by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Shawshank Redemption is an amazing movie. If you somehow haven’t seen it, you should absolutely rectify that as soon as possible. The movie (based on a Stephen King novel) covers the life of a man wrongfully imprisoned. He, along with other inmates, is forced to deal with the reality of a lifetime wasted in prison. What does this have to do with Warcraft? I’ll explain.

There’s an iconic scene in the film where Morgan Freeman’s character Red explains that, after enough time spent in the slammer, he’s begun to feel that he would not know what to do on the outside, that he’s in a sense become institutionalized. Many of us have been playing Warcraft since 2004, and even those of us who haven’t probably have a few years under our collective belts. We’re used to Warcraft. We understand what it is, and what we need to do in order to have fun, be that in raiding, player versus player combat, whatever. While we might not be totally satisfied with the experience, we always know what to expect, and that provides some degree of comfort.

I’ve recently tried two non-Warcraft MMOs, and, surprisingly, both were really good. Final Fantasy XIV and Wildstar are both quality games in a genre that’s flooded with poor imitations, rushed products and a bunch of awful nonsense. Final Fantasy XIV and Wildstar are not subpar Warcraft clones. They each have their own unique quirks that make them enjoyable. I distinctly recall booting up each game, and for the first week, being hopelessly addicted. Unfortunately, beyond that week, old doubts began to settle in.

What if this game doesn’t have ______?

The blank is always something Warcraft has. I know Warcraft has it because I’ve been playing it since it launched. Moreover, I know it’s going to be there in future expansions, because that’s just how it is. Final Fantasy XIV and Wildstar both represent relative unknowns. What if I get invested, join a community,  and then they somehow tank? What if two years from now, they’re gone? What if their end game raiding experience is not to my liking? What if the two or three people I’m playing with stop logging in? These questions are all minor in the grand scheme of things, but when combined, they represent a sizable issue for my longterm enjoyment.

Warcraft is steadily losing players, and has been for a while now. I expect the next quarterly report to be fairly brutal as we continue to go through 5.4. That said, I know Blizzard. I know Warcraft. I know we’ll see a surge when Warlords of Draenor comes out. I know my friends will come back and play. I know what the end game will be like, to a degree. I know a lot of things, and that’s comfortable. I want comfort in an MMO. It’s nice to be able to know what to expect, and that’s what Warcraft is to me. It’s the time sink I know. MMOs, like prison, are all about routines.

Similar to Red in Shawshank Redemption, I’ve become institutionalized. I might consider fully investing my chips in another title, but Blizzard and I both know that I’ll always come back to Warcraft at some point because of nostalgia, a friend convincing me, whatever. It’s not like it doesn’t deserve my business, either. While other solid titles have risen up, they are nowhere near the complete package Warcraft is. It will, until the day it finally collapses in on itself, be my default MMO if only because the outside world of MMOs is new and different, and that unfamiliarity is ultimately unappealing.