kenjisan

WoW: Newbie Impressions

I find myself playing WoW in a way different from any other video game. Normally, I enjoy a good story. I enjoy immersing myself in the carefully crafted dramatic arc, the rising action, the climax, the resolution (usually rendered in beautiful CG). MMORPGs do not have this. Sure, there's a story. From what I understand, WoW has a fairly good story, fleshed out, told in segments by different NPCs as you fulfill your various quests. But the reality of this format is that it never allows for a surpreme conflict between Good and Evil. There will be no Final Battle. There is no Final Boss.

And because of this reality, I play the game like it's a game, ever conscious of the next level, my amount of silver, my stats and my equipment. My immersion is different from the movie-theatre-like immersion of a Japanese RPG. In a more linear-based RPG, I am riveted by a crazy story that involves an evil queen trying to collapse time from her throne at the edge of the universe, my mouth salivating at the knowledge that before the credits roll, I'd be able to save all of existence from destruction. In an MMO, I get caught up in the expansiveness of the world, of trying to do well at my job (as healer), of trying to stay alive.

It's an interesting trade off. Before playing WoW, I'm not sure I would have said it was a good trade off. For now, I'll reserve my judgement and look forward to the next time I get to run through the world, hurling Holy Smites and Lesser Heals like a hack writer and his weather-based analogies.