WoW
mattmaroon.com
mattmaroon.com
Diablo was designed as a series of clicks and rewards. When you clicked on an item in your inventory, a pleasant sound chimed. When you killed Diablo, you got a better series of sounds and more things to click in your inventory.
WoW is so successful because it provides such a compelling alternative to reality. In reality, there is risk, there is emotion, there is change. In WoW, you just have a steady stream of clicks, a steady stream of rewards, and a steady group of pseudo-friends (pseudo because they only exist as long as you play WoW and they won't help you move) that don't judge you. In some ways, it is better than reality. If nothing else, it is much easier. The only way to get better is to play more, and the more you play, the more fun you have.
I think it's the magic combination of elements that has given WoW the megacrown. And you've listed several. If you've played Wow, you get it, but you don't exactly know why.
I still have friends I met through EQ.
It was also something to talk about with my brother at Thanksgiving.
Blizzard
Their attention to creating what they consider the 'perfect' game on a platform they create is mind blowing. They have had Starcraft 2 what any other company would consider 'finished' for probably 2 years. But they run massive beta tests, continually tweak and perfect the game.
It shows in every one of their products - look at the Starcraft/Warcraft/Diablo series - not a single flop or poor game.
I bet you right now that Starcraft 2 becomes even more popular than the original - and the original is still played in large numbers ten years later!
Subject: WoW
[Comments][1]
[1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=228117
URL: http://mattmaroon.com/?p=396
comments: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=228117
Unlike the outside world WoW lets you create YOU as you imagine it in your wildest dreams. A 360 degree control that cannot be found anywhere in real life. The game is fair, you are who you want to be as long as you put the necessary effort into it.
I can guarantee you that a lot of players would respond to their screen name if you called them out in the street. You think they escape their bills and work and family by playing, but it is the opposite. They escape their WoW life by doing mundane things.
Shatner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyUNDbo2KMU
Mr. T http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJE5TH5jhc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FET09MYis_g
You really don't play WoW. It doesn't even go up to level 82. Heh.
Let me see if I understand what you are saying: You assume the author does not have a life, and your response is to laugh so hard you fall off your chair?
That is not a very nice sentiment, and if I am correct in understanding your point of view, it is especially unkind to attempt to publicly shame him for what you perceive to be an unacceptable lifestyle.
I sincerely hope that the choices you make about relating to people in "real life" are much more pleasant than the choice you made here.