I feel like games in general including WOW, are all business at the end of the day. But at the end of the day gamers want the best gaming experience, rich story, clever immersive design.
At this point I feel there’s decisions made that are supposedly for maximizing profits. However making a game simply to be the best it can be can also be profitable.
I feel like people praise the art team, but have forgotten that the game in its entirety should be a work of art.
I’m not just talking about bugs, timegating, redundant convoluted systems, cash shop/wow token, outdated in-game animations or cinematics. There’s actually a lot to nit-pick, but accumulatively speaking it becomes less of a piece of art than it is a business. Obviously.
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You are correct. They are a business. There sole reason is to make money
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mmorpgs are barely games and definitely not art. it’s kind of a known thing that the genre exists solely to wire your brain to keep paying the monthly fee/mtx.
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Welcome to capitalism. Where art goes to die.
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As opposed to?
Like…what is the alternative? Genuinely asking.
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WoW is too complicated to be art. you don’t see people looking at it’s huge amount of one-off game mechanics and think ‘wow, this is wonderful!’. instead they go ‘what the heck is this crap? why’s it so complicated? why do any of these matter when each expansion paints-over the last one?’.
i mean, some games are works of art. red dead redemption 2? definitely. brutal legend? heck yes. final fantasy: crystal chronicles? yes. halo 2? you better believe that game is art. sonic adventure 2: battle? most-definitely.
but world of warcraft? not so much.
Wait, a company tries to make money? Mind: blown.
I mean, we are talking about a 20 year old game that has blown through more storylines than 3 television shows combined. At some point, it stops being art and starts being nostalgia.
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Yeah but they focus on short-term profits. Always.
True they have always been that way.
But it wasn’t to this extent 20 years ago.
screw shareholders and the horse they beat to death on the way in
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Irony is saying this about a game that lasted 20 years.
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Not sure tbh. I feel like classic/vanilla were looked at as works of art due to the time. Open World, felt more vast partly due to the restriction in mobility I guess. I liked how they actually fixed cyberpunk. I heard baldurs gate was cool, but never played it.
Point still stands though… If any game is to be a work of art in modern times, it should be wow imo. Of course ideally every game.
That’s a good point. The games going to be around for another 20 years, probably even if they stopped updating with patches and expansions(it’d probably go free to play though). So why not focus on the artistry over the short term gains? Money I guess, at some point it’s diminished returns though, idk. Just sayin.
The positive version is when the suspiciously wealthy furry pays someone well for some artwork.
( Seriously those guys often tell people to raise their prices because they know the artists worth more than the artist lol )
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Art team is still great. Story writing has never really been amazing in wow, but at least it was more competent early on.
Above all though, art is subjective
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The art team never disappoints, even now.
Systems/gameplay though? Yeah, a lot of it kinda sucks. Or just hasn’t aged too well.
Combat is smooth (for an MMO), but that’s about it, honestly.
Holy trinity is kinda outdated, and a lot of people can’t play the content they want, simply because of the role they chose. (Tanks suck in PvP, too many DPS for M+) That’s not good design.
Same with all the convoluted stuff, to keep people grinding longer.
It’s more annoying than fun.
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Agreed. I think it’s mostly age. I’m personally okay with the Trinity aspect of the game, but Delves may allow some to go 5 DPS or something idk.
For me the biggest gripe I have is the lack of customization, or just not enough customization. For some it’s like gear upgrades or the Trinity, or some fun thing removed.
I could probably make i giant list of things to improve and how, but it’s asking too much especially out of a business. I feel bad for any employees who have passion for the game but are restricted due to resources.
Because 20 years ago, MMOs were a fringe genre. WoW was the first BIG MMO, and it reshaped how the entire genre would be looked at. It has influenced games to such a degree that it is impossible to talk about really any kind of game without looking at how WoW whether directly or indirectly influenced it.
I mean… let’s take a WEIRD example: Splatoon’s open world lobby.
Why does that exist? Back in the day we would have menus for that stuff and nothing more. What changed? Games became more immersive because they saw what games like WoW, and many other, were doing with their world-building.
MMOs showcased that proper world building is in itself immersion, even if players themselves aren’t immersed in the world when playing. Hell, folks talking about real world issues in trade chat is still folks talking in the game and using the world as a way to communicate with other players. Until World of Warcraft, this was unheard of in games … because everyone else just used Facebook for that.
World of Warcraft, in a huge part, became a gamer’s version of Facebook. When looking at WoW today through that lens, of course a lot of the glamour and unique aspects of it has disappeared! Because we are so accustomed to it today that we don’t even think about it anymore. Facebook? That old ratty thing has been around since the dawn of the internet for most people. WoW’s the same way, and it has the same mentality of people using it as a way to engage with other people.
That’s why 20 years ago WoW was so unique, and today… WoW isn’t unique, it is ubiquitous instead.
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First art is subjective. So one person can’t deem what is or isn’t art to another.
Super easy examples - music genres and movies. They are both art forms. Doesn’t mean everyone thinks as highly of the Lord of the Rings films as I do, or in music it doesn’t mean everyone likes Led Zeppelin like I do.
As for the people that do the masked cool guy imma say something negative to sound cool … “it’s the capitalist mindset you can thank it’s all about the money and and mmo is just meant to keep you playing and paying each month nothing more”
Well then why are those people still here and still playing? lol are they not making fun of themselves given the context?
No one wilth values likes greed. I don’t know anyone who enjoys taxes. Finally I wouldn’t think anyone likes being taken advantage of.
But to have this default mindset of profit is evil and wrong is sheer ignorance. Everyone makes a living and puts food on their table from profits from some business.
And if you are of a moral or ethical perspective that it burns you to the core how some companies make their profits- do not give them your business.
Make those big boy and big girl decisions as a grown individual responsible for themselves.
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Apples and Oranges. To give you some perspective 20 years ago average Companies still offered Pension plans. Now only Government Jobs do. You are talking about a time when companies still somewhat valued their employees. Now any shred of that is pretty much gone and it’s all about profit
Now and then is literally two different worlds.
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