Player Entitlement
Warning: Effy rant INC! You have been warned.
It seems to me lately there has been a lot of bad attitude aimed at several of the MMO companies, most obviously Blizzard – since I play and read about both WoW and D3 most. From what I have read and observed, it really comes down to, in most cases, a ballooned sense of Player Entitlement, which can be broken up into a few categories:
- I’m Bored/Not Having Fun!
- This Is Too Hard/Too Easy!
- I Want My Lewts!
- What Have You Done For Me Lately?!
I’m Bored/Not Having Fun!
It is not the game company’s fault if you cannot find something to do.
There are quests, dailies, professions, raiding, dungeons, achievements, farming, leveling, transmog, holiday events, trying a new spec, trying a new character, TRYING A NEW GAME, etc. etc. etc. (Did I miss anything? lol)
Heck, you can do something that is not a game – there is that “outdoors” thing if you are so bored.
If whatever game you are in at that moment is not flying your kite – go do something else! No one is holding a gun to your head to play.
If you have moved on from enjoyment in something, it is time to find another source of enjoyment. Your playtime is yours and yours alone, and no one is forcing you in how you spend that time.
Certainly not the big, bad game companies.
You hardly have the right to ruin my gaming experience doing something I enjoy because you would rather complain than to do something about it. Leave me to my own fun.
Stop complaining, and go do something else.
This Is Too Hard/Too Easy!
You are not entitled to see all of the content of a game on every difficulty.
Progressing and clearing content and winning epic lewts is the effort of one or many working at and overcoming obstacles. Slaying big, bad internet dragons, if you will. Sometimes it takes a simple amount of effort, and sometimes it is an epic and difficult adventure that requires teamwork, research, hard work, and reevaluation of skills/playstyle/gear.
There is absolutely ZERO chance that any gaming company is going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Some will complain things are too hard, some will complain that things are too easy. Some will be unable to get through entire content, while others will complete in a very short time.
This is why Blizzard, for one, uses multiple difficulty levels. I commend them for this. This allows a larger range of players to see the full storyline of the game. This is a great thing.
But you are not entitled to be able to accomplish the game on all difficulty levels.
As for the “Too Easy” crowd, just like the “I’m Bored” crowd, no one is forcing you to play. Go find something else to flex your epeen at.
I Want My Lewts!
Just as you are not entitled to be able to clear all content on all difficulties, you are not entitled to loot – any loot, and certainly not Heroic loot.
Heck, I do not think anyone is entitled to epic loot.
One thing that annoys the crap out of me is that people seem to forget that in Cataclysm 4.0, we started raiding in BLUES. There is nothing wrong with that. That seems to me how the start of an expansion should be.
I wish they had never introduced dungeons with epics, honestly.
But back to my point…
Sure, you can attempt to do the work required to get the loot, just like everyone else.
Then, you can roll on that loot, just like everyone else.
I definitely do NOT agree with a point made recently that if you come in at the end of a dungeon run, you are not entitled to the loot. Sure, I agree it is frustrating to wipe several times especially in a longer dungeon and then remove a problem person, get a replacement and have them win a piece you needed too.
Life (and RNG) is not always fair.
But that new person is no less able to roll on the loot than you.
What kind of incentive is it to have someone come into dungeon and be told they cannot roll on loot because you were there longer? I know I would not stay.
What Have You Done For Me Lately?!
It is not the game company’s job to tell you how to play your toon.
It is the game company’s job to provide a product and support to that product. How you play the game, is up to you, as long as you are not breaking rules that disrupt the stability of the game or the enjoyment of others.
If you want to trial and error your way through, that is your prerogative. If you want to look at the game’s guide online, that is your prerogative. If you want to Google search your class/spec/stats/gear or quests or reputation or bosses, that is your prerogative.
That is what is great about MMO’s having a community of gamers.
Is that not why theory-crafters theory-craft? Is that not why many bloggers blog?
And let me point out, Blizzard is not alone in expecting that their players will seek information from the community more likely than through their simple Game Guide.
We will use the WoW – Mage as an example, as this fairly easily translates to classes in other games:
- TERA – Sorcerer
- Guild Wars 2 – Elementalist
- Lord of the Rings Online – Lore-master
- RIFT – Mage Elementalist Spec
- The Secret World (Heck, this game does not even have classes/levels and I have absolutely NO idea what that means for game play. lol)
I do not see any of these game companies giving long, drawn out discussions of “These are the stats you need” and “This is the rotation you should use” and “This is how you fit into a group, doing this…” in their game guides. Nor should they.
That is what the community is for.
What happened to the guild unit being a source of information to new players? What is wrong with peer interaction to improve a player’s performance, and perhaps even enjoyment, of the game?
MMO’s are social games!
We have no idea a person’s skills, experience, or time played in MMO’s – unless we actually ASK! Who knows where the information this person is referring to came from? Who are we to judge their skills/spec/stats/gear without first learning something about them?
All in all, it is ultimately up to the player to direct their play, but we (ie. the community) are here to pass on our knowledge to those who wish to learn.
Final Thoughts
Uh oh… Well, Laz is now patronizingly patting me and telling me, “Less rawr, more meow.”
