WoW Life Lesson #16 - Don't Hate The Player Or The Game
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Admin on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - 27 Comments Tags: wow, wow life lesson, wow life lesson #16, wow life lessons
Admin on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - 27 Comments Tags: wow, wow life lesson, wow life lesson #16, wow life lessons 
So... How you been liking Noblegarden and Children's Week? Is it putting you over the edge? Making you crazy? Racing around for eggs then doing PvP /beggin for people to play nice?It's a bit insane really. So much to do in a short time all for the opportunity to get a Violet Proto-drake. Of course I'm right on track for it too, with each world event done up until now and only two more to complete, but it has had it's cost.
You see I do my best to play as fair as possible given the constraints of the game, but I will admit Noblegarden got the better of me. In fact I'm not sure I acted as noble as my new title implies.
Near Ironforge, in the small little town of Kharanos, I camped a few egg spawn locations for about an hour or two one evening a few days after Noblegarden began. I was furiously clicking on spawn points as two or three other people were clicking on the exact same points.
They began to get upset with me after my clicking was too fast for them, saying I was playing unfair and that those spawn points were somehow theirs. I just turned off my chat channel as kept clickin.
Eventually I got all my loot, but the whole thing got me wondering...
I could see how those other people might become upset. The set up of the event is such that this sort of competition was certainly to ensue as some players became more despirate. Truth is I was there at those very coordinates as the server clock struck 12:01 AM and I clicked for two hours on those spawn points, two full days before the little exchange those people thought they were having with me, so I suppose there could be an argument made that they were my spots to begin with since I truly found them first, but that's not the point.
I am sure there were thousands of other exchanges like the one I had (and they continued to think they were having with me after I turned chat off) that were happening across every server. The conversations made me remember a favorite phrase other 'players' have which is "Don't hate the player, hate the game.'
I could see that statement somewhat true in this case but I think it's more accurate to say "Don't hate the player or the game". Why? Because it's a freakin game and you know what you're in for when you start.
Most of the players knew what they were in for when they began. On the first screen it says basically - pick horde or alliance. Right from the start, the game pits you against some other faction else for no other reason other than that's the game. Period.
And who makes the game? Blizzard. So those who chose to play the game are at the will of those who make the game. Period.
If you don't like the game, don't play. But if you do like the game, take it as it is and play it for what it is. Even though I can play checkers and chess on the same board, when I play chess, I play by chess rules. It's as simple as that.
Now some of you may remember that I am not a particular fan of the PvP server aspect of WoW. So what did I do? I switched servers. Done. That aspect of the game I can choose and I did so now I'm happier with the game.
But then the Children's week "School of Hard Knocks" achievement comes along and makes me want to crush some Blizzard skulls.
But... that's the game, and they made it, and I chose to play it, so there you go. Blizzard gets to say what the game is and that's that. If I don't like it, I can take my money and go elsewhere.
Sure Blizz makes concessions to make the majority of their paying fans happy. No one wants to harm their cash crop. But Blizzard knows that the game and many aspects in it have to feel like a challenge in order for people to feel the accomplishment of achieving them, no matter how long it takes them to do it, much to the financial pleasure of Blizzard.
I don't begrudge Blizzard for having to pay to play the game. It's worth the money in my opinion so I do not dislike them for the quality product they have made, nor do I personally dislike any of the people who play the game for being horde or alliance.
Now how is this all a life lesson? Well let us see...
If you join the armed services ( which by the way - more power to you and stay safe), then you are aware that there are certain rules before joining. You may not know all of them, but you have a good idea that someone else will be telling you what to do for the next four years and you have to do it or you'll be in the brig. So it's their 'game' ( if you will, not that honorably serving the USA in military service is a game by any means), and it is their rules, and you have to play by them or you can go somewhere else.
If you join a corporate job and they tell you you have to wear a suit and tie or a long skirt and flats, then that is what you do... if you want to play that 'game'. It's their 'game', you choose to play it for whatever reason, so you choose to play within their rules.
If you join 'X' and 'X' tells you to do 'Y', then you do 'Y' or you can't play with 'X'. 'Y' may be a made up rule, completely arbitrary, but if you want to stay in 'X' you have to do 'Y'. Either that or go find a 'Z'.
So don't hate the player or the game, whatever it may be. Each player gets something from playing and the people who made the game get something too.
Either way, It is by choice that you stay in the game, and it is that same power of choice that you can use to leave it if you want.
So play your game, within it's confines, and allow others to do the same, and when it's time, you can choose to leave the game if you want to.
Reader Comments (27)
Personally i just stop playing these weeks with special events. Im seriously getting insane if there is some special item or mount and i will pay, cheat, scam ppl to get the specific item. So i dont really wanna try to get those things anymore.
