I have an unflattering nickname amongst my real life friends, and that nickname is “Donkey”. It was inspired by my stubbornness and independent streak, and is usually found in the phrase “Nobody tells Donkey what to do!”. And lord, some of the pro-Guild Wars 2 folks I’ve encountered over the past week are making me feel particularly donkey-ish. It’s unusual for me to be contradictory to popular opinion — my tastes are often easy to please, I guess — but I’m starting to feel like me and some of the other people who are still unsure about the game should develop a secret handshake or something.
Enjoying or not enjoying a game is a personal decision. Heck, even that is being too restrictive and binary: most people just fall somewhere on the enjoyment scale. My reasons for not enjoying the game belong to me, and I don’t claim to know or agree with why anyone else might not be enjoying the game. A game that is too punishing for you might be good old school fun for me. A game that has endless opportunity might feel like freedom to one player and crippling overwhelming choice to another.
The best we can do is play a game, read a few things, have a think, and throw in a dash of emotional response. How I approach that conundrum will change based on what I’ve played previously, what I’ve read about the game, even just what I’ve absorbed from fellow bloggers about MMOs in general. It is very conceivable for everyone to come away with a different genuine response.
I’ve been watching negative or unsure forum posts and blog entries (by people who are not me) be swarmed by angry fan bees everywhere this week. Some dude on Massively is even unironically yelling at naysayers by calling the game “MMO Jesus”! My (unwanted) advice is for Guild Wars 2 defenders to not tell people they’re just playing wrong, or haven’t played enough (of a game in limited beta no less), or accuse them of “not trying” or being that most horrible of creatures, a “WoW fan”. Stop speaking in the imperative about a personal, subjective matter. Shouting, “No you’re just wrong this game is awesome!” does not actually make anyone wrong or the game more awesome.
Remember during the launch of SWTOR when I wrote a post to the hater crowd, telling them to mellow out and let people enjoy the damn game if they wanted to? I feel like we’ve gone through the looking glass here. Mellow out and let people not like Guild Wars 2 if they in fact don’t. The more you tell me how the game is really awesome and I am just too stupid or illogical to realize it, the more Donkey will never ever play it in a million years.
Herding Cats is the blog of Liore, known in the real world as Jessica Cook. She writes mostly about MMOs and RPGs, and believes in 
…Donkey? lol! :D well, actually both donkey in Shrek and Eeyore are awesome characters, so that’s some great company! ;) I have a similar reaction to you when it comes to stuff like popular classes, races or best builds in MMOs – they’re usually a big turnoff to me.
I agree with you that the voices about GW2 are very controversial at the moment, especially on the official boards; blind fanboyism clashes with a hate crowd. I don’t understand why anyone could either utterly *hate* or unconditionally *love* the game at this point – hey, we’re still in the beta stage….anyone?
I admit I’m personally a little vexed by those comments where people display zero willingness to learn a new system or keep asking ArenaNet to change designs that are fundamental part of the whole game. it’s just the type of lazy entitlement act that gets me on edge pretty fast.
on the other hand a lot of people just write about their negative experiences and that’s completely fine. I’m happy to try and share some enthusiasm if I can or offer tips, but I’m not trying to convince anybody that they’re wrong if the game simply doesn’t appeal to them. that would be errr….silly.
In any case, you shouldn’t have to defend yourself for not liking things much this far! and lol@MMO Jesus.
Syl´s last post: [GW2] Pacing and experience points
Oh, good point about Shrek and Eeyore! Heheheheh.
I can totally understand being put off when someone just automatically shuts down something new, or doesn’t put any thought into their opinion. That would be totally obnoxoius! And I’ve said this before, but I like your enthusiasm! There are some folks in my guild who are REALLY excited for this game, and that’s awesome.
I think “wrong” doesn’t really have a place in an opinion about a game, though. Well, okay, unless maybe it’s “Guild Wars 2 is the worst turn-based first person shooter ever!”. That’s wrong. Otherwise, opinions both positive and negative are cool with me (and you, and most people reading this :) ).
