The role of us players in the evolving story of Azeroth is an interesting one, and a confounding one, at times. After all, look at what we have accomplished. We've killed the leader of the Burning Legion, two old gods (or at least incapacitated them for a while), the king of the undead hordes, and even an observer of the titans themselves. Our prowess is obviously quite impressive for faceless adventurers (or, as the Lich King himself says, "Azeroth's greatest champions"), for through cooperation, we have saved Azeroth from countless threats that even the heroes of lore couldn't combat. In fact, we players have become those heroes; that's why we are Azeroth's greatest champions.
However, though we may posses great power as players, we make up for that abundance of power through a lack of control. The dichotomy between those two wasn't apparent to me for most of my time playing WoW, but one event brought it to the forefront of my awareness. Well, not one event, so much as one key player in contemporary WoW lore, and all the ways he has bollocksed up everything: Garrosh Hellscream. I have written about this polarizing figure before, and I concluded that, as much as we may hate him, it's for the best that Blizzard keep the events of WoW going as they have and as they plan. However, I bring him up today because Garrosh, his mistakes, and his inevitable rise to power as Warchieft of the Horde perfectly illustrates the sheer lack of control we players have. That lack of control is illustrated by the amount of frustration I see players express over Garrosh's brazenness and Thrall's baffling decision to keep Garrosh in a position of power, in spite of his history of decisions that work against Thrall's goals.
Put in a different way, we players know what is best for Azeroth. We know that the best thing for the races to do would be to put aside their petty squabbles and cooperate, for we have seen the good that can be wrought when they do so and the loss that comes about when they don't. And yet, wish as we may that we could somehow alter the politics of this that world we inhabit, we cannot. Now, I know I don't speak for all players here. I know there are players out there who are glad that the drums of war are sounding yet again, who can't wait to see how this conflict evolves, but I know there are also plenty of players who wish it could be avoided. If anything, that shows that we put some emotional stock in Azeroth, which shows just how good of a game Blizzard has developed. But I digress. The fact that we can't stop Garrosh from messing everything up, that we can't urge the other leaders to work for peace, rather than war, and that we can't prevent a destructive conflict we can see coming from a mile away shows just how little control we players really have when it comes to the events that happen in Azeroth. We may have a lot of power, which is why we can kill beings like old gods, but we have very little control, which is why we can't affect the story of WoW at all.
Why does this dichotomy exist? It exists because, in the end, WoW is Blizzard's game, and it progresses as Blizzard sees fit. We players think we have power within the world of Azeroth, but that is only because Blizzard gives us that power. They give us the power to defeat monstrous enemies if we have the right gear and skills; if they didn't do that, we couldn't defeat them, plain and simple. Thus, we really don't have any inherent power within the WoW universe; we only have abilities which Blizzard has allowed us to have. We could only change the course of Azerothian politics if Blizzard gave us that power, too, and there are plenty of reasons for them to not do that.
As I said, the fact that we players wish we could affect the way WoW's political scene plays out says a lot about just how good of a game Blizzard has developed. They haven't just developed a game, they've developed a world, a world whose outcome we feel invested in. But the thing is, WoW is really a very stagnant world. The world of WoW only changes when Blizzard decides it's going to change, and though we players feel as if we are somehow instrumental in this change, we really aren't. We can only kill the great monsters we kill because Blizzard has made them killable and made us the ones who are able to kill them. Blizzard, it turns out, is really the one with the power here, so it's no wonder they have the control, as well. In the end, this is Blizzard's world, not ours; we just play in it.
Friday, August 27, 2010
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I wouldn't have it any other way personally. Ultimately, if there's story to be told, from single player games to MMOs to even Pen and Paper RPGs, there always an illusion of power, and even more importantly, the illusion of choice. Good design is making someone think they've done everything when really they've done exactly what you intended them to do. Ask a magician, they know how powerful the illusion of power is. :D
ReplyDeleteIt may seem like we would want Blizz to surrender more power to the players, but I don't think anyone playing the game would ultimately like the end result. If the players of the Horde put a burning pile of sticks up on Thrall's throne (for teh lulz) and it had to be warchief in full function because of it, would the Horde last more than a day? If the Alliance staged a coup to kick out Wrynn, who will fill his place in the power vacuum? Jaina? The House of Nobles? Vanessa Van Cleef? A young charismatic and dipolmatic leader such as Daval Prestor perhaps?
The problem grows larger with the size of the player base as well. Imagine the havoc that could be sown on a high population server if each and every player had the power to alter the world (to the degree a Hero of Azeroth could, which lets be honest, is a great deal) as they saw fit? I don't think a player base of 11 million people could deal with the responsibility and repercussions of having that power.
Ultimately, there's one great example I can always point to as to why Blizzard holds the reins and we, the paying customers, merely get to bask in the story instead of control it: Second Life. Second Life has no illusion of power, just power, and the world that the player base has created with it can range from fascinating to downright disturbing on the flip of a coin.
A couple of games tried to give really power to players. Those MMO are called more sand box MMO like Eve online and another one that I dont even remember the name. But, those game are really frustrated in some way because of the lack of rules. If you want to gank a player/guild/city/starship for 24 hours a day 365 day a years you can. If you want to be an assasin payed by guild to steal ship or materials or worst just kill people because they are not very smart with your employers. You can.
ReplyDeleteMore than this. If you crook a lot of poeple in the game probably they will talk about you in their main forum and treat you like a hero.
Those who really enjoy playing that kind of game will says that this is the part that they like. No rules, gives more power to the community and the game can evolve/regrest in the way the community wants it. The problem is those games need a lot of times to be masterized. And its for most a closed community of the same gamers that are allowed to see the end game. They are not casual game at all. If you want to be powerfull in that kind of game you must input a lot of time and a lot of emotion.