Why I hate World of Warcraft

[DanTheTimid]

Before any WoW fans pipe in that I shouldn't hate what I haven't played let me point out that I have a level 58 (give or take a level, its been a while) night elf priest on a pvp server. Sure its collecting dust now, but I put alot of hours into the game to get to that point (especially on a pvp server where people seem to love ganking night elves and priests).

So if I've played the game so much, why do I hate it so? Well if your truly interested please just sit right back and you'll hear a tale.

The year was 1994, I was a youngster of not but 11, with a computer running I believe windows 3.1, and a demo in hand for a game that would forever change my life. It was called warcraft and its unique brand of strategy and resource management instantly drew me in. I was quickly hooked and was soon showing the game to all my friends. It took some effort but we even managed to have a multiplayer match. Then 1995 came, with it Windows 95 and a game called Warcraft 2. If warcraft 1 had made me a computer gamer, warcraft 2 officially made me a computer geek. Its combination of witty dialogue, deep strategy, hilarious quotes, and interesting story gave me things I never realized I could get from a game. Truly Warcraft had become a franchise that would hold a special place in my heart always. Years passed, I dabbled in blizzards other offerings, diablo2 was pretty addictive, and starcraft was absolutely brilliant, but it was the new warcraft title I truly hungered for. And then it came, Warcraft 3. It wasn't exactly what I hoped for, I wasn't fond of the 3d graphics, the 2d just looked better to me, but it was more wonderful warcraft humor, strategy, story, and characters.

Then I heard about it. World of Warcraft. It was a project blizzard had started to get in on the cash cow that was the MMORPG. I'd tried my hand at a few MMORPGs over the years but never liked them. They lacked story, interesting characters, and direction beyond "lets gain another level", not to mention they were crazy expensive and had that horrible monthly payment system that makes you feel like your wasting money whenever your not playing. Needless to say I was fearful. To make matters worse I also knew that even though I didn't like MMORPGs, I was a rarity, perhaps a fluke. I'd already lost a few friends to games like ever quest. I didn't want to lose anymore friends. I also knew that because of the monthly fee that these games were ridiculously profitable. If this game was a success they'd have no reason to keep making games, to keep making Warcraft RTS games that I loved so much, no they could just sit on their cash cow, updating it occasionally, and watching the money roll in. And so I secretly wished for its failure, even as they asked me as a long time blizzard supporter to beta test the game for them, which I did.

The beta didn't change my mind on it. It played solidly for a MMORPG sure, but again, I didn't like MMORPGs. Soon the game released and all of my worst fears began to occur one after another. One by one I lost close friends to the game. Every week I'd gather with friends to play card games or do other things but now friends would fail to show up and I'd find out later they were busy playing WoW. Time passed and things only got worse. The game continued to grow in popularity and almost all of my closest friends never wanted to hang out anymore cause they spent all their free time playing WoW. They kept bugging me to play too. Finally my last friend became addicted and as much as I didn't want to play, I really didn't, I also knew that you make concessions for friends. And so I bought the game and played with them.

I won't go into specifics but suffice to say I bored of the game quickly, didn't renew past my free initial month and felt sick for wasting money on buying it. Over several months of barely seeing friends I bought a month hoping this time would be different but still all it did was further my hatred of the game. My last month of play occurred when they gave a free month away due to the release of the expansion. None of it made me feel anything but sick, infact playing on a pvp server so I could play with my friends I actually found playing the game to be rather torturous as I was constantly ganked by high level enemies everywhere I went.

And so we sit here today, 4 years since WoWs release and not a single new Warcraft RTS title. We haven't even gotten a new diablo or starcraft. I did cry tears of joy when I heard starcraft 2 was in production though its release is still unknown. However as much as I'm sure I'll love starcraft 2 with its strategy, story, and all the other things I love about blizzard RTS, it won't bring back the friends I've lost to WoW, nor the time that could have been spent making other quality RTS titles, nor the time and money it forced out of me to get to spend a little time again with my lost friends...

For these reasons, I hate world of warcraft, and wish nothing but bad things upon it.

Incidentally, if its not clear I also generally hate most MMORPGs. The only MMORPG or MMORPG like games I will support are the ones with no monthly fees and preferably have some semblance of story or direction. Games like Guild Wars, Lunia, and even Trickster (though its story is VERY weak atleast its something). Aside from having stories and direction these games don't have monthly fees allowing you to feel ok with say, taking a weekend off to hang with your friends instead of spending it leveling.

Feel free to disagree and explain to me why I'm wrong to hate WoW, or on the off chance anyone agrees with me I'd be happy to learn there are other like minded individuals and why you hate WoW too.

[Grain]

The way I see it, you didn't like MMORPG's going in, and you didn't like MMORPG's going out.

Should a successful business be expected to choose a loyal fan base over profit?

Why did you decide to play? False hope? Peer pressure?

Also, I don't think WoW is anymore to blame for your loss of friends than their addictive personalities.

Thanks for the short story. You always deliver well .

-Grain

[DanTheTimid]

First off, if you actually read through all that, way to go, I'm impressed lol.

