NPR's take on World of Warcraft

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Left: Galt, a warlock, is reviewer Robert Holt's character. Here he stands in

front of the gates of Stormwind City. Right: Game with a view.

National Public Radio

All Things Considered, March 16, 2005 · World of Warcraft, a new multi-player online game, has participants including reviewer Robert Holt captivated. He says the highly stylized fantasy world may be the best role-playing game yet.

The game's biggest flaw is that it's too popular -- and there are times when the servers are overloaded and the game is unresponsive.

For Npr.org, Holt discusses the evolution of role-playing games, from Dungeons and Dragons to WoW.

Okay, I am NEVER playing this game. Because I do NOT want to end up shuttered away for 24/7 for months like those RPG addicts. My life's practically way over-cyber-ized as it is.

Let me warn you -- this game is highly addictive. In the two months I've been at it, I've logged over five days of playing time. And I've stopped watching TV altogether.

[ysbreker]

And I've stopped watching TV altogether.

And I think that's a good thing well OK not that you should spend all your time behind the PC/console But with the current state of TV shows it's not such a bad thing...

And the addictiveness of WoW is the main reason I'm not playing it too. And somehow the whole idea of a fantasy RPG doesn't attrackt me at all...

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I stopped watching tv (regularly) at least 10 years ago. And sometimes I happen to catch what my family's watching and I smile, knowing that I've missed nothing.

I can't wait for Jade Empire to come out.

[ysbreker]

All the tv I watch these days is the will & grace re-runs. And thats about the only bit of television I actually watch.

try telling marek something about WoW and he looks angry at you and pretends to ignore you talking about WoW. He is actually actively banning all info on WoW. We're not even allowed to talk about it.

I bet he won't even read this thread so I can talk all kinds of dirty about him and He wouldn't even know =)

[Jake]

Anyway, so why is Marek banning all info on WoW?

He values his life.

[Duncan]

This is probably going to make me sound like a prick, and I'm seriously not aiming this at anybody, but quite honestly I find the whole 'I'm superior because I don't watch television' attitude just as outdated, snobbish and annoying as 'of course I don't play video games, those are for kids'.

Best television these days is seriously on HBO. And current HBO television is seriously in the running for best television of all time.

There's also Arrested Development.

Arrested Development is great, yeah. Since you namechecked HBO, do you watch The Wire? It started airing here a few months ago and it's just so incredibly awesome. One of the best things on television ever, and I would say the best thing on television like, at all, for the last two or three years.

Er, yeah, anyway, WoW: I'm probably never going to play it because of time and money issues. Also I'm not at all into MMORPGs. I understand this is supposed to be the one that changes all that, but still.

[Duncan]

Hoo boy, yes. The Wire is friggin' fantastic. Was very gratified to hear that it got renewed for a fourth season, although I think it'll be coming a year late.

2006, yeah. Like I said, it only started here late last year, which is cool now because it'll give me time to catch up before the fourth season starts. Also cool is that they're running the second season right after the first. The first episode of that just aired here, so that's where I'm at. Little disconcerting to go right from teenage black drug dealers to fat white dockworkers, but other than that, awesome.

Deadwood I keep meaning to get into but I never really gave it a chance. I did watch the first episode, but didn't think it was that great. Possibly, though, it was because of the shit reception I get in my dorm room, so I could only see it in really fuzzy black and white.

[Fairygdmther]

This is probably going to make me sound like a prick, and I'm seriously not aiming this at anybody, but quite honestly I find the whole 'I'm superior because I don't watch television' attitude just as outdated, snobbish and annoying as 'of course I don't play video games, those are for kids'.

I know where you're coming from, yet I'm in there too. I kinda feel that way, yet not from being snobbish. I hate the commercials, can't get into sitcoms, etc. I, for a time watched a lot of PBS, science programs, history stuff, and they weren't bad, but, for me, I hate the time I spend with it. It feels like wasted time. I feel like I have to DO something when I watch it - during one basketball season that I watched all the Boston Celtics games with my sister, I crocheted a whole afghan! I guess on PC, it doesn't feel as wasted a time, because I'm reading and typing, or actively playing a game. TV is just so passive! I just keep thinking of all the stuff I could/should be doing instead of mindlessly sitting there. The last time my TV was even on, was New Years, when I had some friends over and we watched the ball drop in Times Square in NYC at midnight. I guess I just prefer the PC for my entertainment! shrug...

FGM

[netmonkey]

You should (not) meet my friends who play world of warcraft all the time. You know what I do these days? I don't call them anymore, it's not worth it. They always put instances (a pretty word for party-independent dungeons) before me, like it's a big fucking deal. I guess I have classes with them because he have the same mejor, but I only talk to them if I need their help because they're smarter with the mathematical nonsense I care little about.

I would stop watching TV if I didn't have it, but my roomate is obsessed with being entertained.

[Roderick]

I think I'm pretty unique them: I'm an actual CASUAL WoW player Really, I play only very now and then. I love the game, but it's a bit repetitive (and that's coming from someone who has played his dignified share of Diablo (II) over the last six years or so), and I haven't touched the game ever since I got Resident Evil 4 last thursday. I find it a lot more captivating than WoW, but that may be only temporary. As for the comment that it's the best RPG ever... I just don't think so. But I still love the game and will play it for a long time. I just wish I had more freaking time to actually play. Now I have to choose between it and RE4, and frankly, RE4 cries victory for the moment.

