Why in the Hell do people play WOW?

[purplerat]

Why do so many people who DON'T play WoW care so much about it? I've played the game all the way to 70 and it's fun. I don't have enough time to play, or at least didn't for the past 6 months - I might start playing again soon. But I liked the game. It's definitly one of the best games ever developed based on all the criteria one would use in judging games.
But to all the people who say "Uh, how can you pay $16 a month to play a game?"
STFU and get some perspective, and a job while you're at it. Everybody pays money for entertainment some where. Renting movies, buying CDs, going out for drinks, hiking, they all cost money. If I want to go on a hike it cost me more money in gas just to drive to a trail then a single month of WoW. And $16 is hardly a lot of money. I don't make a lot but if I can just manage to stumble into work 1 min early each day that more then pays for WoW. Lastly the game is what you make of it. You can enjoy playing at lower levels and not having to race to the level cap. Wailing caverns is one of the best parts of the game. You could spend a weekend getting any class to the high teens and then just enjoy weeks of playing that one instance. Even when I had a 70 I kept an alt around that level so that I could jump into that instance and help people out - and it was just as fun as any 70 5-man instance.

 

[Cirga]

what i dont understand is how ppl are willing to spend $16 a month on WoW...that just seems wrong to me...they already make soo much money from just selling the copies...I played it for a while but when I heard they were gonna charge for the upcoming expansion (Burning Crusade), that just effing pissed me off...good thing by that time I was already bored with the game and really didnt have much time to play it anymore...

1.) Cost of a movie at a theatre for 1.5-2 hours of entertainment. - $9.50

2.) Cost of a single drink at a nightclub (here where I live) - $8.00 - $12.50 (Yes yes.. ONE drink.) Oh and dont forget cover charge ($10-20).. oh and coat check during winter time ($10.00).

3.) Cost of a single plate of dinner out at a decent restaurant. - $16.00 - $26.00 (on average) Oh and maybe you would want an appetizer and a few drinks? Cant forget that.

4.) Game of pool at a poolhall. - $10.00 + $5.00 per hour. Oh and you may want some snacks from the bar. And a few drinks?

5.) Cost of a comedy club ticket - $25.00 up to $75.00 (depending on who is performing).

6.) Cost of a theatre play here where I live. - $25.00 up to $125.00.

All of the above listed liesure time activites do not normally take more than a few hours of time before boredom sets in. These are all activities that you do with "others".

If you want to justify the cost of entertainment.. there it is. If you spend at least 2-3 hours playing WoW each month.. you have used the appropriate time cost wise on par with other entertainment activities.

Just because MMO's were the first games to really charge a monthly fee; doesnt mean its a travesty. Heck.. to play even some FPS games now you have to sign up for an Xbox Gold account and pay a monthly fee. This is the new age of gaming.. more and more you will see subscriptions for being able to play a game. $16 a month as an entertainment expense is virtually nothing. No pun intended.

 

[closed_deal]

I tried the 10 day free trial and don't know what the fuss is about. It kept me amused for about an hour but, things started getting repetitive imo. I've been playing BF2 since 2005-10-03 21:38:00 (feck that looks really sad), but find it way more enjoyable and can keep me occupied for days on end... it's every gamer for himself.

I thought that because i liked Dungeon Seige, WoW would be a never ending version of it. I was wrong and have gone back to Oblivion. Obviously WoW has some lure to it otherwise millions of people wouldn't play it, but for me i can't find it 🙁.

 

[purplerat]

From playing both WoW and Oblivion and I'd say they fall into much different catagories then just (MMO)RPG vs RPG. So I could see if you're expecting one you wouldn't necessarily like the other. Not to try and be some sort of WoW advocate and try and convince you to play, but the first hour of WoW is by far the worst part of the game.

 

[jerseygamer]

Most all people playing WOW are MMORPG newbies. They have never played a good game before. You NEVER loose anything for your actions in game either. It is win win win. There is no challenge. Its the mindless sheep that play WOW. The only vet gamers that play are hating it and probably have bad hardware.

 

[purplerat]

Most all people playing WOW are MMORPG newbies. They have never played a good game before. You NEVER loose anything for your actions in game either. It is win win win. There is no challenge. Its the mindless sheep that play WOW. The only vet gamers that play are hating it and probably have bad hardware.

Translation: WoW is the MMORPG for gamers with a life outside of the game. You're right, there's no REAL challenges like 48hr instances or having to learn some Elvish tongue in order to speak to others in the game.

