Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Wanted: protection against the lethargy from the veterans

The sun has passed zenith. I think we can agree on that one.

There are different opinions about how much longer WoW will shine. Most of us expect at least one or two more expansions (wouldn’t level 100 be a nice and even level to end the saga?) But there’s no doubt that the quality of light has changed. It’s older, warmer, and not glowing quite as intensely as it used to.

Still there are various perceptions of this light. Some players have gone further into the dusk. Those who have been around since WoW was launched are starting to look the same as they did when they tried to get from Stormwind to Ironforge swimming, so many years ago. They’ve got a fatigue debuff they just can’t get rid of, even if they try. They grump about how things were better in the old days, about the outrageous nerfs and about how bored they are, and how they can’t bring themselves to level yet another character.

Every time a possible replacement to WoW is launched (most recently Aion), there’s a big buzz going on. Maybe this will be THE one, who will cause the big exodus from Azeroth? But so far the seniors seem to keep hanging around as they always have. I guess it’s hard to break a habit, but they’re also wrapped up in social bonds, to guilds and to game friends. The community seems to be more important than the entertainment they actually get from the game itself.

Like an infectious disease
Since I’ve only played the game half as long as many others, I’m not really at the same level as they are if you look my WoW lifeline. The sun is still pretty high up in the air. It may have passed zenith, but there’s still a lot of power in it. I’m as passionate as ever, at least as long as I’m wise enough to stick to things that I like and skip stupid grinds such as dailies just for vanity purposes.

However, it isn’t entirely easy to always keep up your own enthusiasm when you’re surrounded by people who’re much further progressed on their wandering through Azeroth, people who have lost their hunger and mostly spend their time bitching about the changes and their lost paradise. There is a gloomy layer of dust covering more and more of the community – the blogs, the forums and the general chat channels online.

It’s like an infectious disease, which make you believe that the lethargy of the longtime players is your own, when you would in fact be as happy as ever playing your game, if you didn’t have to constantly inhale the toxic vapours from those “I’ve played the game too long” people.

Protected zones
Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn’t try to make some sort of protected zones for those who still enjoy the game. Imagine a special server entirely reserved for players who started to play in TBC or WotLK and still have sparkling eyes. Wouldn’t that be enjoyable?

And then we could make an equal server, like a home for elderly people, a place where they could bitch and long back to the old days as much as they like to, surrounded by other players who know exactly what they’re longing for. See it as a protection area for those who have played since the early days of vanilla WoW.

I’m not entirely serious about this suggestion, but I can’t help playing with the thought.

Somehow the situation of today reminds me of how some teachers deal with the trouble boys at school. They put quiet, shy girls between them, treating them as some sort of absorbing padding.

It’s a little bit like this with the newcomers to the game. They’re used as positive energy power field. The old, tired players are allowed to leech on their energy and enthusiasm for the game. (Yeah, Gevlon, there are different sorts of slackers when you think closely about it.)

Maybe we should put an end to this. Maybe it’s about time that we let the grumpy players care for themselves. Let them boil in their own stew and let them whine in company with each other.

Meanwhile, the people who still love the game can flourish and inspire each other in their upcoming adventures.

Of course the older players have a lot to offer to the community in the terms of knowledge and experience. But if this always comes with an equal amount of aoe lethargy, I wonder if we wouldn’t be better off without it.

Or at least we need some resistance gear so we don’t take so much damage.

33 comments:

Typhoonandrew said...

I have a rich love for the game, and hope we see another 2 expansions. Hell, I'd be happy to see 3 at least, but can recognise how folks can be burnt out.

The next game that my friends are talking about is the Champions game, but then they tried Conan, War, and a few others and came back eventually.

And that is what I like I guess. In wow you can stop, do something else and then come back. I've taken two breaks for 3-5 months each and not been greatly disadvantages when returning.

When you return I think you come back as a newer brighter player. The break itself is valuable. Either way I hope we're still talking about raiding 10 years from now; in whatever incarnation.

B_Dragon said...

I've started playing WoW since BC, and to me the game overall still hasn't lost its shine. I still find myself excited when entering an instance I've done a lot before, I still love exploring the world, and I don't yet feel the effect of burnout many others have been feeling.

Maybe it's just my play style - I have a set routine that I go through each day with my toons, grinding rep and mats. And when I tire of that routine, I break out of it and go do something else... solo running an instance, hunting for a rare mob, exploring for a hidden quest... there's so much still to do!

