Gordon has an interesting post today, where he talks about why immersion matters in an MMO. There’s a great quote from one of his readers on another post that he uses which I will throw in here for you people to lazy to click:
“…It is your sense of immersion in the game world that lets you believe that you’re killing things…That suspension of disbelief is what immersion brings, and when it ceases, you are just clicking buttons in a dark room while the sun shines outside.”
Larisa today pokes the irony stick with her WoW is dying post, but there are some interesting parts in there referring to Activisions bottom line and WoW subscription numbers. And that quote on Gordon’s blog made me sit back and think. I remembered when I started playing WoW. It could have been the most beautiful day in the history of the world, but I would have stayed inside because I was completely immersed in the content. Now it seems that Blizzard feels that the only way to keep us immersed is to give us shinies. But it is not just the rewards themselves but also the way in which you get them that counts in the long run. The content has been trivialised to such an extent that it has lost all meaning. This is what I wrote about the LFG system back in January:
“… The new LFG system is also killing the social aspect of the game. Leveling my mage on a new realm, I’m not meeting anyone. The only way to do an instance run with people on my own realm is to spam local chat channel. Which is useless, as everyone is using the LFG system. I don’t have a single person marked on my friends list from meeting running around. There is nobody running around at all, everyone is doing instance runs to level. If I pick up a quest that needs 2 or 3 players to do I just drop it immediately now. What’s the point? I’m never going to find anyone to help me with it.”
I think that this has held up. If running a 5 man means that you have to actively find some people yourself, utilising your social skills to bring your group together, and then journeying through the land to arrive at the instance entrance, then you have been immersed in the game, and your experience in the 5 man will be justly rewarded. You expended effort and you were rewarded with content. The shinies are a bonus.
As it stands now you simply click a button and wait. You do not know who the people are with you, so no immersion there. No social skills required either, which is why people behave so badly in these LFG groups. You are teleported directly to the instance with the only clue to where you might be as the loading screen. Sometimes I actually have a hard time figuring out where I am. The result once again is zero immersion. And the big consequence is that you run these heroics so often, (as a consequence of the LFG tool), that the content itself becomes completely trivialised. They have taken away the fun and immersion and social aspect in the game and replaced it with a grind for shinies.
I feel that the RealID system is somewhat ironic because with the LFG system you do not need to make friends in this game anymore. If it wasn’t for Gevlons projects, I don’t think I would have met many people in the game this year. One of the reasons that I dumped enchanting was that I honestly needed a new way of immersing myself in the game, and journeying around the world with my little mining pick has to an extent done that for me. But the sun is shining today, I have a few things to do, and perhaps this evening a few of my friends will drop around and we’ll sit on the balcony and drink a glass of prosecco and gaze over the mountains, and I’ll put off once again the desire to retreat inside by myself and push some buttons in the dark.
June 29, 2010 at 8:32 am
You are missing something here: the people in the LFD are the same people you meet at the train, in a pub, on the street. You can figure out things about them while they can’t hit you with a RL axe.
June 29, 2010 at 8:35 am
If I meet someone at the pub who I like and strike up a connection with, I can meet them again if I so choose. This is not possible with the LFG system as it is completely random every time. I have met some great players using the tool, but I will most probably never see them again and have no way to add them to any friends list.
With this being the case, there is no point in even striking up conversations as there is no possibility of a long term social or game-play reward.
June 29, 2010 at 8:51 am
Yeah, I too really miss the random friendship factor. It’s not like it used to be. I don’t think it’s only the LFG system we can blame though. It’s got to do with the fact that the game is ageing and that many players already have their set social circles and don’t bother about connecting to someone new. It might become a little bit easier again to socialize when it’s time to level in Cataclysm. More new players will come and even the old ones are more open to new people when they’re in the state of levelling and you cab benefit from partying up and helping each other out with stuff.
Another thought: I agree that running the dungeons too often will decrease immersion. But you can actually do it more rarely and carefully if you decide to do so. I’m currently carefully preparing myself to do DM with my little mage in PuG. I will pick up as many quests as possible and when I feel that I’m prepared I will find a group for it – in our outside of the guild. And I’ll enjoy DM, pay attention to details, read the RP, complete the quests… You don’t have to do the LFG dungeons mindlessly. You still have a choice to look at them from a different angle. Even though it might take a little bit of dedication and thought to do so.
June 29, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I just miss the fact that the village idiots would be idiots on your server so people would be able to steer clear of them. I used to have a list of decent players to go to and form that dungeon. LFD wouldn’t be that bad if it was on your own server, but I doubt blizzard will allow it.
June 29, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I miss some of the social aspects of finding groups, but damn, on my tank and healer I like the fact I can find an instant group.
I also like the fact that we get there instantly and don’t have to wait a half hour for someone to figure out how to get to an instance they’ve never done…or have done and didn’t head to until everyone else was at the portal already. Not as much of a problem since they made the lfg stones summon people, but it was still a pain in the arse.
Also, I like how the players I am randomly grouped with are actually meeting some minimum level or gear requirements without the ackwardness of telling a dozen people “sorry a lvl 9 can’t do RFC”
Just my thoughts
-VG
June 29, 2010 at 4:31 pm
You have inspired me to pull out for only the second time my “everything is terrible and oh god we’re all going to die” tag, so that I can more effectively respond to this post. Spoiler alert: LFD is killing WoW.
June 29, 2010 at 8:15 pm
@Larisa; I don’t know if it will be easier to socialise in Cataclysm. The LFG tool as it stands will still be there. As for finding a group outside a guild to run a 5 man, I wish you the best of luck doing so.
@Echo; Yep, I had a decent list too. Not anymore.
@Dresdor; Those are all good short term pros of the system.
@Klep; A worthwhile tag to use in this case methinks.
June 29, 2010 at 8:49 pm
My experience and understanding of RealID makes this post seem pretty ironic. You rail on RealID pretty consistently, but doesn’t it give you better tools for exactly what you are asking; keeping in touch with players of your choice across servers?
It could use some work, but for a relatively brand new feature to integrate to the system, it seems like a pretty important first step. Hopefully the second step will be to allow groups to be created using RealID, within a battlegroup.
June 29, 2010 at 9:03 pm
As much as that would be nice, I don’t think it would work. Think about it: with the old LFG tool you merely asked someone at the end of a run if you could add them to your friends list. Next time you were looking for a group and you saw them online you shot them a message asking them if they wanted a run. Simple.
RealID involves giving out your battlenet email address. It is desgined and built for your actual friends, or so they say. So I can’t see this happening at all.