[lailoken]

Well it certainly does feel to me like the first rush of excitement has worn off and more and more I am disappointed by the shallowness of WoW. In order for Blizzard to make it so accessible for a broad audience they cut a lot of the stuff that was standard in other games, all in favour of a more polished and less intricate experience. But in the end that leaves me with the same sensation as eating at McDonald's. I do like it every once in a while, but it's not good food. More realism and depth to me would have been much appreciated in the game. As it is, I am no longer in love with the monster that is WoW...

[Intrepid Homoludens]

More realism and depth to me would have been much appreciated in the game.

That could mean anything. What exactly do you mean?

[Lechimp]

That could mean anything. What exactly do you mean?

The game doesn't really have that much to do except combat, you can sell stuff, sure, but there's no player owned houses, stores or guildhouses. Even the crappy mmorpg Star Wars:Galaxies had a better and more interesting economy than WoW. And really, once you reach the level cap in WoW (level 60), there isn't a ton to do until they add battlegrounds.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Blizzard said they're going to give more stuff soon, what that means I don't know. But surely there's a possibility of getting more in an expansion pack or downloadable content.

[Trithemius]

Hoo boy, yes. The Wire is friggin' fantastic. Was very gratified to hear that it got renewed for a fourth season, although I think it'll be coming a year late.

Deadwood is also absolutely awesome (although the first two episodes of the second season have been somewhat inpenetrable). I understand that Carnivale may be even more awesome, but I think it's supposed to be really creepy, so I haven't checked it out.

Seriously, this stuff is up there with The Prisoner.

Who said "The Prisoner"? :/

[Roderick]

Blizzard is going to add more and more stuff for the higher levels in the coming weeks. Battlegrounds, but also big new dungeons with more interactivity and possibilities to direct the outcome of the instance. I still like the game a lot, but to call it the best rpg ever is taking it way too far. When I'm playing, even on a Roleplaying Server, it still always feels like I'm grinding the treadmill to get bigger and better, and not a whole lot else to do. I like the grinding, sure, but the roleplaying of it all isn't very deep. That's also the player's blame of course, but partially also the game's, which doesn't seem to support anything more than a quick conversation and some chairs to sit on. Even on RP, everyone's just running to get to the next quest, because that's all there is to do. It's fine, but I had a far more interesting experience when I was playing Morrowind, which was rich with culture and sported tons of dialogue and books to delve into. And when you look at it more closely, you'll find that WoW is actually pretty linear. Everyone's doing the same quests in the same succession, so there's no diversity or interesting choices there. It's one big treadmill. A beautiful, exciting and somewhat addicting treadmill, but nothing more really.

[Duncan]

I know where you're coming from, yet I'm in there too. I kinda feel that way, yet not from being snobbish. I hate the commercials, can't get into sitcoms, etc. I, for a time watched a lot of PBS, science programs, history stuff, and they weren't bad, but, for me, I hate the time I spend with it. It feels like wasted time. I feel like I have to DO something when I watch it - during one basketball season that I watched all the Boston Celtics games with my sister, I crocheted a whole afghan! I guess on PC, it doesn't feel as wasted a time, because I'm reading and typing, or actively playing a game. TV is just so passive! I just keep thinking of all the stuff I could/should be doing instead of mindlessly sitting there. The last time my TV was even on, was New Years, when I had some friends over and we watched the ball drop in Times Square in NYC at midnight. I guess I just prefer the PC for my entertainment! shrug...

Yeah, but that's a different kind of attitude I think. Your reason for not watching televison isn't that you think it's all crap and awful, and it just isn't something intelligent people do. For you there are just better things you could do with your time, which I have no problem with. Personally I'd rather watch TV than crotchet an afghan, but that's just me.

(Also I should point out that I have no idea what 'crotchet an afghan' means or how it's done. It is also a phrase I never thought I'd write, but, here we are.)

[lailoken]

with realism I mean among others the following:

-nothing has a weight, everything is defined by the amount of space it takes up in your bag, meaning either one slot or stackable (5,10,20)

-improving your stats only changes your stats, movement for instance is completely unaffected by your stats

-wearing different kinds of armor has no effect on you apart from changing your armorrating

-birds do not fly but hover above the ground (oh wait there are flying birds but those are only for looking at and cannot be interacted with)

-different races do not mean different classes such that in the end you only have 7 different classes (shamans and druids not being the same)

-interaction with npcs is not even worth mentioning, as all they do is either give you a quest or provide some service

-reading the "background plot" feels like going through a number of hastily assembled clichéd storypieces

-the races lack any kind of background (how about a character introduction about who you are when you start off?)

Based on all this it comes as little to no surprise that there is no real roleplaying going on, hell everybody is just racing to the next level and the next ultra cool instance dungeon and nobody gives a shit about interaction as the game obviously is all about the leveling.

Sorry this ended up being kind of a rant, but you always hate the ones you love, isn't it?

[mycroft]

Hey if you guys publicize World of WarCraft more, you can get more hits and more forum members...

Hmm...the gerbil has a point.

*bows*

[Spaff]

5 days worth..... in 2 months? what a fucking pussy.