Unconventional Testing

Subverting a game by playing differently than the intended manner, or countergaming (according to Alexander Galloway), is nothing new in MMOs. In WoW, there is the 2-man Karazhan group and the Naked Troll Project, for example. While most of these projects were created to cure boredom, they can also cause people to examine the existing game mechanics, and the ways in which they play the game (and the reasons why they follow the rules that they do). Recently, though, a large number of players unintentionally countergamed on a small scale as a creative workaround for a glitch.

Patch 2.4, as I mentioned last week, was released on the PTRs*. Only a select few, however, were able to transfer their characters over before Blizzard shut down the queues because of glitches in the copies. As a result, the unlucky (myself included) took it upon themselves to embark on a special journey to see the new content for themselves, despite the fact that low-level characters could not fly directly to the new island. I rolled my own level 1 to check out the Isle of Quel'Danas, the new level 70 zone.

The journey itself was truly epic. The blood elf starting area was flooded with level 1s who were marching out to brave the long swim in waves. This wasn't your normal dip in the water, though. A third of the way there, players entered the 'fatigue' zone**, inflicting continual damage on the characters while there. Once I entered the zone, I found surrounded by corpses floating in the water in a scene oddly reminiscent of the Dead Marshes, and by other swimmers healing themselves in an effort to stay alive long enough to reach safe waters. The further I went, the more the living were replaced with the dead. It became a timed mini-game, a tug of war with my health and mana bars. Eventually, with only 18 health left, I saw the foggy, green reaches of land, patrolled by level 70 skeletons - and a level 70 mage who welcomed me with a Fireball to the face (I rolled on the PvP server without thinking).

I'm very interested in the patch itself, to be sure, particularly the new dynamic content with Silvermoon City. However, that swim to the island was probably the most fun I've had on the PTR, and even on my normal server, for a while. It's an accomplishment that I, at least, will remember for a long time to come - which is probably part of the appeal of countergaming.

* Player Test Realms. On these servers, you can copy existing characters over to test out the new content.
** A game mechanic designed to control where players can go.

A Different Kind of Eye-Candy

(Note: This post is a little late in the coming; when the first part was written, the GamePro article was only a few hours old. Sorry!)

First things first, the patch notes for 2.4 are (finally) up! Read, love, and enjoy; there'll (hopefully) be a post on that soon.

GamePro caused a minor stir in the gaming community recently with their article on bullshots in the video game industry. While the topic (and the term) is by no means new, the side-to-side comparison in the article is rather damning. The article goes on to illustrate examples of altered images in television and advertisements, including the Dove promotional video (the adjustments to Emma Watson in the HP5 promotional poster also comes to mind), but notes that although additional airbrushing is expected in 'traditional' media, edits to game screenshots - already manufactured - are false advertising, pure and simple. Interestingly enough, preoccupied as people seem to be about doctored screenshots (which I've always supposed was true), the complaints have not been extended to misleading advertising as a whole.

I turn your attention to the front and back of the World of Warcraft game box. The front image, which most people will see and recognize, is amazing in its detail -- and therefore, too good to be true. The screenshots on the back validate this assumption, despite also being gorgeous, especially for an MMO. (Even those in-game graphics require a top-end computer to properly handle the intensive demands on a system.)

I'm aware that eye candy is one of the best ways to attract a consumer's attention, but why are our standards so high that even amazing in-game graphics (Oblivion comes to mind) are wholly inadequate to market a game? We all know that they don't look like that, anyway.

On Machinima

One of the things I love about MMOs such as World of Warcraft is the sheer amount of creativity that goes into the game, and that comes from the game -- it's a fandom (if you'll pardon the term) that inspires...well, some pretty amazing things. Machinima, the art of making videos through in-game footage, is one of those things.

For example, the folks from Pure Pwnage (the the very same who brought you "World of Warcraft is a Feeling") have just released a machinima for the holidays, aptly titled "Christmas Time in Dun Morogh":



Humor is a popular topic for most videos, quite possibly because it translates so well into the medium, and because the game itself lends itself to moments of sheer comedy, such as the human male dance shown in the above video. Yet, there are others still who offer movies for their audiences, using the game's engine to create and control their actors and settings. Rufuscubed's Return is a fan favorite that received various accolades; in fact, one of the makers now works at Blizzard because of this movie (and its second trailer).

However, a little under two weeks ago, Martin Falch released -- get this -- a 90-minute machinima. Tales of the Past III is the final part of Falch's epic trilogy (the first and second parts were 15 minutes and 41 minutes in length, respectively). It features an impressive story, a large cast of players and voice actors, and some very impressive large-scale battle scenes, as well as a hefty 2GB download size. Fortunately, the movie is also offered streamed here, so if you have 90 minutes to spare, it's well worth a watch. It's a terrifyingly impressive effort that really showcases the flexibility of a digital source -- even a video game like WoW. When you consider that movies like this can be masterminded by one person alone...well, it's certainly a powerful example of the potential of a participatory culture, to say the least.

