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The Million Gnome MarchFollow

#1 Feb 01 2005 at 6:15 PM Rating: Decent
Well, this is too stupid to be real, but...

Slashdot has posted a story about gnomes protesting.

Zonk wrote:
This past Friday a sea of Gnomish fury swept over the chilly vale of Dun Morogh. The reason? Their character class isn't balanced. AFK Gamer has details on this outpouring of tiny fury, with liveblogging from the event itself and pictures of the naked gnome march from later in the weekend. Despite GM crackdowns and general apathy towards the Warrior cause, they appear to have gotten some sort of response from a developer (even though the response has nothing to do with the march). Terra Nova has picked up the topic and poses it as a question about the right to assemble in virtual spaces.

This is too stupid for me to put words to. Hopefully someone else can.
#2 Feb 01 2005 at 6:36 PM Rating: Decent
Not a big fan at all of suspending players for gathering in large numbers in an MMOG, which by its very nature is suppose to be a massively multiplayer game. Unfortunately for Blizzard their servers suck and they don't seem to have a good handle on how to fix it. So to save themselves embarrassment and problems they have to prevent people from assembling.

MMOGs are suppose to be virtual playgrounds, or at least that was the original ideal. However Blizzard doesn't seem to be able to handle that kind of abstract thinking. Even Verant during the worst days of Abashi, were still always in favor of players using the game to do more than just fight monsters and gather loot.

For an MMOG developer, Blizzard is way too concerned about following the letter of their terms of service. You can't treat players like prisoners or military school cadets. You have to let players be creative in MMOGs, if you have technical problems with the servers, you need to fix those and not blame the players.

Edited, Tue Feb 1 18:36:49 2005 by Grimpslaw
#3 Feb 02 2005 at 10:17 AM Rating: Good
You can ***** all you want about Blizzard's "high-handed" ways of dealing with this, but the truth is this:

When too many people enter one area at the same time, it causes extensive lag on that part of the world servers. This in turn impacts everyone else who is playing in the part of the world that has suddenly slowed to 1% of normal speed.

Blizzard does the right thing by breaking up the congregation and sending people away to reduce lag. It's not like the CEO and his cronies are sitting around Dun Murogh waiting to be impressed by your 'show of solidarity', the only people who are noticing what's going on are the people who suddenly can't loot their kills, pick their herbs, etc. because the servers are starting to meltdown.

If warriors truly suck so bad (and the warrior in my group seems to have ZERO problems) then start over with a new character. The game is barely more than 60 days old, you can't possibly be so attached to your character that you can't start over. It's not like you've been grooming him/her for 2 years and they suddenly nerfed you.

Sorry, just felt it had to be said.
#4 Feb 02 2005 at 11:52 AM Rating: Decent
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2,584 posts
I went for a short stroll through Dun Morogh and came back with about 13 gnomes stuck to the bottom of my shoe by the time I got to Ironforge...

*squish, splat, squish, AYEEK!, crunch*...
#5 Feb 02 2005 at 11:54 AM Rating: Excellent
There are a few issues with the way this protest went.

There were quite a few people who went from "let's gather to show our opinion on the warrior class" to "Blizzard is scum! Let's crash the server!!!"

There were a number of people there with malicious intent.

I personally think Blizzard's statement on the matter is great. It was along the lines of "We highly encourage player run events, however when the event begins to affect the performance of the server, we will request you to stop. If you do not comply, we will take action."

The bottom line is this. If a GM comes and asks you to stop what you are doing you STOP. If you don't, you accept your suspension.

As someone put it, a MMORPG isn't a democracy. You do not have freedom of speech, you do not have the freedom to assemble. The Constitution does not apply to a virtual world that is owned by a company. The ToS you signed pretty much waive your rights in the real world.

Frankly, assembling a mass to cause lag and crash a server is an idiotic way to voice your opinions. There are the forums, there is email, there are phone numbers, and there is the allmighty credit card you use to make your payments. Those lines of communication is more effective than gathering for an issue that the developers have already said they are looking into.

I swear, some people just don't get how life really works...
#6 Feb 02 2005 at 12:11 PM Rating: Decent
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2,584 posts
Quote:
I swear, some people just don't get how life really works...


Dude, they're between the ages of 6 and 15, what do you expect?
#7 Feb 02 2005 at 12:21 PM Rating: Good
The One and Only theRealWiseman wrote:
Quote:
I swear, some people just don't get how life really works...


Dude, they're between the ages of 6 and 15, what do you expect?
Smiley: lol "Mommy, can I play my Night Elf and dance all naughty?"

"No Bobby, not until you've finished your bottle."

"Awwwwwwwwww. *waaaaah*"

Smiley: tongue
#8 Feb 02 2005 at 12:24 PM Rating: Decent
Wow, I can see that people in the future will prolly take action and attempt to apply the Constitution to the "virtual world"
#9 Feb 02 2005 at 12:48 PM Rating: Good
frostybroc wrote:
Wow, I can see that people in the future will prolly take action and attempt to apply the Constitution to the "virtual world"


Not as long as those three little words still exist called "Terms of Service" ;)
#10 Feb 02 2005 at 12:55 PM Rating: Good
Lienna the Sly wrote:
frostybroc wrote:
Wow, I can see that people in the future will prolly take action and attempt to apply the Constitution to the "virtual world"


Not as long as those three little words still exist called "Terms of Service" ;)
People who want to apply the constitution to WoW need to be hit over the head with a big stick labeled "It's just a game!"
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