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This post was spurred by a recent discussion about WoW’s content. I missed most of the conversation, but I managed to interject a few harsh, discussion curbing comments! More seriously, the discussion was about the first 57 levels of the game, their role and the content they require you to play. Let’s put that whole discussion aside to look at a statement from said conversation: WoW’s 1-60 content was good enough to hook millions of people, so that means it’s still worth playing/good enough now.

Yes, the first part is true. It also led to a fundamentally flawed and a dangerous path to tread (the second part). Everquest hooked hundreds of thousands of people. Their content may have been good enough then. Is Everquest’s original content good enough now? No. Did the WoW team think EQ was good enough? No. Is WoW’s 1-60 content good enough now? No. The two-year-old computer I owned four years ago may have been good enough then, but it certainly isn’t now.

Games advance. Something’s horribly wrong if four years of development go by on a game without it advancing. If we accept the successes of the past without looking at the successes of today, then we’re doomed to eternally reinvent the wheel.

Yes, actually, it is bad. If the justification for a system or mechanic is that it’s easy to work around, then what place does it have in something that’s supposed to be entertaining? When I hear this line, it’s usually justified by one of the following:

1. If you complete <some byzantine process>, it will prevent the undesirable event from happening.
2. As long as you know <some arcane meta knowledge>, you can avoid this problem.
3. You can always browse the web while it’s happening (for time-wasting systems).

Tip: It’s a bad thing if the natural response to a system is that players can just browse the web.

I want to play your game. I’m usually going to play alone, but I’m going to have or meet a few friends in the game. I want to play with my friends. I’m not going to play your game if I can’t play with my friends from time to time, because it’s just not good enough on its own. Here’s why I can’t play with my friends:

• Shard server architecture
• No sidekick/mentoring or similar mechanics
• Realm restrictions
• Travel times above 2 minutes.
• Anything that makes it take too much time to arrange groups. You get the idea.

I’m playing WoW right now, and would have been even without WotLK. Why? Not because I’m a big fan. I think WoW provides a moderate amount of fun, but it never really captured me. I’m playing it because of people in the game. Some of whom spent a year convincing me to play. That’s what it took to overcome the play with friends barriers. Even so, I barely logged in until recently. I’ve been lucky to make it to one group event a month. But it still keeps me paying.

Barriers are bad.