Are Europeans better at gaming?
by Amanda Rivera 
Jun 9th 2007 at 5:01PM
When a forum troll puts up a thread on the forums I usually ignore them. But this intrigued me enough to read on and pass on the thread to you. Essentially the troll started out by asking where Death and Taxes is lately in the world firsts list. Honestly it's been a while since we've seen them. However, one could make the argument that Nihilum's list of world firsts are essentially all in one run of the Black Temple, and if they happen to get there first then naturally every boss they down will again be a, err, first. However, Nihilum has definitely been making the headlines, as has Curse, leaving the American guild Death and Taxes no where to be seen. Perhaps they are spending their time pushing through the PvP ranks, who knows.
Where the thread began as a discussion on the top raiding guilds, it then turned into an interesting argument: are Europeans better at gaming? Of course, the original poster went so far as to say that since Europeans are better at WoW they must therefore be better at everything. In a small way I can see how WoW might be considered a microcosm of the outside world, but I don't really see how we can use the game as a benchmark for world superiority of one group of people over another.
But I am intrigued by the original thought. Are somehow European guilds better equipped culturally to excel at gaming? Is there something in the culture of the Europeans that makes them more able to excel at the end game than Americans?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Chris M Jun 9th 2007 5:09PM
UK > US - hands down, and I'm an American.
No but seriously- and this is based solely off my time spent in England, Europeans seem to be less stupid than us. I'm not saying we're all idiots, but there is definitely a noticeable difference in intelligence between laypeople here and there. I think if you rounded up 10 random Europeans and matched them against Americans in some sort of test- they would come ahead of us..
This is purely speculation. I noticed a sense of overwhelming maturity and a simple air of nonchalant in everything that happens there. Again, more of my opinion.
I firmly believe that Europe > US of A in everything, so I'm biased.
Except hamburgers and fries I'm sure.
Chris
drstevebrule Jun 9th 2007 5:21PM
uhh.. did it ever occur to people in why these guilds are so far ahead of everyone else? hmm...? well if you were bright enough (and i'm american) you would know the fact that guilds like nihilum and curse did EXCESSIVE TESTING ON THE PTR. they did all the way up to lady shaz or what's her name and killed bosses in hyjal already. they know all the tricks and strats. also clearing ssc months before bt even came out to get your guild geared up.. seriously, it isn't that hard to figure out.
guild i'm in, we downed magtheridon just before the patch and even then he was kinda a bitch. but now we've entered ssc and cleared all the way up to leo the blind in the first week, pretty good i guess eh?
it's all about who wants to be dedicated to their game and not be casual about it.
Sylvina Jun 9th 2007 5:21PM
Well, if I remember right, Americans have the least amount of vacation time throughout the world, I think the only other country that works as hard as us would be Japan. Other countries have CRAZY vacation time from work and such, and therefore perhaps have more time available to take a paid day off from work to play WoW.
www.chillinwithmygnomies.com Jun 9th 2007 5:27PM
I don't know about gaming prowess, but let me tell you something about the regionalisation of WoW.
I started playing when it was released in the USA, but I lived in Asia, so I played on USA servers.
A year after release, the USA servers gained 3 new servers, flagged for Oceania - so I rerolled.
8 months after that, I returned to the UK and purchased Euro WoW, abandoning my USA account due to the hard-to-manage time differences.
In my opinion, the players have become nicer, politer, more courteous, friendlier to play with and, generally, all round "nicer" as I've progressed through my accounts and servers.
Just my observations, don't mean to put American's down, just the way I've seen things go.
Tarll Jun 9th 2007 5:28PM
An interesting perspective is this. Europeans may have an advantage in WoW due to basic cultrual diffrence. What I mean is from a very young age Americans are tought to be independant, assertive, and ambitous. These very qualities maybe a poor match for WoW considering most end game content is focused on long term relation ships with a large group of people. I wonder how US and Europeans compair as far as members leaving and guilds breaking up?
or it could always be that Europeans simple workless than Americans do.
Junipero Jun 9th 2007 5:28PM
Yea, Europe sure is greater cuz we're all watching their movies, listening to their music, playing their computer games.
oh wait......
www.chillinwithmygnomies.com Jun 9th 2007 5:43PM
BTW, @2 - having less holidays in the USA doesn't mean you work harder, it just means you work more, there is a *very* big difference...
jaysee Jun 9th 2007 5:51PM
Its an old and ongoing argument that I remember seeing way back from the Quake 2 days and the first organized e-sports type competitions. Europeans do tend to on average to place better in competitive gaming (i have no evidence to back this up, but i'm sure it can be dug up) but does that mean they are better at gaming?
www.chillinwithmygnomies.com Jun 9th 2007 5:57PM
You know, giving it some thought, I barely even think of WOW as a "game" - compared to other games - lets say C&C or Crackdown or Doom - it's incredibly easy. There really isn't that much challenge, and there's no real penalty for "failure". The only bit of WOW that is "gaming" in the traditional sense is Arenas.
MartinC Jun 9th 2007 6:12PM
Sigh. When will people recognize that time spent playing a game != skill. Many times I see the same argument for PVP, someone stating, "I have 10k more kills than you! Therefore I am a better player!" Uhhhh, no. Same thing with gear. Getting great gear doesn't make you a better player. And spending endless hours playing, trying to accomplish "world firsts" does not make you a better player. It just means you have wasted more time playing. Maybe the question should be, "Do Europeans waste more of their lives playing WoW, and take more time to accomplish the same thing as other countries?"
