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This is an interesting thing that was posted on the WoW forums a bit ago and some of you might of happened to read it. Its basically an anti MMORPG thread, and was removed by the Mods over at the WoW forums for obvious reasons. I agree with hardly any of the posters reasons for quitting, alot of it is true though. Im gonna post it here for people that haven't seen it yet. None of it has phased me at all because everything their is kind of obvious, or a dumb reason to quit. Althogh it hasen't changed my opinions on playing mmo's or anything, it made like 5+ WoWers in my school that i know of quit. Im gonna post it for open discussion. This guy seems pretty smart and like he/she knows what hes talking about. Maby this will enlighted some people. ( or tell them the obvious )
"I offer one final post. The textbox in which Blizzard asked for my reasons for canceling was small, and it felt truly heretical to place something as lengthy as this into a box that would simply be ignored by a customer service representative.
So, I offer it here. If you do not care, and I suspect this covers the majority of you, prove it by choosing not to reply. Otherwise, admit your emotional attachment to a game that is strong enough to force you to rise to its defense, even in juvenile one liners aimed at those who do not agree with you.
MMOs offer only one type of satisfaction; Advancement. They can't have what you do effect the world around you, as then others wouldn't be able to experience the world in the way that you have. The story then becomes a poor, static backdrop to anti-climatic melodrama.
Player 1: "The giant is dead by my hands!"
Player 2: "LFG - Giant killing"
Player 3: "That giant just pwned me hardcore newbzors."
Player 1: "I'll help you, just did it myself."
It turns the world into a series of puzzle challenges that can be repeated continuously, and offers no sense of importance or even relevance in the world. If you quit, no problem, a dozen others will come to take your place and you will not be noticed by any that do not call you friend.
MMO's are the largest scam in gaming. They're a digital stamp collection in which you ferret away items and numbers associated with your character to hold them in reverence against your peers. "Look at my uber [Super Demon Slaying Sword of Flaming Devil Power]!"
There is all you will get from an MMO. An item to show your friends in a graphical checkbox, with the occasional tetris like experience in their myriad of dungeons you've explored a dozen times before.
The NPCs in the world will forget you ever brought down the Emporer of Uber Doom, five times. The field you just walked through, slaying all manner of undead and dragging their bones to a man that will pay you for them - It will be newly inhabited by the same undead by the time you return. In fact, you'll likely see another hero there killing them, mindlessly repeating the task you just completed moments ago.
Oh, no worries, MMOs have no trouble stripping you from the world in this manner to ease the newcomers, but they will stand unflinching in the face of criticism if you complain of their travel methods. "It's to immerse you in our world!"
Why, of course it is. The fact that the lengthy travel time acts as a time sink, something you've undoubtedly become very familiar with if you've been playing the MMO for any time, is purely a coincidence. This is one explanation Ive seen for the irritating flight paths offered here in WoW, its for immersion. Uh huh, sure it is.
The worst part of the deception that is known as an MMO? They keep your character. They keep your items. If you lose your internet connection, or they lose theirs, all of the satisfaction they have begrudgingly provided to you is taken away with no recourse.
You cannot play in their world away from their servers on which you pay for. The world, and everything in it including your silly digital stamp collection, is theirs. In the worst act of final deception, they can take from you all the false accomplishment they've provided to you without recourse.
MMOs are a scam. They're like heroin dealers. They'll trickle satisfaction to you in small doses to get you addicted, and then demand more and more of your time, which to them equates as subscription fees, to earn any further feelings of elation. They dangle objects in front of you that require ridiculous amounts of time, knowing that a few will go to unhealthy lengths to obtain it quickly, while the rest will labor for months, hopefully years, attempting to catch up.
Consequences - college drop outs, loss of family time possibly ending in divorce, neglected children or jeopardized health - be damned, they'll have your money and that is all that they care about. They'll abuse the lore, abuse your favored class or play style, as much as they need to in order to ensure more subscription money.
Until an MMO emerges that does not follow the time = reward philosophy, they will all fall under the category of narcotics dealer. All of them, regardless of which world setting they choose to package their drug.
No MMO has come close to doing this yet. Each one of them simply coats the pills in a difference tasty substance, but all filled with the same poison that will leave you dissatisfied in the end if given a chance to really examine what you've been doing all this time. That is to say; unless you enjoy puzzles and graphical chat rooms to the point where the MMO has been enjoyable. I would be bold enough to say there would have been other experiences just as memorable and just as enjoyable available to you that would not have fed this evil industry, but that's just me.
This game is one of the worst offenders. They are like a cigarette company that found out they could get away with lacing their cigarettes with crack at a later date, if they covered the nicotine with candy early on. They start you off providing quick and easy advancement. They tease you, making you feel as if no matter your playstyle, you can advance just as well as anyone else.
Everyone feels the same sense of satisfaction. Some group up and tackle lower level dungeons together, while others grind away in happy solitude. Neither gains any real advantage over the other, and both grow addicted as they devour the candy covered nicotine.