David said...

I have been playing WoW regularly since November 24th 2004 when the game was released in the U.S. However, I would not say I've been playing the same game for almost 5 years straight.

Perhaps its my personality but I have yet to get tired of the game. Sure, I get tired of parts of it, but there is so much to do and experience there is always something new to do. I play another game inside the experience that is WoW.

When I get tired of a certain character, I will try a new talent tree or just play a different class. If I get tired of raiding, I can go PVP. If I get tired of PVP I can go raiding. Then there many things that I consider secondary activities according to my tastes. I like to play a couple arena matches, or work the auction house a bit, or try filling out some achievements.

Things I dont like: Reputation grinds and daily quests. These two activities encourage the most repetition and offer relatively minor rewards for the time involved. (How many hours does it take to get to exalted for Sons of Hodir, just to get an extra 5 spellpower on your shoulders?).

I would wager that a lot of people that are burned out on WoW are forcing themselves to play more than they actually want to. Farming mats and doing daily quests as a matter of routine rather than because they are fun. Grinding reps to get mounts, tabards, and pets for achievements or titles or cosmetic upgrades.

The core game can get repetitive too. After a night of healing in Ulduar, it feels just about right time-wise. Some people report doing 50 or more attempts on a hard mode boss. Some love that kind of challenge and the experience of working as a group, but I'm sure there are just as many who are tired of working through 10 minutes of phase 1 and 2 only to die at phase 3 and start all over again. To them its just another grind.

Some people even spend EXTRA time blogging about playing the game! What a preposterous notion!

WoW now is so very different from WoW in 2004. I'm not playing the same game I did back then. Those that are, though, are the ones that hang up their swords and wands and let the sun set on their wow careers.

Kimberly said...

I think what is buggering many of our veterans (and many of our departed bloggers) is an overdose of WoW. They're on the PTR and they were all over the beta. They're crazy about acquiring all the achievements and loot and dedicating 15, 20 hours a WEEK bashing in Ulduar. Don't forget ALL of the holiday events - gotta get that sparkly proto drake! Add into that all of the WoW.com and Wowwiki browsing, blogging about their amazing exploits & sometimes sneering at the players who don't progress as quickly as they do.

It's hard work being a super duper WoW player. I'm almost tired of WoW just writing that out!

I've been playing since Vanilla with one six month break, one three month break and a switch to Horde on another server midway through. I'm not burned out because I take it easy on myself. I switch things up. I choose not to make myself miserable chasing achievements and comparing myself to others. And I choose not to roil with rage when things are changed to make the game more enjoyable for the rest of the population.

Anonymous said...

I just don't see this burn out and I think it's vastly overstated. I personally believe that WoW will see level 150 and that the game can go one for at least another five years. There is always a cycle of creative destruction that goes on. But what happens in one's own little circle is not the whole game. The game is doing great as far as I can tell.

Klepsacovic said...

It's about the loss of mystery.

Well, that and after 4-5 (6?) years some people have a very ingrained concept of what they are supposed to do. Anything else is the wrong way to play.

Anonymous said...

I think the WoW "burnout" is a lot like job "burnout".

The job is the same, and for someone fresh, will be challenging and enjoyable.

However, for the person that has pushed the buttons, or paper for 4+ years, it's tiresome and the changes just make life more difficult and take away from all past achievements (I still remember the anger when we removed a card filing box from a worker when we introduced an computer database...).

Thing is people hold onto things long after they are tired of them, and them blame the thing, rather than recognise it's time to move on.

As many people have said, WoW was never a hardcore game... if it's become Hello Kitty, then go find a WAR to challenge you.

If not, maybe it's time for some annual leave.. maybe you will feel fresher when you return.

Anonymous said...

We used to do this at work. Put the new graduates in groups with the more cynical older employees, because their enthusiasm, energy, and ambition helped to keep people fired up.

Of course, there was always the risk that things might go the other way ....

Tesh said...

Ever since Chris F over at ihaspc floated the idea of private servers, I've loved the idea. If Blizzard let players buy and maintain their own servers, playing effectively with friends and family with the ability to invite (and kick) from the server, you'd have a much better signal to noise ratio.

JW said...