 

[fishboi]

Whats all this fuss about anyway? WoW rules. If you dont like it, dont play it. Best game I've ever played. Bring on more games like this and I'll be a gamer for life. I'm sad to see the quality of PC games goes down each year. At least Blizzard continues to release new content.

 

[richenbals]

Most all people playing WOW are MMORPG newbies. They have never played a good game before. You NEVER loose anything for your actions in game either. It is win win win. There is no challenge. Its the mindless sheep that play WOW. The only vet gamers that play are hating it and probably have bad hardware.

From this statement we can assume you've played through all of the available content and found no difficulty, correct?

Every thing that you said in your rant was incorrect. Nearly everyone I interacted with ingame when I played WoW had played MMOs previously. You do "loose" things when you make bad choices (wiping a raid and having to spend five minutes running back to the boss on top of the seven gold repair per death). If you pvp in Arenas, chances are you'll do a lot more lose lose losing than win win winning. All of the vet gamers that I know play or played WoW in end game raiding guilds.

L2P

What's wrong, everyone leave your EQ guild and you felt like crying on the forums?

 

[imnotageek]

I played hardcore for two and a half years. By hardcore, I mean 6-7 hours per day, 6-7 days a week. I missed out on a ton of college life while doing this. I was playing with people I worked with and people that were real life friends. It helped drive the sense of accomplishment and made raiding even more appealing. It is VERY easy to get the idea of responsibility to your guild and "friends" once you've gotten into a raiding guild. As soon as you start signing up for raid nights and scheduling your time, it's the beginning of the end.

My personal friends and I started inviting a few anonymous strangers into the guild that we felt were worthy. The next thing you know, we are rooting them on and honestly happy for them when they receive gear upgrades.

WoW creates friends out of like-minded strangers and instills a feeling of responsibility to those friends. People play WoW because once they've made these friends, or in my case real life friends, they are letting them down if they don't play.

It used to take 40 people to raid, now the number is down to 25 (if you think a ten person group is raiding you are fooling yourself (compare the last boss of a 10 person raid and a 25 person raid)). If someone doesn't show up for a raid and there is no one to replace him, 24 people are left staring at a screen.

I stopped playing after my wife had our daughter in October. RL > WoW

But, looking back, it's easy to see why I played for so long. The game is easy enough for anyone to pick up, and with enough time, to gain the max level. But, for people that raid, it becomes an entertaining job. There is real accomplishment in end game raiding. My guild had Illidan on farm status when I left. To be able to coordinate 25 people seamlessly is no easy task. Competing for fastest content completion makes that task even more daunting. Being 124th in the world, in anything, is an accomplishment. I am proud of our accomplishments, even if it was just in a game. I am also proud of how well my friends can work as a team.


With all that being said...
I don't understand the people that play WoW casually. If you are so devoid of social skills that you need to pay $15 a month to walk around anonymously to feel connected to the world, seek help.

I was agreeable to your post till the last sentence that shocked me from nowhere. Sigh ... the classic debate of raiders versus non-raiders. If you think that casual players are so devoid of social skills that they need to pay $15 a month to play, I could say the same thing about you that you are/were also so devoid of real life achievements that you need(ed) to pay $15 a month to collect purple loots. Play some sports perhaps?

Causal players still quest, level the characters in a much easy pace, visit dungeons at times, craft something nice, don't really give a XXX if they get an upgrade ... the fun part is to pace out the progress, meet up old friends and chat, group up at times to achieve common goals or just to help out ...

WoW is not all about raiding as end game for all players.

On a side note, I like to keep in touch with friends via MSN. But that doesn't mean that I am devoid of any social skill to meet friends in real life because I do.

Some humble thoughts.

 

[imnotageek]

what i dont understand is how ppl are willing to spend $16 a month on WoW...that just seems wrong to me...they already make soo much money from just selling the copies...I played it for a while but when I heard they were gonna charge for the upcoming expansion (Burning Crusade), that just effing pissed me off...good thing by that time I was already bored with the game and really didnt have much time to play it anymore...

You know ... before WoW, I usually buy one or two games a month. That works out to be $50-100 per month after the currency conversation. After I sign up for WoW since feb 2005 (have I got the year right? ... first launch) till last year, I have probably only bought a couple of other games for the entire period because I played WoW and nothing else for a long time. So, the subscription fee is really not that excessive. That, answers to your "why ppl are willing to spend that much a month".

Just purely from the monetary point of view while ignoring all other factors ...

