On Buying Pets

WoW. It's been a while since I've posted anything. (See. That was a joke. Anyway) So recently, Blizzard opened up an online pet store for World of Warcraft. This store allows users to spend real world money to purchase in game pets. Now, RMTs as a concept are not at all new, but this is the first time that WoW has introduced such a feature and to be honest, it really hasn't gone over that well with the players. While these pets are only vanity items and therefore give the player no advantage over another, it does demonstrate a change in the World of Warcraft ideology.

Every player of World of Warcraft is essentially worth the same, namely $14.99 a month. Yet as the game's popularity has reached a plateau, Blizzard has increasingly relied upon microtrasactions to increase revenue. In this way, they can earn more money by catering to the most dedicated of players. However, to others it seems like a cheap way for players to progress in the game, sometimes giving an unfair advantage. This is especially irksome when the advantage is given because of a real money transaction. Not everyone has the spare funds to pay for things beyond the initial subscription fee. I can see the allure of being able to move through the game more quickly, especially because most of the fun stuff occurs at the end of the game. However, World of Warcraft is a long yet rewarding game that can be likened to work. People don't like it when others reap benefits that don't appear "earned".

Though in a funny turn of events, one of the two pets currently on sale has "sold out". This is amusing to me on several levels. The first being the question of how a virtual item can really be sold out, unless the company planned on making it a limited edition item, but seeing as this was never mentioned, I doubt it's the case. Secondly, if there indeed was a limit, the limit was hit only several days after the pet store went online. Therefore, despite all the whining and complaining in the forums, many players still once again opened their wallets to shell out another 10 bucks for this pet.

On Self-Policing Societies

An interesting phenomenon that I have seen occur on several occasions within the World of Warcraft community is the development of a self-policing society. While there are GMs that help regulate the game and police rule breaking players, for the most part their role is observational. The greatest punishment that they can give out is banning a player’s account. However, this punishment can be easily circumvented by purchasing a new account altogether. (It is a bit costly if you have to do it multiple times, but completely doable) So how does one control a society in which the figures of authority cannot punish wrongdoers in any meaningful way? One leaves the burden of judgment on the players themselves.

The key to success in WoW is your reputation. How other players know you will greatly affect how well the server respects you. While you may think that a character can get lost among the thousands of players that log in every day, the server feels a lot smaller than you might think. Once you hit the level cap, you typically bump into the same players quite frequently. Yet, if you have a reputation of being an obnoxious player that ninjas or don’t know how to play, you will be shunned by the community. This results in the ultimate punishment that can be given online, social-death. Once branded with a bad reputation, it can be quite difficult to shake it off.

There was one time that my guild leader left the guild bank unlocked after some weekly maintenance. Typically only the guild leader and his officers have complete access to the guild bank ( I was the third ranking officer after our guild master and her husband, though the ranks had little worth), but he had unlocked it so we could have some other members help reorganize. The next day we logged on and found most of our bank to be empty. A low ranking member had taken almost everything out of the bank and had placed the items up on the public auction. While I do realize that it was our guild leader’s fault for leaving the bank open, it was quite disrespectful for our new member to take our hard earned items for his own gain.

We contacted a GM about the situation and the next day we had all our items back. However, while we waiting, I began chatting in the public channels warning people about this character and his behavior. I found it interesting to find that he had quite a reputation. Many random players that I had never spoken to began messaging about how he had ninja’d them before and that he had several other characters that I should be wary of. It was fascinating how many people had something against him. So even though the GM was the only player that could actually punish him by returning all the stolen items and removing most of his items, the rest of the server took on the role of making his reputation known.

This sort of collective criminal rap sheet is quite effective in making it difficult for disrespectful players to interact and succeed in game. The information spreads virally and like most information on the web, doesn’t ever truly die. (Nothing on the web dies...) The society as a whole determines what is socially acceptable and who should be punished for tramping on the social norms.

On Machinima

Another fascinating byproduct of games is the genre of machinima. While machinima can be created out of almost any game, WoW has drawn users in because of its wide variety of character models and expressions. Since characters are highly customizable in game, it is easy to create an entire cast of actors for a short.

I find machinima an interesting phenomenon because it is a user based artifact. The players themselves utilize the models and environments made by development teams to create their own narratives that don't necessarily remain within the boundaries of the games that they came from. The creators of these videos are not necessarily cinematographers or have any relationship to the film industry. Yet these games allow players a cost effective way to create their own miniature films and express their own ideas.

While many have a stereotypical notion of the MMO gamer looking somewhat like this, this stereotype is (thankfully) eroding. Games are becoming a large part of our society and only recently have they begun to be accepted. This problem of acceptance is also prevalent in other cultures, most notably Japan where the Otaku is still considered a social outcast. (we're really not that bad) The notion of the "geek" or "nerd" (There is a hierarchy, though I forget which is worse than the other) seems to creep into all cultures.

However, in October of 2006, Comedy Central's animated series South Park aired the episode titles Make Love, Not Warcraft. A parody of WoW players and the MMO genre in general. While the episode itself was poking fun at gamers, the episode brought MMOs into the mainstream media. It is difficult to find someone who hasn't at least heard of WoW or can't recognize a screenshot of it. A large portion of this episode was shot using WoW's character models in conjunction with the known style of South Park. This episode was of course shot with Blizzard's permission, unlike most machinima found on the interwebs.

Machinima has an interesting relationship with other forms of pop culture. A WoW version of I'm on a Boat, was recently posted to WoW Moviewatch. The machinima version is surprisingly faithful to the original, showing just how flexible the medium is.

If you have the time, I would recommend reading the wiki on Make Love, Not Warcraft. There is a certain symbiotic relationship between the episode and the game. Both make references to each other. As a player, I find it amusing to find these sorts of relationships between different pop culture trends.