Aww.
I've played since launch (I was lvl 40 when they changed the mounts. Boy was I pissed I missed that chance!), but my sun is still shining bright. And I don't even raid.
Sometimes I get bored, yes, but then I just take a few weeks off.
Even though most of the mystery is gone for me, I can still find new things that fascinate me. For example the valley in Storm Peaks, with the frozen dwarf army. Made for some great screenshots ;)

Well, what I really just wanna say is, not all of us 'veterans' are moaning bitchies :)

Pangoria Fallstar said...

@Tesh, problem is that it's amazing how many people it takes to make wow feel like something is happening. On my server, when it feels like no one is one, I've counted 500 people. Half of which are 80.

And that's on one side, I assume the other would be about the same. So it takes over 1000 people to make a server feel like you're online playing with other people.

Pangoria Fallstar said...

no one is on*

Dwism said...

Great article, it really put a smile on my face. Was actually trying to force myself to start writing more positive things. Looking over my latests posts i *do* see myself falling into the pit of old-timers.

One way to look at it: back in the day i played in a guild that had 3 MC teams and one ZG team. we where huge!
outside my guild i knew around 20 or so people (mostly danish like me) who i talked to and had a lot of fun with everytime i logged on (yea beeing a priest helped on making friends)
Today I have 1 guy on my friendlist outside my guild -and he isnt online that much.
And my guild has one 25 Ulduar raid going.

So a lot of people have left, a lot of new guys has since joined, but i dont see or speak that much to em. The 30.000 horrible PUGs ive done has made sure of that. And that is a shame, because i *do* see myself as that old grumpy guy theese days.

and that is wrong. This expansion is wow at its pinnacle -raids has never been this good, or this tuff. EVER. (grats to STARS btw)
Lore-wise, wow has never had a better big boss enemy. (who the fekk was c'thun, Illidan or lady vajsh??)
So we should celebrate WoW in its finest hour, and not reminiss about what has been lost.

Anonymous said...

My cynical eyes are still starry bright.

I actually find the blogsphere helps tremendously in avoiding burnout. I've been much more enthusiastic about WoW since I began reading and writing here. It's partially the sense of community but, actually, I think it also helps to take your throughts and responses *away* from the game itself.

So, something annoys you, you write a bitchy post, and then it's kind of done with.

And a few people will say "ah but the advantage of it is this..." and give you a new way of looking at it, and a few people will say "yeah, that sucks" and you'll feel supported. But psychologically it's as if action has been taken. It's better than sitting around dangling your feet in the lake in Org, grumbling impotently to yourself until the sun sets.

Equally enthusiasm shared is enthusiasm, err, made more enthusiastic? I thought I knew where I was going with that line.

Panos said...

I am raiding 3 times a week and doing some dailies here and there during the weekend. My playtime is significantly reduced compared to a year ago. This was groundbreaking on how I see the game. Not only I am not burned from it, I still have lots I'd like to accomplish and see. Some people nag, ok, its their game time. I do not have to agree nor disagree with them. I am keeping a `healthy' pace and that allows me to enjoy the game. Occasionally I will try another game to fill some spare time, often at the expense of my wow-playing time. But that equally refreshing.

Moderation...

Anonymous said...

Self control, ones ability to say "Yes, that's enough for now thank you"

I personally know a veteran of WoW, who has great tales of things that happened years ago, one memorable one was a big Shaman vs. Paladin battle, which btw the shamans won. He might think that vanilla was better, but he just gets on with it, accepting change. He has great self control and can just stop any time he pleases. Even when it comes to shaman nerfs, he never complains (bit of bitching but that's to be expected form an old man shaman) he just adapts and accepts the changes.

What I find more interesting is he used to play another mmo game (cant remember the name now) and was a high rank in a very large alliance who he had been in for years. He decided one day to sell all of the alliances information for a higher place in an opposing alliance that in turn used the information to wipe out his old one. Apparently people wanted him dead in real life for that lol. The point being that he understands that it's just a game and will always be just a game. No one makes you play it, or play it in a certain way.

P.s. How about an old persons home next to the orphanage in ogg :D

krizzlybear said...

Hrm...sometimes I truly underestimate the gap between the mode of thinking that we both have, Larisa. I suppose it's because you've been exposed to this core mentality for quite a long time, despite your non-core playing tendencies, as well as the fact that you've been playing longer than I have.

I wonder though, if just one year is enough to create a generation gap between players? I suppose it somewhat fits with the expansion cycle that blizzard has set, or that the exposure that I've postulated about so far is indeed an accelerant to the gaming aging process. Either way, I'm just as intrigued by the phenomenon as you are!

