Unethical Gaming

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1. Daily Column

13 new MMOG articles today. So far in October that puts us at 30! Nobody else comes close to the MMOG coverage of TenTonHammer.com.

We posted a new comic up yesterday pitting a Dwarf with a frostbitten sword against the frozen north. Enjoy! We posted no less than 17 new MMOG articles yesterday (not including the comic) and yet six of the top 10 most visited pages were comics. Maybe we should just shut the site down and create comics as our full-time gig?

Once in a while, or perhaps daily I come across an article that shows me just how disparate my philosophies on gaming are from those of other gamers. While cruising teh intawebz in my Mac Lexus yesterday I came across an article titled, 'Ethical Dilemmas'. I immediately believed it to be a piece about the ethical parables in Tabula Rasa. Regrettably it was built around the following statement;

"I think a lot of modern game design is actually unethical, especially massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft, because they are predicated on player exploitation," - Mr. Blow (That's his real name and not some juvenile attempt at humour by yours truly)

Described as "a prominent independent developer", perhaps because he won the Game Design award at the 2006 Independent Game Festival, Mr. Blow is currently working on a game called Braid. I don't recall him ever shipping a game and I cannot find any evidence to the contrary. With the exception of the EVE Online team if you are "a prominent independent developer" you don't remain independent for long. Anyway, they wrote it on the Internet, so it must be true.

I can't, as hard as I try, wrap my head around the idea that World of Warcraft is somehow a Pavlovian mechanism to subvert the masses. I don't believe that it is a virtual Skinner's Box.

"He believes players will naturally avoid boring tasks but developers 'override that by plugging into their pleasure centres and giving them scheduled rewards and we convince them to pay us money and waste their lives in front of our game in this exploitative fashion'." - Digital Life

The question I suppose is are the players wasting their lives, and if you concur with Mr. Blow that playing games is a waste then why is he making them? Surely he doesn't have a silver bullet that will make his game, Braid, a moral and social catalyst for good.

What happened to games being entertaining? Show up at the next BlizzCON and see how normal, well-adjusted and just plain fun to be around the World of Warcraft gamers are. We need to put away the tinfoil hats, take off the elitist 'games can be art' berets and focus on making our hobby as entertaining and enjoyable as possible. Games don't need to be art. Games need to be games.

Now it's your turn...

Comments, questions or naughty pictures? Hit the blog or hit my mailbox. --Boomjack

2. New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Blog: The Draw of Competition - Cody "Micajah" Bye Fury: Video Featuring The Decay School Gods and Heroes: Guide To Building A Successful Tribe Lord of the Rings Online: Minstrel Traits Guide Phantasy Star Universe: New Images From The Expansion Pirates of the Burning Sea: Exclusive Images Tabula Rasa: Lower Eloh Missions Tabula Rasa: Designer Diary #4 - Character Cloning System Vanguard: Necromancer 21-30 Progression Guide Vanguard: Disciple Spells List - Levels 1-25 Warhammer Online: Combat System Video Warhammer Online: What Elven Classes Are Next? Zu Online: The Men of Zu Online

3. Hot Content - What our readers viewed the most in September! Did you miss anything?

Comics: Frozen Sword Ten Ton Hammer Gallery Comics: Listing Comics: Not A Spammer Comics: WoW In 5 Years Leipzig 2007 Awards World of Warcraft Overview Comics: MMO Theatre Comics: Death Knights Unveiled Lord of the Rings Online: Developers Explain Housing

4. Real World News

Insults Plague Online Message Boards
In other news, dogs still barking, water still wet. Oh, and you're fat and smell like ass. Being Glued To A Toilet Seat Causes Diabetes
..and who hasn't been glued to a toilet seat at least once? Schools Cancel Christmas
You got it, so they don't offend the Muslims!

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team