Here are a few videos to watch if you have the time:

Not Just Another Love Story (semi-NSWF)

skullcrusher mountain

I'm on a mount

On Holidays

It's the end of September and do you know what that means? It's time for Brewfest in World of Warcraft. Brewfest is basically the video game equivalent of Octoberfest. Aka. A chance to get intoxicated online. (Without any of the detremental side effects to drinking. :D )

So why do I mention this on my blog? Perhaps because like real holidays, in game holidays inspire social interaction. World of Warcraft has several in game holidays. Some mirror real life holidays. Some are just for fun.

Brewfest offers several specific events for players to participate in. Most of them are solo quests. Players can do beer runs, join clubs and collect tokens to be redeemed for novelty items. However, there are a few events that require multiple players to complete. One such event is Defend the Fest in which players must defend the Brefest tables from the Dark Iron Dwarves. In order to defeat the oncoming dwarves, group of players must drink rapidly and throw the empty cups to defeat them. The dwarves are controlled by the computer and mount an attack every half hour or so. A player cannot defend the encampment alone and must therefore call to nearby players for aid. If the group is successful, each participant is rewarded with tokens.

Receiving the tokens is really the only incentive to complete these quests, but for gamers the promise or rare or unique items is more than enough. A good way to get social prestige is to have something that someone else doesn't. People like collecting things, especially if those things have value to other people as well.

Now. I realize that this is only a trend because the holiday is currently in effect. However, it does allow me to examine the concept of social holiday within a digital setting. WoW celebrates many of the other commercial holidays. (Valentine's Day, Xmas, Halloween, etc) ((Oh. They also did celebrate Pirate Day! Yarg!)) Each holiday offers its own set of games and activities. Some are more group oriented than others, but all of them inspire gaiety and fun with friends. So grab a pint and go get smashed! (Virtually of course. This blog does not support excessive drinking. :P )

On guilds

I believe in my last post that I mentioned I would like to explore some of the various micro societies that have developed within World of Warcraft. (Or maybe I thought it and didn't say anything. It's been a long week) One of the fascinating structures within WoW is the guild system.
Guild:
- noun
1. an organization of persons with related interests, goals, etc., esp. one formed for mutual aid or protection.
(dictionary.com: guild)

For the most part, this remains true in the game. Players can band together to make a sort of private club comprised of players with a similar mindset or goals. These players often meet online several times a week to raid the high level dungeons in search of epic armor and weapons. (Also for fame and glory, of course)

While this might just seem like a casual gathering of players, true guilds are often very serious. Many have specific application forms and schedules for how often you must play. If you do not meet for scheduled raids or come unprepared, (for those who don't play, that basically means forgetting things like potions) you will often be demoted in rank or sometimes even kicked out of the guild.

Guilds can be quite small and comprised of friends or acquaintances (social guilds) or as large as several hundred serious players (hardcore raid guilds). This variety in size creates very different micro societies within the WoW environment. For instance, a social guild has almost no requirement whatsoever. You either know the people personally, or you just get along with them very well.

Raiding guilds can sometimes be comprised of many friends, but often they strangers that have one thing in common, that they take the game very seriously. Joining a raiding guild is a huge time commitment. Often taking several hours out of your evenings on three or four nights a week. There is also a lot of pressure to play well. If you fight enemies poorly or have not earned powerful enough weapons, you may get harsh criticism from other members.

These hardcore guilds have also created their own mini economy that is based around the fictional unit of currency, the DKP, or Dragon Kill Point. DKP are awarded to members that helped slay difficult bosses during a raid. Some guild leaders also give small bonuses based on individual performances. Players can then use these points to "purchase" rare items that drop from bosses. Each item is given a value that players can then trade in for.

This is a fictional economy. It isn't supported by the game developers and was created specifically by gamers to help distribute spoils efficiently and fairly to other members of their guilds. Fraudulent activities are policed by members and any transgressions are met with harsh criticism both in and out of guilds. Stealing points almost always ends in social death.

I am curious to explore the other aspects of these micro societies and particularly how these guilds function.

Who am I? Who are you?

In response to:


I tried to roleplay once. To be honest, it probably didn't go very well. My very first server was an RP server in fact. It was a fairly casual realm though, so I didn't have much of a backstory. Still, it was pretty fun. I had never really thought about making alts on an RP server, but reading this post makes me want to try again sometime.

I am always fascinated by the relationships developed between different players in game. I occasionally role play with my girlfriend (though we typically play on PvP servers) and I find it very endearing. We don't have much of a backstory, but everyone in our guild knows that we are together. Typically our names have a personal meaning that relates to something from our daily lives.

I won't say I haven't created alts of course. As an avid player I like to understand and experience a variety of roles and play styles. I always think that this helps me play with other players. If you know what a healer has to go through, you tend to respect and appreciate them better when they play their role well. However, I have never tried relating my own characters to each other. I believe that this would be quite a fascinating and mentally challenging endeavor.

It's one thing to focus and fully develop the history of one character, but to then build another character that compliments your own. Well developed characters are very unique, but this isn't to say that you should make two completely different characters. Although, it could be fun to have two completely antagonistic characters develop from afar and design an interesting way for them to meet each other.

I think that the true test of a player's creativity and understanding of character would be seeing if anyone would notice. Notice that several characters were being played by the same player. True, someone might notice that two characters are never logged in at the same time, but in a game as large as WoW, this isn't actually that uncommon. I suppose that one could also effectively use dualboxing to have two characters speaking at the same time. To further develop the illusion a player could have a friend playing the other character and together they would improvise key scenes.

It's quite a fun thought. To create multiple personalities and explore them through a digital environment. What better place to do that in World of Warcraft.