Stuff talks WoW stuff
by Alex Ziebart 
Jul 5th 2008 at 1:00PM
A story went up on stuff.co.nz about the World of Warcraft just yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised by what it had to say. I tend to go into these things with a level of caution, because most news stories that attempt to introduce you to WoW do so very poorly, especially on sites that aren't specifically for WoW. I expected this to be largely the same, and it actually did start out that way. The phrase '10 million obsessed teens' made me cringe. Luckily, it got better. While the summary of what WoW is has inaccuracies, it certainly isn't anything that would matter to people who haven't played the game. It wouldn't affect their gameplay any. Only us obsessed teens would make a fuss over something like that, and the article isn't really for us.
Overall, it's a pretty good summary of WoW for people who know little about it. It's definitely a social game, and if you don't want to be social or don't have time to invest social time into it, it isn't a game for you. I could have done without the partial endorsement of buying accounts, but... hey, whatcha gonna do?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Charlie Jul 5th 2008 1:21PM
Its an ok article. My biggest problem are the stereotypes (10 million addicted teens, when i'm not sure if half the population is under 20), and the fact that it negates the casual gamer.
A few of my good friends play, and they have all characters around level 40-50. The have been playing for about 4-6 months now. It really has taken them awhile to get to where they are, but they play really casually. They love to get on for an hour, do 2-3 quests, and then log off when they can.
Thats what the article missed, is that its heart wow is a casual game. There is an ability to do those kinds of things 1-69, and they are getting better at making thigns availble to truly casual gamers at the level cap.
Charlie Jul 5th 2008 1:36PM
Oh, and the buying accounts thing was BS as well.
Anyone who has never played the game before should never buy an account, your missing the greatest part of the game, the first time you level a char to the level cap.
I mean, people shouldn't buy accounts in general, but buying an account for a first timer is just stupid.
bachi Jul 5th 2008 1:48PM
"According to most dictionaries, wow is defined as an expression of surprise. However, if you asked around 10 million obsessed teens and young people to define the word,"
"with husband-wife teams common in game"
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contradiction
Iwanttobeasleep Jul 5th 2008 3:29PM
No, I think that article is pretty incompetent. It's full of inaccuracies that shouldn't be there, regardless of the audience. It's called journalism, and they're doing it wrong.
Magma Jul 5th 2008 3:32PM
“good” alliance or the “evil” horde? My ass, Theyre both more like different shades of gray, but if anything the alliance is more evil then the whole of the horde is.
kellzea Jul 5th 2008 6:44PM
i love it when stupid poeple get paid to write about things they dont know about. like when you have "news" about wars where they report 157 casualties in 3 years as "loosing the war" anywho i digress
its anoying enough trying to tell somone who doesnt play wow about wow when your a full time player yourself. but to have somone who clearly knows nothing about the game do it, is quite frankly poisenious.
but it is solvable, wy do they never outsorce an article from someone who knows, or at least ask somone who knows for their input. but like most jurno rubish its about spinning a story teh way you want it not telling the truth.
sadly articles like this are the be all and end all of modern media. i think the reason i like wow insider so much is because it is as genuine as a medium can get these days.
they should ban all forms of media eccept somethingawful.com at least thy dont realy give a shit what people think or even if they read. now i come to think of it, maddox should probably be prime minister
Izzyasha Jul 5th 2008 7:49PM
lol... trade gives us the 10 million obsessed teens 10 minutes in there and most turn it off not to deal with the little children playing who can demean the other more.
In general thats not where wow is played thats where social rejects sit and make themselves feel better at the 4 windowless walls of their basements...with their 4 gig of pron and mindless rantings of why some movies should be made.
wow is played by several factors farming grinding enjoyment of lore, quests , friends grouping, raiding, mass pvp arena and numerous small reasons. I digress
tacos rule.