Noblegarden was easy for me to get, took me no longer than 2 hours for that one. But Childrens week title took me a few days. School of hard knocks was indeed the hardest one ive encountered but after i assaulted a tower in AV i did my happy dance...that is until i got killed. Im not fond of the "Patron" title but that is the one im currently wearing.
OmGAWD First to say first!
This is basically what everything boils down to in World of Warcraft. It's Blizz's game. They can do whatever they want.
I've looked at these event weeks and to be honest, none of them interest me. I've taken a look at the bunny thing out of sheer boredom. Couldn't find a orphan to try out Children's Week, so i gave up and just did my dailys. But the whole PvP achievements and PvE achievements seem to me to be just there for the challenge.
I really really feel bad for you priests when you walk into a BG. Im a hunter so i've got at least some survivabilty in there with all the talents i've got designed to keep me at range and away from the armys of Pallys, DK's, and Warriors that wanna bash my skull in with their house-sized swords or axes.
But as a priest.... i don't know how you guys can stay alive at all.
School of Hard Knocks has been the worst. I am not a fan of Battle Grounds and PVP but this achievement has forced me into it. And I understand those hardcore BG ppl getting frustrated with us *newbs* in there not following the protocol and just trying to get the achievement and GTFO. But TRUST ME .. I don't want to be there any more than you want me there.
I understand Bliz wanting to put some PVP into the achievements, but do something like the Merry Maker title where you just had to get so many kills .... the PVP achievemetns for Children's Week are doing nothing but frustrate those that don't PVP and piss off those that do.
Why can't the PvP aspect of Achievements be optional, with an added distinction to the title for those who've done that part...?
Simplification at it's best...
I find this somewhat ironic compaired to what some of the comments were on the "Karatechop Scandal". It's Blizzards' game, play by their rules or you can't play at all. I'm SO glad you put this here, so many need to read this.
I got both easily, other than the School of Hard Knocks in AV. I didn't care for Merry Maker, but I might try it this year. I wasn't really after "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been..." but now I"m starting to really like all these titles and doing the events since I got into WoW only a year ago March 1st, and I missed quite of bit of events due to major school and leveling my main to 70.
Thanks for these posts, I love 'em.
____________________________________________
Ambassador Laeltis
Illidan (US)
Relentless
great blog
Fabulous post. I agree wholeheartedly. We agreed to play the game. If we cause ourself unhappiness by sticking with something that pissed us off, we have only outselves to blame.
Great point man!! Nice pic also. When ever I get annoyed with the game I always tell myself "It is just a game!' I then shut it down and talk a walk.
It is Blozzard's game and I think they do a fine job. There is no way to keep everyone happy. I do like how they try to put in a piece of what everyone likes. It gives you a chance to try something different or something your really good at.
P.S. nice to see your blog again!
I enjoyed the children's week events. I NEVER pvp on my druid main. But I did have a blast playing the bgs and topping the healing charts ever round, especially since it took some well placed silences and 4 or more horde to bring me down (they must've hated me) But i got my achievements done on monday after noon when the BGs were less populated.
As for Noblegarden, I found a great spot in Khranos on top of a log that was within range of 6 egg spawn points ( too bad if u didn't find this place first and ran around like chicken with your head cut off)
I agree. Which is why I stopped playing WoW all together. I didnt like what they were doing, so I took my money someplace else.
Nice to see you posting again :)
Noblegarden wasn't that big of a deal since I told myself I'd take it slow from the start. That and I actually enjoyed speeding around as a bunny as opposed to sitting down and camping at one spot. During peak hours I decided to hop on the taxi for a tour of the deserts and plant some flowers. Then I took my little pet for a trip around the world where he/she (I could never be sure) happily made baby bunnies to entertain me. By the time I got back to Starterville the rush had died down and I was free to hop around as a bunny again. Soon enough I had bagged all the achievements.
The hardest thing for me was the WSG achievement since if I do actually kill the flag carrier I'm usually too far away to return the flag as a hunter. So I exchanged whispers with a friend of mine about how stupid the PvP achievements were. Fortunately I play on a PvP server.
When I finally downed a fellow hunter (sorry Mr. Dwarf) and grabbed that flag, the achievement lights prompted me to get off my desk and do a little dance. I didn't even care that our FC managed to cap the flag because of the return -- I had the title.
I guess it's better off to do these things 'just for fun', because it seems to have somewhat saved my sanity. If it starts annoying you and you can't enjoy the game, I suggest taking a short break and coming back later. Then again, it's also the reason I've missed a few achievements for the drake, but that doesn't bother me much. I have a level 30 warlock 'the Hallowed' running around Undercity and that's good enough for me.
I disagree with lesson #16 and challenge anyone to go ahead and apply it, next time you get ninja'd. Opposing interests in Blizzard's game creates conflict and frustration all the time, however there's plenty of room within the limits and rules of the game to take responsibility for your own choices.
