the world's only blog dedicated to Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

Friday, March 16, 2007

Should An E-Sports Site Cover "World of Warcraft Tournaments?

I've published the third edition of "The PvP Report" on GGL.com.

I list this week's top teams in Arena Tournament 5v5, and discuss whether an e-sports site like GGL should even be covering WoW:
PvE play may be a simple matter of repetitively launching macros (although relying on simple strategies will eventually get your character a ticket to a Corpse Run); but PvP players must adapt to the personalities of their adversaries, to their skill, and to their mistakes. PCs are unpredictable. A mob will always respond the way you expect; but a PC might do something brilliant, something inexplicable, or something just idiotic. Whichever, you have to adapt – and if you have committed yourself to the wrong strategy, you are screwed.
I also wrap up the whole The Armory controversy:
1. The Armory places women and children in danger. This claim is false, prima facie. The Armory data contain absolutely no personal information. A WoW player cannot be harmed in any way by another WoW player unless they exchange personal information.
2. The Armory empowers griefers. This could be true, although I personally doubt any griefer will make the effort to look up their targets on The Armory. Fortunately, Blizzard has included a feature that renders you impervious to griefers, called /ignore. And also fortunately, Darwinian evolution has included a feature in your brain that renders you impervious to griefers, called ignore.
3. If one player copies another player's build ideas, this is somehow "theft." Again, this is a community game, not a competitive one. If someone "steals" your idea, you lose nothing, and they are not cheating. Maybe it would be in another game, but that's not this game.
4. Guildmasters may strong arm guild members into specific builds. They can do that now. I don't think lying to guildmasters is the solution -- after all, the only reason to keep your stats secret from a guildmaster is so you can mislead him or her. No, the solution is to find a better guild.
Link.

Labels: , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home