Was World of Warcraft designed to be addictive?
1. Introduction
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) where players from around the world interact and compete with each other in a vast fantasy setting. It is considered to be one of the best MMORPG's on the market and is certainly one of the most popular. However in recent times there has been a growing concern over the addictive quality of WoW. There are numerous stories of lives ruined by excessive playing including jobs lost, relationship breakups and failing school grades. So why is WoW addictive and more importantly was it designed to be this way?
WoW was created by Blizzard who have a strong track record in developing high quality games that appeal to a broad audience. It was released to the public on the 23rd November 2004 to positive reviews and sold record numbers in its first few weeks. The price for the game was comparable to others on the market however there is also a monthly subscription fee that must be paid in order to play. Although Blizzard will argue (and quite rightly) that this goes to maintaining the servers and adding new content the monthly subscriptions also makes up the bulk of WoW revenue. Therefore it is in Blizzard's interest to ensure that the user continues to pay their monthly subscription by making the game as interesting and captivating as possible. However critics are quick to point out that this could also be construed as making it as addicting as possible. Can WoW be addictive?
2. Stages
To better understand the addictive qualities of World of Warcraft the player experience can be broken into three stages. These are:
- Exploration Stage
- Commitment Stage
- Resolution Stage
Exploration Stage
The exploration stage typically lasts from level 1 to level 20 or 30 and has often been characterized as the quickest, easiest and most fun part of playing WoW. After the player creates a new character (level 1) they are dropped off at one of several starting areas depending on their characters race.
Initially there is little to differentiate between the classes (warrior, rogue, paladin etc) however this rapidly changes during the first few levels. The player is initially rewarded with very fast leveling which can be as little as a few minutes. However this soon starts to take longer.
During the Exploration stage the player gets to explore a wealth of new attacks and options for their chosen class. Indeed every two levels will almost certainly give the player new skills that will lay down the foundation of how to play their class right through until the end. From level 10 onwards the player then gets to invest talent points (1 per level) to further define their character.
Between level 20 and level 30 the number of new skills learnt drops dramatically and are instead replaced by more powerful versions of the old skills. However the player will generally not notice much difference as the improved skills are offset by more powerful adversaries in the higher level zones.
By this stage the player will hopefully have a fundamental understanding of the class they are playing. Typically this style of play changes little past this stage as the fundamental skills of the class are already in place. It is at this point the player will typically decide whether they enjoy playing the class and are prepared to go into the Commitment stage.
Commitment Stage
The commitment stage begins between levels 20 and 30 and finishes at the maximum level which is currently 80 if both expansion packs are purchased. This phase is best described as a "dead zone" of game play. The main game play functions for the character will not change from this point onwards and it is merely a grind towards the maximum level. Dungeon groups are also hard to arrange as most players will be concentrating on their high level characters.
Resolution Stage
You can be forgiven for thinking that once the player reaches level 80 the game is over. In fact it has been said that the game doesn't truly begin until level 80. Once the maximum level is reached it then becomes a slow long grind towards improving your characters equipment and gear. Gear of differing quality can be obtained through the following methods:
- Crafting Profession (requires expensive raw materials)
- Battlegrounds PVP (lower quality gear)
- Arena PVP (it will take time to stockpile Arena points)
- Dungeons
- Raids
The majority of players will pick up at least one of these options to pursue further however this turns out to be a massive time sink in relation to the earlier stages.
No matter which method a player pursues the best gear can only be obtained from Raids which require an extensive amount of time investment. For example one item you may want has a 20% chance of dropping from a 25 man raid which will take hours to complete. Furthermore other players from the raid will most likely want the item. Thus to truly reach the end will require many weeks/months of patient hard work. However this is offset by newer equipment and harder dungeons that are released on a semi regular basis by Blizzard. Even if the player does achieve a form of resolution with their characters there are still many other classes and races to experience in WoW.
