ennui
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Missing something in our MMOs, part II: Electric Boogaloo
A few days ago, we posted about Brian Green's musings over what's missing in our MMOs. Steve Danuser has taken the time to take a look at both that post and further incidents of ennui through the MMO blogosphere, and come to a similar but slightly different conclusion -- that what's missing isn't the fault of what's already there. The problem isn't the quests, it's that so few of them feel heroic or individual, and they're more or less your only option for progressing through the game. The problem isn't the exploration, it's that there's no real incentive to bother. In short, that we don't need to penalize people who enjoy these parts of the game, we simply need to stop penalizing the people who don't. It's an interesting and astute observation that gets at the heart of the real problem -- that game design has moved forward, and by and large this is a good thing. All of the improvements in design we've seen over the past several years, even in games sometimes derided as clones of World of Warcraft, is evidenced that the game industry has a clearer idea than ever of how to do effective achievement-based progression. What needs to be addressed is not the formula, but the scope and the specifics. Something is missing, but there's no sense in throwing out what's there and well-polished to try and find it.
Why do we WoW before WotLK
The Part Time Druid posted a bit of an existential question -- "Why do we WoW?" It was followed up over on the Altoholic. And while their musings on the motivations for gaming are notable, I'm happy they avoided questions around that horrible WoW-addiction issue. I'm not much of the navel-gazing type, so I wasn't concerned about why I play WoW, in and of itself. (Presumably, I get something out of it, so fair enough.)But, with pre-expansion blues (and excitement) crashing down on our heads -- why are we playing right now? Our gear's about to go obsolete (and we're about to put on our green-quality clown-suits), our level cap's about to go up 10 levels, and the whole world as we know it is going to be radically different! Oh, yeah, and those guys are going to be around, stealing our tanking spots and doing Elune knows what else! (Anyone else notice they're the first class to have two words as part of their name?)For me? Nothing special about the pre-expansion time period. I play the same reason I always do. I play with my girlfriend, I play with my friends. I play in the Arena. In a year, what I've done now might not matter to what I'm doing then. But what I'm doing now matters now -- and for now, I'm having fun.
Poll: Are you looking forward to WoTLK more than you looked forward to Burning Crusade?
So recently, Tobold was saying that excitement around Wrath of the Lich King is visibly much less than the excitement that led up to the release of Burning Crusade. People are tired out by the 2 year wait, WoW isn't innovating, WoW isn't adding the content fast enough: there's just so many reasons that the Wrath of the Lich King is being greeted with ennui instead of excitement. My first thought upon reading that: Wait, people aren't excited over WoTLK?
The Perils of "WoW-nnui"
Terra Nova has an interesting piece up about what they call "WoW-nnui": After stepping away from WoW for a while, Mike came back to the game experiencing ennui. Don't worry, I had to look it up too-- ennui is "a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest." Coming back to WoW after a long break can give you exactly that feeling-- the thought that you've seen everything there is to see and do in this game and you're just plain done with it.Is that possible? Of course it is. If Blizzard has failed to hold your attention (even after an extended break), then they don't deserve your fifteen bucks anymore, and it's time to quit. But ennui isn't always the end, as TN suggests-- lots of players have gone through it, even after a respec, or (to a lesser extent) after a particularly comprehensive revamp. And for me personally, even if I'm faced with a little boredom after a long break, even a short bit of grinding usually gets me right back in the thick of things, looking for loot and XP.Now, as TN notes, anybody experiencing "WoW-nnui" at this point will probably be back for the expansion anyway, and there's a whole slew of games waiting in the wings to grab anybody walking away from WoW. Obviously, Blizzard has an impetus (see? I can do it too, Terra Nova) to keep ennui out of the game, or at least in control. Is it out of control? When you come back after a long break, are you back in the game, or thinking about getting out of it?
