Re: WoW - I wonder....

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006, David Shepheard wrote:

> The Burning Crusade (the new WoW expansion that will include Outworld) looks 
> to be very interesting. I'll look forward to September when The Burning 
> Crusade hits the shops and we find out more.

And I have cancelled my order for the expansion and will kill my WoW 
account no later than NWN2 comes out because WoW is one of the most boring 
and most badly designed games that I have ever seen. Well, let's qualify 
that a little; one of the worst games that somehow still made it to become 
a commercial success.

"Adventurer, collect 25 blue marbles for me. Monster A has them."

(kills 7 monsters A, finds one marble. Yawn.)

"Thank you adventurer. Now go and fetch 123 yellow bits of fluff for me. 
Monster B has them."

(proceeds to depopulate the world of Monster B)

It's early 1980s gameplay (and I don't mean that in a good way) wrapped in 
early 1990s graphics (again I do not mean that in a good way) combined 
with the depth of Diablo 1 (which I think nobody would think can be 
meant in a good way) and the superior game design goal to maximize 
subscription income.

Anyway, let's not argue about WoW, that can only end badly. To get a 
little back on topic and to reply to Adam's original though...

> exploded in WC II, leaving only continent-sized rocks
> behind.  And those rocks are still habitable.  Very
> reminicent of Arcane Space of SJ glory :)

The expansion will also feature an "inter diemnsional craft" via which one 
of the new races arrive on the world.

> So that makes me wonder: if a main-stream game like
> WoW successfully introduce "magical space" elements,
> do you suppose something as fantastic as SJ might
> become more "acceptable" to folks? :)  Just a random
> thought :D

No, becuase first of all many of the mainstream players weren't even born 
when SJ came out and they'll cry "u noobs stole from wow, u teh 
suck!!!1!",

And second, I remember Disney once made a movie which basically 
transplanted treasure island into space. Granted, that was sailing ships 
powered by rocket motors (if I recall correctly) but I think it still 
flopped.

I fear SJ is one of those strange fringe genres that simply aren't cut out 
to make it in the mainstream. I think that generations of players who grew 
up with actual space travel and rockets can't suspend their disbelief 
enough for SJ to work.



- Nils