In Battlegrounds players from both factions face off against each other. It will take anywhere between 15 to 30 Battleground games to earn enough points to purchase one piece of equipment.
|
3. Reward versus Punishment
Unlike our own world the environment in WoW has virtually no punishments for poor behavior or inept skills. Even when you die it is a simple one or two minute trip back to your corpse to resurrect your character. It is impossible to unlearn weapon skills, impossible to lose character experience and impossible to lose levels. Therefore even the most inept player will eventually reach the highest level.
There are also tangible and achievable rewards that are immediately apparent unlike in real life. It is this control over your characters development that can lead to an addictive state. Because of the incremental (yet vast) nature of the rewards there is always the temptation to improve your character just a little bit more. Just one more quest, just one more level, just a few more gold for that highly desirable item in the Auction House. What the vast majority of players subconsciously know but don't realize is that there will ALWAYS be some way to improve your character.
Why go to school or work for a day with no immediate reward when you can spend eight hours playing World of Warcraft for some tangible advancement for your character.
Here is an example of what a typical level 62 character will achieve:
- 20 seconds (kill a monster)
- 15 minutes (complete a quest)
- 1 hour (complete a dungeon with 4 other players)
- 3 hours (advance one level)
4. Gold Farming
Gold is the main currency in WoW and is used for purchasing enchantments, epic gems, repair costs, new equipment and re-speccing talents. There is an ever increasing demand for it at higher levels. This forces the player into performing "daily" quests merely to earn some in-game money.
What has happened is that a market has developed for in-game gold purchasable with real life money. Essentially low paid workers in lower economic nations are used to farm gold that is sold to players in higher economic nations.
If I wanted 1000 gold it would take at least five hours of in-game time to earn that. However I could work for $20 an hour in real life and purchase 1000 gold for that price. However Blizzard Software has deemed this to be in violation of their terms of service and have banned the practice. In essence Blizzard are forcing players to spend more time in the game performing mindless tasks in order to experience the high end content. This benefits Blizzard more than it does the players.
Players buying and selling at the auction house in one of the cities. Using the auction house is a critical part of World of Warcraft as players try to buy and sell weapons, armor, potions, recipes, consumables and raw materials.
|
5. Distractions
To complicate the process of leveling it is very easy to become distracted while trying to advance your character (for both experience and items). There are numerous activities that will consume the players time unless they are dedicated. For example:
- Engaging to World PVP
- Engaging in Battlegrounds
- Leveling professions
- Browsing the Auction House
- Challenging others to duels
- Farming for items to sell
- Exploring different areas
- Vast amounts of travelling from one place to another
- Re-speccing and testing your talents
- Chatting with your guild or other players
- Forming groups for quests and group dungeons
6. Conclusion
All of the factors presented here today result in an environment where it is easy to incrementally advance your character with no risk. Coupled with new content releases Blizzard has effectively created a marathon race where it is constantly shifting the finishing line. Many players can limit their time online however there is a growing population that can be classified as addicts spending more and more time racing towards a finishing line that they will never reach. Although Blizzard has created a popular game, almost every aspect of it has been designed to draw out the game play experience as much as possible. For this reason it is fair to say that Blizzard designed WoW to be addicting.
Other Articles
The evolution of communication
Communication was been and will always be the central core of our society. From everyday phone calls with your friends through to meetings at work communication between people is what drives this country. However the way we communicate has been evolving at a startling pace.
When will you die?
Have you ever sat down and wondered how long you have left to live? Interestingly that depends not only on your gender but on your race as well. The following information was published in the National Vital Statistics Report (United States) and is presented here today for your reference.
Can criminals be rehabilitated?
Every hour of every day crimes occur across the world, and every hour of every day criminals are sentenced in our justice system. However when a prisoner is released have they been rehabilitated or are they likely to re-offend?
Does society need something to fear?
As a society do we need something to fear? Terrorism, pandemics, nuclear war, communists and witches have all featured prominently throughout our history as things to fear. But are they real threats that we should be worried about?
| 