As they near the end game, WoW strips some of the candy away and replaces it with more potent nicotine. The player doesnt mind, its still got a sweet taste, and its feeding that nicotine addiction nicely.
The end game arrives, and WoW shows its teeth. The candy is removed, and you have two choices of cigarette: Straight up, cowboy up nicotine sticks, or hardcore, crack laced nicotine sticks.
Take your pick.
They know youre going to: Youre addicted. There are a few industries that rely on addiction, and all of them are a bane. Cigarettes actively feed on it. Sure, you make the choice, but their revenue depends on your addiction. If you bought one pack a year, they wouldnt be wealthy. They need you to want to smoke, to need to smoke. They want you to feel pain when you try to quit. Sure, you may come to hate them, to hate cigarettes and the stench they surround you in when you smoke them, but youll smoke them anyway.
MMO companies are no better. They hook you. They need to hook you to earn a living. They need you to play, to want to play and even need to play, for months or even years. They need you to pay that subscription fee every month. They design the game to addict you, and then keep you strung out like a heroine junky. They dont care what effect this behavior has on those prone to addictive or obsessive behavior. They only care that they earn revenue.
You wonder, why was the PvP system here in WoW designed the way that it was? Novices in the forum can come up with better systems that provide more satisfaction to everyone involved.
Not true. We cant come up with a system that has as much of a time sink or long term required commitment. Theyre designing crack for kids, not games for people. They want to addict you, whether the process of addiction amuses you as much as it could or not.
Theyll scoff and say that theyre trying to provide a sense of accomplishment, of immersion and anything else they can come up with, but the truth is that the foremost goal is to addict you and keep you addicted.
You, the player, are a pawn. You are a subscription fee. That is all. Dont pretend they have your best interest in mind. They dont. IRC provides a functional chat room, but without the ego boost of being able to show off phat lewt. I would remark as to what sort of mental activity this is, but I do not want to push the post to a point to where it deserves moderation.
Enough of my rant. If you, Blizzard, truly care about why I cancelled, and why I would personally suggest that everyone cancel their subscriptions to this and every other MMO, this is the reason why. This is why I hit cancel on two accounts. I wont be your lemming or your pawn while you dish out substandard entertainment. If I wanted to be a collector, I would collect things of value that I actually own. I wont participate in your scam, or the scam of any other MMO company in the future.
To the legion of Blizzard fans that are now pounding out their finely tuned responses with sweaty fingers and a furrowed, angry brow: More power to you. Youll find supporters of all manner of addictive substances, and addicts scrambling with fury to defend their drug of choice. I dont expect this to be any different."
~Discuss.~
EDIT: this should be on the Video games forum, someone move it if they can plz
"I offer one final post. The textbox in which Blizzard asked for my reasons for canceling was small, and it felt truly heretical to place something as lengthy as this into a box that would simply be ignored by a customer service representative.
So, I offer it here. If you do not care, and I suspect this covers the majority of you, prove it by choosing not to reply. Otherwise, admit your emotional attachment to a game that is strong enough to force you to rise to its defense, even in juvenile one liners aimed at those who do not agree with you.
MMOs offer only one type of satisfaction; Advancement. They can't have what you do effect the world around you, as then others wouldn't be able to experience the world in the way that you have. The story then becomes a poor, static backdrop to anti-climatic melodrama.
Player 1: "The giant is dead by my hands!"
Player 2: "LFG - Giant killing"
Player 3: "That giant just pwned me hardcore newbzors."
Player 1: "I'll help you, just did it myself."
It turns the world into a series of puzzle challenges that can be repeated continuously, and offers no sense of importance or even relevance in the world. If you quit, no problem, a dozen others will come to take your place and you will not be noticed by any that do not call you friend.
MMO's are the largest scam in gaming. They're a digital stamp collection in which you ferret away items and numbers associated with your character to hold them in reverence against your peers. "Look at my uber [Super Demon Slaying Sword of Flaming Devil Power]!"
There is all you will get from an MMO. An item to show your friends in a graphical checkbox, with the occasional tetris like experience in their myriad of dungeons you've explored a dozen times before.
The NPCs in the world will forget you ever brought down the Emporer of Uber Doom, five times. The field you just walked through, slaying all manner of undead and dragging their bones to a man that will pay you for them - It will be newly inhabited by the same undead by the time you return. In fact, you'll likely see another hero there killing them, mindlessly repeating the task you just completed moments ago.
Oh, no worries, MMOs have no trouble stripping you from the world in this manner to ease the newcomers, but they will stand unflinching in the face of criticism if you complain of their travel methods. "It's to immerse you in our world!"
Why, of course it is. The fact that the lengthy travel time acts as a time sink, something you've undoubtedly become very familiar with if you've been playing the MMO for any time, is purely a coincidence. This is one explanation Ive seen for the irritating flight paths offered here in WoW, its for immersion. Uh huh, sure it is.
