Tag Archives: World of Warcraft

You Mad, Bro?

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Why, yes, I am mad, bro:

Earlier today, I was browsing the official World of Warcraft forums (I know, bad idea — I really gotta find another hobby), and one thread caught my eye. A player was seeking support because, during an interview to join a raiding guild, he was called a “despicable excuse for a human being” because he didn’t want to race change to a Troll for a tiny 1-3% DPS increase.

I’d like to think this sort of thing was uncommon, but it isn’t. The WoW community is, as a whole, atrocious. We all know it. If you’re not X spec, you’re a retard. If you RP, you’re a faggot. If you win a piece of gear that someone else wanted, even if you do so legitimately, you’re a ninja. If you don’t clear normal mode raids without nerfs, you’re subhuman.

Just the other day, I was told to “fuck off” because I said “Hello” at the start of a dungeon PUG. Trolling and random cruelty is the norm of the Warcraft community.

But it’s not that people are jerks that bothers me. Or, at least, that’s not what this rant is about. My problem is Blizzard’s policy on incidents like this, which seems to be: “Eh, whatever.”

I’m about as big a Blizzard fan boy as you can find, and I support most everything they do. I like the Alliance’s plot in Cataclysm. I’m all for pandas. I think Ghostcrawler does a commendable job balancing the game. I love the Dungeon and Raid Finders. But I simply do not agree with their policies when it comes to punishing trolls and griefers.

Let me tell you a story. A few months ago, I joined a PUG Bastion of Twilight run by one of the bigger raiding guilds on my Alliance server. I won’t name names, but those who play on Antonidas will probably know who I mean. They proceeded to bring in two tanks from outside their guild who are, shall we say, less than stellar.

Naturally, Halfus mopped the floor with us. I don’t blame the tanks; they did the best they could, meager though that may be. It was the raid leader’s fault for not doing their research. Naturally, the tanks get kicked, the uber-leet raiders mocking them all the while. One of them even went so far as to shout “I HATE YOU GO DIE” in /say as one was hearthing out.

Now, I’ve run into these tanks enough times to learn something about them. Reading between the lines, I’m sure one is a kid — I’m guessing about twelve, based on the way he talks — and I suspect the other may be, as well.

I was so put off by this blatant case of cyber-bullying that I reported the player who told him to “GO DIE.”

The very next day, that same player was trolling Trade chat. Clearly, no action had been taken against him.

Now, another story. I’m sure we all remember a few months back when several top raiding guilds, included the famous Paragon, were caught exploiting the Raid Finder tool in order to get reams of gear for their players with little effort. Blizzard was quick to take action against these cheaters, and many of those who participated were given 72 hour bans, which was enough to cost them their coveted world first achievements in many cases.

Taken on its own, I commend Blizzard’s actions in that regard. It was a fair and measured penalty that fit the crime.

Fear the wrath of the Ban HammerBut now compare it to my first story, and realize what this says about Blizzard’s viewpoint. In Blizzard’s mind, a few already over-geared bleeding edge raiders scamming their way to slightly better gear is a much more severe offense than telling a child to “GO DIE.”

Am I crazy, or do their priorities seem completely back asswards?

Blizzard is set in their ways at this point, and I doubt anything will ever change, but for what it’s worth, I think they should institute a zero tolerance policy for harassment and cyber-bullying. I can think of few things more pathetic than someone who’s so small and petty that they need to ruin someone else’s game time to make themselves feel better.

There needs to be immediate, tangible punishments for any offenders. Fine them gold or take away their highest ilevel piece of gear for each offense. I guarantee that people in this game will become much better behaved the moment that bad behavior risks costing them their shinies.

Oh, and as for the thread that got me started on this rant? I’d link it for you, but — despite it mostly consisting of people comforting the poor fellow who didn’t want to play a Troll, a rare showing of decency from the WoW community — Blizzard opted to delete it. I’d speculate on why, but I seem to have misplaced my tinfoil hat.

By the way:

Weird Worm posted another of my articles: Six Badass Fictional Space Ships. I admit it; I’m scraping the bottom of the topic barrel.

The Music of WoW, and the Importance of Audio in Games

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The music of World of Warcraft:

It’s no secret I love the music in World of Warcraft — or, more accurately, Russell Brower’s music for Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm. I think they’re among the greatest soundtracks ever produced, up there with Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings soundtrack and Bear McReary’s music for the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. I often half-joke that the music is what keeps me playing after so long.

But that’s the thing: I’m only half-joking. The music really does make a huge difference in my enjoyment of the game. My all-time favourite zones are the Grizzly Hills and the Storm Peaks. They also have my favourite soundtracks. I’m not really sure how much of my love of them stems from their fun quests and epic storylines, and how much stems from their fantastic music.

But there’s more to this than just my enjoying the music. It can have a major impact on how I perceive the game and its story, and that brings me to my next point.

Audio in games:

One of my favourite things about Cataclysm is its portrayal of Night Elves. For the first time in WoW’s history, they’ve gone back to their warrior roots, as seen in places like Darkshore, Ashenvale, and anywhere Thisalee Crow shows up.

For those who didn’t play Warcraft III, Night Elves are not just tree-huggers. They used to be badasses of the highest caliber. These are the people who fought Grom Hellscream — who was twice the warrior his son is — and handed him his ass on a platter.

A lot of the feeling of the Night Elves being badasses again did come from quest design and characterization. I don’t want to downplay that. But I think a lot of it may also have stemmed from them finally getting some epic, pulse-pounding music that wasn’t just bland, New Agey ambiance.

(Skip to about 1:20 in the video to hear what I’m talking about.)

And then there’s the Southern Barrens. I think this zone’s storyline is among the best in WoW’s history, and there’s a lot of reasons for that, but the music is one of them.

A number of quests take place in the Battlescar, a region consumed by the Horde-Alliance war. Blizzard could have given these area some intense, epic soundtrack to inspire people to battle. But they didn’t. They tied it to a song called “The Land Will Weep.”

It’s a mournful, tragic piece, and it speaks to the futility of war and the senselessness of the bloodshed. Blizzard gave the zone a wonderful moral with just a clever piece of soundtrack.

All this has really shown me the importance that sound and music can have in storytelling, and doubly so in video games, where it’s difficult to apply any real depth without lengthy exposition that most players would resent and/or skip through. And the lesson is especially apparent because Blizzard also provides us with an example of what not to do.

I have a very low opinion of most of the content from classic and Burning Crusade. There are a lot of diverse reasons for this, but the audio is one of them. With a handful of isolated exceptions, the music was extremely bland and ambient and ultimately forgettable.

Voice acting was also incredibly sparse. It sucked so much life out of the game when nearly any conversation or event of relevance had to be read as text on the screen.

I can’t overstate my joy when I got Wrath of the Lich King and heard regular voice acting from scripted events, mobs, and even a fully voice-acted quest (still the only one in the game). The Warcraft universe was reborn for me when I first heard a Vrykul shout, “I’LL EAT YOUR HEART!”

A Vrykul in Wrath of the Lich King

As with music, voice acting can be used to add nuances to the game that would otherwise require lengthy and largely unwelcome exposition. For example, Darion Mograine’s greetings show us his rage and cynicism, but also his hope for a brighter future. “All is not lost… not yet.”

So now, whenever I play a new game, I pay special attention to the audio, and it plays a key part in forming my opinion of the game. Did I stop playing Rift because it was a dull WoW clone, or because it had bland, forgettable music and voice acting?

I wonder…