Gold Farmers in the World of Warcraft

Slate.com today features a moderately interesting article by Luke O'Brien about cheating in video games, and how it has evolved from the classic "left, left, right, right, up, down, up, down, B, A" to things with real-world implications, such as gold farming in the World of Warcraft.

For those of you unfamiliar with this term, gold farming is when players spend hours working to earn as much gold as quickly as possible--rather than being interested in getting really good armor or leveling up. They then sell this gold to other players for real world money (such as U.S. dollars) so that these other players can buy super-expensive items in-game. Often, these "gold farmers" are workers from China, working in sweatshops to earn as much gold as possible as quickly as possible.

And yet, when people talk about the cheaters in World of Warcraft, they don't talk about those who buy the gold, or even the companies that profit from gold farming--they complain about the "Chinese farmers." This has led to a disturbing trend of racism in the game, where those who don't speak perfect English (on US servers, at least) are accused of being farmers and then shunned from groups.

This can be seen in O'Brien's Slate.com article:

Compare Contra with World of Warcraft, the 9-million member online game, where a hue and cry has ensued over the practice of gold farming, in which players, many of them Chinese, earn virtual gold through drudging labor (by killing the same monster over and over again, for example). The farmers then sell their gold to lazy players, many of them American, who use it to acquire coveted weapons and armor they don't have the time or dedication to earn the hard way.

Most gold farmers haven't hacked the game. They're only doing what any player could do, given the time and inclination. But their efforts foul up the game's economy, and Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind World of Warcraft, has banned tens of thousands of them.

What makes me really angry about this whole situation is that it's the farmers who are portrayed as the "evil cheaters" in the World of Warcraft, rather than those who buy the gold. If you read the rest of O'Brien's article, he talks about "Easter eggs" and hidden levels put in by developers as things that are kind of cool; the player is the one who has to decide whether or not to use them and cheat. This completely reverses the logic of his arguments about WoW, where it seems that those buying gold have little or no choice about buying gold--it's completely the fault of the farmer. It's "their efforts" that "foul up the game's economy," rather than the choices that players make to buy the gold.

Pardon my French, but what bullshit. If this were any other situation, there would be an outcry about the working conditions or wages of the gold farmers, or a rally against the company, or even, a call for people who use the product to boycott it until the working conditions are fixed. For products like clothes, coffee, and soft drinks, working to improve the working conditions of those who make the product or challenging the customer to use some other product seems to be the SOP, rather than vilifying the workers for making such cheap products.

I think the language of O'Brien's article is particularly telling, as well. Americans are described as lazy, and the Chinese farmers are "just doing what any player could do." Yet the farmers are the ones who are in the wrong.

Yes, I know there's the terms of the EULA, but that works against both the farmer and the player who buys gold. I have a really hard time coming down hard on someone who's just trying to do his job, put food on the table for his family, and have a place to live. I think that more of the focus of the discussion on gold-farming needs to be put on the "lazy American" who chooses to disobey the EULA and buy gold. These are the people who are the ones who are really destroying the in-game economy; if they stopped buying gold, there would be no market for the companies who farm gold.

If we're going to call someone in the World of Warcraft a cheater, let's make sure that we think it through, and place the blame where it belongs--with the consumer who chooses to buy gold, or the company that makes money off of sweatshop labor, not with the individual farmer who's just trying to earn a living.

My Ultimate Musical Achievement

I'm a musical person. I started piano lessons at age 5. I began playing French horn in grade school. Along the way, I had a lot of fun, and had several achievements that I'm actually kind of proud of. For example, as a sophomore in high school, I managed to beat out several seniors for first chair French horn. And my senior year, I played at a masterclass for German horn player Hermann Baumann.

I'm not saying this stuff to brag. Honestly, it happened a while ago, and I haven't played much recently. And even when I practiced, I was never good enough to play professionally, or even major in music at a top music school. I just want to give you some perspective so that when I tell you what I consider my ultimate musical achievement to be, you'll understand the scope of things.

It happened this past Saturday evening, at my husband's brother and sister-in-law's house.