And yes, we must always keep positive!

Carra said...

When I picked up this expansion I knew before I installed it that I would get tired of it after a few months. I also knew that I'd be having a ton of fun during those months. After which there was a gradual decline in the "funness" of it and eventually stopping my subscription again.

I'll be glad to pick up the next expansion and have fun again for a few months. And I already know that I'm not gonna play it for a year, I'm fine with that.

If you're not having fun then just stop playing for a while. You'll have fun again when you let it all pass for a bit. I might renew my account in a few months and level one of my level 70 characters, it'll be fun again. But right now, the fun has faded and it's better to just do something else. In my case, that's not another mmorpg but playing these tons of singleplayer games I have not even finished. And look, a new Monkey Island game, wee!

Gevlon said...

The "it all suxx" comments come when one sees no challenge front of him.

As soon as you have some foe (preferably a strong one) front of you, the fire is burning within.

My challenge is not about bosses. It's about the social people. And I'll have my world first on them :-)

Sometimes I'm frustrated, sometimes I wish I've never started it, but - as any goblin would - always stand up and set up another shameless attack on the "freindly heplfull ppl".

SolidState said...

@Larísa, It seems at least your readers are all still enjoying the game. Maybe you've been reading too many negative blogs?

It's natural for blogs (and forums) to be more negative. The drive to fire up your keyboard and write about some subject is usually something that comes from not being pleased about it. You rarely see people writing "the sky is blue and all is well", mostly because after 2-3 such posts it would be totally boring :)

Even your post is "against something" - in your case, against the negativity you felt.

You can see the same thing in RL news stories - usually the news is about bad things. Good news is boring ;)

My point is, I think you're over-estimating the decline of WoW's popularity. Of course WoW will not go on forever, and I'm not even sure about 3 expansions - that's about 6 years and frankly I expect, and hope, to have MMOs with much better graphics in 6 years. But for now, WoW still seems very popular among the people playing it.

I'm still enjoying myself too btw :)

Larísa said...

@ Typhoonandrew:

Wow, still raiding in WoW in 10 years from now… I wonder… Considering Blizzard is working on a new huge MMO, assigning their top designers to it, I would believe that they somehow will have convinced us to move on by then. But I may be wrong. I have no idea how long an MMO actually can live. Has anyone?

@B Dragon: I guess that you’re in the same phase as me then, a happy BC baby. We’re still blessed with having lots of content left to do, unless we’re playing extremely much.

@David: It’s so nice to hear that there are veteran players still having a blast. I think your strategy of diversity is the way to go. I didn’t play wow in 2004, but I can vividly imagine that it must have been quite different to what it is today.

@Kimperly: oh I agree. Probably the ones that are vocal are those that spend insanely lot of time on WoW – in game and outside of it. And ofc they get burned out. There probably are a lot of silent, more balanced players who are still enjoying the game.

@Elnia: Oh I hope you’re right… But level 150? Do you really think so?
And yeah, probably I just spend too much time reading blogs and such. For some reason the whining is often what you hear, not the silent, happy smiles.

@klepsacovic: yeah. I think many older players are mourning it. As a matter of fact they’re probably a little jealous when they see the newer players who still feel the magic and have sparkles in their eyes.

@Gnomeaggedon: Yeah, I honestly think that some players cling to the game longer than what is good for them or for the rest of the community. They send out poisoning clouds of cynism and bitterness.

@Spinsville: yeah, I suspect sometimes that it’s happening in WoW. That it goes the opposite way. Our spirits will sink when we hear the constant whining.

@Tesh and Pangoria Fallstar: it ’s not an uninteresting idea, although I suspect that Pangoria Fallstar is right. A big appeal in WoW – at least for me – is the sheer amount of players – that you feel that you’re entering a populated world with a chance to actually run into and get to know new players, strangers… When I think about private servers it sounds very limited, a smaller world.

Larísa said...

@JW: Oh I too can get totally excited by such a simple thing as a beautiful sunset. There really is so much in this game to enjoy, so many different aspects. I’m glad to hear you can feel the same way after such a long time.

@Dw-redux: I loved the post you just wrote on your own blog as a response to this one! Cheers for enjoying what’s good about the game in its current shape! I just wish that more veterans would be curious and patient enough to reach out and making friends with the new players. As you say – the friends list is getting shorter and shorter. And it’s up to you to change it.

