Braid creator rips on WoW, talks artificial rewards and social gaming

by Samuel Axon Sep 13th 2008 at 3:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Culture, Game mechanics, Interviews, Opinion

In an interview with Gamasutra, game designer Jon Blow (who created the critically acclaimed Xbox Live Arcade game Braid) had a few things to say about World of Warcraft. His criticisms could be just as easily leveled against any Diku-based, WoW-like MMO.

He began by saying that WoW employs "artificial rewards" as opposed to "natural rewards." In other words, players play WoW for achievements like leveling up that have little real meaning, and they'll sit through a lot of boredom to reach those goals. That's not an unfair analysis; leveling up is a very empty and artificial kind of catharsis. Perhaps the most controversial statements he made were related to the social aspect of the game.

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He said that while many people tell him they play MMOs for the social aspect, he believes that "social interaction in real life is way better ... if what they really cared about was rich, social interaction, they would be out there in the real world."

But what about folks who play WoW to keep in touch with old friends and family in far away cities? Or folks who mix it in with other social activities such as sports or dinner parties for variety? Surely WoW is not enough as a person's sole venue for social interaction, but in most cases doesn't it supplement other forms of interaction rather than replace them?

Tags: artificial-rewards, blizzard, braid, community, design, designer, gamasutra, interaction, interview, jon-blow, microsoft-game-studios, natural-rewards, number-none, relationships, rewards, social, world-of-warcraft, wow, xbox-live-marketplace

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

george said on 3:06PM 9-13-2008

Good for him, I love to see people trash a trashy game! :)

Donnell said on 3:17PM 9-13-2008

On a strict gameplay level he makes his point, but you can't even compare the social aspects. I have met so many people through World of Warcraft, visited them in other cities, gone to their weddings, I even got a really great new job through a friend I only knew from World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft, for me at least, is more about the people I play with than what we are actually playing. Good people are better than good games.

recursive said on 3:57PM 9-13-2008

Honestly, Massively is becoming very tiresome to read. He's pretty much ripping all MMOs, a large chunk of the rest of the gaming market too in fact.

Basically the argument here is what, all games should be arcade games? Reminds me a bit of Teh Pwnerer vs FPS Dave really. And why did you continue playing Tetris anyways? Highscores baby.

Jeromai said on 10:32PM 9-13-2008

The social aspect is where he gets it wrong, falling back on the old trope that face-to-face communication is always better.

It's not. Some people communicate better through the written word than the spoken one.

And for many, the intrinsic anonymity of the Internet offers opportunities that can't be obtained elsewhere: be it griefing, or being able to choose what part of the self to reveal to others, or not immediately being judged by appearances over what one has to say.

Social relationships online allow for a sizeable amount of projection. The more people assume the other is a lot like them, based on the limited info and communication, the closer they're going to feel as a result.

Lastly, there's the whole geographic aspect of people with similar interests, separated by many leagues in reality. Face-to-face communications only gets you so far, unless you can afford lots and lots of plane tickets.

Sangor said on 7:17AM 9-14-2008

Well said matey.

Darth Nader said on 1:04AM 9-14-2008

And why does his opinion matter?

Jonathan J B said on 10:17AM 10-01-2008

Because he made an intelligent and critically acclaimed game.

What did you do?

Darth Nader said on 11:22AM 10-01-2008

I realized that there is no correlation between great games and great people. Yes sir...thats what I did.

Calarius said on 3:49PM 9-14-2008

Right, because some dozen or so WoW Guildmates plus friends, spouses, SO's, and whatnot sitting around a dinner table at Dragon*Con is not any indication of the true social impact of the game. Most of those people I would never have met if not for World of Warcraft.

It may be an opinion, but it's wrong.

Ryan said on 10:49AM 9-17-2008

Listen to the junkie excuses; defend that fix, its "improved" your life.

Mastique said on 11:53AM 9-17-2008

his last name says it all.

Jake said on 12:14PM 9-17-2008

"social interaction in real life is way better ... if what they really cared about was rich, social interaction, they would be out there in the real world."

said the XBox game developer

Theungry said on 4:36PM 9-17-2008

This is the stupidest analysis I have ever seen. There is a line and one side is good and one side is bad? Absolute rubbish. Different appeals to different. I like Tetris AND WoW, and I think they are both good at being what they are. Who tells people they are having fun wrong? What a loser.