Note: I wrote this for extra credit in a philosophy course. I posted it here because I thought some might find it interesting. I’m not trying to flame. That is all.
Friedrich Nietzsche believed in what he called the “Will to Power.” Building upon other philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer who believed in a more basic “will to live,” Nietzsche believed that human beings are driven by ambition, achievement, and exerting one’s own power of others. While other philosophers argued that human being are furthered by a will to survive, Nietzsche took it further by saying man does not want to simply survive, but to dominate. To this end, man subjected the beasts under him, developed animal husbandry, and once the beasts of the field were conquered, he turned on his fellow man, the strong enslaving the weak, thus developing separate classes, where the rich and powerful preside over the meek and oppressed.
Believe it or not, such ideas are commonplace in today’s modern MMO scene. As opposed to single player games, where the enjoyment and action of the game comes from within, MMOs force the player to compete against other gamers, and by doing so they bring that animal drive to succeed and become better than others into the game. By making the game’s focus competition between players, MMOs appeal to general human nature, and the people that play these games derive enjoyment not from simple fun or action, but more from achievement and forward progress, just as we do in life.
For example, anyone who has ever mined minerals or gathered crafting supplies in any MMO knows of the commonly used expression “The Grind.” This term generally refers to running around, sometimes for hours at a time, searching for mineral veins/plants/whatever to consume. WOW was not the first game to utilize this mechanic but they did it right. Mineral veins were scarce and when a player found them and used them, they disappeared from the map. Running around was never very fun; the point of this being not the “playing of the game,” but instead the grabbing of the mineral vein and making it yours. When it occurred to you that there was a finite number of these resources on the map, then it also occurred to you that any minerals you harvested could not be harvested by others, and that effectively meant that you became more powerful and others didn’t.
This system was changed in Guild Wars 2 to allow mineral veins to be used by anyone who happened across them, not disappearing but simply waiting in everyone’s own instance of the game, for the user to come across and harvest. Whether players are conscious of this or not, this cheapens the experience. Instead of satisfying that urge to become better than others, there is instead a feeling like it is a chore, or something that one has to do to simply stay at par with other players. There is something far too easy about it, and things that are easy bear little value. While it may provide more snappy “fun” by allowing everyone the experience of mining, there is no achievement or reward to outsmarting or outmaneuvering your fellow players. There is no satisfaction of a challenge.
Items are treated the same way in Guild Wars 2. Upon hitting 80, you can acquire a set of gear that is optimal for one specc, and all upgrades from then on will simply be changes that will make the gear optimal for another specc instead of “better” overall. Someone on these boards said it best by describing it as moving “sideways” instead of “upward.” This was Guild Wars intent, to provide a fair basis for game play but by doing this, they are trying to deny human nature. For people to continue playing a game, they need to believe that by doing so, they will become better than other players. WOW did this correctly as well. Once you maxed character level in the original game, you had to run dungeons with other people, and bosses dropped one item that only one person received. Some people thought this unfair but guess what? LIFE ISN’T FAIR. Expecting a game to be fair and balanced is expecting an experience that will run counter to your own human nature to excel. Items derive value from their scarcity. This made getting a legendary weapon from old school Molten Core or Black Wing Lair practically orgasmic. You could take pride in being one of the handful of players on your server to own that weapon.
Nice work getting to write about video games!