Why so serious?

This has nothing to do with the Dark Knight. I've not even seen it. This post is Fio-[letters]'s fault.

JotW was radically changed recently. From the looks of it the overall regen will be higher and smarter, from a certain point of view. It gives mana to the lowest people and to a lot more people, but it's less per person, especially the paladin. Going from unlimited mana, or close enough, to what looks to be around 150 mana/5 is a pretty big blow. The details are really not the point of this post though.

Why are we so serious about this? I suppose I'll start with why we shouldn't be serious.

It's a game. Game. GAME! We don't get paid for winning or losing. We don't even pay a whole lot to play. We play for fun. Can you imagine a child screaming at Mother Nature because the flowers she wanted to run through were the wrong color? I actually can, which is sort of the point. Whining that what is fun anyway isn't the exact right bit of fun is rather childish. Why can't we relax and get lost in a world, unconcerned with all the details?

But games have rules and those rules affect how people enjoy the game. Imagine a game of soccer. You can't touch the ball with your hands, unless you're doing a throw-in or you're the goalie, but only in the box. Imagine if goalies couldn't use their hands anymore, since it's clearly overpowered that only they can do it. People would score a lot more, but overall I can't predict an effect on win-lose ratios for teams, that is if they adapted at similar speeds. The team shouldn't care much, right? Well the goalies would care and might start quitting, especially the ones that are exceptional at the current game. Teams would lose their best goalies, sot hey should care. Point, where did you go?

We should be serious precisely because this is a game. It is our fun. We should fight for our fun, kicking and screaming at any attempt to reduce it. After all, if we play for fun and the fun is taken away, the game is ruined. We might as well just keep working and at least get paid for being in a state of unfun.

The seriousness may also be a sign of exactly how well Blizzard has done at getting people into the game. The rules of the game are the equivalent of the laws of a nation. People live and die by them; they dominate life. Depending on how much a person depends on the game for fun or a social life, it can be one of the dominant aspects of life, on par with more 'real' issues like the price of gasoline or tax rates. These are the politics of the World of Warcraft. While I wish the manner of communication and discourse was more civilized and less stupid (have you seen some of the posts people make?), it is entirely understandable that people would take a strong interest in the rules of this world... of warcraft. The stupidity which is ever present on the forums isn't even all that outlandish compared to real life political arguments. The ignorance wouldn't out of place either.

It is amazing that a virtual world can so accurately imitate real life. I think this means that everything is as real as we make it, as much as we care about it. I still see how reality is a bit more real, due to the one-way interaction of death.

Oh right, seriousness.

While WoW is just a game, it is also a world and a significant part of the lives of many people. It is understandable that they would be as passionate about the rules and laws of the virtual world which they inhabit as the real one. The importance of fun should not be underestimated, especially when paying money for it, and it should be fought for. After all, if we're not having fun, what's the point? I might expand on this in my other blog. Might.