Why Do We Play?
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[caption id="attachment_9158" align="alignright" width="227" caption="Hot elves like it on top."]
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I talk about World of Warcraft a lot. I'll discuss it at parties, gatherings, business meetings, anywhere that I believe it's reasonable to mention or interject. I may hide it from my girlfriend, but I, for some odd reason, don't mind bringing it up with complete strangers or colleagues. For every person that's interested, or at least feigns interest, I get one that asks "Why do you play that [adjective] game." Sometimes they are misinformed, sometimes they are disenfranchised players and others are fans of other MMORPGs. No matter what their background is I hit them with the same five reasons.
Social:
I play this game because other people play this game. Any MMOG isn't worth its collection of 1s and 0s without a stable community, something WoW has in spades. That isn't to say that I am just sticking with the comfortable bandwagon. WoW's community has connected me with countless longtime friends that I've remained chummy with inside and outside the game. No other game in my long thumb-based career has approached the amount of comradery that WoW has delivered. And it's a great place to keep up on your Internet memes.
Story:
Illidan's release, the Night Elf love triangle, Rexxar, Archimonde, The World Tree, Shifting Sands, corruptions, Gnomeregan's collapse, dragons, and the murders of heads of state, these stories are what pulled me to Azeroth. If it wasn't for the numerous branching, continuing and ever increasing storylines I may not have come back to WoW. I knew I could just read about the content as it was deployed and discovered, but experiencing it in the RTS series left such an impression on me that I felt I had to kill Illidan myself to really experience it. Nothing delivers Blizzard's stories better than being in the middle of them.
Challenge and Encounters:
I play video games on the hardest default setting for a reason, I like the challenge. Unfortunately, its isn't something that is exclusive to WoW, so challenge is lower on the list because it's easily replaceable. Any one of the dozens of quality games that come out a year will offer an alternative to downing the latest boss or soloing something that isn't supposed to be soloed. At least it (some) challenge does remain in WoW, unlike many of today's games. That being said, the encounters themselves, rather than the difficulty they pose, is quiet an attraction itself. Again, the aspect is marred, because even a fantastic encounter like Herald Volazj loses its luster once it is on farm.
Cost of Entertainment:
Many people balk at a monthly fee, but it it turns out to be a relatively cheap form of entertainment. Seriously, WoW pays for itself.
Time Invested:
This isn't a reason to play, but a reason that keeps me playing. I've already invested many days in WoW, spent hundreds of dollars on the game and its extended universe, and what feels like eons on lore, number-crunching and writing. I feel that I am time committed to continue playing until the other reasons I play fail to keep my attention.
What brought you to World of Warcraft initially. And more importantly, what keeps you coming back for more?
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I talk about World of Warcraft a lot. I'll discuss it at parties, gatherings, business meetings, anywhere that I believe it's reasonable to mention or interject. I may hide it from my girlfriend, but I, for some odd reason, don't mind bringing it up with complete strangers or colleagues. For every person that's interested, or at least feigns interest, I get one that asks "Why do you play that [adjective] game." Sometimes they are misinformed, sometimes they are disenfranchised players and others are fans of other MMORPGs. No matter what their background is I hit them with the same five reasons.
Social:
I play this game because other people play this game. Any MMOG isn't worth its collection of 1s and 0s without a stable community, something WoW has in spades. That isn't to say that I am just sticking with the comfortable bandwagon. WoW's community has connected me with countless longtime friends that I've remained chummy with inside and outside the game. No other game in my long thumb-based career has approached the amount of comradery that WoW has delivered. And it's a great place to keep up on your Internet memes.
Story:
Illidan's release, the Night Elf love triangle, Rexxar, Archimonde, The World Tree, Shifting Sands, corruptions, Gnomeregan's collapse, dragons, and the murders of heads of state, these stories are what pulled me to Azeroth. If it wasn't for the numerous branching, continuing and ever increasing storylines I may not have come back to WoW. I knew I could just read about the content as it was deployed and discovered, but experiencing it in the RTS series left such an impression on me that I felt I had to kill Illidan myself to really experience it. Nothing delivers Blizzard's stories better than being in the middle of them.
Challenge and Encounters:
I play video games on the hardest default setting for a reason, I like the challenge. Unfortunately, its isn't something that is exclusive to WoW, so challenge is lower on the list because it's easily replaceable. Any one of the dozens of quality games that come out a year will offer an alternative to downing the latest boss or soloing something that isn't supposed to be soloed. At least it (some) challenge does remain in WoW, unlike many of today's games. That being said, the encounters themselves, rather than the difficulty they pose, is quiet an attraction itself. Again, the aspect is marred, because even a fantastic encounter like Herald Volazj loses its luster once it is on farm.
Cost of Entertainment:
Many people balk at a monthly fee, but it it turns out to be a relatively cheap form of entertainment. Seriously, WoW pays for itself.
Time Invested:
This isn't a reason to play, but a reason that keeps me playing. I've already invested many days in WoW, spent hundreds of dollars on the game and its extended universe, and what feels like eons on lore, number-crunching and writing. I feel that I am time committed to continue playing until the other reasons I play fail to keep my attention.
What brought you to World of Warcraft initially. And more importantly, what keeps you coming back for more?
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