We were playing Guitar Hero II on the Xbox.

And here it is, my ultimate achievement: I finally beat Wolfmother's "Woman" on hard.

My husband and I don't have an Xbox. The only time we play is with his brother and sister-in-law. But they live really close to us, and so we're over there pretty often. Both of us can hold our own in the "medium" level, and so we decided to kick it up a notch and try hard.

Hard is a lot harder. Not only do the notes go by faster, but you have to use all 5 buttons instead of just 4. 5 buttons, 4 fingers...you do the math. But even on hard, I could pass all the songs in the first two brackets after a few tries. Except for "Woman." And it wasn't just me who got stuck--we all got stuck. No one could progress past this one stupid song.

One of my husband's co-workers said, "Oh yeah. That's the hard part. Save up star power to get through the hammer-on sections." Good idea, but it wasn't enough. We just weren't good enough.

They got a second guitar, and for a while, the multiplayer option diverted our attention--dueling on "Woman" was ok, because even if you both suck, you can't fail the song. Every once in a while, we'd come back to the solo song, and the result would be the same. Failure.

Finally, my husband's sister-in-law had had enough and started practicing. She worked on this song a lot. She learned to hate it. But in the end, it paid off. She passed the song last week. But she passed it on her band--the band she had set up so that she could track her own progress. A great idea in theory, but it means that the song was only passed in her band. In our communal band--Def Monkeys--we were still stuck.

So last Friday, I buckled down and worked on it. I practiced. I isolated the section I was missing all of the notes and I ran through it on a slower speed. My fingers hurt. And then, I did it. I made it through the terribly hard section, and was so excited I almost blew it near the end.

But I didn't. I made it through. And I was thrilled :)

For all of you who are thinking, "I've beaten the game on expert. What are you whining about?" Well, good for you. You really do rock!

But on Friday night, so did I. Although I don't think I'll even be able to bring myself to play or listen to "Woman" again.

Why I Quit World of Warcraft

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now, but kept putting it off to write about other things. World of Warcraft was such a big part of my life for a long time--I saw this loading screen almost every night for more than 2 years--and I needed some time to figure out why I quit. History grants perspective, I guess.

One of the reasons I'm writing it now is that it's been about a year since the guild I co-led fell apart. For some people, World of Warcraft is purely social; for others, it's extremely competitive and about improving your own character as much as possible. Neither is right nor wrong, but they definitely describe two very different approaches to the game. Many people think it can't be both. But my co-guild leader (Plugdo, a night elf priest) and I thought it could be. We wanted to make a guild that could do the high-end content, but never put success or the rewards from raiding above the people in the guild. We wanted guild members to be friends first, and hoped that would give the guild the solid foundation it needed for success.

And it worked great, for a while. The best times I had playing World of Warcraft were with that guild. I remember the first time that we took down a major boss (the ugly guy pictured to the right)--I had to call my little brother to tell him, I was so excited. But, like any relationship, there were bad moments along with the good. Members would quit that I thought were in it for the long haul, people would get greedy or act petty, and stuff like that would really hurt. My guild gave me the best times I had while playing World of Warcraft, but also the most stressful and most emotional.

In the end, the guild lasted about 6 months; in June of 2006 we called it quits because guild members (and leaders, to be honest) just weren't able or willing to put in the time and effort necessary to progress to the next level of the game. I think our idea behind the guild is still a possibility (I've seen other guilds that are very close to what we envisioned), but that the timing just wasn't quite right for us. At any rate, guild members scattered in many directions--some switched servers, some quit, some joined other guilds. And after that, World of Warcraft wasn't really the same for me.

I joined another guild that was more explicitly dedicated to being a serious guild, and while I liked the people a lot and enjoyed playing with them, it wasn't the same as me being in charge of a guild that I had a hand in building. I tried playing casually for a while, not doing much raiding but playing a lot in 5-person groups with family and friends, and while I enjoyed the people, I got bored with the content and wanted to be able to experience the more challenging content that I knew I was good enough to do.

