The Devil’s Details: Curiosity, Man’s Undoing

We are closing in on the two month anniversary of WAR’s release! Instead of writing a Detail this week, I thought I’d dive into the current uneasy feeling some gamers have felt in terms of WAR’s total in-game population. Last month players wondered how many people would stay past the first ‘free’ month, claiming doom and gloom for WAR. The month past and the game is still standing; far from crippled. Now an army of games is invading your local electronics stores and demanding your attention with their shiny Saran wrap like plastic coating and their infectious “New Game Smell,” Some players worry that the current subscribers will leave WAR to try out these new games. This is far from a real issue, as it merely involves human nature in the form of curiosity.

Curiosity

The wonderful world of Wiki tells me that the definition of it is:

An emotion that causes natural inquisitive behaviour such as exploration, investigation, and learning.

Linky

“Natural inquisitive behaviour.” We want to explore things and play with the new toys, basically. There really is an army of games coming out, and it has already started. This is mostly due to Christmas being just around the corner, to retailers anyway. 90 percent of all video games that come out during the year come out sometime between November and Christmas day. Thanks to all these “shinies” coming out now, people will naturally want to check them out. Not to leave WAR, not because these new games are superior, but simply because they are intrigued. People, mostly “the media,” like to portray every single little thing as game-ending. Any lull in population during the next two to three months (if there even will be one) is going to be negligible and temporary. There will still be queues to log into servers, scenarios will still pop frequently, and keeps will still be up for grabs. Players dabbling into new games does not affect us in the least. Why?

Any Non-MMO Is None Of Our Concern

Almost all of these games coming out are one-shots; they offer little replay value once they are beaten. This does not affect us, as MMOs are meant to be constantly played. Gamers will play these new games for a few weeks at most, get bored, and have that usual MMO itch to scratch; back to WAR they go. Also, there are a few little things called Holidays coming up, and even though I find my fantasy holiday weekend would be to play games 24-7, The Misses does not. She, like most everyone else (the strange lot that they are) prefer to actually see other family members and waste at least two perfectly good gaming days socializing. While I tell her Ventrilo is socializing, she makes me leave the house anyway. Sigh. While almost all the games being released in the near future pose no threat to WAR, there is one game too keep an eye on…

A Certain Expansion

I have to admit, even I have an urge to play it, even though my entire last year of playing “The-Game-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named” was unbelievably frustrating. (I like to PvP. It doesn’t have any. It frustrated me.) Still, I have a craving to play. I know the only reason I want to play it is because it will be “new,” and once I hit max level (I predict about 15 days after it launches) the end will already be in sight.. PvP in that game just isn’t any fun. At best, you have a smart group of good players that take enemy bases, defend friendly bases, and do objectives. Even then it’s a glorified grind; we’re just waiting for the end of the match to get as many PvP currencies to buy items we need. This tacked-on system is getting a supposed new look, and honk if you’ve heard this before, but it will include an open PvP zone and plans to included siege weapons…there are other things in the works, but they haven’t really commented on them yet because they are waiting on WAR to do it first, like every other decent addition they’ve added to their game recently.

What I’m trying to politely say (really I am) is, even though many games are out, and many sites and supposed sources are predicting another round of Doom N’ Gloom for Warhammer with various games coming out, just take it easy, sit back, and enjoy whatever game or games you like. The population levels are doing great, even more so now with the help of getting low population server players onto larger servers. I was unlucky enough to create a Head Start toon on what ended up to be a very low population server. Had I not played beta I would have been worried and made the same claims of low populations and whatnot. Playing on one low population server does not make anyone (or any other “sources”) an expert in a game’s future.

Since I didn’t provide a Detail, I can’t leave my weekly Haikus…but I have to leave something…ah! A Limerick!

There once was a Witch Hunter named Tagger,
Who was quite a loud bragger
That was until he met a Witch Elf,
Who was even more proud of herself,
And she turned his stride into a stagger.

There once was a Warrior Priest named Philipe,
Who’s mere sight would cause Destruction to weep.
They knew he could out-heal,
All the damage they could deal,
Even when he’d fallen fast asleep.

And this just in, the Energizer Bunny has been arrested and charged with BATTERY!  Ah, good stuff.  See you next week!