I would’ve been blissfully unaware if it hadn’t been for Rock, Paper, Shotgun. It seems someone leaked some details about Wrath of the Lich King from the “Friends and Family” alpha testing. So of course I went to the site. So of course I read all the juicy details. Ugh. Tycho from Penny Arcade coined the term “brain hunger” in relation to WoW once, and it definitely applies to me. I don’t really know what it is about it. I start trying to imagine what it would be like to play with all the exciting new abilities, start to imagine how the gameplay will have changed. It’s like I’m trying to run a simulation of it in my head or something, it’s terrible. But I won’t play it again, not matter how cool the druid changes sound.
What I hate though is that more games, or just more games that I actually enjoy playing, have started to head in a “grind->reward” direction. I’m mostly thinking of TF2 here, the only other game that I actually play regularly (except Audiosurf :D ). It’s almost as though the most profound effect WoW has had on gaming is to make other developers realise that introducing a bit of a grind into the game is a surefire way to keep people playing longer (aside from making them realise just how much cash you can make from MMOs). This frustrates me. Multiplayer pvp should be about skill, not how much time you’ve invested. TF2 isn’t on the same scale in the time-sink scheme of things as WoW, but it stills takes a heap of time to complete the new medic achievements and unlock the new guns. I gave up after farming the first gun late one night on a server with a friend. I hate the direction Valve has gone with this. It’s a cop out for the studio too. Instead of making the gameplay itself appealing enough to keep people playing for the gameplay’s sake alone, instead they opt for the cheap and easy route of making a bit of a grind. Blizzard and Valve - the creators of StarCraft and Counter-Strike (respectively), games with the longest lasting appeal of pretty much any game (not counting sequels). It’s disappointing.
In other news: I’ve decided to make a rule for myself: If I become involved enough with a game that I start to get angry (rage :P ) over the game then it’s time to stop. When I write it down it sounds like an obvious thing to do. I don’t like that I become involved enough with games to start getting angry about them. Gaming should be about having fun, if I’m not having fun I shouldn’t play. Sounds simple and a bit “no duh, retard” but I get carried away with it easily and I think other people do too.
I think gaming is probably too big a part of my life. I should really get some other interests. I have other interests (reading, listening to music, talking with friends) but they’re kind of passive things, not interactive. The thing with many of my friends is that they’re also gamers. I need to take up something that doesn’t involve using a computer. All my uni work requires the use of one and most of my leisure time I’m on it too. I need to get out more :S