This world needs more puppy hangings!

 WHAT THIS WORLD NEEDS IS MORE PUPPY HANGINGS!

No, we here at No Prisoners, No Mercy (NPNM) have not developed a sudden aversion to puppies – this is just a case of me taking my own advice.

Here is why…

Today is the big day. Today is the day when two long awaited games, Aion Online and Fallen Earth, officially open (yes I know they have both been open already for early access). Today is also the day when conversations like the following take place:

Gamer X: This game is just a wow clone.

Julie: Are you nuts?  This game is Hello Kitty Online.

Gamer X: I don’t care. It’s still a Wow clone. Leave me alone and let me play Wow. I have a raid to get to.

Some time ago Dr. Richard Bartle (if you are reading this you had better know who he is…if not Google the name) caused a bit of a stir when he said he would get rid of World of Warcraft (WoW) if he could.  Late last year, he caused an uproar again by saying the following, which I quoted in an article I wrote for Virgin Worlds entitled, “And this he’s worried about?”

“I don’t mind having torture in an MMO – it’s the kind of thing a designer can use to give interesting choices that say things to the players. However, I do mind its being placed there casually as a run-of-the-mill quest with no regard for the fact that it would ring alarm bells: this means either that the designer can’t see anything wrong with it, or that they’re actually in favor of it and are forcing it on the player base to make a point. Neither case is satisfactory.”   -  Richard Bartle

The quote was meant to apply to a quest that was in WoW (and may still be there for all that matter) where the player tortured a captured NPC.  The furor has long since died away. Burning issues of the day have a tendency to do that. At the end of the article I wrote that playing a videogame no more makes me a violent human being than reading Moby Dick will stir me to condone whale hunting.  However, I concluded the article with the following:

“If Richard Bartle really wants to grab a few headlines why doesn’t he tell us something like ‘he wants to see a few more puppy hangings in games.’

So Here I am taking my own advice.

What we need is more puppy hangings in games. (see above picture of puppies in little puppy carriers for the approved method)

Not because I am concerned about the quest issue, which I dare say few even care about any more.  What gets me hopping mad are all the psychopaths that come to the forefront with the “It’s a WoW clone” comments every time a new game hits the shelves.  I hear it so often these days that it makes me want to vomit on my shoes every time I sit down to write an article or story about gaming. Hells bells, people, even WoW is an Everquest Clone, or a Warhammer (the tabletop game not the online version) clone.

So “down the road a piece”, as great grand dad would have said, I too would get rid of WoW if I could. Not because they have set the bar impossibly high by having more subscribers than the population of Switzerland. Not because they have a bottom line that must be greater than the gross national product than some third world nations.

What I would get rid of WoW for is to stop all the comparisons. It would be nice, just for once, for developers to be able to work in a market where they do not have to concern themselves with expectations that Activision/Blizzard has created – what players have come to assume will be part of the game to make them comfortable with it.

Tell a player that he has to move by clicking a cursor on the ground somewhere rather than using the w,a,s,d keys and he will raise hell.  Tell the same player that the game he is playing has no auction house, but instead he will have to shop in an open air market place with player run stalls, and they will act like…well….

Like you said you want to hang puppies.

It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.  If a game is not similar enough to what they expect, in terms of game mechanics, gamers will issue the usual well thought out assessment of the game in question: “This game sucks”.  If it is too similar they will immediately hop on the “WoW Clone” bandwagon. And believe me friends, that is one HELL of a big band wagon.

As an interesting side note, I had the privilege of being interviewed for the Grinding to Valhalla Project . One of the questions I was asked was, if there was only one mmo in the world, which one would I keep? In part, I responded as follows:

 “…Beyond that, I recall the furor that Richard Bartle caused when he said that if he had the ability he would get rid of World of Warcraft. That being the case I would tell Loki to get rid of whatever game Richard Bartle is currently playing – that will teach him.” – Julie Whitefeather

 To which Dr. Richard Bartle promptly replied:

“Actually, I’m playing WoW right now so I win either way.” – Richard Bartle

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go play wow. I have one more daily to run until I get enough reputation to buy a dragon mount.

That…and I owe Dr. Bartle and apology.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather