Collaborate Not Compete

For Azeroth

Last night while I slept Warlords of Draenor launched in the United States.  Once again the launch time was based on Pacific Standard Time meaning that it occurred at 2 in the morning for me.  I actually got to see some play last night from Qelric, due to the fact that this time it actually launched ahead of time for our European friends.  I think it is pretty awesome that finally it launched for them at the same time it was slotted to launch in other territories, it just meant that they technically got a head start.  In part I think this decision was influenced by the fact that with this expansion they have completely removed the concept of world and server firsts.  So while folks are hustling around like mad, presently there are nine people online in guild for example…  there really isn’t much of a broader point to it.

I think removing the world and server firsts was a good step, but I think it is so ingrained into the Warcraft culture to rush headlong towards the finish line.  My hope is that this will at least cause some of the players to slow down and enjoy the journey.  That said I realize I will probably level quickly… because I always seem to level quickly.  This is more of a necessity this time around since I am actively juggling two different games and trying to be available for grouping in both.  Unfortunately I will not really get to experience Draenor until after work, though I have popped in this morning to at least take a screenshot of the trio standing outside the Dark Portal.  I must admit that while I played in Alpha… nothing I did actually felt real.  This time around I will be actually working on things like Garrisons permanently, so I think a lot of the stickiness of this expansion will have more effect.

Awesome Communities

The other day I made a connection that I had failed to grasp until then, when a friend from twitter pointed something out to me.  For weeks I have been talking about just how amazing the community has been playing Final Fantasy XIV.  It is the little things, like the fact that the other morning I zoned into North Shroud looking for the B Rank Phecda.  It has been common place for me to /shout in zone asking if anyone has seen the spawn.  I had a pretty quick response from a player who not only gave me the location, but also hung out at the spawn point to help me kill it…  even though she didn’t need the kill.  Then a good ten minutes later, another person sent me a tell asking if I still needed it, because they just ran past the big bear.  This little Vignette plays out over and over… and I have added so many random strangers to my friends list through casual interaction like this.  There is this global sense that we are all in things together that I cherish.

If I had to rattle off the four best server communities I have been part of it would have to be Cactuar in Final Fantasy XIV, Landroval in Lord of the Rings Online, The Secret World (mega server), and Antonia Bayle in Everquest II.  In each case there have been so many positive random encounters that make living in those worlds enjoyable.  I’ve had completely random strangers run up to me in Bree on Landroval offering me crafted goods to help my leveling process.  I’ve had folks offer me a group during the various Everquest II holiday events, that then turn into multiple hour long treks through the world.  I’ve had random strangers stop me in the Secret World to tell me that they liked my outfit, and ask where I got various bits of it.  These casual interactions remind me of the way servers used to feel back during the early days when the MMOs were a little less “massive”.

Collaborate Not Compete

It was around this time in our conversation that my friend pointed a thread of connection between all of these games that I had never really noticed myself.  None of those games have real and meaningful faction rivalries.  Sure in The Secret World and Everquest II you have certain alliances, but largely this work out to be personal choices.  Being Templar versus being Illuminati is largely just a flavor choice, since from the moment you get out of London or New York you are grouping together and communicating freely.  Games like Final Fantasy XIV and Lord of the Rings online don’t even have these artificial divisions.  From the moment you start playing any of these games, you are instilled with this spirit that all of the players are ultimately battling something more sinister than they can imagine.  So it makes perfect sense to lend another player a helping hand along the way, since you are not competing against each other in any meaningful way.

There might be a certain measure of self sorting going on when it comes to players of these games as well.  Since none of the four really have a strong PVP aspect, that flavor of super competitive player is just not interested in playing them.  That means you are left with a more collaborative “role-playing server crowd” type player.  Ultimately this shared struggle, and spirit of cooperation has always been why I have self sorted myself onto Role-Playing servers, because in general this type of player is more prevalent there.  Essentially what I am coming to realize is that the awesome communities that I have held out as paragons against normal online gaming horribleness…  all exist for pretty similar reasons.  They are all environments that teach the players to get along with each other, rather than compete.

Collaborative Environments

To tie into today’s post, I am thankful that games exist that teach players to work together rather than work against each other.  So many games set up an artificial conflict between players, and try desperately to draw them into it.  As I said in my “Sandboxes and Sheep” post, these artificial faction boundaries have no meaning to me personally.  I have no real emotional ties to the Horde or the Alliance, other than the fact that I mostly chose Alliance because that is where the Dwarves were.  However this decision did not immediately make me hate the horde, in fact I have 11 Alliance characters on Argent Dawn… and 11 Horde characters on The Scyers… the realm that is connected to Argent Dawn.  Over years of playing on that server I made just as many friendships across the faction barrier as I did within my own pool of players.  In fact one of my key problems with World of Warcraft has always been that it made us choose sides in a war that was largely meaningless to us.

All of this is the reason why I am thankful that there are games that have transcended faction.  I was hugely impressed when Rift decided to abandon the artificial conflict with their “Faction as Fiction” patch removing the hard lines between Defiant and Guardian.  I think as a whole that game has been greatly improved for doing so.  More than that however I am thankful for the games that never put up those walls in the first place.  Eorzea is this wonderful land where the races don’t always get along, but they are not openly warring either…  because the writers have created a threat so great that in its face…  squabbles seem petty.  After  talking this whole situation through, I feel like this sort of environment really does breed a player willing to help others freely.  It is for that spirit,  that I am thankful for.  If you are actively making your community better, you are doing awesome work.