The Curious Case of High-End Raiding Guilds
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Amatera on Friday, July 3, 2009 - 17 Comments Tags: The Wizard, billy mitchell, blizzard, boss kill, competition, counterstrike, digital athletics, ensidia, espn 2, exodus, fred savage, guilds, hidden warp zone, king of kong, mlg, professional gamers, professional gaming, progression, quake, raiding, steve wiebe, twin galaxies, walter day, world firsts
Amatera on Friday, July 3, 2009 - 17 Comments Tags: The Wizard, billy mitchell, blizzard, boss kill, competition, counterstrike, digital athletics, ensidia, espn 2, exodus, fred savage, guilds, hidden warp zone, king of kong, mlg, professional gamers, professional gaming, progression, quake, raiding, steve wiebe, twin galaxies, walter day, world firsts [caption id="attachment_4468" align="alignright" width="186" caption="Ensidia"]
Professional gamers. For all the sponsored tournaments, unwarranted merchandising, and red-eyed luminaries that now swarm around the nexus of competitive gaming, you'd think it would amount to more than a footnote in our sporting culture. Currently, they're lucky to get a mention on ESPN 2, somewhere in-between Punkin Chunkin and the ailing World Poker Tour. That's certainly not to knock the players themselves. I mean, what kid in the past two decades hasn't dreamt of living out their years on a fat stack of cash earned from mastering the joystick? "The Wizard" dazzled us with that vision, and a shelf full of "How To Win At Video Games" books gave us hope that, one day, we too could be the first person in the world to find the hidden Warp Zone.
To date, few have been able to take that journey, let alone make enough green to retire by the age of thirty.
But that's not to say the industry isn't booming, or that it doesn't have a history. When we think of professional gamers, the first thing that comes to mind is probably Quake or Counterstrike. Pure competition in the spirit of the world's greatest sports; human versus human, even if its facilitated through the a computer screen. The story doesn't begin with the explosion of the old 'tubes in the early '90s, though.
No, digital athletics have been chronicled for at least as far back as 1981, when Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day began recording the high scores he found on local arcade machines. I'm talking asynchronous competition here: nohead-to-head matches, just a battle of points, a battle of progress. And the cottage culture has created its share of rivalries, too -- the one between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell over the world record for Donkey Kong, as portrayed in the documentary "The King of Kong," being the most notable. Accusations have been thrown about that, for all its seemingly hard and fast rules, that Twin Galaxies has problems with showing favoritism. In the film, for instance, they go to great lengths to test Wiebe's arcade machine for a hacked circuit board, while they allow Mitchell to send in "legitimate" scores via video tape (where the rules say record attempts must be done in front of officials).
Records? World firsts? Scandal? Does any of this ring a bell, Warcraft fans? The recent controversy concerning Exodus and their Yogg-Saron + 0 kill may not seem like something worth getting up in arms about, and perhaps it isn't, but it did get me thinking about the implications of the existence of high-end raiding guilds. Where did they come form and what do they represent? Is there value to be found in winning a war against a machine, or does the accomplishment seem puerile next those that involve defeating another human? Do they breed cheerleaders or jealousy and are they ultimately healthy for the community at large?
As I continue to mull over these questions in my head, I begin to see these guilds -- Ensidia, Exodus, and the like -- as the modern Twin Galaxies crew, and all the potential problems that could bring along with it. If they're taking advantage of game-breaking bugs to get ahead (the e-sports equivalent of juicing) and slinging mud at each other, that's a sign that competitive progression truly is serious business.
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Their existence is of no surprise, coming from humanity's need to define a "best." From the minute we are born, we start building hierarchies and classifications, sliding different people, organizations, and things into them like blocks in a pyramid. Quite simply, given anything, there are those individuals that will seek ways to be, make, or facilitate a standard. High-end raiding guilds just represent the capstone of the WoW universe.
I don't think it matters whether or not a particular goal is worthy, merely that it exists to be conquered. But what of it, then? How do we measure the importance of a world first kill? As a long-time gameplayer myself (and I'd pretty much have to be, if I were blogging for Project Lore!), I'm not about to call it a waste of time, but it feels to me as though there's something that needs to be sorted out when your "win" seems to consist of nothing more than learning and executing a set pattern.
If that were truly it, then we'd all be able to do it given enough time. No, you need skill, mental and physical dexterity. A quality rig and decent connection doesn't hurt, either. There's little doubt that your average high-end raider is playing at a completely different level than you are. And as many of these top-tier progression guilds are also home to rock star PvP teams, you certainly can't knock their expertise.
