href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow" target="_blank">World
of Warcraft
boasts more North American players than any other
single MMOG available, and possibly more than all of them combined.
Rather than being happy over the success of the game style="font-style: italic;">[As any normal
person should be.—Ed.], I want to shoot someone
worse than target="_blank">Elmer
Fudd
on opening day of rabbit season. To be upset about a game's success,
especially with all it's done to bring the genre into the mainstream,
seems counterproductive on a scale not seen since President Bush's last
endorsement for Senator John McCain. It serves no purpose and doesn't
get us anywhere.



Or does it?



While WoW
must be considered a smashing success, it doesn't stop me
from thinking of the game by its true name, Lucifer. That's right kids;
I said WoW
is The Devil. No longer should mothers be calling for the
ban of every geek's favorite game, href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons_controversies"
target="_blank">Dungeon
& Dragons, but rather the abomination called style="font-style: italic;">WoW. Do
you know why? Anyone? href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX2AR-8ET4A"
target="_blank">Bueller...
Bueller? Because it has implanted the horrific concept that a
game does not really begin until you reach the max level within the
minds of our youth. What in the hell were they thinking?

style="margin: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; float: left; width: 200px;"
border="1">

href="/image/view/40281"
target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/40281/preview"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px;">

Race to the
end, little minions!

As I sit here typing this, I can feel readers attempting to burn the
flesh off my bones with the unrelenting hatred of a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/41752" target="_blank">Bright
Wizard
with
a target="_blank">swirlie,
but I stand by my earlier statement. For me, style="font-style: italic;">WoW is a great game
the
same way AOL is great internet provider. It's like using an inner tube
in the kiddy pool when you really want to be href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJOniEu5HkQ&feature=related"
target="_blank">surfing
the biggest waves
in Australia. The game allows you to start out slow and easy
before
gaining confidence and a deeper understanding of your abilities. In and
of itself, I think this is what every game should do without question
or debate. If they did, I'd be happier than href="http://www.mugshots.org/hollywood/pee-wee-herman.html"
target="_blank">Pee
Wee Herman in a dark
corner at your local blue movie theater.



It's after the initial start that my hatred for style="font-style: italic;">WoW truly begins to
take root. I don’t want to constantly wish I could
investigate what’s on the hill over there, or beg to explore
some lost ruin I see in the distance. I don’t want someone
holding my hand the whole trip, telling me where to go. Just like with
AOL, eventually you find yourself outgrowing the chains and shackles
that have you bound tighter than href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd6vTJePVuY"
target="_blank">Madonna’s
corset.



If this sick and twisted vision of "games not beginning until you've
reached the end" had remained locked within the tortured little world
of Azeroth, I'd be content to sit in my rocking chair and yell
obscenities at the local whippersnappers as they run across my lawn. As
it is though, this poisonous thought has slowly been creeping into
other games, and it's time for the madness to stop. Though the concept
seems lost on those who have only played (or initially came from) style="font-style: italic;">WoW,
there used to be an era where players would actually take their time
and
enjoy the adventures they had, rather than attempting to rush through
them faster than target="_blank">The
Flash on ephedrine. The journey itself was
appreciated and savored rather than discarded with little thought.



I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but there are a great
number of us that actually enjoy taking our time through a game. I'm
proud of the fact that I've spent over a year exploring the lands of
Telon in target="_blank">Vanguard:
Saga of Heroes, yet there are still a number of
places I've never been. I'm tickled pink that I still come across
something new on a regular basis as I just pick a direction and wander
off the beaten path. Vanguard has href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18TLHhhHZCA"
target="_blank">more soul
than Marvin Gaye but
it’s the journeys you make that give it that soul rather than
the end of the game.

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border="1">

href="http://media.tentonhammer.com/vanguard/gallery/albums/Vanguard-Item-Pics/Contemplative.jpg"
target="_blank"> src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/vanguard/gallery/albums/Vanguard-Item-Pics/Contemplative_thumb.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px;">

Relax a
little!

If you want to rush to the max level in whatever game you’re
playing, that's your choice and you're welcome to it. When you come
into a game near and dear to my heart, such as Vanguard, and complain
about how you ran your stubby little legs as fast as you could on the
target="_blank">Hamster
Wheel of Grinding to get to level 50 as fast as possible, I
don't have an ounce of sympathy for you. None. Zero. Nada. Zilch!



Some games are all about exploration and don’t funnel players
down a particular path with few choices. Vanguard gives you more paths
of opportunity than your favorite href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Own_Adventure"
target="_blank">Choose
Your Own Adventure book.
Chances are, you'll die if you're not careful, but you'll always have
the freedom to get yourself into (and out of) those situations. Nothing
kills a game for me faster than feeling like I'm zipping along on a
roller coaster with no way to get off the tracks. I don't want to play
a game for X amount of hours just to find out the game I was playing
isn't the game it turns out to be. Don't change the rules on me. The
late content in any game shouldn't make the beginning content feel like
the target="_blank">missing
link. One sits around dreaming of the stars while the other
is flinging poop in every direction. No matter how you look at it,
that's just not right.



So am I a man on a mission, or just another nut case spewing the same
vitriol as every other whack job... like Pee Wee? style="font-style: italic;">[That is an
incredibly disgusting image.—Ed.] I commend
Blizzard on the
smashing success of their game, but I'm tired of their players coming
into my games and complaining about how they raced through the content
to find that they skipped over all the parts that make the game what it
is. Forcing a player to get to the end of a game before
they’ll truly be able to enjoy it makes about as much sense
as target="_blank">Boomhauer
discussing the internet. It might seem funny at first, but
in the end, it will make you weep for the future of humanity.

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Disclaimer:
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed are those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of
the Ten Ton Hammer network or staff.

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