World of Peacecraft

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World of Peacecraft

I started playing WoW in 2006. Although I left the game for 8 years, I’ve been playing again since 2020. At this very moment I hold at least 1 character with each class and 1 of each of the races and professions up to date. Alliance and Horde.

RPGs and MMORPGs supplemented and complemented a career in IT and web content management and edition. Playing brings you a knowledge in hardware, software and operating systems which can be invaluable.

Now, today, while gathering plants in Ardenweald, I realized something. Odd or not. Many plants are placed -on purpose- in spots where you have to fight or kill to get them. The same goes for ore nodes. It’s a simple formula that is 2 decades old, leading you to invest more time in fights than anything else. And it’s sold as challenges with potential rewards. These politics have made sense, gamewise, for hundreds of games during those decades. So, it’s been the “normal”.

However, times change. We are massively connected with the rest of the world, living events in real time or very soon afterwards. So, while I’m killing “monsters” to make a coin, 19 kids and 2 teachers were senselessly massacred in an otherwise almost unknown town, close or not to you and me.

“But that can happen anywhere, anytime…” No, not happening anywhere in the way and manner that we are seeing it, this close, this often. And God forbid we get used to it, losing our sense of dignity.

Not trying to raise the debate of whether video games contribute, or not, to senseless violence in our real society. There’s actually no scientific evidence of it. But I have to comment, do we really need scientific evidence or are we becoming voluntarily blind? Or are we developing a taste for decimating, nurturing ourselves with a sought-for sense of power, fame?

“This is a game”, “whoever doesn’t see the difference is because they need professional attention”. Well, professional attention isn’t present all the time, for whatever the reasons prevent it, fair or not. Games are more present than professional attention.

Anyway, I’ll leave that debate for another time and platform. I only wanted to introduce some context for the next. I’d like to throw an idea out there and see if it finds fertile ground, the will and the vision of an alternate future:

Let’s have a “World of Peacecraft”, where you don’t need to commit genocide or exterminate nature’s creatures to progress. A WoW without the spilled blood. Sounds boring? To passion/power-hungry customers might be. But, I will guarantee you that, sooner or later, it will make sense. In times like these it would be proactive, not retroactive. And needs genius and very forward thinking to develop and conceptualize. I’d bet my head that there are millions who would get involved and consume such a product. It can even coexist with WoW. Not talking of a strategy game or a “Sims”. And, honestly, I don’t think it would be that hard to create. And it would be such a contribution to quality entertainment. It could even use WoW’s maps and landscapes. After all, we just entered a second “Classic” version doing so.

Maybe it contributes to prefer peace in our communities. Or not. Or maybe it presents the possibility to see the choices that lead to lives worth saving… Or not.

-Morituri Te Salutant-
(“Those who are about to die, salute you”)

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Farmville?

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Even if there were an established correlation, I wouldn’t think anything more of it. I don’t feel that I am willfully blind.

It stands to reason that violence-hungry customers will seek out violent games. It also stands to reason that violence-hungry people are more likely to act violently in the real world. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if the two were positively correlated. However, I think the existence of individuals who have committed crimes before violent video games were invented, as well as the existence of people who play violent games and have no violent urges, is enough to show that the implication cannot always be true.

I don’t feel that violent games must necessarily lead to an increase in violent behavior. If anything, I think violent games may actually placate violence-hungry individuals.

On topic, would I love violence not to exist in the first place? Of course I would! But art models life in some way or another and thus violence (or some distortion of it) in games is always a possible outcome.

What I’ve learned from playing WoW is that some people will do anything they’re able to do, sometimes without a reason. These people are not only players of this game but also agents in the real world. So if you want to change a real-world problem, you need to change the way that individuals can behave in real life.

Thank you for sharing. On many points, I agree.

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Its way to early for this…

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First of all, congratulations on being a veteran WoW player for a long time.

And second, what a DISAPPOINTMENT, 18 years playing WoW and YOU HAVE LEARNED NOTHING.

Because while complaining about video game violence as a crying little girl and LOOKING FOR ANOTHER LAZY PARENT AS BABYSITTING THE ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA.

DooM didn’t give a damn about remaining the best shooter videogame even though he was involved in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

Apart from that there are other reasons about this psychopath that he has caused, such as once again because the fetishism of ponies turns people into homicides, which inspired Cap. Boomerang and Deadpool to love ponies.

