper to lower the xp-to-lvl ratio than to retain superior writers, artists, and service staff, and like all great art forms, greed has taken hold.
guess i'll hold out for an independent company to come along and provide something completely fantastic and utterly innovative... the likes of which i can only hope will follow the footsteps of film and music. Reservoir Dogs Online, anyone?
"Art is making something out of nothing and selling it." - Frank Zappa (1940 - 1993)