And on that note, happy holidays, everyone!

Again from the Beginning

As some of you may know, Blizzard recently released Patch 2.3 . Following in the footsteps of its predecessors, this major patch presents several major tweaks to the game. While the introduction of guild banks (hooray, more storage space) the release of the new 10-man dungeon, Zul'Aman (hooray, new content), and addition of damage modifiers to +healing gear (hooray, more freedom for healers), are definitely worth writing home about, I'm personally excited about the easier leveling curve from levels 20-60.

In theory, this will allow players to level through old content more quickly, but in practice, this change primarily benefits alts* and casual players. Some hardcore players have criticized Blizzard for making the game too easy as a result, noting that the game's leveling curve was already easier than other games (FFXI and Everquest comes to mind), and that making it easier to level just caters to the lowest common denominator. Most players, however, are in favor of the change, particularly older players who wish to play a new toon, but cringe at the thought of the mindless effort needed to catch up to their level 70 peers. Not only that, but now players can advance further in new classes to get a feel for the play-style of the class, at least, even if they never level all the way to 70. At the very least, the leveling change offers a change of pace for players who are getting bored.

As for me? I've now had an excuse to try out a shaman and a paladin, but I think I still like my druid more. For now.

*A toon that is not your most-played. You can have 9 different toons per server, and can play on as many servers as you want.

A Trip to the Tower

Yesterday was my first time raiding in Karazhan*. The run itself was surprisingly smooth, and we even managed to down Curator on the first try before we stopped. It was especially nice to socialize and joke around while working toward the same goal, and even though I didn't leave with anything except a hefty repair bill**, I had more fun than I probably should have had.

A lot of people frown down upon raiding, though -- both players and non-players alike. One of the biggest arguments against raids is that they are incredibly time-consuming. My 10-man group, for example, was there for a little over six hours, but since this is a casual raid, we meet only once a week. The hardcore raiding guilds meet several days a week, usually for four to five hours at a time, and require 25 dedicated players on at once for the most difficult dungeons. This might not sound like too much, especially when compared to the old 40-man dungeons, but as Tobold notes on his blog, the 25-man dungeons have all of the complications of a 40-man dungeon, but with a reduced margin of error because every player now carries more of the weight. Furthermore, the current raids are on a hidden timer; if you don't clear the mobs up to the boss and defeat the boss before the mobs respawn, your raid will likely die, and you have to clear the mobs again before you make another attempt on the boss. If you do manage to kill the boss in time, though, everything that was dead remains dead, and you can continue.

As you can probably tell by now, raiding is a rather intense (and intensive) pastime.

Some people will call this activity a waste of energy, better spent elsewhere on more productive tasks. There are a few reasons why players consistently flock to raiding, though, beyond the token desire for fun and escapism. I've already mentioned the socializing aspect earlier as a pro for raiding. Two other positive aspects that are sometimes overlooked are teamwork and strategizing. These days, we*** are given few opportunities to indulge in groupwork beyond a shallow level for schoolwork and projects; no one actually wants to be working on these things, so groups often have a mixture of the lazy, the reluctant, and the driven. The common goal in these kinds of groups is just to do a good enough job to get a desired grade, and maybe some kudos on the side, with (at least for some) the least amount of work. As a result, the whole process is awkward at best, and more often than not teaches wariness when approaching groups rather than the spirit of cooperation that teachers hope to inspire. Raiders, however, choose to partake in this activity freely, often investing countless hours and considerable effort to achieve their goals. While these goals may be personally motivated (to get gear, for example), raiders must assume a position of responsibility, learn to work with others, synchronize their efforts, and know each encounter and their roles within the encounter. Yet, these players draw pride and satisfaction when they down a boss because of their combined efforts, often cheering over chat about it. Even if they have never met each other before, they all share this sense of accomplishment -- as great as winning a sports game or another similarly great task. In this sense, raiding can be a beneficial activity, building up valuable experience in teamwork that might otherwise be absent.