/rant 🙂
I tried to keep this kind of short, but I do think I got my points across.
~ Effy
What are your thoughts on “Player Entitlement” and how far game companies should go to accommodate their widely diverse players?
- Posted in: Diablo 3 ♦ Personal Thoughts ♦ WoW Stuff
Effraeti's RP 
Lots of entitlement in my own world right now, including from myself: “I have worked really hard for this, poured out my heart and soul, blah blah blah…” It is a fine balance between dusting off one’s tail and moving on, and hoping someone else cares about us, too. But ultimately–if you don’t ask for something, the answer is automatically “no.” As my colleague reminds me to ask myself with each new personal battle, “Is this the hill you want to die on?” I think many of us, including myself, forget that not every hill is worth dying on, molehills and mountains and all that. I can wish for stuff, though, can’t I? Like epic fun with only one other player? Azeroth game play does not make me feel sea-sick, so there are some physical limitations to game play for me. Skyrim makes me feel like I’m on the back end of a tuna boat. Not good. But your point is well taken – there is that whole “outside” things. (Damn you pollen! DAMN YOU TO HELL!) And heaven forbid we pick up a book once in awhile! Literacy is for chumps. There is another choice, one I take from time to time, I just don’t read the news/forums, etc., and sweep away negativity. Now, time to go outside. Hey, there’s air out here! Yea!
Oh I agree. I am not without my own, “OMG, drop you *bleep bleep bleep*!” And at the same time, I also realize the haters and complainers are usually the loudest when it comes to speaking their mind. So I know I should not let myself get all worked up.
But I am me, and so I do. 😛
What a curious and thought-provoking expression: “Is this the hill you want to die on?” I suppose put that way, maybe I could convince myself to let more go. heh
I just believe in spending my free time on stuff I enjoy, and if I am not enjoying myself that means it is time to reassess and figure out what would be more enjoyable.
There is sun out there too, I hear. 😉
~ Effy
First off, bravo! Great post, and more rawr, less meow is sometimes a good thing ^ ^
I am of the mindset that a game company should be completely transparent from the outset in what “kind” of game they are trying to make, and then sticking to their guns no matter what. For instance, if a company wants to make a game that is not designed around balance, with the notion that perhaps their will be a player class that is so powerful you need three players to take them down; that company should STICK to that, and not apply any balancing at all to the PVP mechanics.
Likewise, companies need to acknowledge, publicly, from the outset, they cannot please everyone and will not try to. Blizzard has always wanted to please everyone. Like that or hate that, they have done a good job of it for the most part, but in no aspect of life can you please everyone.
Sometimes, you just need to put your foot down and say “no” when someone asks for something. If you do that consistently, and publicly, and openly, eventually the community will level out to players who know what to expect.
Thank you for the comment, and the support. 🙂
I have to mostly agree with you on the never change, never falter, stick to you guns part.
I think MMO’s gave players a feeling of empowerment in a more dynamic game setting than single player, non-online games, and they have in turn come to abuse this privilege. Back in the days of Zelda and King’s Quest and Neverwinter Nights, you could not jump on a forum, and whine and complain, “OMG, this game is so HARD!”
No one nerfed the game for you so you could beat it. You put in the time and effort, or you put it aside. And I think this is something that is blatantly absent from the current gaming scene.
Take D3 for example. People complain it is not single-player only and that you have to get online to play. But if it was not available to patch regularly, what good would it do for all these people to whine and complain about classes and loot and Inferno mode?
However, there are certain times when a game company can admit a change or mechanic or class skill was in bad judgment or that something just is not working as they meant it to, and I think that is noble. Sometimes, things do not look as good in the flesh as they did on paper. And when it comes to millions of people playing in thousands of scenarios, then sometimes things need tweaking. Sometimes, people abuse the system.
On the other hand, I silently applauded the Rift developers for standing their ground when soon after its release they met the whining PvP masses with a snicker and a “get over it.” They basically told the player base that if they were dying in PvP – change your gear, change your spec, or get a friend, cuz PvP is not changing.
There is a compromise, I think. I do not think game companies should bend to those who complain the loudest. But on the other hand, sometimes the players have good insight into what works and what does not.
Numbers can also be an indicator – though, I cringe to say that DPS/HPS numbers should affect change.
More of what I mean is player numbers. If 90% of DPS players are playing ranged classes, then there is likely something to that.
For example, I think with Mists coming out soon and new dungeons and raids and mechanics, they have a great opportunity to shift the game more in favor of melee – finally. More damage is nice, meh. But when they are now adding ANOTHER melee class (Monks) to a raiding setting where melee are already pushed into the minority – this really seems like a make or break point to me to give raids a reason to prefer melee again.
Oh look, I made a whole new post. ><
~ Effy
That was absolutely another post, right there 🙂
LOL at the DOUBLE post I got to read 🙂
Great post my friend. Sums up all those things I thought but didn’t know how to say.
Thanks, Navi. Glad I have friends who appreciate my candid nature. 😉
~ Effy
I agree with every word you said.
In the end, it all really comes down to point one, a.k.a if you don’t like it (or any big enough part of it), don’t play it.
Well said! You are far more succinct than I. 🙂
~ Effy