Lord British still likes WoW
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jan 3rd 2009 at 8:00PM
But on a more topical note, he says something in the article about World of Warcraft, praising them for their phenomonal growth and saying that they have "shown us all what good game development is about." Certainly, most of us here, I would think, would strongly agree with that statement. But it is fun to compare and contrast this statement to somewhere around a year ago. Back then, he said that he didn't believe WoW would hurt Tabula Rasa's sales, because MMORPGers generally play a game or two at a time and move on after a year or so.
It's difficult to say whether he was right back then, seeing as WoW's numbers are higher than ever, and as the Holiday season winds down, there's still plenty of long queues on many servers. Anecdotally, I myself have played over 3 years now (I would have been here all 4 years, but my computer broke down just as WoW was being released back in the day and I had to wait til I could replace it), and am in a guild with many people who have been playing as long or longer.
Of course, the other argument has been that WoW's numbers are leveling off, and it's just about to hit that plateau of subscribers. And everyone agrees that the queues will probably evaporate as the holidays end, and many people lets their subscriptions lapse again after having tasted as much of Northrend as they want.
But either way, now he's praising them pretty much unreservedly, which is pretty cool in a sort of "the student has become the master" type of way, if nothing else. If he can get back into the MMO gaming business like he plans, it'll be interesting to see what lessons he takes from Blizzard.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
PimpyMicPimp Jan 3rd 2009 8:14PM
This is an American game. He shouldn't be allowed to play in the first place.
ShadzKing Jan 3rd 2009 8:20PM
/facepalm
Ed (Sindarin, Hydraxis US) Jan 3rd 2009 9:10PM
Haha, looking through your comment history it looks like someone didn't get enough love from their parents.
*chases troll back underneath bridge*
ancalimon Jan 3rd 2009 10:13PM
i lol everytime you make a post...in other words, i lol at your ignorance
*helps Ed chase troll back underneath bridge*
by the way, im Canadian. does this mean i should stop playing your american game?
PimpyMicPimp Jan 4th 2009 2:29AM
Yes, you should. Enemies shouldn't play American games.
Communists ftl
Elmo Jan 5th 2009 5:29PM
What an incredible bonehead you are...
blkmasta55555 Jan 4th 2009 6:40AM
I'll just point out that the Internet we play this on was invented on the French-Swiss border....
blkmasta55555 Jan 4th 2009 6:50AM
Oh, and also that by your logic, you should be speaking cherokee and not english right now.
STOP USING OUR LANGUAGE!!!!11!!
The Hammer Jan 4th 2009 7:24AM
He's American, actually.
JR Jan 4th 2009 9:39AM
"I'll just point out that the Internet we play this on was invented on the French-Swiss border...."
No it wasn't. You're thinking of the Web. The Internet was invented in the United States.
Dract Jan 4th 2009 10:04AM
Your both wrong.
Networking was invented in 1973 by the U.S. military for their use only. As the idea was invented in 1973, it wasn't a fully functional system until 1983.
In 1989, the English computer scientist Timothy Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web which is what we know the internet as today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
JR Jan 4th 2009 10:37AM
"Internet" and "World Wide Web" are not the same thing. To quote the Wikipedia, since you seem to value their judgement: "The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web) The web depends on the internet, or on some other similar structure, to carry its messages.
The internet was already functional before the WWW came up. E-mail, Usenet, Gopher, FTP, all are internet applications that predate the WWW.
Keyra Jan 4th 2009 6:11PM
Your white hood is showing again.
Noraa Jan 4th 2009 9:58PM
Bliz should give this guy a job.
Maybe he can come up with some decent armor.
ancalimon Jan 17th 2009 12:23PM
so by being Canadian, i am both a communist and an enemy to the U.S.? i wonder if you even know the meaning of communism? because from what i can see, you're the only enemy to your country with your snide remarks and offensive demeanor. please, by all means bash some more with your ignorance, we all like to see you make yourself look more moronic by the minute. ill be waiting for you to graduate from preschool if you want to debate your point some more.
get an education and your head out of your ass.
I am truly sorry for the rest of you that have to share your country with this loser.
Darxide Jan 3rd 2009 8:49PM
Thats some set up just for a headset. i like the netting that goes over his head too.
Olicon Jan 3rd 2009 9:01PM
I think he was right the first time though--WoW didn't hurt TR. I think people just don't like the sci-fi, faux pas FPS games **glances at Hellgate.
MMOFPS is a tricky beast because people joined for action--yet they find that their perfectly aimed shot missed because their stats is too low. That's the biggest turn off for me.
Wolfblitzer Jan 3rd 2009 9:24PM
That reminds me of when I first played Morrowind, and I couldn't hit the rat because my sword skill was too low.
mattereaterlad Jan 3rd 2009 10:36PM
To the OP: sci-fi "faux pas" FPS games? I do not think it means what you think it means. It's not like Tabula Rasa had bad manners or something.
Taxis Jan 4th 2009 1:20AM
I think there is a market for sci-fi games. Hellgate was just an accident, and Tabula Rasa didn't really offer anything new after the first 10 levels.
Also, both games had really poor social interfaces. Trying to use the general chat in hellgate required a walkthrough from the internet.