In fact, raiding is far from a mindless activity. The strategizing needed to figure out how to tackle a boss, how to coordinate others, and how to adapt quickly to situations, also provides valuable lessons in creativity and problem-solving. I'll draw an example from Karazhan to demonstrate this (raid terms explained below****). The second boss, Moroes, comes with four other mobs, randomly selected from a list of six mobs. Beforehand, the raid works out which order the mobs and Moroes will be tackled, including where the main fight will take place, and where and how the other mobs will be kept out of the way until the group can tackle them. Moroes himself requires two tanks, since he can Blind one tank and then switch to the next player on his aggro list; if this is anyone else except a tank, they will die (from experience). If there is a wipe, the players will resurrect and discuss a new plan and go over mistakes from the last fight. Moreover, during the fight (and many fights in general), something will probably mess up, since players are multitasking. Players must quickly learn to assess a situation and figure out the best way to adjust to it, while still keeping up with their duties. While, of course, some of the players' reactions do become automatic over time, they generally can enter new dungeons and adjust more quickly to the encounters because of their previous experiences. Thus, raiders gain several useful tools from this 'time-consuming' activity, such as faster decision-making, multi-tasking, flexibility, and even creativity -- all from a video game. They can even take these experiences with them when encountering problems elsewhere.

I'm not saying that there aren't problems with raiding, or with the kind of raiding found in WoW. They exist, and there are several of them inherent in something like raiding, particularly at the hardcore level, that should not be discounted. Likewise, I also don't mean that these learning experiences are limited to raiding -- player versus player (PvP) is another good example of this. However, in-game and out, there is a stigma against raiders amongst certain groups, who will accuse raiders of having skewed priorities, being addicted because of the time they spend playing (see Rob Cover's article, "Gaming (Ad)diction: Discourse, Identity, Time and Play in the Production of the Gamer Addiction Myth", for a more in-depth look at addiction in gaming) and even of having no social life. I would like to offer to the last sentiment that, perhaps, the definition of "social" ought to be redefined then, especially if interacting with nine, or even thirty-nine, other players isn't quite considered "social".

*hops off the soapbox*

In other news, patch 2.3 came out last Tuesday. I'll write more on that in the next post. (I haven't tried everything yet!)



*A 10-man dungeon released with the Burning Crusade expansion; currently, it s the first (and easiest) raid dungeon that aspiring raiders must enter to progress through endgame content.
**You don't lose experience when you die, as is traditional in MMOs, but your armor pieces and weapons take a hit in durability. Once this number has been reduced to 0, you no longer gain the effects and bonuses from the piece until you go to a smith to repair the damage -- for a price.
***And by this, I mean young people, particularly students, but that makes me sound old and possibly more pretentious. Hah.
****For ease's sake, a glossary of common raid terms:
Aggro: You can gain the aggro of a mob by aggravating them. If you are at the top of that mob's aggro chart (unseen without addons), the mob will turn to attack you. The mechanics are a little more complex than this, but that's the gist of it.
DPS: Short for Damage Per Second ("How much DPS do you do?"), but it can be used to refer to damage-dealing ("This is my DPS weapon"), or to damage-dealers ("Looking for DPS for a raid.'). Oddly enough, there's rarely any confusion amongst players regarding the term. In this case, it means damage-dealers.
Healer: Players who can heal other players. I play one of these.
Pulling: The act of starting a fight by 'pulling' a mob or group of mobs toward the party, usually with a ranged attack.
Tank: Players who are responsible for keeping the mob/boss's attention while the DPS kills them. They need to be able to generate aggro quickly and be able to take a lot of damage, though healers are often focused on them anyway because of how much damage they take.
Wipe: The entire group dies, often when a fight goes awry.

Say NO to Gender Benders?

A little over a month ago, an article came out about a Chinese MMO company requiring players to prove their gender via webcam or face termination. The company, Aurora Technology (a subsidiary of Shanda Entertainment), has already banned a number of accounts where male players were playing as female characters, though -- oddly enough -- they have stated that females will be allowed to continue playing as male characters.

Obviously, this has caused a minor uproar in the gaming community, as mentioned everywhere from Kotaku to Joystiq, who actually questions the veracity of this news. And while it is possible for this to be just another rumor, the fears surrounding this 'news' are worth examining. In MMOs, it isn't usual for players to create characters of the opposite gender, as I briefly mentioned in the last post, for a myriad of reasons. Some players choose this simply because the opposite gender can be more visually pleasing to stare at for hours at a time -- particularly when the models are attractive, such as the voluptuous* female Night Elves for male players (no, really, just look at their dance). Some players players choose this because they might better enjoy adopting the identity of the opposite gender; there are female players, for instance, who play as male toons to escape the (potential) harassment that they may face while playing, or male characters who play female to try and get free handouts, or even players who do so because they identity more with that gender, and have found WoW to be a safe(r) outlet. Other players yet might choose this because their intended roleplaying character/concept happens fit that gender. And, of course, there are others still who may have various and sundry reasons for opting to do this. As a result, some players will automatically assume that every player they meet is male (following the "no girls on the internets" rule), while many others use the avatar's gender to err on the safe side, or to respect the player's privacy.

