by Stacy Jones on Nov 30, 2011
By now most people are familiar with Occupy Wall Street and the protest movement it spawned across the nation. In our own forums weve had a lengthy discussion that has continued over the weeks and a new Gamasutra article draws some parallels to the power behind the Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy protests and how some players have utilized similar protest tactics inside of online games such as World of Warcraft and EVE Online in the past.
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Many players gathered to protest WoW warrior changes in 2005.
The article revisits the Jita protests in EVE Online from earlier this year following the controversial launch of the Incarna expansion and the fallout from the pricing of microtransaction items that became known as Monoclegate. In whats compared to an Occupy-style protest, players managed to convince CCP to change their direction by speaking very loudly and in some cases with their wallets.
Likewise the article revisits the 2005 warrior protest in World of Warcraft, where warriors feeling that their class had been overly nerfed in an update protested by taking the bridge in Ironforge naked on the Argent Dawn server, leading to GMs kicking obstructing players. Not deterred, players returned with new level 1 alts eve under the threat of a ban.
The article also touches on the direction of the MMO market and how certain things may lead to further player revolts in the future.
There's an even greater issue with games that obfuscate monetization, and target a less tech-savvy crowd. Business persons who have no interest in games are making big bucks off first-time players. While there's not enough space to cover this subject, it may be a matter of time before these players realize whats going on and revolt, as has happened across the world with the Occupy movement.
While the article only touches on a few examples, there have been plenty of in-game protests held over the years, PETA's seal slaughter protest in World of Warcraft being a popular one with players. I'm sure that went well.
Source: Gamasutra
Additional News:
AFK Gamer's 2005 WoW Warrior Protest Coverage - The Gnome Tea Party
Cesspit's WoW Protest Screenshots