@Inmysissyrobe: oh definitely. Speaking for myself I think that half of the enjoyment I have in the game comes from the fact that I’m blogging and part of the blogging community. It certainly has added another dimension to it.
@Lance: I think people like you who are playing in moderation will keep their interest and positive attitude a lot longer.

@Rapidresonceunit: yep, that was I had in mind. A home for elderly players who are more or less retired. Let them share their online time in company with each other…

@Krizzlybear: I admit that I’ve probably changed a bit during the time I’ve been blogging. Looking back at my first posts… I was recently done with Karazhan, my dream was to try a 25 man raid and finally I did in Gruul. We killed the first one, but not the second… Oh… innocence. Since then I’ve switched guilds twice and ended up in a quite serious and progressed guild, raiding here for a year now – longer than I’ve ever been in any other guild. And of course it probably is affecting me, even though I don’t notice the slow change for myself.

But gap in thinking? Do you really we’re that different? In what aspect?

@Carra: I suspect there are many players like you. I wonder how many there actually are that are like me? I’ve never unsubscribed since I started to play. But I’ve been off for holidays of course. I think three weeks or so was the longest I’ve been away.

@Gevlon: Actually you seem to be pretty good at making up your own challenges and getting entertainment out of it. Like when you played AH at Magtheridon alliance side (if I remember it correctly). Like when you hit the gold cap. Like when you bought a raid spot. Or now when you’re starting to make goblins out of normal players. Keep the challenges coming and spread your happiness over the world. 

@Solidstate: oh yeah, you’re so right about the character of the news industry. Hey, I’m a part of it myself, and I’ve often tried to explain to other people how it works. Why most news are negative and why “every air plane was on time today” doesn’t work as a news article. I’m glad that you reminded me about it.

I don’t know if the comments of my readers are totally representative though. Don’t you too hear a lot of negativism around WoW? More than two years ago?

krizzlybear said...

@Lar - Our line of thinking isn't as different as I made it out to be in my previous comment; I intended to say that I often think that it's close to the point of sameness, and of course that's hardly the case. Everyone is different, there's always going to be a point of contention where two people disagree. It's only natural, and I forget that sometimes.

Firespirit said...

I joined the game in Late BC, and even I have had a little burnout. Burnout comes when you do something repetitively for a long time. Even though I know and love the game, logging in sometimes became a chore.

My solution was to take a break from the game. I wasn't able to log in for almost 2 weeks ( I know, a lot, right?) because of internet trouble. And you know what? That did the trick.

When I came back, I eased into it. I did some auctions, played an alt for a bit, the logged off. No raids for a month.

And you know what? I cant wait to get back into Ulduar, where we are on Hodir - I would really like to get that guy down :)

Vigorless fragmentary said...

'we must always stay positive'?
do we? why?
if the game is clearly on its decline and even the blind and deaf realize that blizzard has sent off their best men to work on other games while we get the leftovers, why would you ignore the state of things and cling to your idea of happy, perfect wow? sounds somewhat unhealthy to me, like a religious nutter blindly clinging to his beliefs. you get my point.

i think you can love wow and still face the truth and moan about those changes that bring the game's quality down. i see no contradiction there or why negative talk would influence other players. unless maybe they aren't so sure themselves that wow is still that great? how strong is your confidence in the game really?

Dorgol said...

I've been playing since Dec '04, and I played in the open beta.

And I'm still enjoying the game.

Mind you, I switched from a Warlock main to Paladin main in TBC. And right now if I'm doing anything other than raiding, it's likely to be on my Druid instead of the Paladin.

But I'm still having a blast.

I think the other posters put it a good way - moderation. I get maybe 30 minutes a day outside of raid nights (and I only have 3 raid nights every two weeks). My limited time online means that I haven't "seen it all".

candy said...

I'm a vanilla WoW era player. And I still have enthusiasm for the game. And having raided back when it could take weeks to learn new bosses, especially final bosses, I have a tenacity and stick-to-itness that many of the newer raiders lack. So perhaps it is the players who started after 3.0 and whine after one boss wipe and g2g after 3 attempts on a new boss from whom we need some protection and not the other way around?
;)

Fitz said...

I think David put it best above in that the people most burnt out now have probably been very one-track-minded in game. What will ensure the longevity of WoW is the various different types of gameplay (PvP, raiding, leveling alts, achievements, rep grinds, etc.) and how they can stop burnout from any other phase of the game. I'm about to get back into raiding despite only seeing one boss in Ulduar so far, and the break of 3 months is just what I needed even though I really had no choice due to IRL commitments.