I suppose my concern arrives at the point of content, and what is being "conquered" in WoW. Most of those old Twin Galaxies records are endurance trials. Arcade games have a history of running indefinitely (or at least as long as the programming let them), allowing your average record attemptee to play and rack up points until they run out of steam. On the contrary, a world first in Warcraft amounts to a race to see who can reach a benchmark first. But once it's accomplished, that's it.
As it is, everybody gets to sit on their hands until the next dungeon comes out. So perhaps it is the mere nature of the competition that makes it seem so fruitless on the surface. What can be done to remedy this? I'm not entirely sure, but the measurement likely needs to be changed. Currently, MMO-Champion keeps a log of world firsts called the Hall of Fame, which records only the time, date, and guild associated with an initial kill.
We could go the route of cataloging reams of personal data (things such as DPS, healing effectiveness, and so on), but that almost seems too complex. Personally, I'm a fan of the speed-run, something that's been a stock measurement of finite-end video games for awhile now. You can find loads of them all over Youtube and other video sites, covering everything from Super Mario Bros. to Final Fantasy. It's a convenient mark of efficiency that's even started to creep its way into the World of Warcraft. A few enterprising individuals realized that they could still squeeze some fun out of Naxxramas before the release of 3.1 by completing it as fast as possible. Watching them, I was amazed at how the players handled certain encounters or deftly side-stepped trash mobs in ways that I hadn't conceived of before.
The downside of speed-runs is that they're ultimately susceptible to the same foul play as world firsts, by means of taking advantage of bugs and glitches to achieve faster times, but they do offer a wider range of accomplishments to be had. But whatever measurement might ultimately be employed down the road (and it will have to be as the field of eligible guilds expands), there's still the issue of competitive progression on the WoW playerbase.
Having browsed forums, fansites, and in-game chat, I've seen everything from cheerleading to vitriol. Whether you hate them or love them, there's little doubt that these guilds are community touchstones. Even Project Lore's own iTZKooPA claims to "live through them vicariously." While I lean just a tad towards the critical side, I've caught myself referencing the timing of world firsts as standards by which to judge the difficulty of the content.
Stepping back for a moment, common sense sets in, and I realize that talent is a greater factor in these accomplishments than a lack of complexity, but that sort of mindset is dangerous for content developers. Namely, Blizzard. Perception, especially when combined with the mob mentality of the internet, can quickly and easily trump the reality of things. If the community sees a difficult boss kill achieved within the first few days of a dungeon's release, they're going to start questioning whether or not Blizzard's given them their money's worth, and that seems to be one of the major problems they've run into with providing content in Wrath.
On the other hand, top guilds can be a huge boon for the game's popularity. After all, how pervasive would most professional sports be without the cult of personality? All the pomp and circumstance associated with teams and players does amount to something. As the proletariat of Azeroth, guilds like Ensidia, Exodus, or Premonition give us rare insight into the inner workings of upper-level game mechanics. They might even inspire us to play better or to become something ourselves, just like little Jimmy did in "The Wizard." *cue Stan Bush*
The controversy associated with high-end raiding guilds, however, will not go away, and it may even metastisize as more and more join them at the pinnacle. I'm honestly not sure what to make of Exodus' response to their own banning. Their complaints, citing past game explotation by rivals, may stink of butthurt, but are nonetheless valid. The blatant flag-waving, though, whether or not its tongue-in-check, leaves a real nasty taste in my mouth.
If this is a sign of things to come, I'm not sure I like it, and it's most certainly not something that Blizzard, a company founded on fair play and a commitment to quality, would want to be associated with.
To close out this post, I'd like to emphasize that despite some of my skepticism concerning the phenomena of high-end raiding and competitive progression, a lot of the guys and gals involved are ultimately classy and well-respected players. They've mastered elements of the game I can only hope to one day in the distant future and consistently proven their dedication to a product that many have waned on out of sheer frustration. Their knowledge and input may just make World of Warcraft a more fun and interesting game to play.
But my concern remains. After years of observing (and in some cases, even help running) gaming competitions, I'm all too familiar with the complications and inconsistencies that can arise. Organizations like MLG are doing their best to create a standard set of rules which we can all play by (though I don't believe they currently cover the brand of achievements I've talked about here), and if "professional gamers" are seeking to live up to the first part of that title and gain more mainstream acceptance, it is in their best interest to follow them.
"Another lengthy post by Amatera, right? What is this guy thinking?! This is a blog! Posts are supposed to be bite-sized and easily digestible!" Well, I'm sorry for making you all sit through my verbal torture, but I hope you've enjoyed what you read, and I'm especially interested to hear what you all have to say about this topic. It's one that I think rarely gets taken seriously, but has the potential to explode in the future. What do you think of the existence of high-end, competitive raiding guilds, and what kind of effect do they have on the community? Do you believe that their accomplishments have honestly influenced WoW's development over time, or is the whole affair of world firsts completely pointless? Readers, the floor is yours.