The worst part of the deception that is known as an MMO? They keep your character. They keep your items. If you lose your internet connection, or they lose theirs, all of the satisfaction they have begrudgingly provided to you is taken away with no recourse.
You cannot play in their world away from their servers on which you pay for. The world, and everything in it including your silly digital stamp collection, is theirs. In the worst act of final deception, they can take from you all the false accomplishment they've provided to you without recourse.
MMOs are a scam. They're like heroin dealers. They'll trickle satisfaction to you in small doses to get you addicted, and then demand more and more of your time, which to them equates as subscription fees, to earn any further feelings of elation. They dangle objects in front of you that require ridiculous amounts of time, knowing that a few will go to unhealthy lengths to obtain it quickly, while the rest will labor for months, hopefully years, attempting to catch up.
Consequences - college drop outs, loss of family time possibly ending in divorce, neglected children or jeopardized health - be damned, they'll have your money and that is all that they care about. They'll abuse the lore, abuse your favored class or play style, as much as they need to in order to ensure more subscription money.
Until an MMO emerges that does not follow the time = reward philosophy, they will all fall under the category of narcotics dealer. All of them, regardless of which world setting they choose to package their drug.
No MMO has come close to doing this yet. Each one of them simply coats the pills in a difference tasty substance, but all filled with the same poison that will leave you dissatisfied in the end if given a chance to really examine what you've been doing all this time. That is to say; unless you enjoy puzzles and graphical chat rooms to the point where the MMO has been enjoyable. I would be bold enough to say there would have been other experiences just as memorable and just as enjoyable available to you that would not have fed this evil industry, but that's just me.
This game is one of the worst offenders. They are like a cigarette company that found out they could get away with lacing their cigarettes with crack at a later date, if they covered the nicotine with candy early on. They start you off providing quick and easy advancement. They tease you, making you feel as if no matter your playstyle, you can advance just as well as anyone else.
Everyone feels the same sense of satisfaction. Some group up and tackle lower level dungeons together, while others grind away in happy solitude. Neither gains any real advantage over the other, and both grow addicted as they devour the candy covered nicotine.
As they near the end game, WoW strips some of the candy away and replaces it with more potent nicotine. The player doesnt mind, its still got a sweet taste, and its feeding that nicotine addiction nicely.
The end game arrives, and WoW shows its teeth. The candy is removed, and you have two choices of cigarette: Straight up, cowboy up nicotine sticks, or hardcore, crack laced nicotine sticks.
Take your pick.
They know youre going to: Youre addicted. There are a few industries that rely on addiction, and all of them are a bane. Cigarettes actively feed on it. Sure, you make the choice, but their revenue depends on your addiction. If you bought one pack a year, they wouldnt be wealthy. They need you to want to smoke, to need to smoke. They want you to feel pain when you try to quit. Sure, you may come to hate them, to hate cigarettes and the stench they surround you in when you smoke them, but youll smoke them anyway.
MMO companies are no better. They hook you. They need to hook you to earn a living. They need you to play, to want to play and even need to play, for months or even years. They need you to pay that subscription fee every month. They design the game to addict you, and then keep you strung out like a heroine junky. They dont care what effect this behavior has on those prone to addictive or obsessive behavior. They only care that they earn revenue.
You wonder, why was the PvP system here in WoW designed the way that it was? Novices in the forum can come up with better systems that provide more satisfaction to everyone involved.
Not true. We cant come up with a system that has as much of a time sink or long term required commitment. Theyre designing crack for kids, not games for people. They want to addict you, whether the process of addiction amuses you as much as it could or not.
Theyll scoff and say that theyre trying to provide a sense of accomplishment, of immersion and anything else they can come up with, but the truth is that the foremost goal is to addict you and keep you addicted.
You, the player, are a pawn. You are a subscription fee. That is all. Dont pretend they have your best interest in mind. They dont. IRC provides a functional chat room, but without the ego boost of being able to show off phat lewt. I would remark as to what sort of mental activity this is, but I do not want to push the post to a point to where it deserves moderation.
Enough of my rant. If you, Blizzard, truly care about why I cancelled, and why I would personally suggest that everyone cancel their subscriptions to this and every other MMO, this is the reason why. This is why I hit cancel on two accounts. I wont be your lemming or your pawn while you dish out substandard entertainment. If I wanted to be a collector, I would collect things of value that I actually own. I wont participate in your scam, or the scam of any other MMO company in the future.
To the legion of Blizzard fans that are now pounding out their finely tuned responses with sweaty fingers and a furrowed, angry brow: More power to you. Youll find supporters of all manner of addictive substances, and addicts scrambling with fury to defend their drug of choice. I dont expect this to be any different."
~Discuss.~
EDIT: this should be on the Video games forum, someone move it if they can plz
observe the splendor of ping pong balls!
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