Column: The Game Anthropologist: The World Behind The World Of Warcraft
[Regular GSW column 'The Game Anthropologist' is all about gaming communities. This week, Michael Walbridge attempts to summarize the world of the World of Warcraft in its entirety.]
"Oh no, not another article about World of Warcraft. Tired of hearing about it." If you've ever thought that, stop reading. You won't find this interesting.
Some of you still are reading, though, and we both know why that is: because the topic is humongous. There is the universe, and there are galaxies, solar systems, and planets. There are development platforms and genres, there is World of Warcraft, and there are individual games and their communities.
World of Warcraft has spawned at least two books of published essays. One of them has an entire chapter on the most mundane of the most mundane--fishing. World of Warcraft spawns entire blogs and sites that are dedicated to the many, many corners of WoW. To the experienced gamer, games have the ability to be an entirely different experience from person to person.
To the beginning gamer who plays WoW as one of his first games, this is understood quickly instead of gradually. This leads to an opportunity for intelligent observation, the scale of which equals insight into an entire country. Take a comment from a non-official WoW forum: "At 70, you can choose from one of three factions: Raider, PVP, and Casual. You then blame the other two factions for 'ruining the game.'"
Only in an MMO that is as large as World of Warcraft is it made clearly apparent that there are all kinds of players (people) and that video games can be a setting for social interaction, larger than life. You can meet another player and that player can feel, unlike the ones you regularly play with, like someone from another country, another world, another clique.
Even the division of the players into over 100 server still leaves your own cities populated with people who make themselves authority figures, public artists, savants, professionals, entrepreneurs, professors, thieves, beggars, preachers, and thugs. All who play it, know it.
Welcome To The Real World....(Of Warcraft)
And that is the curious thing about WoW--it's the game that doesn't feel like a game, and not just because of the grinding factor. It's very easy to forget what you're doing is playing a video game. This is what makes WoW so different in the video game world in every way imaginable, including its business model, finance and profits, aesthetics, sociality, and culture. To some, there are video games and there is World of Warcraft, and that can be either an insult or a compliment.
As I've been hinting, however, there is more to WoW than its hugeness. There is a common theme, one that testifies both to its greatness and its shallowness, its "just-a-game-ness."
Even though there is a maximum level, there is still a lot of work to be done, ways to become better and more powerful. There are five ways to do that. PVP, Raiding (killing the bosses in dungeons, etc.), leveling (to 70 and then your reputation with factions), talents and crafting, and, of course, money. Just buying it.
Ways to become powerful? Isn't it just one way to become powerful? Powerful gear? Glowing weapons? Purple armor? Epic lewtz?
Well, yeah, you got me there. Multiple routes, but one destination. And that's what makes World of Warcraft the same for everyone: anyone who wants to play it seriously and long-term must subscribe to a standardized measure of success and play by such rules. The result is that unlike other multiplayer games, there is no fun in losing.
It's funny to watch other people lose, but it's not funny to actually lose. In PVP, you are usually frustrated due to teammates; in a raid, you are frustrated due to the mistakes of others leading to a lack of your progress in the game (or, conversely, you causing everyone else's lack of progress).
If you accidentally overspend, that's literally weekend time you can't get back. If the materials you need from the auction house have experienced a spike, you have to wait for the market to send prices downward, or you overspend. And no matter where you die, it always costs money, honor, and time waiting to be resurrected, whether you walk or not.
He Who Dies With The Best Loot - Wins
And that's the point: the world of the World of Warcraft is inherently, if unintentionally, materialistic. It's the rat-race, it's climbing the ladder, it's who has the best clothes in the world of fashion, who has the most money in the world of business, the most honor and acclaim amongst professors, authors, scientists, and other creators, all simplified into stats in the form of armor and weapons that are received by one of five means. In today's world, the only glory, respect, or honor that is guaranteed to transfer from world to world and gain recognition everywhere is also just as simple.
You may accuse me of being unfair to Blizzard, or of being too critical of the way the world is. I'm not here to describe Blizzard or what they've intended. I'm here to examine the people who play one of their games, and what that game's rules proscribe for the rules of sociality. And those rules are:
1. Success is the only option.
2. If your lack of success is harmful to others' success, admit your fault(s) and work to improve.
Some might say the materialism and shallow behavior one often sees in WoW is due to the volume of high-school and college students--the volume of adolescence. But it goes further than that. That reductivistic explanation doesn't work here, though. Coworkers at the workplace are usually a type of family with its own rules; family members at the home are often like workplaces with power struggles and competing ambitions. Guild drama involving married couples and people over the age of 30 occur, too.
Of course, there are still parts of the World of Warcraft that we have to figure out for ourselves, such as what's meaningful, how we choose to socialize and relate to others, and if, how, and when we want to break the rules of society. Society itself can't, shouldn't, and won't do that for us unless we let it. Neither will World of Warcraft.
Just like real life, just like work, just like dealing with people in open, public society? Yes. But here, the successes are easier and more common, and the failures have weaker consequences. If there's anything about World of Warcraft you don't get, just remember--it's a beta for real life.
Comments
I admit that I'm sick of hearing about World of Warcraft, but I have the Olympics on as background noise. China always mixes well with MORPG articles that mention the struggle for materialism, right? ;)
Posted by: ACWraith | August 24, 2008 3:52 AM
I can't say I really agree - not losing might be the end-game for a lot of us, but I watch my wife play a lot as a "casual" and she simply levels up a new alt, fishes, etc. to just unwind and relax. I bet it's the same experience for many others like her...
