World of Warcraft

Based on a Responsible gaming session:  1 hour

I thought I’d tackle the giant monolithic MMORPG right off the bat.  While I am by no means an expert at the ins and outs of the game, I’ve gone through a trial multiple times and at different stages since the game has been around.

Uninterrupted Play Time - 3/10

This is going to be the biggest strike against any MMORPG, right now.  You just have to be playing this game in a regular schedule to get the expected experience/enjoyment out of it.   Players have multiple characters, at multiple levels, and their continued play at all time zones throughout the world is going to ensure that they are progressing through the game while you were away putting the child down for a nap.  This means that your friends will either have to “help” you catch up to their level to be able to play with you or you will need to make new in-game friends!

So, for the short periods of time that I have available during the day(s) to play, how much of WOW can I actually feel immersed in?  Not much!  But this isn’t the fault of the game as much as it is the concept of reading in-game lore.  Lore, while I absolutely love reading it, also tends to become the only thing that I end up doing in my gaming session.  While I’m no Rainman, I’m by no means a slow reader.  I won’t count long texts against the review scoring, but I did find myself frequently clicking past the quest dialogues because I wanted more time to actually play the game rather than read about playing it (only to stop to make dinner for the family).

One benefit to the quest by quest system is that I can leave and enter the game across weeks and months and easily jump into the next quest – they are usually each their own “packaged” bit of Lore.  The quest log/journal also is easy to flip back to and fill yourself if.  The depth and continuity of story/plot definitely leaves something to be desired, but I get that Blizzard is trying appeal to the average Joe when it comes to reading in a video game (if I wanted to read I’d by looking at a book not this computer screen!).

Can I master this game in a reasonable time frame while playing casually?  Absolutely not.  Aside from a great deal of the game being about farming experience/kills, many of the mid/high level quests are going to include large parties.  Well, in keeping with responsible gaming my sessions are considerably shorter than your average MMORPGer’s.  Usually, by the time the right people or enough people have joined the group to face said high-level quest boss, it’s time for me to log off.  I can always schedule meetup times with people – but that actually is just as difficult as my real life commitments will always take precedence over my in-game ones.

Can I get to the END of this game?  No.  See above paragraph! J  However, that’s not to say that WOW can’t be loads of fun playing through the lower and mid levels.

Multiplayer – 4/10

There are 6 of us – Two DPS, two Tanks, two Healers.  We’ve battled our way through an instanced dungeon and are almost at the boss.  It’s mayhem – MOB’s everywhere.  The Tanks are laughing insanely, and the Healers are furiously keeping the DPS and Tanks afloat.  I’m one of the Healers….and my 6 month old son wakes up from his nap crying.

What happens next is the ruination of that 6 person team.  One Tank is cut down, his triumphant laughs cut short in his Dwarfish non-throat.  Then the other follows with stunned realization.  The other Healer and DPS’s soon follow.  I love it when the DPS’s go down.  So cocksure, so puffed up.

There’s no pause button in WOW.  This is one of the things I hate most about it.  It’s like once you begin to do something with people in a group, you get sucked into a vortex of COMITTMENT.  And as you know, Dads/Moms, that is a horrible word for any of us concerning real life things let alone Video Games.

On a separate note, it is nice to see that as long as I am basically the same level (low or middle levels) as another player who might play 400% more than I do, I don’t have any distinct disadvantages.  Yes, they might have better gear than me but aside from that, it’s basically straightforward skill/spell clicking.

Another important aspect to Responsible Gaming in WOW is the whether or not I can find a group of like-minded people – people that value short gaming sessions, emphasis on responsible gaming practices, prioritization of family and real life over in-game life.  I have not played a trial through in a long time, but with all the membership I would assume that this shouldn’t be a problem.

Sound Effect Volume – 5/10

Sound effects in WoW are mostly ambient and need not be turned on.  The entire game experience could have the sound off and it would not effect the mechanics/control system for the player.  Admittedly, it would make for a much more droning experience as much of the game is farming MOB’s to level up.

Where this is untrue is for the voice chat that has become a near requirement for group activities.  This not only requires sound but also a Mic.  In fact, this makes for a very silo-type situation in real life.  For me to participate in this, I could turn sound on through my computer speakers and then switch on a mic, but it’s easier to just wear headphones and a built-in mic.  The downside to this is that I am oblivious to the real world around me.  And, being a father and husband, that’s just not acceptable.  I can do headphones as long as I can keep one ear out listening to the real world.

Emotional Tie

While I don’t factor in the emotional impact of a game into the overall rating, I do want to take note of it as it’s just important to understand.  This section is always going to be the most…subjective.

How does the mood of the game impact me?  How does it change my mood?  WOW is pretty low-depth as far as subject matter goes.  It is fanciful hack’n’slash mechanics with cartoonish graphics – very distant from reality.  The music is generally high-paced, but not dark.  The activities the player takes are monotonous so that the atmosphere of continual rest > quest > reward is the majority of the player experience.  I usually walk away from WOW being unphased – mostly in a mood based on whether I was successful or not in a given quest.  Relationships with other players can also effect me, especially ones that I speak with frequently.  Usually guild/group/friend conversation is fairly surface in a video game anyway (modern chat rooms, if you will).

Conclusion and Score

All in all, it is possible to play WOW responsibly but not without a great deal of pissed off in-game friends or great time lapses between scheduled group quest events, and a willingness to commit to playing the game for a very long time span (even though your gaming sessions are short) to get near the end of the game or to a place where you can feel that you “beat” the game.

On the upside, if you want to solo this game and take a very long time doing it – then it’s perfectly possible (if grueling! J ).

The aim of these reviews is to reconcile the adult and older age group of gamers that are trying to balance their Video Game hobby with a “Real Life” that consistently considers them immature, irresponsible, and stunted.

All too soon we will have a generation of people that are considered “seniors” who continue to absolutely love playing video games!  This is too popular a hobby for society to continue to think of its practitioners in the way that they do (described above).  But for the world at large (including the Game Publishing Industry itself) to begin changing the way it looks at us, WE need to begin changing the way we play games.  We need to start playing games as responsible, healthy adults. 

The goal of each review is to rate how achievable it is to responsibly play said game based on 3 simple criteria (explained in bullet points):

Contiguous Play Time Requirements

• Am I required to play at consistently frequent schedule to “keep up” with others?
• What percentage of game experience can be enjoyed within a short play session?
• Is there a balance of rich game world/immersion with a casual play style?
• Is mastery of the game possible under casual play schedule in a reasonable time span?
• Can I get to the END?

Multiplayer Requirements

• Can I jump out of the action at any point?
• How far “behind” do I feel compared to those who play much more often/longer?
• Can I find like-minded/Responsible Gaming type groups within the game?

Sound/Effect Volume Requirements

• Does the volume need to be turned up (or on) to play the game?
• Do the sound effects disturb or distract other people nearby?

I will also try to end each review with a general (and subjective) recommendation on how to play said game Responsibly.