More than occationally you see people going out of their way to help other players, even beyond factions. Random buffs, heals or assists, happens at least as frequently as griefers, ninjas and gankers.
Sometimes we do good, other times we do less and sometimes we're purely looking out for #1. Our conscience is our own to bear and it's nice to have one.
Oh we had an "incident" were someone from our guild was clicking eggs, someone got belligerent with him over clicking of the eggs, then it was nerdfight on. Lol, it escalated to the point where the other player was messaging members in our guild and such telling us our guild was stupid and he would "take it to the forums". After checking with their guild leader he wasn't "special". We all had a good time at his expense following him around an trying to get eggs before he could.
I completely understand what you are saying, but I can't help pointing out the fact that if everyone worked this way there would be no change. Getting annoyed with things and voicing your opinion about them breeds change and good or bad, without change can you imagine how some things would be? Even WoW, without the complaints?
In regards to the noble garden event, it's dog eat dog out there. They're only annoyed because you're clicking faster, wouldn't be complaining if they were getting the eggs.
My tactic in bloodhoof village was to run around the in the opposite direction that everyone else was going, this way if they just ran past stuff, I got it as they missed it, and I got the eggs that they were really far away from.
Worked like a charm and I now have "the Noble" after my name.
I was able to finish Noblegarden the first few hours after it started. I had logged out in Teldrassil in anticipation of it being the least populated of the towns with eggs to find. I was right. I ended up having it to myself for the first 45 minutes of the event, which meant I quickly accumulated over 300 eggs and got most of the loot, quests and achievements done before the first person even showed up there.
Children's Week was quite a bit harder because of the nature of the achievements and quests. Still, I managed to get them all done, and yes the pvp ones were frustrating and annoying, but I got them done within a few hours.
Personally I'll "hate" who or whatever annoys me. I view the saying, "Don't hate the player, hate the game" as simply a reasoning to excuse poor, anti-social behavior. Granted, Blizzard sets up these things to foster competition, but they have to know it is going to frustrate and anger people sometimes. One would think that it would behoove them to make people's gaming experience as fun and non-stressful as possible for retention of business and drawing in more business. I suppose at this point in the game though, they are feeling pretty invulnerable to the effects frustrating and angering their players may have, since they have so many and make so much profit...
I have to agree with you SG. I've never understood how people can keep playing the game and complain incessantly about a multitude of things. Sit back, relax and enjoy the game. If it only brings you aggravation, quit.
As for the world events, meh. For the most part they are too annoying for me to bother.
i dont see the world events and achivments as anything to oo and ahh over someones char. i personaly think there a waste of time, but if that is what they want to do they can. i just hope these people dont hope that by getting all these achivments done that there going to get respect for it. that would be sad.
what would have made things a little less hectic (at least i think) is if they had put eggs all over the starting zones. isnt that how it was in the past before they changed the holiday to how it is now? idk but i think i remember eggs being all over the starting zones...
but to me itwasnt that hard to get done...since the event started when i had some down time from classes stayed up late one night and got the bulk of the achievements out of the way...even after that it still wasnt very difficult to collect eggs for me but maybe my server is just nice...i was able to get the spring robes and elegant dress for all of my female alts with no problem...it was a little frustrating at first though
I agree with your point, for me it's vacation period out here and during Noblegarden I logged in at 11:02 AM and picked a spot at Fairstrider. In no-time at all I had about 300 chocolates and all the achievements where you have to find certain items in the eggs.
However some people started to show up and claimed I took their spots, accused me of farming that it isn't supposed to be that way. And after being accused by the entire group that was collecting eggs at Fairstrider i just simply ignored the chat and gathered that last few eggs I needed.
People really get stressed up about such little things. I mean it wasn't like some people farming a spot where 7 eggs spawned (yes Fairstrider had a place where 7 eggs spawned in a row). I just stuck with 3 eggspawns. But I think people are getting so stressed up is because they've paid for the game. They want a accomplish a lot of stuff in as little possible time so they don't have to waste a lot of time accomplishing the World Events achievements.
I sat in a place in Brill that spawned 6 egg nodes and I saw nothing wrong with that, until someone said it was against the TOU??, camping? ...
Last week I need some mats, so i looked up where to find them and went to grinding.. I am Holy Pally and can grab 5 or 6 mobs at a time. I was accused of being a farmer and reported for 'cheating'. I thought the Hunter was joking but he/she was very serious and said that wasnt fair that I could grab that many? LOL I was put on ignore when I tried to expalin..
Dont blame me.... :)
It's like hazing in college! Except now you can say you paid someone to waste your time on things that don't matter outside the computer screen. Ask anyone outside the computer box if they care that you were the best egg ninja. Nice one dude!