On Difficulty

While I'm not sure if this has far reaching consequences or some deep commentary on society, I do find it interesting to what lengths game companies will modify their games in order to satisfy. As I mentioned previously, WoW has been around for several years and I have been playing since launch. This means that I've seen new continents added, downed new bosses and unlocked new features. However, I have also noticed a disappointing trend. The game is becoming easier.

Well. Okay. Parts of the game have become easier. Mostly all of the old content. From the most recently expansion, the level cap was raised to 80, but us veterans remember the days when 60 was the highest attainable level. Since this is an upward form of growth, it is understandable that the designers added new content for levels 60+ since the larger portion of the fanbase was at that level. However, with each expansion, the designers have made the old content portion of the game easier to breeze through. They've employed several strategies including lowering level requirements for items that increase speed, to special experience bonuses if you reactivate your account after inactivity.

I am a little disappointed because while I understand the importance of creating fresh end game content, I think it would be much more interesting if the old game content was modified as well. One of the key elements of an online MMO is a persistent online world. I understand that this creates an element of fairness and security in a virtual environment, but over time it really becomes stagnant. This is why it is fairly easy to get through levels 1-60, but still somewhat difficult from 60-80. However, this does not attract new players to join the game itself. WoW boasts of 12 million subscribers, but they seem to be hitting their limit. They claim to still be recruiting, but at this point it seems like they are just trying really hard to retain their fanbase.

However, there is some hope for the future. World of Warcraft's upcoming expansion Cataclysm intends to do what I believe should have been done a while ago. Basically under the pretense of a great earthen catastrophe, the old world has been irreversibly torn asunder. This means that old familiar territories will be drastically changed and the old flow of the game will be modified to accommodate. I believe that this will once again make the natural progression of the game much smoother and make the entire experience more enjoyable overall.

On Gold Farming

Gold farming. Every MMO player knows of it, not all of them disapprove of it. To be honest, I'm surprised that I haven't spoken about it yet in this blog as it is a very interesting and controversial issue surrounding MMOs. If you stumbled upon this blog by accident and have no idea what gold-farming even is, check this out please. The business of gold farming touches upon questions of ethics, property rights and the general spirit of games.

As a player myself, I understand how much work must often go into obtaining gold in World of Warcraft. While there isn't a fixed rate, it certainly takes several hours a day worth of play to start making a decent amount of gold for yourself. After all that work, there is a certain sense of entitlement. You worked hard, you earned your reward. However, this sort of ideology becomes a bit fuzzy in the virtual world. Who does in fact own digital property? Is it the person who found or created an item or is it the team of designers who made the item? The jury is still out, but for clarification purposes, Blizzard clearly states in the terms of service that Blizzard owns the rights to all their players' accounts. So from a legal standpoint, Blizzard owns all the items and gold that is in game. From this point, real world transactions of virtual world products can be seen as stealing, or at least profiting off the work of another party.

The ethical arguments surrounding gold farming are varied. While it is a stereotype, typically gold farmers are players in China that work several hours a day for fairly low wages. In 2005, Ge Jin, a PhD student from UCSD made a documentary (preview here) that followed several employees of a gold farming business in China. The conditions in which they work are difficult and the hours are long. Yet these people enjoy their jobs. China's booming population requires many jobs and so its citizens are more willing to put up with working conditions that are very uncomfortable.

Another problem with gold farming is the question of source. As noted above, there is a stereotype that all gold farmers are Chinese. Some gold farmers however, are simply hackers. These players come from all over and sell gold that they have stolen from players' accounts. This is usually done by having players who want to buy gold accidentally download a trojan horse virus that siphons some gold from the player. In some of the more extreme cases, they steal everything: gold, items, even the characters, which are then resold. Recently worldofwarcraft.com released a cveaat against going to gold farming sites, explaining to users how gold is often illegitimately taken from other users.

I personally dislike gold farming. Yes, because of some of the above reasons, but also because as a game designer I find that it goes against the very nature of the game. It's turning something fun into a business. I understand that many of us do not have the time to properly gain wealth in WoW or sometimes it's just that tempting to buy that extra 1000g you need for an epic mount, but it just doesn't seem right. The game is so expansive and well crafted that if you play faithfully and truly experience the game, you will be able to get any item you want. Yes, it will require hard work, but that's part of the fun. Buying gold is a shortcut, which is borderline cheating. Sometimes cheats are valuable to the game experience. Designers cannot always plan for everything and occasionally players find ways to exploit the system within the game. This sort of exploitation comes from outside the game and ruins the magic circle.