Posted by: spanky | August 25, 2008 9:48 AM
A lot of players will respond negatively to this - they really, really don't want to be analyzed or face a reduction of their situation (for whatever reason). That aside, I think it's true. It's a new world for measuring advancement - that's why Blizzard has always implemented a level system (even in its RTS's) and a real sense of progression even after that system is capped. I know that this is true - the next thing to do will be to find out why the players get so defensive about it.
Posted by: Oqm | August 25, 2008 11:05 AM
Oqm, I think if people get upset it would be because they have fond memories of playing WoW with the players they know and love, and they may feel I'm slandering those memories.
Not what I'm doing, but I'd feel the same way if I were them.
Posted by: Michael Walbridge | August 25, 2008 11:41 AM
No surprises.
World of warcraft reflects on the real world in perfect fashion.
If this game (yes the technology wasn't here then, but use your fantasy) would have been here at the 30's. Our goals would have, almost guaranteed, been totally different to what they are now in todays wow.
Shallownes?
Materialism?
Money talks?
Welcome to the real world.
You can put it either way. World of warcraft reflects on the real world, or vice versa.
I don't think it's very strange. They only thing that, in my mind, is somewhat frigthening is that a large chunk of the wow-players let others decide for them what their goals should be. What equals fun in the game, what is important etc.
Atleast you have a choice in wow to enjoy yourself in whatever way you want. It's your choice. Yet, most don't. The neverending chase makes it, ultimately, a burden for many.
Real life doesn't give you those privilegies.
Human nature I guess.
/Played awhile
Posted by: Played awhile | August 25, 2008 11:49 AM
Though the competition is great sometimes, I just like to PLAY - win or lose (some losing AVs are more fun than the wins!). It's just FUN. It's an alternate life I get to live - with unimaginable powers and a little prestige. Many of the members of our guild have bonded and are like family now.
Clothes are awesome, perceived power and influence and recognition within the WoW world are excellent added benefits, it's good to have game gold so you can do what you wish in the game - but in the end, it's the interaction with the people... the RELATIONSHIPS... that make it so worthwhile.
I am usually a fairly mild person, and WoW allows me to exercise the more adventurous side of myself. I think a lot of us see it as such. Like ACWraith's wife, I actually play to relax and to socialize - not to stroke my ego and flaunt it over others.
Like Michael Walbridge said, one of the coolest things about the game is that you can enjoy it in any manner you like. You can be cutthroat and evil if that is your "thing", or you can just be casual and enjoy the landscape and music and go exploring (like a virtual hike! lol)!
Nothing like it. :)
Posted by: Faizana - Bronzebeard Server | August 25, 2008 1:03 PM
People can tend to use this game to replace success in real life. In WOW success is fairly straight forward. Even if you are the worst pvp'er on the server, you can eventually get the gear.
It can become an all consuming drive to have this relatively easy success. If you analyse it you take away the glory of that success. People get defensive, especially if they feel that they play more hours than is justified for "just a game". It is a neverending chase that at times can feel more like a job. But people still love to play.
I have to strictly regulate myself to playing only after I get my work done and I've been playing for almost 2 years. Since I work out of my home there is no getting out and away from the computer and WOW is alot more fun than the two businesses I own and manage! My advice is to remember that it is just a game, real life comes first, but if you can balance your life and are still having fun playing WOW...... go for it!
Posted by: clm | August 25, 2008 1:19 PM
"It's funny to watch other people lose, but it's not funny to actually lose."
"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."
Mel Brooks
Posted by: Ed | August 25, 2008 2:02 PM
Blizzard, please GIVE ME MY HUSBAND BACK!!
Thank you!
Posted by: twyer | August 25, 2008 3:19 PM
As someone who has children and grandchildren who play WOW and then decided to try it myself, I find that as I have retired from the "rat race" this just gives me an edge, something suduko definately lacks! It's relaxing to fish or collect herbs, but cool to explore new places, and get scared by the monsters - and talking with new people is good too. Don't take it serious it is for fun! /bye
Posted by: clr | August 25, 2008 3:39 PM
World of Warcraft isn't such a bad place if you really think about it. For the casual gamer, it's a way to get away. If you really enjoy the game for the relationships it develops, you can find something like I did. I met a girl on wow. Now engaged and I couldn't be happier. We found that we share common interests not only in the beautiful landscapes of the game, but enjoy the same things in real life. Spending alot of time trying to become the best, and i ended with the best. The game gave me something to look forward to and strive for in real life.
Posted by: GA7 | August 25, 2008 4:20 PM
The very fact that there is no pain in losing in WoW is what makes success so hollow.
Posted by: StaalBurgher | August 26, 2008 5:43 AM
What you describe as WoW's fundamental 'issue' (materialism), is actually a universally human trait.
Humans have been accumulating resources since the beginning of our own time. That's how we survive. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a fundamental concept that much of human psychology bases its work on - the accumulation of materials to meet the needs for human survival.
Once we achieve these basic needs such as food, shelter, etc, we see humans creating art, music and meeting less immediate needs. The search continues. Our lives, both physical and otherwise, depends on it.
Accumulation and resource allocation is at the heart of the human experience. We are in constant search for those things we have assigned importance to.
WoW game designers understand the human experience, and they've extended it into the MMO world in a way that most of us understand.
My wife and I both play WoW. We're casual, raiding PVP'ers. Although we enjoy the epic gear, those physical elements are means to an end, not the end itself. Once properly geared, we can enjoy the WoW world more comfortably. We can help others, compete with a fair chance of winning, and experience raid/instance story lines more fully.
Posted by: Micah Boswell | August 27, 2008 12:34 PM
Posted by: a9bian | August 1, 2009 3:04 AM