Then the Burning Crusade expansion came out, and it was amazing. The zones were well-done, there were exciting quests and new instances to fight in. I thought it would help me get excited about the game again. But at some point, I just got overwhelmed. There was so much to do, all at once. There were quest chains to finish, reputation to earn, tradeskills to level, and money to acquire--all of which took a lot of time. Yes, I could have gone at a slower pace, completing things when I had time, but I'm the kind of player who thinks that if I'm going to play a game, I want to be competitive. And so, since the game was feeling too much like work, I decided to quit and give real life a chance again.

Am I sorry that I spent 2 years of my life playing World of Warcraft? Not at all. I learned a lot about myself, including aspects of my leadership style that are applicable in my real-life job. I met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun (like the time that I blinked into Mar'li the Spider boss in Zul'Gurub and ended the raid...I think you had to be there). And on top of that, I got to see firsthand the amazing creativity behind one of the most popular video games in the world.

But when you ask if I'm sorry that I quit, you'll get the same answer. I'm not at all sorry that I quit playing. I miss the people that I met while playing, and I miss feeling like I'm part of a larger community that's all working together to achieve a common goal. But at the end of the day, there's no getting around the fact that so much of what you're working for doesn't actually exist.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking World of Warcraft, those who love playing, or even MMOs in general. I think it's a terrific game and a great video game genre. It's just that I needed to switch my own focus from things I enjoyed in a virtual world to the things that inspired them in real life. And so now, I'm enjoying this "real" part of real life: I'm having fun making real music in the church choir, instead of just playing the stupid flute trinket from Stratholme; I'm enjoying cooking real meals, instead of leveling up my cooking skill another 3 levels in the game; I think it's great to go swimming in our pool instead of watching my character go swimming in a virtual lake; and I'm working to develop friendships based on mutual interests other than simply killing the next big dragon. It's not quite as exciting as living in a world filled with netherdragons, murlocs, and a complete set of Tirisfal Regalia (I still can't get over how sweet that set looks!...must...look...away..), but it's more satisfying and the rewards are longer-lasting.

I doubt that I'll ever start playing World of Warcraft again--it would be too easy to get sucked back into it (see above comment on Tirisfal Regalia). But I had a great time playing it, and to all those who helped make the game so much fun for me, thank you. May your journeys in Azeroth--or if you've moved on, Middle-Earth, a galaxy far, far away, or real life--be safe, fun, and filled with epixx! :)

The Burning Crusade, Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of my review of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

First up: mobs.

This is another aspect of the expansion that I was really impressed with. Blizzard could easily have created all these zones and populated them with creatures that already existed in the game--ogres, murlocs, naga, etc. And while there certainly are some of these familiar mobs, there are also a wide variety of new creatures to fight.

Of the new creatures found in Outland, here are some of my favorites:

Crust Bursters and Spore bats




Fen Striders and Warp Stalkers












All of the mobs really fit well into the zone they're in, and do a good job of creating the atmosphere of the zone. And although certain things like the spore bat seem physically impossible, they're a fun change from what we're used to.

One really enjoyable thing about almost all of the new mobs in Outland, regardless of what they are: the wide variety and creativity in dying animations. Now, this might sound a bit morbid, but it adds a level of depth to the game. While most mobs in the original World of Warcraft would more or less just fall over, the mobs in Outland are more unique in the ways they die. The Fen Strider shown above, for example, sways back and forth, slowly losing his balance. Blood Elf mobs reach toward the sun with their dying breath; mana worms spin around in a flurry, leaving only a glowing ball. All these animations are certainly overdone and unrealistic, but they give some personality to the creatures that inhabit Outland, which, in turn, makes encountering them a new, exciting experience.

Quests

The questing is one aspect of the game that I think Blizzard could have done a little more with. Certain things about the quests in the expansion are very well done. For example, most of the quests designed for solo players are pretty easy to do, making leveling a straightforward process rather than a painful grind. Mixed in with these easier quests are challenging quests for groups; these aren't necessary to complete to level up, but they provide a step up in difficulty for those looking for it.