Secondly, don't misunderstand, I don't hate blizzard, I can totally understand why they did what they did, 15 dollars a month, some where around 10 million players, that 150 million dollars they're getting every month beyond their initial game sales, thats the sort of thing you could never get out of games like RTS. Yeah sure maybe 50 million of that goes back into things like keeping servers up, adding new content, ect but its still a ridiculous profit to be had and any company that could get it would be crazy not to.

That doesn't change the fact that I hate World of Warcraft. I hate it for being a MMORPG, yes, but I also hate it for using the franchise I had come to love so much, that held such sweet memories for me. Yeah I sound like a dork, but oh well, anyone whose posting on this forum is probably a dork to some degree.

As for getting friends with less addictive personalities... I don't know what I can really do about that other then pre-screen my friends with "did you play WoW? Yes? But your not playing anymore? Nice. Congrats, you've passed the audition". None of my friends played WoW when I met them so I had no real way of knowing that they'd all become WoW addicts. Perhaps it just has some sort of magical hold on nerds, people raised with out lives so it makes them feel like they've got a virtual life within the game. The fact that its slow, expensive, tedium, going completely unnoticed or uncared about. Perhaps because I actually had a life growing up, played sports, did lots of out door activities with friends and only played games on rainy days or when none of my friends could hang out I've some how developed an immunity to it. Maybe its just my ADD that requires me to do things that keep my mind stimulated which WoW does not. Whatever the case I may be, when I do see my friends again its actually a pretty disturbing thing to see, some of them were once so thin and are now so over weight, its kind of frightening. I'm just thankful I found a girlfriend whose willing to induldge me in my enjoying out door activities like biking, hiking, and sports, as well as nerdy but still gets you out of the house activities like playing cards at a local card shop.

[Grain]

Perhaps it just has some sort of magical hold on nerds, people raised with out lives so it makes them feel like they've got a virtual life within the game. The fact that its slow, expensive, tedium, going completely unnoticed or uncared about. Perhaps because I actually had a life growing up, played sports, did lots of out door activities with friends and only played games on rainy days or when none of my friends could hang out I've some how developed an immunity to it.

I've never had a life and WoW definitely doesn't have me in a chokehold. The phrase seems to vary from person to person though.

Maybe its just my ADD that requires me to do things that keep my mind stimulated which WoW does not.

I'd never guess you that have ADD.

First off, if you actually read through all that, way to go, I'm impressed lol.

Public school managed to teach me that one has to read a story before commenting on it.

-Grain

[DanTheTimid]

Actually I don't know that I do, that was half joking, half serious, since I did have some one diagnose me as having it as a child but it was never looked into and back then they diagnosed every child that was fidgety and bored in their classes as having ADD or ADHD.

Many people would still consider me a n.erd and would consider me as not having a life for most of my life as well so that particular theory really doesn't hold up well but I'm just sort of reaching to figure out what the magic reason is cause I really did have a huge gang of friends who got drawn into it 1 by 1 and never came out. To this day when I call them up or drop by and ask them what they're up to or been up to its "playing WoW" -_-

Edit: Also... why didn't nerds get caught by the censor but apparently with out the plural its censor blocked. Also... why is nerds with out the s censor blocked in the first place? Hopefully if this is something that's looked down on by the mods they'll let it go in this case since I'm not using it to make fun of anyone (other then maybe myself).

[DWildstar]

Grain:

Just a quick note, I removed your quoting of DanTheTimid in your first post on this thread because quoting the entire post isn't necessary when you're the first post directly afterwards and you aren't responding to particular sections of it. It makes the page needlessly long.

[Grain]

Many people would still consider me a n.erd and would consider me as not having a life for most of my life as well so that particular theory really doesn't hold up well but I'm just sort of reaching to figure out what the magic reason is cause I really did have a huge gang of friends who got drawn into it 1 by 1 and never came out. To this day when I call them up or drop by and ask them what they're up to or been up to its "playing WoW" -_-

They've probably dedicated themselves to raiding guilds.

Spend the day farming materials and raid dungeons late into the night.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Raid_guild

Also... why didn't nerds get caught by the censor but apparently with out the plural its censor blocked. Also... why is nerds with out the s censor blocked in the first place?

Why is the sky blue? Why does 3 times 5 equal 15?

Why aren't rocks edible? How many licks does it take to get to the center or a tootsie pop?

The world may never know.

-Grain

[Rad!oZonde]

I'm in the same position Dan. Most of my friends kinda just left to play warcraft. So now I have no one to hang out with.
It is kinda sad but apparently the game is very addicting. You're not the only one that lost friends to it.

[Grain]

I'm in the same position Dan. Most of my friends kinda just left to play warcraft. So now I have no one to hang out with.
It is kinda sad but apparently the game is very addicting. You're not the only one that lost friends to it.

It's only addictive to those with weak hearts & nothing better to do.

I lost interest after two years of casual playing.

I was never able to commit to a raiding guild because... I have to sleep at night.

I enjoyed it for the community.

-Grain

[Allied]

Sad story, Kinda what happned to me but i quit WoW and im just a WC3 freak,
Dota FTW!!