Death and Taxes is a fine guild. Trying to discredit them for not acccomplishing world firsts is crazy. It's like the people who grinded to 70, without doing any instances, then they try to do a lev65 instance, and wipe repeatedly. I'd much rather team with a group of knowledgable players at lev65, who have skill (not gear or levels), and can complete level appropriate instances. Will we be the first to defeat the uber boss in that uber instance? No, but when we get there, we will likely take him down the first time.
Tumples Jun 9th 2007 6:24PM
@6. Yeah america is sure greater since theyre making peace and not killing thousands of people
Oh wait....
SShoot3r Jun 9th 2007 6:43PM
@7 Americans work a lot harder than Europeans. I can say this because I traveled throughout Europe over the length of two summers and I cannot explain how lazy and foolish Europeans are. My father who has worked hard all his life and now is very successful was disturbed at how Europeans were so lazy. Europeans cannot compete with the work ethic of an American.
SShoot3r Jun 9th 2007 6:46PM
I'm glad American's aren't the "Best" Gamers. Who wants to be the "best" at gaming? Look at the Koreans...freckin nerds.
Michel Jun 9th 2007 6:47PM
the whole thread and others about "first kill and european" are just a bunch of racial/xenophobic/nationalist/stupid/hainous debates.
I read horrible, just horrible things on the american wow forum (and I cannot fathom What I would read on the corean, european and chinese one).
I even read many people speculating it's the whole World War One which explains why european are some whining lazy bitch only playing (yeah, and gold is everywhere on trees in Europa, you should come to see. bring on the glasses).
we don't fucking care if there are "better" people, there are only one humanity.
and it's just _pure_ accident if in ONE damn game there are a FEW european first in killing of virtual characters !!
PLEASE Americans!! be assure you have still great life, great women/man to marry and great children to have!
even if Nihilum killed Illidan !
your life is fine!
ho, and yeah, if we want to play the game of "trashing countries" I'm very strong in "trashing usa for wrongdoings" but I can do that with _Every_ country. (even Tibet). it's not an excuse, because everyone will assume every wrong but there are nothing wrong by nature, intrinsically . nothing worse than others.
it's just a damn gratuitous fact a guild with more time/better gear/more dedicated people is european.
it could be asians, or american.. nothing more. nothing to debate, nothing to justify, nothing to nothing.
you should know Nihilum spend times in PTR realms. working with blizzard, they _already_ knew what to do when the live servers were on. please. it's not European Mojo ! (I have mojo, only me, because I'm from Corsica, you cannot understand, thanks my mojo)
yeah, I love where I live and there are many beautiful things in Europa, but please, don't think of it only in jealousy about a game or if Europa is better or worse than whatever countries. just love the countries for what they are. no more competition for stupidity.
the thing is : "damn! it's still human who plays the better ! where are the gorilla team ??" (well, the gorilla team is busy to find something to eat, to keep the territory and to hide from human playing the game of hunting everything)
---
and please be stay on EARTH !
""Well, if I remember right, Americans have the least amount of vacation time throughout the world(...)"
you remember WRONG or you're living in your tiny planet named whatever american-town you believe.
others countries have NOT "crazy vacation", there are different rythmes. for example, I can have more vacation days than typical americans, but I work more hours by day and have less money (but I have compensation in other ways, nothing to make a fuss ! )
Japanese are not mad coconuts on works, they have a different society where works is lived differently. and they still have choice ! they have vacations, many choose to not take it.
it's just diversity of the same thing.
--
to summarize, the whole "nihilium/curse/dead and taxes debate" :
it's just jealousy
it's just nationalism
it's just hate
it's just artificial walls between people
SShoot3r Jun 10th 2007 2:51AM
@1 Well we can all see how you are (very) bias. It's your opinion but it just shows your ignorance in such topic. By stating Europeans > US of A you just lost all credibility.
Barnabas Jun 9th 2007 7:04PM
Yeah I have to agree with the Europeans. Americans are fat, lazy and don't care about killing Blizzard's stupid bosses first. It's summer time. We go outside and enjoy it. Nihilum probably is now, since they are finished with Black Temple or will they kill the buffed Archimonde and ruin my summer even more?
Come fellow Americans, let's band together and prove the Europeans wrong. Oh wait, we have 4 or 5 US realm guilds in the top 10. Yeah we totally suck at gaming. :P
jazmacfaz99 Jun 9th 2007 7:11PM
@SShoot3r
Oh yes, you can judge the work ethics of an entire content (most of which you have not, and never will see) after spending a few weeks/months there and listening to what daddy says. You cannot generalise europe like that, and calling us all foolish makes you seem like some kind of ignorant American, i suppose that is not far from the truth. The fact that your country is so young really shows in the attitude of people like you, thinking quality begins and ends within your borders.
Dominara Jun 9th 2007 7:18PM
In the UK its generally 2 weeks a year holiday, and we work the longest hours in work. So americans work longer stuff is just generalising bullshit.
Mr. Tee Jun 9th 2007 7:21PM
It's all fun and games till WoW Insider goes nationalist.
Having a topic like this on a blog for a game who's 90% of player population isn't even eligible for a drivers license is like opening Pandora's box.
My dad can beat up your dad, and my continent is better than yours because we're taught that way. Right.
WoWInsider, please think twice before posting stuff like this.
Dominara Jun 9th 2007 7:23PM
*Above comment should have said longest hours in europe... :)