That’s very true – there’s no wrong opinions, only more or less informed ones maybe. I think it’s human that if we’d like others to have the same positive experiences like we do (sharing fun is kinda win), we first assume / hope that their opinion is changeable, maybe via more information or at least comparing notes. If the result is the same though, one has to absolutely accept that.
I admit, I’d much rather see you have fun with GW2 too :) (ARE YOU REALLY SURE?) I always think of you as one of my closest blogging neighbours, so I feel just as bad about my positive hypey posts as you do with the opposite lol. It would just be so much more fun to be all yeye together, haha! (LIKE SURESURE??)
So, I hope you’ll forgive me if every now and then I probe a little for a chance to rekindle that enthusiasm! Not that I am all decided myself – after the month of woe I’ve been through, the beta did have good timing.
Hehe, I don’t mind at all, Syl! I glad you’re feeling better about the state of MMOs. We are totally blogging neighbours, and I like hearing about it when you’re excited for a game. :)
MMOs (and FPSs too now that I think about it) are really interesting in that critical mass is such a powerful part of the attraction. It would be so cool if everyone could have fun in one game again, and I totally understand wishing it would happen.
Can you share the secret handshake with me??!
pasmith´s last post: Krater first look
I hope my post wasn’t taken that way! I certainly don’t think you’re wrong for your personal assessment of the game at all. I am very enthusiastic about GW2, but I completely understand what it is like to feel under-awed by a game (I went through something similar with Warhammer, LOTRO and Rift.) I think it’s more visible now because the WoWBlogosphere is definitely more of a multi-game space than it used to be. There are many WoW blogs, but a lot of them will now ALSO discuss another MMO. 2-3 years ago it seemed a lot more insular.
Pewter´s last post: [MMOs] When is a digital world a soulless world?
Not at all, Pewter! I agree that “soulless” is a strange way to describe a video game and I was really interested to read your further examination of the idea. And I’m glad you’ve had fun with GW2.
I like reading about all the different MMOs now on blogs, but I think it’s also amplified the industry hype cycle. There’s general sense for some that a game will be “the next WoW”, the next critical mass moment… committing to a big name game can feel like betting on a pony.
Again, I agree. I experienced that with Rift – it really felt amazing and then suddenly it was so ‘soulless’ for me ;) And with SWTOR, it’s very easy for bloggers to start seeing the cycles when we’ve been around for more than a year. The nice thing about GW2 is I can treat it like a box game, as long as I get at least 30-40 hours worth of entertainment out of it I’ll be happy.
Pewter´s last post: [MMOs] When is a digital world a soulless world?
I’m not surprised at all that there are people who don’t like GW2. I think the game will either really appeal to people or not, and for the same reasons.
Pai´s last post: [Screenwriters Fail at Game Writing]
/secret_handshake
It’s great, isn’t it, when one’s grievances are described as “it’s just the type of lazy entitlement act”? I mean, that almost implies that there is no such thing as bad design at all – especially in GW2 – since awkward pacing and the like is merely a sign the player not bothering to put enough effort into it. “Nobody met Duke Nukem Forever halfway!!1!”
I dunno. I can see the argument going the other way too, vis-a-vis whether certain expectations are reasonable or not. Although I must ask: if a player is “playing the game wrong,” whose fault is that?
Something to think about.
Azuriel´s last post: The Problem with GW2′s Questing
Ha! The responses to your most recent posts were part of what inspired mine, in fact. I was really amused when someone said that clearly you just weren’t trying hard enough to play the game. Play harder, dammit, otherwise you’ll never see level 4!
Can I get in on the secret handshake, too?
I didn’t care for GW1. I reached the level cap, hoped it would get better, and was disappointed. If herds of Cats are still playing GW2 a few months after launch and are giving it rave reviews, I’ll certainly reconsider.
I don’t have the time to be an early adopter/crash test dummy for every game out there.
Come on, these games are GAMES! Let people enjoy what they want to, and avoid what they don’t. Get a grip, people.
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