And the gold medal goes to …

Not you (anymore)

One of the things that Blizzard has developed a lot in World of Warcraft is the Achievement and Title system. These are awards that players get for achieving certain goals in the game – sometimes these are simple like catching a few fish, sometimes they are highly complex and take over a year.

One of the many other systems in the game is the notion of faction reputation – that is, when you do a quest given to you by a type of quest giver say an Goblin, you as well as gaining the general rewards for completing the quest one might also gain reputation with the Goblin – you have helped them out, they like you, makes sense. The highest level of reputation is Exalted, and if you were Exalted with 40 of these factions you could get the title ‘The Exalted’ this was displayed on your character for all to see.

And then WoW was changed and more factions were added. So what to do with the title as now those that had earned it were no longer quite so exalted. Well, Blizzard removed it from those that had it and set the bar higher. Forum drama ensued. Blizzard re-instated it.

Now the metaphor for much of what is gained in MMOs often used in these part is that of it being like a medal. That is, gaining something in an MMO is like winning the title of Gold medal winner – this is why it is not meaningful to buy and sell such things, they mark what you as an individual have achieved so it makes no sense for someone to be able to buy it as they have not won a race etc.

So, what do TN’er think of withdrawing titles in an MMO – on the face of it, it seems to break a bond of trust between publisher and player. Do we think that it’s any more or less than that?

Links:
Bashiok’s post on MMO Champion: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/157940/the-exalted-title
The 135 pages of drama on the wow forums: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2046835986?page=1
The Instance Show where I heard this first: #218 – The Instance: Lady Asswhisperer (http://theinstance.net/2011/02/218-the-instance-lady-asswhisperer/)
PS Thanks for the many shows Randy, all the best with what ever is your next what ever.

Comments

[Brian 'Psychochild' Green]

1.

So, what do TN’er think of withdrawing titles in an MMO – on the face of it, it seems to break a bond of trust between publisher and player.

I think the bigger sin is that this policy was inconsistent with other titles. They didn't take away the Explorer or Loremaster titles because new content was added, although they did change what was required to achieve them by adding the new expansion content. I think if Blizzard had been more consistent then you wouldn't have seen as much outcry, even if they had withdrawn previously earned titles. Sure, there'd be grumbling, but there's always grumbling.

A violation of trust, though? I think that's a bit harsh, assuming the requisite consistency. I suspect this is just a designer coming up with a (flawed but) cheap and easy way to keep people interested in the content longer. Seems a lot of people are hitting 85 and not particularly bothered by chasing after the content as the have in the past.

[Edward Castronova]

2.

This policy toward titles is similar to what they do with gear. New dungeons drop new gear that is in turn required to dominate the new dungeons. This completely devalues the old elite gear. Players have to re-gear their characters. And yes, they do complain about it.

In the context of titles, this would be essentially like creating a new title called 'Super Exalted' that could be obtained only if you had Exalted AND had gained exalted status with these other factions. I wonder why they didn't do that. There would still be complaint, but nothing like the torrent that has been unleashed. Taking away the title is like taking away current raid gear. Of course there's an explosion.

More broadly, Blizzard is simply confronting the allocation problem common to all economies: Since happiness comes from things like progress and relative status position, you somehow have to sustain a rat race where everyone feels like they are moving upward, both in absolute terms and with respect to others. Meanwhile, the aspirations of the players are always adjusting to the current state of the economy. And finally, losing or dropping down in the hierarchy makes people more upset than gaining by the same amount.

Advanced industrial economies are much worse at this than Blizzard. Look at the rows in Paris (and now Madison, Wisconsin) over entitlements.