Another good thing that Blizzard has done in the expansion is make it clearer how many people are needed to complete a quest. Rather than just call a quest "elite", Blizzard now has a suggested number of people needed to successfully complete a quest. This is particularly helpful when it comes to escort quests, which in the original World of Warcraft, were often labeled as solo quests and were unreasonably difficult.

One thing that could have been improved on, however, was the content of the quests. Too many of them simply rely on the tried-and-true "kill this many monsters, collect 10 of their tails" method. I realize that coming up with new, innovative quest content is a challenge, but if WoW hopes to hold the interest of its players and continue to be cutting edge in game design, they need to challenge themselves more in this area.

That's not to say that there weren't a lot of really great, fun quests to do that were based on new and different ideas. Immediately upon coming to Outland, you start a quest chain that leads to you flying on a grif and bombing things. It's a totally easy quest, but SO much fun.

Perhaps my favorite quest line so far is the one that starts with the Damaged Mask drop in Blade's Edge Mountains. After a series of quests, you end up in the area of the zone called "Death's Door," where you used a flare to signal a druid, who then comes and gives you instructions. You collect special ammunition, and then use it to fire enemy cannons against their own structures. For the final quest, you summon druid helpers to defeat the boss of the area. All in all, it was a really innovative quest chain with lots of new and different things to try.

Along those same lines, one thing that Blizzard has done a better job of in The Burning Crusade is connect quests together. I feel like I've noticed more quest chains, rather than just individual "kill 10 wolves" quests. In some cases, these chains even carry over from one zone to the next. For me, this has given the entire expansion a more connected feeling, and I've gotten into the story behind the quests more. And it also has made me feel like what I'm doing is making a difference; people are recognizing my efforts, and giving me more work to do as a result.

Next up....instances.

The Burning Crusade, Part 1

After the dramatic countdown to the release of The Burning Crusade, I'm sure many of you are curious why I haven't posted about it sooner. Well, I didn't want to be hasty in my judgment, and I wanted to have experienced a lot of the pre-raiding content before deciding what I thought about the World of Warcraft expansion.

So, after 3 weeks of playing the game almost every night and most weekends, here's what I think: I love it.

In almost every aspect of the game, I think Blizzard Entertainment has done really great things, making the game more of a challenge and providing plenty of content for us to work our way through. Getting to level 70 is really just a first step; after that, there's a complicated system of instances and key quests to keep us busy. Because most of these instances are smaller than the 40-man size we saw in the original game, it's much more appealing time-wise, and calls for greater skill from the individual player.

Rather than try to cover all aspects of the expansion in one post, I'm going to devote a separate post to some of most important areas of the game, starting with the new continent added: Outland.

Outland is the original homeworld of the orcs, ripped apart by a surge of energy from portals to other worlds. It's currently home to Illidan, one of the most powerful evil forces in the World of Warcraft.

Perhaps what has impressed me the most overall about the expansion is the way that Blizzard designers captured this dangerous, frontier feeling in the landscape of Outland. Unlike the two continents of Azeroth, which are surrounded by oceans, the zones in Outland are bordered by nothing--you can fall off the edge. (I'm actually kind of excited to try falling off the edge, but I don't have enough room in the bank to put all my gear there in case I have to spirit rez :) )

Here's a picture of Teranu standing near the edge of the world in the zone of Netherstorm. Behind her, you can see asteroids that move around, with lightning zapping between them. Very cool.You can also see planets and other outer-space-like things in the sky, which further adds to the feeling that you are exploring a dangerous frontier. Illidan's words from the trailer to the Burning Crusade really hit home: "You are not prepared!" You start to think, well, maybe I'm not...maybe I should just head back to Azeroth, pretend this silly Dark Portal doesn't exist, and see how many other characters I can get up to level 60.


