Keen has a well written post about his return to WoW and what the game is all about now. Read it made me realize the difference between some people in the real world, one that also seems to apply to the MMO genre, and one which is somewhat related to my post below.
Playing WoW is like taking your family vacation to Disney World every year, or going to Paris and eating at McDonalds. For most people change is something to fear rather than embrace, and for those people WoW caters to them perfectly. The safety of a daily quest is the same safety McDonalds in Paris provides. You can ignore the unknown French food and feel safe knowing that your Big Mac in Paris is going to be just like your Big Mac in the USA. Going to Disney World every year (often at the same time every year) is a far more guaranteed experience than going to a new country and seeing something different. You know Space Mountain is going to be the same ride every year, while you might not like everything about some new country you are visiting.
Now I’d rather be punched in the face than visit Disney World every year, and I’d much rather try something new and local than visit a McDonalds in a foreign country (even if it’s only to discover that I hate French food), but I accept that I’m in the minority here. Disney World is packed every year, McDonalds is global, and WoW has X million players. The good news is that just like the real world has vacation spots with small local restaurants available around the globe, the MMO genre now has successful niche titles surviving (and in some cases thriving) as well.
Hardcore Casual 
I tried McDonalds and Burger King in Amsterdam and was completely upset. Is that like playing on a private server? But you know what did satisfy? Sbarro. Can’t fuck up a pizza.
Is it ok to have chinese food in Paris? We had a real nice chinese dinner on the champs-elysee (sp?).
Is it ok if you first try some local color, and don’t like it, to move back to the comfort zone?
I actually did try McDonalds in Rome, Paris, Taiwan, Hawaii and the Philippines and it was very different in each place. I did it to see what was different though more than for comfort. I will never go back to WoW for comfort food though, the thought makes me quiver.. As far as trying new things, people need to do that more, including my family. They are still under the impression that they don’t like Indian food even though they really would if they’d give it enough of a chance.
Face your fear..stop running from it.
Isn’t it “le Big Mac” in France?
KFC in New Zealand has a spicy variety of chicken that is [string of profanity] delicious. I mean the best [another string of profanity] fried chicken I’ve ever had in my life. It’s astounding, and they don’t serve it here at all because Americans have such bland and conservative tastes.
Hot & Spicy is only available for limited periods of time in NZ, which sucks! In Aussie I’m pretty sure you can get it all the time.
But didn’t know you couldn’t get it in the States at all, sucks to be you!
In a related example I am a former wrestling game fan. Every year a new fancy wrestling game comes out with 1 new feature to suck people into buying it. Eventually I had to stop buying wrestling games, until a little 2d game known as Fire Pro Wresting made its US debut. Even though it’s dated and 2-d the gameplay is so fun it blows the fancy Smackdown games out of the water. It’s also a lot harder to play. So naturally it flopped and is enjoyed by a select few of wrestling gamers who appreciate something difficult, deep, and interesting, while the old familiar Smackdown series keeps chugging along selling millions, sigh. I used to think if the majority of people liked something then surely it had to be good, perhaps at one time this was true, like in the Renaissance era. But now days, with the insane marketing campaigns I think the majority generally act like sheep who like what they are told, not what is a quality product.
No, you’re not the in the minority lol.
Pretty apt analogy. People like the familiar. I know I do. Sure, I like trying new stuff but life has so much stress in that sometimes you just want to eat a hamburger, know what I mean?
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I don’t think you understand the reasoning. In the first example it’s not fear of change, it’s building roots and traditions, usually for kids. It’s like putting your christmas tree up each year-no one accuses a person of being afraid to try new holiday traditions because they do.
The second is mucked up because you can go to a mcdonalds there for many reasons-because its cheaper and faster than reserving a table at a local restaurant, because it’s close to your hotel, because you don’t know enough french to even decipher a menu choice.
What’s funny is that local restaurants are often overpriced, serve crappy food, and take forever to get service. Niche games are niche for a reason, and it’s not because people are always sheep. Sometimes they really give substandard gameplay and poor service for a lot of people, and people overlook the faults in the same way you do your local restaurant.
Not sure this works as an analogy.
I started off when I was 18, hitch-hiking around Europe, first with my friend, then with my (ex)wife. Didn’t know where I was going, how I was getting there, where we’d sleep, what we’d eat, etc etc.
As I matured the hitch-hiking gave way to flights to various destinations, followed by trains, buses, hikes to places no tourist in their right mind would visit. Nothing booked, just turn up and hope you don’t end up sleeping in the train station (which happened).
Nowadays it’s a bit more sophisticated. Mrs Bhagpuss and I fly somewhere, hire a car and tour around. We still book nothing beyond the first night, have no fixed plans, take whatever we find. Can’t count the times we’ve still been driving through empty mountain roads three hours after nightfall, just hoping there’s some village somewhere ahead that has a bar with rooms.
That’s life. That’s fun. That’s experience.
I don’t want ANY of that in my MMOs. I play MMOs to get away from that kind of thing. I play MMOs for predictability, certainty, complete lack of surprise.
I can, and do, get risk and reward in travel in real life. I don’t need to simulate it on a computer screen.
People have different wants in their mmo desires. Some people want a more casual game and some want a more hardcore game.
Its all about having fun playing how you want to play.
Some people want to hit level 80, like me, huzzah! Who wants to touch me?
What about visiting Euro Disney in Paris while eating McDonalds ?