by Karen Hertzberg on Apr 01, 2008
Checkpoint Charlie
In the World of Warcraft there are, or at least were, several
checkpoints to reach before you advance further. Those points are
fairly
well known, and they're there for a reason. The checkpoint
system is seen in many aspects
of the game, limiting access by level, flying mount access, reputation,
and by quest attunement. However, as time goes by, they
seem to be disappearing
Patch 2.4 removed several of these checkpoints and has in many ways
thrown the gates wide open to what would have been access-limited
content. This concerns our World of Warcraft
community manager, Byron "Messiah" Mudry. Read about his fears that the
changing system is flawed in this week's WoW editorial.
The first, and probably biggest, reason to gate (or
checkpoint) content
in a game is to prevent frustration. If a player gets frustrated they
eventually give up and stop playing. By putting in checkpoints they
need to reach before moving on, the game developer prevents players
from moving too fast for their own good.