Another grand article.

Tesh said...

Hey, I'm just tossing the idea out there as a way to segregate players. If we're talking about walling away the jaded veterans and the newbies, why not let players self-select their environment and go to town?

I do like the notion of private servers for other reasons, but using the "we need other players to make it seem alive" when we're complaining about how other players are a detriment is silly.

Also, as I've noted in my article on the Death Knight starting zone, Blizzard can make NPCs active enough to provide the sort of background white noise that people seem to want to make a place feel "alive". The zombie infestation and clash with the Scarlet Crusade in the DK zone feels plenty "alive", without needing even a single other player.

Beside that, when you're actively "playing", you almost never need more than 40 players. This is especially true of raiders at the level cap.

Also, an "all raid all the time" guild isn't out there socializing, they are grinding away in an instance. They don't even contribute to that "white noise".

Llyndwyn said...

If you segregate us so that you happy whipper-snappers are on a fresh-faced server then you will increase your love of the game. That's exactly what it was like for the olde-timers back when WoW was only in it's 2nd and 3rd year.

But there's no place in town that the funeral home van pulls up more than a senior's residence. Without the ability to sit on the front lawn and point our canes at you and go "Remember that? Now THAT was fun. Especially if you mind-controlled them off a cliff."

Instead, we'd realise how vicariously our lives are being lived through young blood and Blizz would lose our monthly subscription fees as we faded off.

What would be very good for you (and indirectly good for the seniors) would be too harmful for Blizz to dare implement.

But you know, if I was one of the newer kids, I'd appreciate having it done. *nod nod*


...now get off my lawn.

Anonymous said...

Not all of us veterans are gloomy and lethargic! I've been playing since February 2005, and had all my characters on the same server (Feathermoon-US) since March 2005. I have four level 80s, and I for one am not burned out on WoW at all. I keep myself from burning out by varying my play level--sometimes I play every night in a week, sometimes only raid nights--and by trying different things. I level alts, I roleplay, sometimes I just put the game down and walk away for a few days. I think part of what keeps me going is that my wife plays as well (she has SIX 80s!) and I've found a great group of extended friends that I can RP, or grind, or instance, or raid with on both Horde and Alliance on Feathermoon.

I lasted four years in Everquest I, and by the end of it, I was totally burnt out on the game and gave up MMORPGs for years until I got talked into trying WoW. I've now lasted longer in WoW, and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. When I feel the burnout and the cynicism starting to creep up, I know to cut back my playtime and refresh myself doing other things.

Larísa said...

@Firespirit: Late BC? You’re not qualifying for the protected area for elderly then!


@Vigorless fragmentary: Eh, I never said “we must always stay positive”, did I? Think it was one of my commenters who did it. However I DO think that we influence the mood of each other in how we behave. We’re human, not NPCs. It’s just like at work: you’re the working environment for your mates. Sometimes we tend to forget that.

@Dorgol: good to hear you’re having a blast!

@Candy: Hm… I’ve never actually met those players whining after a boss wipe. I guess I’m sort of protected, playing in a guild and rarely pugging raids. But yeah, whining after facing some difficulties is extremely annoying. I would rather play with an average skilled but positively oriented player than with a more skilled but extremely negative player. Negativism wears you down in the long run.

@Fitz: thanks!

@Tesh: maybe you’re right. I’m decieving myself when I think about the ”social interaction” there is going on. After all how much do I actually come in contact with other players? Some nights are pretty lonely, especially if you’re not in a city, but in a remote area levelling an alt. More clever npcs, why not acting as “players”, would make it feel more alive… It’s kind of an interesting thought. Imagine that they introduced a bot, an AI that acted to be a real player. How long would it take for me to see it was a fake? Would I ever?

@Llyndwyn: exactly my point. The veterans are sometimes very grumpy and harsh about the newcomers, but in fact I think they need them much more than the newcomers need the veterans. They use their energy. Without it they would die pretty quickly.

@Panzercow: another happy veteran player! I hope you’re spreading the good vibes on your server. Cheers!

Kel said...

I liked your post, and it got me thinking. Here's a post for you, for nostalgia: http://awakeninginprogress.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/i-found-a-newbie/
I found a newbie:) They are still there, and some are still interested in protecting them, or at least not spoiling the experience for them.