Reader Comments (17)
FIRST
and you thought you seen the last of us
What a WoW (wall of words lol). Being a casual player, I can not fathom the amount of time and study that goes into beating the high end bosses in the game. It just seems too much of a job and I already have one.
FOURTH!
ya, its equally as stupid here too.
It's weird. The casual gamer wants to see the new stuff, to get into the upper Raids, so they have the inspiration to level and work with their guild to get there. The 'endgame' player wants to see the newest stuff too, but they toil day and night for lengths of time the casual will not or cannot put forth. When the endgame raid guy hits the new bosses, over and over again until a strat evolves and becomes used to beat that boss flawlessly every time, they become bored with the game. Well, yeah, you spent every second available trying to beat the boss. The casual then sits back, hearing about these world firsts, these top guilds that beat the new stuff they haven't even seen yet only a week after launch and go, "Well, why should I try any more if it's so easy?"
I think these end game "hardcore" raiders kind of ruin things for everyone else more than they inspire others to come up to 'their level' and when Blizzard opts to make things more accessible to the more casual gamer, the end game guys cry foul and complain that their efforts are wasted. Well, you guys sort of are under a double standard, you beat the game so fast, that, to keep other players interested, the encounters have to be easier/more available.
That's my feeling about this stuff anyway
this is so degrading the whole system you show me one of those "profesionals" that didnt spend days at a time behind the screen to master the game show me one. people like that who spend their life behind the screen and ya become damn good at teh game get marked as teh "best" while people who dont have that kind of time on their hands get marked as "average" i am not even talking about go outside see what season is it get some fresh air i am talking get out of the chair stratch your legs get something to eat or drink and who is ti say that any other person whould be just as good or even better if only the person had as much time
I really wish I could have the skill to be able to play WoW for money, but I also think it might take some of the fun out of the game. I'm not jealous of them though, because I understand it does take skill and I'm happy for them to be able to earn money off something which, I hope, they enjoy.
On the matter of Exodus, I feel that they were doing what I like to call, 'being creative'. I don't think they deserve to be called the official world first or anything, but I applaud them for finding a way to do it. If it is cheating any people, the main ones are themselves.
I have to admit though, that when competing against other people, if someone was 'being creative' I would consider that cheating, because it is giving them an unfair advantage, which takes away from the skill and enjoyment of watching professional gaming. It is the equivalent of taking performance enhancing drugs in physical sports. I don't watch much, but when I do, I enjoy watching some competitive gaming because it interests me unlike any 'proper' sports. I expect this is because I enjoy playing the games myself and can relate. This is also has to do with why gaming isn't very mainstream in my opinion; the lack of relation with the sport.
I think I would need to read this post again a few times to take it all it (it's huge and I'm not quite concentrated =P ) but still a good post Amatera, and I'm not sure if anyone will read what I have put here because it's not a small comment particularly - also I'm not really sure how interesting or on topic it is, because again lack of concentration- but thanks for reading through this on top of Amatera's if you did =D
Some people like taking their time to get through the raids and they have fun even if they mess it up sometimes.
Some people (Ensidia and Exodus) like getting through the raids as fast as possible, and beating that last boss and be "World's First" or "Realms's First" is their concept of fun.
I say, there's enough room for all of us. As long as we all have fun, it's fine by me.
@ Phanttas
I generally read all the comments, even if I don't reply to them. :)
I can't understand the people that get so worked up over downing a boss, and having a perfect run. I play for fun, and enjoy my time in WoW... but I'm not going to throw a fit if something doesn't go right. I'll try again some other time.
"Casual" gamers will rarely, if ever, fathom what makes "serious" gamers tick, mainly because the former can't grasp the passion for excellence these people have.
Just about anybody can jog a mile. A portion of them will have the drive to jog enough that they can complete a marathon. But only a select few have the will, guts and passion to train themselves to chase the 2-hour mark.
You know, I remember when I thought this same thing.
Unfortunately, I have yet to see it be the actual case of the matter. Honestly, the problem is that one, there's never a fully-focused group, and two, not everybody knows the fight or has the add on required to say when the next "phase" or "move" is happening. The other factor is pretty much class skill and gear, and even class skill doesn't DEMAND endless hours of training to get down pat.
The most tricks or different situations I've seen one boss have is maybe around 10. If you KNOW what those are, have good gear for said raid, and have a group of people who are at least SLIGHTLY seriously and focused (no need to be robots) and know what to expect during the fight, you'll be good. And believe me, there's not much. Many fights are under 5 minutes, and most of that time is just the DPSing the boss down. You encounter most of, if not all, the boss tricks within the first minute, and if you study them beforehand for, oh let's say 2 minutes, you're pretty good to go.