Regardless of reason, the gender choice has always been available in MMOs, and players have always been aware of this when socializing with others (for better or for worse)**. Hoax or not, players have come out of the woodwork to defend the right to choose their avatar's gender.

*Debatably, since they also look anorexic.
** I'll cover how real life gender affects a player's experience within WoW in another post.

Can You Hear Me Now?

For those unfamiliar with MMOs*, developers will periodically release updates, or patches, to their games. Changes in these patches range from bugfixes to new content and features, and help to keep the game 'fresh' between expansions (which are major changes and additions to the game), thus maintaining the attention spans of their customer base. Blizzard, like every other game, releases patches fairly frequently for World of Warcraft, the majority of these being bugfixes. Earlier this month, however, the company released patch 2.2, a major patch which adds and tweaks several things -- including a new feature known as Voice Chat.

Why is this important? Since the game's release, players in WoW have been using voice chat as a supplement to text chat for three main reasons: it's easier to speak, it's faster than typing, and it's more social. This utility has traditionally required an external client running alongside the game to use, the most popular client being Ventrilo, a PC-oriented program.

Raph Koster goes over the pros and cons of voice chat of in his blog, commenting on these reasons. While ease and speed are positive aspects of voice chat (barring issues with clarity), the social aspect of voice chat is more ambiguous. The utility can exacerbate existing problems with communication and create new ones. Koster mentions that the "emotional bandwidth" of speech -- its ability to convey more and better emotions, particularly through non-verbal cues inherent in speech, like the tone of your voice -- can be both a blessing and a curse. Speech can clarify meaning where text might be ambiguous, such as when expressing sarcasm. Moreover, the presence of emotions in speech can remind players that they are playing with actual people on the other side of the screen, rather than programmed bits of code. However, voice chat can also strip away a layer of the player's anonymity. The cocky, macho Orc warrior, for instance, could end up being a squeaky twelve-year-old boy. More common, though, are the male players who play female toons**, and have assumed the persona of a female player amongst their in-game friends, where speaking will reveal their true gender.

The anonymity that voice chat strips away is not limited merely to identity. With the presence of voices and more tangible emotions, players must also deal with other players as people. Emotions can complicate and muddle discussions, particularly when they become heated. Voice chat is currently used most often amongst serious players because of its tactical benefits when orchestrating larger encounters, such as those often found in raids.*** Two well-known instances of this are the recordings of two particularly heated moments: the Serious Business (abridged) from the EU Chromaggus server and Getcha from the US Kil'Jaeden server. (warning: excessive profanity, not safe for work). In the first soundclip, the main person talking (the raid leader) is calling out directions to the thirty-nine other people in the group, but as the group progresses in this particular boss fight, the directions become increasingly lost within the string of curse words that the leader keeps shouting toward the rest of the group. In the second clip, several members of a guild**** are approaching the guild leader about an issue, who reacts...badly, to say the least. In both instances, voice chat exacerbates the situation by drawing attention to the high emotional level of the situation.

Now that Blizzard has implemented a version of Voice Chat directly into the game, this opens up several possibilities -- as well as problems. Ventrilo requires both a machine capable of running the program and a remote server for users to connect to, the latter of which either requires some significant system resources or at least ten dollars a month for a cheap server. Now, the built-in voice chat is available to most WoW players, regardless of platform, and will work on most machines, regardless of hardware specification. At the moment, the implemented version is flawed, rendering it mostly unused, but in the future, this may be a viable alternative to Ventrilo. That said, the aforementioned issues will still persist in the in-game version, and perhaps even grow worse with more players starting to use Voice Chat. The loss of anonymity, in particular, will be a problem as players will have fewer excuses to remain silent, though the feature is currently far from universal. The Zen of Design discusses Blizzard's unprecedented decision to include the feature, despite the current issues surrounding it. Regardless, it will be very interesting to see how this might affect later MMOs, even if the WoW version does not end up being used much.


*Short for MMORPG, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Older games of this genre include Everquest and Final Fantasy XI, both of which are still active.
** Toon refers to the avatar/charater in the game.
***Raids are difficult dungeons, at the time requiring a group of forty players to work together for an extended period of time (often four to six hours at a time, depending on the group). After the Burning Crusade expansion, however, raid size was reduced to twenty-five people, though the time commitment remains the same.
****Guilds are player-run organizations, grouping people together by shared interests or purposes. Some focus on PvE (Player vs. Enemy) combat, usually involving raids, while others focus on PvP (Player vs. Player), roleplaying, or even just socializing. The guild in the Getcha soundclip is a raiding guild, and thus PvE-focused.