Ask Massively: What are you thinking?!?
Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion, Ask Massively

It isn't always sunshine and kittens in the Ask Massively inbox. One of the things that keeps a columnist honest is fair criticism, which is not the same as pretty much anything you will ever find of a server community message board. Which brings us to this week's question (of sorts).
So, my partially sarcastic question boils down to this: is Massively being paid to be biased against World of Warcraft and for other MMOs? Could you try criticising other MMOs more thoroughly in addition to World of Warcraft? Fairness makes for crappy reading, and bad advice.
-Me, Myself, and I(rate)
I could sit here all day long and issue stock denials of some of the claims made in this email, but to an extent, he has a point. No, we're not paid to be biased against World of Warcraft, nor are we paid to write favorable things about other MMO's and gloss over a new game's flaws. That doesn't mean that the bias doesn't exist. There is, however, a good reason for such bias.
One of the principal tenets of journalism is objectivity, and in an ideal world it is something that every writer should strive to achieve. However, I'm not a professional journalist, nor am I trying to be one. I am a gamer. I enjoy playing games, writing about games, and even in some circumstances developing games. I have the same biases and preferences that anyone else has. In order to do my job as a columnist well, I try to subdue those biases as best I can in order to present information from a unique perspective in a somewhat entertaining manner.
Why do so many of us, and not just the writers on this site, seem to want new games to succeed a little too much? Why do we find it so easy to criticize the most popular game in PC gaming history? I can't quite speak for everyone else, but from my perspective, Blizzard is far easier to pick on than other game companies. While some folks at Blizzard are "friends of friends", I don't have any personal attachments to any of their developers or community people, which might make harsher criticisms more difficult.
I also know, to borrow a very colorful phrase from my grandparents, that anything I say about World of Warcraft will be heard like a "fart in a whirlwind". They're the biggest game on the block and I don't have the kind of voice that it would take to tarnish their reputation in any way. For the record, I think Blizzard has the most amazing portfolio of successful games that I've ever seen. Between Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo, and even The Lost Vikings, everything they touch seems to turn to gold. That doesn't exactly make it easier to not use them as an occasional target.
That said, I will always try to do my best to be fair in my criticisms, and judicious in my praise of games as I happen to come across them. I certainly hope that people who read my column think enough of me to call me on some of my more egregious offenses against objectivity. If you have a question or would like to take me to task on something, stop by our tip line or drop us a line at ask AT massively DOT com.























Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-07-2008 @ 5:03PM
Leshrac said...
Say what you want about Blizzard but imo they are the ultimate developer. I have met with them and shook their hands and spoke with them, they are pretty damn cool. They are truly about "games for gamers by gamers". And not " a bunch of suits looking to make games that make money - regardless of their quality".
Every Blizzard game has been a triple AAA title. They even squashed a few games that were not meeting up to their standards; Ghost and Warcraft Clan Adventures. They probably lost a ton of money, but they were only interested in giving their customers, what they felt to be, the best product. They will delay and delay titles until they achieve that Blizzard shine.
In WoW you're not subjected to 2-5 corporate logo splash screens after login, that you have to press ESCAPE to get past. They could easily charge some company major money to put their logo up but they don't. In EQ2 you had the Pizza Hut /pizza command, you also have to sit thru an Nvidia logo, Intel logo....etc. For most game companies the game is a vehicle to help sell ancillary products; EQ2 - player exchange, unlock additional player slots, extra storage, etc.
Are they perfect? No. Is WoW perfect? No. But I support developers that stay true to their customers and I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on Blizzard products, games, conventions and see no reason to stop anytime soon. I used to feel the same way about Bioware till the anti-Christ of games came along, EA, and swallowed them.
Blizzard and WoW have big targets painted on them, they're easy to mock. I can find plenty of things about Blizzard and WoW to nitpick about, but at the end of the day they put out addictive quality titles that I've loved.
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8-07-2008 @ 6:45PM
Owen-Lars said...
"For the record, I think Blizzard has the most amazing portfolio of successful games that I've ever seen. Between Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo, and even The Lost Vikings, everything they touch seems to turn to gold"
So you saying your a Blizzard fanboy then? ;)
I kid i kid.
Some of the articles on the site really do seem extremely biased and thats a great shame. Whilst most articles i really enjoy reading, there are a few that just seem to be written by out and out fanboys (im not directing this at you) or those on the corporate payrole.
When i visit it here i expect gaming news and gaming articles written by gamers. But sometimes there is just a complete lack of objectivity and an unwillingness that comes across in the articles to research a given game before expressing opinions.
Sure i dont expect professional journalism but i do expect informed opinions and a genuine love for games rather than a specific game. Far too often i read articles here that read like the author doesnt have a clue about the game in question or is so focused on comparing said game to another that they loose all objectivity.
I really hope it changes because i love visiting this site and enjoy most of the articles. It just recently, there has been quiet a few poor articles that i've been forced to comment negatively on.
Again, this is not directed towards you (Kevin) personally, just a few other contributors.
Owen
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8-07-2008 @ 6:51PM
Owen-Lars said...
Just to be clear regarding my last comment, i believe Massively favours WoW a little too much sometimes and a few of the columnists (not Kevin as i stated) have expensive WoW goggles on, without a clue about the game they are commenting on.
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8-07-2008 @ 6:58PM
Jack said...
Warhammer will not be a WoW killer but the real question is will it be a AoC killer?
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8-07-2008 @ 9:07PM
Kevin Stallard said...
If Anarchy Online is still going after 7 years, I don't think anything is going to kill AoC anytime soon.
8-08-2008 @ 1:03PM
Wjowski said...
The only thing that's going to kill AoC is AoC.
8-08-2008 @ 4:41PM
Jack said...
Not be so sure Anarchy Online cost a lot of less to keep running.
8-07-2008 @ 9:59PM
Jason said...
Chris Crocker as a gamer?
*shudders*
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8-08-2008 @ 7:09AM
recursive said...
I understand the "I'm not a professional journalist" sentiment, but you do realize it comes across as a bit off a cop out as well right?
I usually don't really mind the stabs and have a high hype-resist anyways, but do feel you lot have a larger audience here than just the fanboys/haters and can see how those can get ticked off by some of your coverage.
Of course humor is subjective and all that, but personally I actually stopped reading a couple of other MMO sites because the stabs got way out of hand. Bad enough to be told to get out of my parents basement when I comment on someone else's new perfect MMO, does that need to be in the site content as well?
A slightly more neutral Massively would be great. Now of course, we don't have to read this site either. But how does that help either of us? ;)
Overall I think most of the Massively staff does a great job compared to the "competition" though, definately my one-stop source for MMO information. But maybe it isn't that bad to become a little more like those journalists..
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8-09-2008 @ 10:23PM
O-bot said...
As an avid MMO gamer, we are always looking for the next game, because frankly, no game has ever developed fast enough to keep gamers interested for an infinite amount of time.
It started with EQ and UO. After a while most gamers had played those games out so much that we just wanted something, anything at all to move on to. In this point of gaming desperation we will look for the smallest light in any tunnel to run towards. The only way we can free ourselves from the chains of our current MMO is by convincing ourselves of the failures of our current MMO.
WoW, has reached that time. Most MMO gamers have played it to the end, at this point there really is no point in opening WoW, because all of your hard work is nill once WotlK comes out. At least I am at the point where I am desperately searching for the next game, and in that desperation we rush to praise (and criticism) cause darnit we want something new and awesome =p, and freaking tired of running the same AV.
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