So why exactly is it that so little people are seeing end game stuff? It still just narrows down to lack of concentration and knowledge, as well as a bad group combination. Too many people PuG and even one bad PuG member can be disasterous, even if they're DPS. On the other hand, you'll rarely find enough people that you know are serious and actually try to beat the boss and know what they're doing that are all on at once.
So it seems to me it mostly comes down to "LOL THIS GAME ISN'T CASUAL ENOUGH" when it's actually the person who's just being a lazy bastard and wants everything to be a tank and spank. Study a tiny bit? F*** that. If everyone who played WoW took a little time to know what they were doing and know how to play their class and use their abilities correctly, along with the proper gear I don't think any, possibly a small amount, of bosses would actually be considered "Hard Core gamer" material.
In short, the whole problem to me seems like gamers are just getting too lazy and want things served to them on a silver platter where they don't have to think and all they have to do is press buttons and "get bacon".
I don't think PvE content can be accurately measured.
Europe have different patch days for one.
Different server structure (Ensidia had to wait like 7hours to get in to Ulduar on Magtheridon EU).
I don't think they have to sit playing constantly.
Once you've cleared the content, that's it for like 7 or 8 months till they release the next wave of content. You have it on more or less farm status after one or two resets, in it's regular form. So I doubt people sit at their screen for months on end. It's likely they get paid to raid at specific times when the new content comes out, when it's done and dusted I'd assume they're free to breathe.
In fact, I bet guilds like Exodus, Ensidia and Method are more casual than most of the people posting here. :P I bet most of the raiders raid for like 4 days a weak or something. When the top end raiding guilds raid for one or two days a week and they can clear through all the content.
Ultimately I don't think this game was built to be an eSport. The PvE side will never be a viable eSport imo. But Blizzard are slowly adapting and supporting the PvP side (specifically the 3v3 arena bracket) to encourage it to develop in to an eSport. So whilst I'm assuming it was intended as a fun form of PvP it'll eventually become an eSport, I'm confident of that.
But yeah, article was a good read and I hope to read more soon. =]
It would be interesting to learn more about the people in these guilds. Who are they, what is their background, how did they get so good, what kind of hardware they use, etc. If anyone knows where I could get info like this please give a link. Very interesting article!
End-Game, what a misnomer. In an open ended game such as WoW there is no end of the game, no "I've beaten it and get to see the cut scene displaying my glory." That's the beauty of the MMORPG, it doesn't end. If you only gain satisfaction from being the first to do things, well that's your inclination, but it is not the end. With over 900 achievements, two factions, 10 races, 10 classes, an almost infinite number of talent builds and gear, you haven't completed the game till you've done everything possible on every possible character type/build. Swinging your E-Peen about because you managed to take a week off of life to be the first to beat a pixilated object in a game, that pretty much guarantee's given enough time everyone can do the same really isn't a push for excellence, it's a demonstration of the inability to grasp what is truly valuable in life, and what is not.
^
Hi there, first of all as this is my first post allow me to introduce myself, I play a warlock & priest on the EU Aggramar server, most people know me as Tuwie I have been playing WoW since 2006 but didn't get into raiding until TBC, at which point I felt I had truly discovered what the heart & soul of this game was all about.
As my guild progressed through Kara I developed from casual gamer to hardcore raider & my thirst for longer, harder, more complex fights grew & grew, but my guild seemed reluctant to move beyond KZ & Gruuls, they were happy doing it for fun on a casual basis, gearing up one toon, then starting to work on alts. So I began to consider the possibility of leaving for a "High-end" raid guild, but I was totally unaware of the elitist attitude of the people that make up these guilds, when I began to ask questions & apply to the top guilds on my server there was never any offers of a trial run to see how well I know my class or whether or not I can handle the step up, in fact the general answer was "roflmao, T4 shoulders, what a noob!" or "try raiding Hogger" eventually I came to the conclusion that these are not the kind of people I want to play with & started to PuG the 25 man raids, I did a few (unsuccessful) SSC & TK runs & was particularly pleased with myself when I manged to down Maggy before the pre-Wrath nerf in a group where I was one of only 3 'locks & managed to come 5th on dps even though I was on curse/fear/banish duty for a large chunk of the fight.
Anyway I seem to drifting slightly off topic here, my point is if you want to see all of the end game content you need a guild with a proper raid progression schedule & members with the time & commitment to turn up on time every time, you may not break any records or score any world firsts, but imo that's a good thing because the people that do are elitist jerks that will suck all the fun out of it for the average gamer.
PS. sorry for the wall of text :)