Why theft is so controversial in online gaming



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Other games introduced theft years after launch and changed forever with the ruling. World of warcraft began offering flight-capable animal mounts with its Burning Crusade expansion in 2007. The theft was immediately controversial. To ride a super fast “Gryphon”, players had to reach level 70 and drop some serious gold on a rare or epic quality mount. At first, only those high-level players with a deep wallet could access the right mounts, which in turn allowed them to dodge deadly monsters, dominate the best resource extraction sites, and even get away from opponents. in player versus player battles. Poorer and less experienced players were constantly reminded of their lower status by running magical beasts.

Some players have argued that the theft made World of warcraft feel more “minimally” than “massively” multiplayer. “It was such a sudden shock to people,” said Jessica St. John, a Twitch MMORPG streamer named Zepla. “Everyone was on the pitch together, going from place to place together. Once the flight is introduced World of warcraft, I felt that people were more disconnected. Players who were simply chatting with each other in-game would idle over towns in their flying mounts instead of standing in the crowd near the auction house. Some players felt exhausted World of warcraftthe sense of community presence.

“The world seems a little more populated when everything is happening on a slower, smaller scale,” says Hazzikostas. “You can see someone next to you. They are not 50 meters above you. So there is no doubt that adding this extra dimension has the effect of making some of our cities a little more empty. “

Closeness created connection, or at least the feeling of it. The challenge too. To cross difficult areas saturated with high level monsters, Final Fantasy XI players often asked each other to escort them manually, prompting them to form social bonds. Throwing a party in the right cave full of lizards might require 10 minutes of treacherous walking travel, and if one party member died, everyone would have to wait for them to run back. What else was there to do but shoot the shit?

contrary to Final Fantasy XI, 2013 Final Fantasy XIV: A Kingdom Reborn has flying mounts, in addition to a host of ease-of-life mechanics that streamline the game. ‘ether’ – a knowledge of the winds of the region.) Not only can catgirls skate across islands on a broomstick; they can throw their names into a queue of random players that the in-game algorithms assemble into a dungeon raid match. Going from quest to quest or battle to battle is faster and smoother, but it’s also a socially fragmented experience. Once players take out a band of Birdmen as part of an active full-time event, or FATE, they can explode in all directions on flying mounts instead of traveling in packs of merry adventurers. Easier to play and less time consuming, Final Fantasy XIVUpgrades have made it more difficult to meet people through shared in-game circumstances.

“We are reducing the time they spend from point A to point B; by definition, you won’t see that many people because they too are going fast, ”Emmert explains. “It’s about the destination, not the journey.” Because it’s much more difficult for level designers to direct players to a location in three-dimensional space, his team designs landscapes and gameplay around points of interest, like social centers. There, perhaps, Type A players can meet people and check out their outfits.

However, “meeting people” may no longer be a primary function of MMORPGs. The days when players had to know each other intimately enough to share IRL phone numbers and coordinate raids are long gone; spend 30 minutes talking about life, night elves and everything in between on an escort mission through an icy tundra. “It’s chicken or egg: have we started to facilitate teamwork and it has become a success, and now it’s the norm? Or is it social pressure? said Emmert. “Do the players themselves want the illusion of connections, but without the commitment of connections? “

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