I have recently been on a history kick and diving into Marxism and it’s rise in
19th century Russia. Now… you might be asking, what does that have to do with Wow?
Well, there seems to be this idea among some people who post here that the elite or ‘world first’ population of the game are somehow ruining the experience for the majority or players. This is pretty flawed and places the blame somehow on the players, rather then the creators of the game.
So what is Marxism? It’s an economic and political ideology that hopes to resolve tension between social classes by controlling the means of production (output). The hope or aim of Marxism is to restrict the ability of people to monopolize on economic prosperity (content). This is at a stark contrast to capitalism. Capitalism is all about the free market, which is controlled by individual producers and consumers.
So… how does this relate?
Well, in a lot of ways, Wow works on the concepts of a free market economy, and I don’t mean the auction house. As in, when you want to do content, you can think of your experience as a form of currency. The more experience, the more currency. The amazing thing about wow though is, like any free market, everyone has an equal chance of opportunity. Anyone can host a raid, host a M+ key, make a guild, make a community, etc. We all come to this game with the same in hand.
While doing harder content might mean you need more ‘currency’ to properly host said content, nothing is PREVENTING you from doing it.
Well, there is this new ethos on the rise that the people hosting the content… are somehow preventing players from playing the game as they want. RIO score to low, gear ilvl to low, don’t have AOTC or other achievements, etc.
For whatever reason, the people hosting the content have been labeled as tryhards, elitist, metaslaves, etc. While it blows my mind that in context these labels are offensive, they are ultimately untrue and being perpetuated by a victim state. This group of players feels oppressed and feels that their experience in the game is lacking because of the elitist players to which they place the blame on.
This is an argument of perpetrators and victims. The ‘victims’ have defined who the perpetrators are. If you have any desire to be good at this game, you are a tryhard. If you want to bring the best possible setup, you are a metaslave. If you are unwilling to take players on the basis of the above, you are elitist.
You see, this group of players likes to label others and convince players that it’s this minority of elite players that are somehow ruining wow and the experience you’re having in this game. First, it’s not the players who made Wow what it is. Wow has been on this path for ages. Blizzard has hosted events and quite literally rewarded players for the style of play we have. World first, Arena Championships, M+ Invitationals… you name it. These aren’t constructs of the players.
One of the big problems here though is there is nothing that actually defines what elite is either. It’s all relative. While some players are impressed with 2k in arena or RIO, others might not be impressed with anything short of Gladiator or 5k+ RIO. To that, a massive amount of players are always looking to get better and improve. That desire to improve yourself you can say is at the heart of a free market. You have all the tools at hand. Nothing is stopping you but your own ability.
So, why is this argument or discussion important now?
Honestly, I’m just sick of being attacked for simply playing the game how I have always played it. Many people here complain of toxicity, yet for a player like me who does 10-20 keys a week, I simply don’t see it. I’m NOT saying it doesn’t happen, but to the degree that people attribute their frustrations to this group of elitist players, it simply isn’t true.
To that, the arbitrary restrictions we are seeing happen relative to covenants is being preached as a tool to solve the woes of this victimized group of players. That by restricting choice, the elitist players will somehow be forced to take these players to the content they host… OR at the very least, they will be prevented from being successful because of the choices they have made relative to covenant selection… and for w/e twisted reasoning, that will somehow make this a better RPG… that an opinion, not a fact.
“You don’t have to be good at everything.”
That is the mantra that is being used. To me, that is opposite of what Wow has been able to foster over the years. We have been given so many tools to help equalize the playing field. We have been growing more and more towards a game which promotes equality of opportunity… not one of outcome. You can think outcome as arbitrary restrictions. By preventing choice, these players want to DICTATE outcome…
Wow thrives on the concept of the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule. This concept plays a role in so many aspects of our lives. For Wow, every time a dungeon is hosted, it’s 20% of the players hosting for the 80%. You have one group leader and four people joining. The principle is important because the acceptance of it makes you realize that 20% of players are likely the ones making it possible for the remaining 80% to play the game as they do. To the self described victims, this 20% are the elite group preventing them doing what they want to do, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
This is a heavy topic I realize for the forums, but the parallels are pretty obvious. Hatred for the elite and restriction of choice promoted by the supposed leaders of the oppressed. I’m honestly sick of it. Call it what it is. These players spread a doctrine of hate that is far more insidious then the actions of the elitist they deplore.
Edit: Looks like my post was restored. <3
