I feel… exploited
Friday, October 5th, 2007http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/10/04/is-blizzard-exploiting-wow-players/
The case is made in a new paper that MMO’s exploit their players by failing to provide real entertainment but instead by stringing them along with very carefully planned rewards, often not relevant to what the player wants but what the player percieves they need. For example you “grind” through 10 levels from 30 to 40 in WoW, not because you are actually enjoying playing those levels but becuase there is a planned prize (Mount for example) waiting for you at the end of the grind.
And you PAY for the priveledge of this grind. The case made in the original article (go back a few links through WoW Insider) is that this is not only exploitive but borderline unethical. The initial author makes the case that a game should be fun at all turns and that the carefully planned rewards should be part of that fun. Instead MMO makers learn the thresholds people have for monotony and tedium and provide just enough incentive to start the next “grind”.
With all the talk about changing XP for the 0-60 game in WoW or the talk in other MMO’s about “grind levels” I’m forced to wonder if perhaps there might be something to this.
What do you think?
