Blizzard: no player-created quests for you!
by Barb Dybwad 
Jan 17th 2007 at 7:22PM
I noticed this post with a good discussion thread about the idea of player-created quests, and it reminded me to mention a blurb I read recently in issue #2 of MASSIVE Magazine (which, if you haven't picked up yet, I highly recommend if you have a general interest in MMOs). In an article on DIY MMOs, there's a sidebar with quotes from Frank Pierce, Blizzard's SVP of product development, in which he states point blank that the company isn't looking into the idea of player-created content for World of Warcraft. "The game is built pretty tightly around the look and feel of the WarCraft universe as well as its lore... and it's important to us and to our players to maintain the integrity of those elements." He does go on to mention that, in general, player-created content could be very successful if the game were "designed from the ground up" to incorporate it. So, while Blizzard may someday put out a game involving user-generated quests, World of Warcraft likely won't be it. What's your take -- do you have dreams of writing your own quest lines? Do you think WoW could benefit from player-created content? Or do you prefer the Warcraft lore to be managed exclusively by Blizzard?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Quests, Lore
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peterpeter Jan 17th 2007 7:52PM
I like this idea, my first quest line would be.
Hogger stole my bag of gold. I need you to kill hogger for revenge and farm 5000g and return to me and you will recieve the most epic of rewards.
And the reward would be me death coiling them and my felguard beating them up.So the real reward was a lesson. Don't trust Warlocks!
Tigraine Jan 17th 2007 7:55PM
It simply wouldn't be possible in the current WoW universe.
What point would there be to do a quest where there is no reward in it? And you can't give a reward on quests the players did as long as blizz didn't evaluate that quest to see if the reward that should be given is appropriate (like Ashkandi for killing Hogger 3 times wouldn't be right, right?)
And Player-Quests are possible, they do it on RP realms all the time.
Trogg Jan 17th 2007 8:07PM
Yeah, first post was a pretty good example of what Blizz wants to avoid. ;)
There is actually an addon for WoW (or *was* one) that allowed players to make their own "collection" or "kill x" quests for other players. Of course these quests were not integrated into the server, did not give XP, and any rewards had to be supplied by the person making the quest, but these can be fun for a group of friends who like to entertain eachother, or guilds looking to create "initiation" quests (or maybe even DKP-type farming quests for the guild bank)...
It could be fun but I see why Blizz has better things to do.
Brodie Jan 17th 2007 9:57PM
Yeah, leave it to the pros.
RogueJedi86 Jan 18th 2007 8:30AM
When newbies beg for cash, I try to see if they'll take up a quest for me. I ask for 50 bear/wolf pelts(in Dun Morogh), and say I'll give 1G for it. They usually won't do it.
Geoff Jan 18th 2007 6:04PM
Players can create quests. It's called the trade channel :)
Eric Rice Jan 19th 2007 11:07PM
There's a team that's made a mini-WoW in Second Life called "Darklife", and interestingly, they've expressed interest in licensing it and having it skinned-- so essentially, we could see a cyberpunk-era Azeroth-like world (*swoon*) (and that's kinda happening now in SL.
Can an entire generation stand up to the task of making stellar content on the same level as Blizzard? (This isn't about SL, it's about the *process* that occurs when people collaborate, build, etc)
I'm glad I don't have to build all of Azeroth and THEN play it, but I'd certainly love to add to a quest or perhaps even build a simple cottage in the woods in Darnassus. Add some common land? Maybe a PvP commons? Moonglade Commons? Iono, just random thoughts.
Give it a few years and I think we'll see this as an option in many MMOs.