And don’t worry about the dilemma of violence in WoW since it totally lowered the tone a lot in Shadowlands, which is one of the reasons for its failure as an expansion, apart from the fact that Crossfaction is one more example because it is named as Wokecraft since the word War in Warcraft is a vile lie.

Without forgetting that now they prefer to go to WotLK: classic for nostalgia and a lot of pirate servers free players who want to relive it in the official version as it should be.

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How about no? This is a fantasy game. I want to run my DK, or my Warrior or whatever and massacre a small village of humans or destroy an Iron Horde outpost. I’m peaceful and have my morals IRL. I want the fantasy in my video games and if that means being the genocidal bad guy that’s what I’m looking for. On the flip side maybe I’m the Warrior who comes in and saves that same small village.

Now while I will recognize Roblox exist I will say this, my name is Gallows but you can call me Guillotine for a day. :wink:

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I’m just tryin’ to get my resource node. Nows if the heckin’ wolf wouldn’t be trying to bite my face while I’m tryin’ to do so, I wouldn’t has to smack it with an axe!

Anyways I ain’t biting at the rest of your post. Ain’t sure the relevance between a real life tragedy ands beating up a few (respawnin’) mobs to get some herbs.

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We are somewhat creating a society that celebrates narcissism. Quick jabs, winning at all costs, and a complete disregard for genuine empathy (and I’m not referring to cognitive empathy).

But as for your views on gaming, I disagree. I think that art of all forms should be a space where we can explore all facets of our humanity. And that sometimes includes the darker aspects that we try to ignore. I believe that people can only become better when they know that they’re vulnerable and not as great as they think they are.

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I think you’re proving my point.

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…hmmm… maybe… But the point is, DON’T BLAME REAL AND HUMAN SINISM ON VIDEO GAMES!!!

People are the ones that kill, not video games.

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Our boy Randy here beat you to it already.

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As a member of the old horde, let humans and elves pick flowers and make friends with food.

I’ve got cities to burn and innocents to kill

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ew god no, sounds awful

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Out of all the media types you choose video games as the one to attack?

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I agree with the OP, and so I’m preemptively Muting the thread to avoid seeing the tons of cringe warmongering posts that will follow.

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Hi.

Former programmer here now working in psychology. My PhD is in progress and my doctoral dissertation focuses on the personality traits that overlap between grief-players (that’s the “technical term” for a griefer, btw) and potential lone-wolf shooters and terrorists. So, let me start by thanking you for thinking about this; you’re right, games are a huge part of our world and our world is pretty rough in spots right now.

First, what we know about the process of self-radicalization is that some young people are more vulnerable to it than others. Yes, video games can play a role in the radicalization process, but so can any form of art: movies, television, comic books, and even literary fiction have all played a role in the radicalization of young people. The young person who is at risk of radicalization via video games is the same young person who is at risk of radicalization via Gilligan’s Island or The Catcher in the Rye. Further, because this young person is seeking validation for how they feel about and view the world, they will extract themes from narratives to achieve this end meaning they will read-into anything what they need in order to justify their weltanschauung.

Second, the solution to this problem won’t be easy. It won’t come from a single game or a change in gaming philosophy. We are going to have to abandon a lot of what we think we know of the social sciences, sit down with kids and parents, start conducting interviews and gathering data, and then start trying to piece together the risk factors involved in radicalization. This work will be made almost impossible as various groups rise up to oppose it; that’s already happened and continues to happen today. Further, this approach would be incredibly expensive and result in significant shifts in the educational philosophy of the country.

We’d all like to think we can be part of some grand solution by making tiny changes–and making changes in our lives are important to help us construct meaning in a dynamic world. But the truth is that big societal changes are needed and big societal changes are going to take time, professional involvement, and lots of money. There is nothing at present that we can do to stop lone wolves. I wish there were, but that would mean letting social scientists call the plays, not accountants.

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Where’s the fun in that? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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If they are going to blame January 6th on Trump you can bet they are going to blame gun violence on video games…

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If only this masterpiece could come to fruition someday.

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The US is pretty far down the list of such violence, even among developed countries, despite what misleading graphs shared by bad actors would attempt to lie about.

It doesn’t, the rot of society and culture has nothing to do with vidja games and violence far precedes it.

Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon are over there. →

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