 

[richenbals]

I was agreeable to your post till the last sentence that shocked me from nowhere. Sigh ... the classic debate of raiders versus non-raiders. If you think that casual players are so devoid of social skills that they need to pay $15 a month to play, I could say the same thing about you that you are/were also so devoid of real life achievements that you need(ed) to pay $15 a month to collect purple loots. Play some sports perhaps?

Causal players still quest, level the characters in a much easy pace, visit dungeons at times, craft something nice, don't really give a XXX if they get an upgrade ... the fun part is to pace out the progress, meet up old friends and chat, group up at times to achieve common goals or just to help out ...

WoW is not all about raiding as end game for all players.

On a side note, I like to keep in touch with friends via MSN. But that doesn't mean that I am devoid of any social skill to meet friends in real life because I do.

Some humble thoughts.

I was just being a raid-snob when I wrote about casual WoW players needing help. I had a brief flashback while writing that of when I was a casual player and would log in 3-4 times a week to say hello to my guildmates or do a couple arenas with my friends. Within five minutes of being logged in, I'd get random people begging me to run them through instances, give them gold, make them food/water, port them somewhere (I played a mage), etc. Those were the casuals that irked me. It was as if they had no clue of politeness or etiquette.

I apologize for the unneeded outburst.

 

[purplerat]

Here's the great irony of this thread. You have a bunch of people on an Online Game Forum bashing WoW players for the exact same character attributes that somebody else could bash people who spend time posting on an Online Game Forum for having.

 

[exfileme]

Here's the great irony of this thread. You have a bunch of people on an Online Game Forum bashing WoW players for the exact same character attributes that somebody else could bash people who spend time posting on an Online Game Forum for having.

heh I wub joo... that was "priceless"

 

[imnotageek]

I was just being a raid-snob when I wrote about casual WoW players needing help. I had a brief flashback while writing that of when I was a casual player and would log in 3-4 times a week to say hello to my guildmates or do a couple arenas with my friends. Within five minutes of being logged in, I'd get random people begging me to run them through instances, give them gold, make them food/water, port them somewhere (I played a mage), etc. Those were the casuals that irked me. It was as if they had no clue of politeness or etiquette.

I apologize for the unneeded outburst.

Hey buddy, I apologize for my initial response too. Didn't mean to be sacarstic. It is sort of like knee-jerking action when it comes to that raider vs. casual topic that has been debated so intensively in the WoW forum at one point in time.

I can totally relate to that. I got the same request for gold/water/food/instance run too. I think those are more of the immature players we at times encounter - not all the casual players are like that.

In fact, a lot of the casual players are solo-ists or stick with their own friends most of the time (hence not align to an elite guild?) and they seldom request for or accept help even if offered.

Anyway, like you, I have also sort of stopped playing. I just log in occasionally to advance one of my characters with my friend. And ... congraz on your little daughter Must have been a life changing experience.

 

[noone_66]

Why do people watch televised football, baseball, hockey, wimbledon? Women's Basketball? People sit around all day watching that !@#$. How is that any better for having a life - is it because it's less "nerdy" ?

 

[Multiplicity]

Why do people watch televised football, baseball, hockey, wimbledon? Women's Basketball? People sit around all day watching that !@#$. How is that any better for having a life - is it because it's less "nerdy" ?

There is truth in that. It is generally more socially accepted to be a sports nut and sit in front of a TV to watch sports. The only argument that can be used here is that you can do this while having friends over; which allows you to be social. Yeah, you can be social in WoW, but in my experience talking to people outside of the computer, socializing through the Internet isn't as seen as "rewarding" as being social with the person right next to you.

 

[ovaltineplease]

some people like games that are majority cooperative oriented play, games like WoW (or diablo) will tend to appeal to them.

 

[cyberjip]

It is really boring to watch, but really addictive to play.

 

[ApartmentsEstepona]

I've played other MMORPGs before. And WOW for me was a great dissapointment.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a die hard blizzard fan. I've played over 5000 games of Starcraft and over 1500 of warcraft3 on battle.net.

I even go back to the good old days of Warcraft 2 on heat.net and cali.

Everyday I check blizzard.com for a starcraft 2 update. Sad I know but I'm just saying how much I like games and how much I like blizzard as a game developer.


Having said that, WOW for me, was not that entertaining. I played for 3 months and then quit forever. There is some skilled involved but it's limited. Quests were ok. It's very hard to describe what is wrong with WOW. They made the perfect MMORPG, all other's I had played were much more problematic and imperfect. Maybe that's why some of them were so much fun.

WOW is entertaining don't get me wrong. And a good community can be really great, but I've had a lot more fun in many other games and WOW's never given me as much enjoyment as many other games such as...

