Originally posted by Q'Anilia
I disagree with everything and could elaborate, but this isn't the place, so I'll instead ask you to stay on topic.
There isn't room for legitimate disagreement; I can use objective measures to prove up on my claims.
Firstly, let's examine what a role playing game actually is. The best definition would be: a game with an emphasis on the player taking on the role of the character. Essentially, the entire purpose of the game would be to draw the player into the role of the character, and how well it does so the prime measure of success.
That being said, there are two approaches that game makers [can] take in achieving that objective:
1. Creating a storyline experience that captivates and engages the player to such an extent that he can almost literally "escape" into the game's setting and into the role of the character and the path that he's taking.
2. Granting the player full level of control over the choices and decisions the character makes, maximising the sense of individuality with the character where the player is the complete driving force behind the role that the character takes on in the game's setting.
While both approaches are usually applicable, the latter becomes useless and utterly irrelevant as soon as predetermined events come into the picture (which is essentially what all video game RPGs are based around). The reason being, that when everything is ultimately predetermined, even if you, the player, are given some level of control and influence over the role your character takes in the story (which ridiculously terrible games like Fable seem to have placed the emphasis on, completely missing the point of the genre), everything still originates from the predetermined game script, nothing originates from the player, and as such, there isn't that sense of individuality with the character. At best, there might be predetermined variances that the player still has control over, but at the same time, these are still originating from the game, not from the player, and as such, you would have to be of an inhumanly passive nature to be able to feel as if you're the real driving force behind the role your character takes when you're simply only slightly influencing it based on limited options placed before you by the game itself.
For that reason, the second approach simply doesn't work, and the only way in which game makers actually can draw the player into the role of the character is through the first.
Which is where we move on to how WoW (along with any and every other WRPG, though to a much lesser extent) is a complete failure within the genre. For a storyline to truly captivate the player, it requires direction, purpose, emphasis, detail and drive. WoW has absolutely none:
1. There's absolutely no detail or drive to the storyline whatsoever; the quests are read out more like mission briefings than actual storyline segments, the emphasis clearly being on the objectives rather than the context or background of the quests. Based on how the game's made, the gameplay elements are what drives the player through the game, not the storyline, which is something fundamentally wrong with the game, and fundamentally prevents the player from escaping into the role that the character is taking in the game world (gameplay is essentially the divide between player and character, the barrier between them, so having the emphasis be placed on that rather than the storyline simply highlights the separation of player and character when it should be drawing the player into the role of the character and almost eliminating that separation).
2. There's absolutely no purpose to the plot whatsoever; the game mostly consists of a series of completely unrelated story arcs that rarely if ever lead onto one another, and as such there's little to no relevance or meaning to the different story archs as far as the bigger picture is concerned. There's no sense of your character having a real role to play in the events of the game world; nothing of importance or individuality.
3. There's absolutely no direction to the plot whatsoever; it lacks a single underlying plot that drives your character through the contents of the game, and there's absolutely no implication of anything that your character is being lead to; no climax or end point, which like the above only adds to the pointlessness of the minimal storyline the player actually does experience in WoW.
So as I was saying, the game utterly fails where the genre is intended to succeed, and as such, completely fails as an RPG.
Fail. Titanic is the pinnacle of modern cinema and you know it. Everytime I watch it my eyes literally bleed with tears/awesomebuildup and I get more boners than a locker-room of gays regular players. So, you simply fail, sould go live in a cave and lament doubting the power of De Caprio's hunkiness dreaminess fablirificolusness somestupidstraightword.
Originally posted by Hewhoknowsall
It's debatable whether or not it's good,
Examining the role of the genre, it really isn't up for debate. It can be analysed using objective measures to completely fail at drawing the player into the role of the character, the entire purpose of the genre.
but the statistical evidence of the millions of dollars that it made isn't. [/B]
Something that truly baffles the mind. Although as a PC subscription pay based game, considering the sheer number of people that the game is accessible to (the number of people who own PCs that support the game), as well as the fact that the game doesn't face quite the same problems by the number of people who can and will illegally download games (you can't play the game without paying the subscription fee), it would be expected to make more money than games not of quite the same nature.
Though that would all still apply to games like Final Fantasy XI and Ragnarok Online that literally smash WoW in terms of quality and yet don't generate nearly the same amount of revenue, so as I was saying, truly mind baffling.
I love Titanic 😊
For KOS+/=MOS: While World of Warcraft may not be the perfect RPG, it's far from a failure (Both as a game and RPG). 11.000.000 active players and rising is living proof of that 😄
But you're a sock, so I'll refrain from ever adressing you again. It is, after all, a reportable offense to give you a reason to stick around. I'm not very eager to take a bullet (Or a ban) to keep you satisfied.
Originally posted by Q'AniliaDont bother arguing with this guy.
I love Titanic 😊For KOS+/=MOS: While World of Warcraft may not be the perfect RPG, it's far from a failure (Both as a game and RPG). 11.000.000 active players and rising is living proof of that 😄
But you're a sock, so I'll refrain from ever adressing you again. It is, after all, a reportable offense to give you a reason to stick around. I'm not very eager to take a bullet (Or a ban) to keep you satisfied.