But then you realize that, in spite of how intimidating it looks, these new zones are very beautiful and extremely cool, and there is nothing that you want to do more than explore them. And so you do, and you're impressed at the diversity in design, with the common theme of danger carried throughout. You have the swamps of Zangarmarsh, the barren wasteland of Hellfire Peninsula, and savannas of Nagrand, and the rocky uncertainty of Netherstorm. Of the zones I've seen so far (I haven't been to Shadowmoon Valley yet), the only one I didn't like was Blade's Edge Mountains, primarily because it was such a pain to get around in. After the 15 minute graveyard run in that zone, my husband and I decided to skip to something a little easier to get around in. Also, while most of the zones have a feeling of continuity--marsh-like creatures in Zangarmarsh, safari wildlife in Nagrand--Blade's Edge Mountains seemed cobbled together, without an underlying theme. Perhaps that was the point, but regardless, it didn't work for me.

So far, my favorite is Netherstorm--I really like the cluster of islands all grouped together. And the lightning in the background is pretty cool as well.

Next up: Mobs....

Christian Video Games?

When the Left Behind series came out, I read the first few books to see what the hype was all about. I don't agree with the theology, and the relationship between worldly, experienced journalist Buck and naive college student Hattie was slightly creepy. But even more than that, I found it boring. Oh, no...the Antichrist has taken over the UN...oh, no...the world is being destroyed...It doesn't matter how many horrible, earth-shaking events an author introduces into a narrative; if the author (or authors) are lousy writers, it's going to be a boring book. So I stopped reading the series, and didn't think much more about it.

Now, Left Behind Games has come out with a video game version of the series, entitled Left Behind: Eternal Forces. Normally, I would link the game's official webpage for you, but I am really quite upset with this game and its implications, so I'm not going to. If you want to buy it, you have to find it yourself. So there.

Why am I so upset? Because this game purports to be a Christian video game, when in reality, the principles and take-away messages of the game are anything but.

Here are some of the biggest problems with Left Behind: Eternal Forces:

1. You kill everyone who doesn't convert to Christianity, or even your particular version of Christianity. Muslims, gone. Atheists, goodbye. Lutherans, Catholics, sorry.

2. Forget women's rights. You can convert men and train them to be builders or soldiers, but women...well, women can only be nurses or singers.

3. Peace activists and non-Christian doctors and nurses--well, they're certainly demonic forces, and should be killed immediately.

4. Also, because the Antichrist is working to unite all governments in an effort for world peace, the game suggests that those striving for peace in the real world are agents of evil.

Quite frankly, this isn't the kind of game that I'd want to introduce someone to as a Christian video game. And numerous Christian organizations agree, calling for a boycott and a recall of this game because it promotes un-Christian values.

What are people to do, then, who are looking for a Christian video game? I would suggest games that involve quests that teach the consequences of your actions, or pose some sort of moral dilemma that forces the player to think about what's right and wrong. An article in the February 2007 issue of PC gamer entitled "The Quest for a Decent Chore" describes how the Ultima series transformed quests from simply "kill this" or "deliver that"; it "injected moral depth into quest goals by requiring you to act virtuously in order to succeed" (88). Now, this isn't Christianity per se, but I find this sort of moral humanism much closer to Christianity than killing people simply because they don't believe the way you do.

Now, my personal favorite, World of Warcraft, doesn't have this sort of moral depth in quests. When I first started playing the game, I was concerned when a quest asked me to steal barrels of beer from an inn that had just befriended me. I was hesitant about doing this quest, until I learned that all these quests were scripted, everyone did the same ones, and there was no choice involved. World of Warcraft, however, does provide players the opportunity to interact with other players, and therefore, is another way to "love thy neighbor." Plenty of people need help--directions on where to go for a quest, help killing a monster that is too much for them, maybe even just someone to talk to. Because the game is virtual, players are given the opportunity to recreate themselves, and the results are often very interesting. These questions of identity--why did I blow off that player who asked me for help? for example--can really make you think about who you are, and challenge you in moral and spiritual ways that a game like Left Behind will never do.

Less than a week!!!

This week's video was selected in honor of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade being released on Tuesday. You are not prepared!

9 Days and Counting!!!

Let the countdown begin!!!