Starcraft
Quake
Asheron's Call

I can see why people don't like WOW. You can't bash it though because it's the best MMORPG on the market and sales figures to boot. I also couldn't see why people enjoyed the Sims and Sims 2 so much either but there's a market for everyone.

If I had things my way everyone would still be playing Starcraft hehe.

 

[DannyBoy27]

If I had things my way everyone would still be playing Starcraft hehe.

Damn Straight!!!!!!

 

[chillwolf]

Why is it that people that play and enjoy MMO's are automatically introverts who have no life outside of a game?

I have 2 lvl 80 characters, and play WoW often.

I also have a full time job, a wife, 2 teenage boys, 2 dogs, and a house to take care of. My wife is happy, my boys are well adjusted and generally good kids, we go out often and enjoy a great circle of friends.

My job keeps me on travel way way to much (144 nights in Marriott last year), and WoW is a great way to fill dead time in a hotel at night, it is either that or spend all of my perdiem on beer at a bar. WoW costs 15 bucks a month, that is pretty cheap entertainment that keeps me out of trouble when I am on travel.

When I am at home the boys and I have characters we play together and it is a great way to have fun with them, even the wife gets into the action every now and then.

WoW is my hobby it costs 15 bucks a month. My wife's hobby is a horse that in total costs about 700 bucks a month. My hobby + my new Mustang GT payment still does not add up to her hobby.

How is it again that WoW is evil and makes mushrooms out of people?

 

[itadakimasu]

Chill : Amen! sounds like you have time to play though, if you're stuck in a hotel while travelling for work...

anyhow, here's what i think:

people play WoW because its fun, its epic, and it never ends.

The cost per month is really a non-issue when you consider buying a crappy game like crysis for $40-50 and getting maybe 5-6 hours of mediocre play time out of it... and maybe being slightly amused a few times by blowing up koreans.

WoW, on the other hand... you're constantly improving your charactor and can buy, sell things . WoW is on a completely different level than most other games.

I played from september 2008 to December 31st. If we had 30 hour days I'd still play it, but I have things I need to do and 3-4 hours a day of WoW kind of throws alot of other things out of whack.

I quit playing in january right after I got cold-weather flying on my lvl 77 paladin. I might play again someday but who knows.

 

[ahslan]

You know ... before WoW, I usually buy one or two games a month. That works out to be $50-100 per month after the currency conversation. After I sign up for WoW since feb 2005 (have I got the year right? ... first launch) till last year, I have probably only bought a couple of other games for the entire period because I played WoW and nothing else for a long time. So, the subscription fee is really not that excessive. That, answers to your "why ppl are willing to spend that much a month".

Just purely from the monetary point of view while ignoring all other factors ...

Well I personally dont buy 1 or two games a month...I certainly dont have the kind of cash to do that...

Playing WoW for a year will cost you almost $200 in monthly fees, and thats not including buying the game itself, which is usually another $40. With that much money, one can easily buy at least 4 games (*thats if you pay the full $50 retail price, which I never do).

I will give WoW some credit though...After I quit WoW, I started playing Guild Wars, which has no monthly fee. The game (or games rather, because it has 3 different campaigns and 1 expansion) is extremely fun and I have definitely gotten my money's worth. But the one thing I wish GW had that WoW does is a damn Auction House...have to settle for using auction sites, which arent nearly as effective as having an in-game auction house...oh well...hope they implement some soft of trading system in Guild Wars 2...

 

[ozarkamax]

because i can. and thats all you need to know. so either slap on some gear and help me pwn this noob or get off my wow.

btw, honestly folks 15/16 bucks a MONTH is pocket change. learn to budget.

and wow does not require a lot of time to play to make progress. just get to level cap and do dungeons once a week and you will get your sense of false achievement. or however you people call it.

 

[ozarkamax]

There is truth in that. It is generally more socially accepted to be a sports nut and sit in front of a TV to watch sports. The only argument that can be used here is that you can do this while having friends over; which allows you to be social. Yeah, you can be social in WoW, but in my experience talking to people outside of the computer, socializing through the Internet isn't as seen as "rewarding" as being social with the person right next to you.

it wasn't uncommon durring classic wow to have friends over or be at a friends house ... computer in tow. by the time the expansions hit the newness wore off and we reserved the lans for strategy and fps games. oh good old counter strike lans. ever been to a sponsered lan party?

the internet is nice to get things done from a distance. but get enough local people doing the same thing and the social thing happens *gasp* I KNOW! nerds have lives too.