It's a fairly well known item that I disagreed with the direction Blizzard took with the storyline in WoW, post Wrath of the Lich King. I need not rehash them here, but I should clarify one item: while I disagreed with the storyline --and the soap opera style transformation of some NPCs, such as Tyrande and Jaina-- that doesn't preclude whether I like the art style behind their look. So when I say I dislike the storyline that led to the destruction of Theramore --and the radicalization of Jaina*-- that doesn't mean that I dislike Jaina's current art design.
Putting it another way, I hated the story that got her there, but I appreciate Jaina's art look much better than her original bare midriff look.**
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| From this original model... |
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| To this. All pics from Wowhead. On that first model, if she were one of my kids I'd be tickling her. It's waaay too easy of a target for me to not be tickling my daughters. |
The artwork is fine and all, but what gets me annoyed is this:
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| From the Blizzard Gear store. Actually quite impressive. |
Oh, not the statue itself, because I think it looks nice, and to be fair the Sylvanas statue looks good too:
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| Again, very well done. |
But what annoys me is the price tag for these statues: $399 US each. (Plus Tax and Shipping.)
Even with the current 30% off coupon (which ended yesterday), each of those statues would be $279.30 US.
What. A. Bargain.
My ass.
Who has that sort of money lying around for this? It's not an action figure, it's a collectors item. But I have a hard time shelling out that sort of money for these "premium statues", whether they're 18" (~46 cm) tall or not. Don't get me wrong, they look nice enough that I'd not mind having one, but I expected the price point to be around $50 US or something, not 8x that.
I guess I'm not "whale" enough for Blizz.
***
In a way, this covers a lot of the excess in the video game (and gamer) industry.
If you're an executive or marketer in the gaming industry, you don't need to cater to everybody. You only need to cater to enough Whales to keep yourself afloat. Or just utilize the strategy that Torulf Jernström promotes:
Warning: watching this might piss you off.
But the thing is, this sort of targeting of a very specific subset of player is legal, but it sure doesn't feel ethical. It's preying upon people's weaknesses to make money. And because you're targeting a very specific subset of people, you're also inadvertantly locking everybody else out. Oh, sure, you can claim that "hey, anybody can buy those loot boxes" or "anybody can buy that statue", but the reality is most people won't waltz on in and spend money like that. They have budgets and other things that override their desire for what you're selling.
This is targeting the people with poor willpower.
To the game industry, it's just normal behavior. But it shouldn't be. This isn't me complaining that a statue costs too much, because I'd have a hard time pulling the trigger at $50 (budgets, you know). This is more along the lines of that I'm tired that the industry is constantly making themselves look like asshats when they know that this looks bad. I'm tired of people hand waving that if it makes money, it must be okay. That somehow the invisible hand of the market will provide ethics in addition to profits.
But here's the thing: markets don't care about ethics. People do. And if you want ethics, people have to provide it.
I guess what I'm saying in so many many words is that the video game industry needs to clean up its act. From mistreatment of employees to poor pay to whale hunting to an overall lack of ethical behavior, the industry has a lot to clean up. And for every "not my problem" or "I just wanna play games" or "shut up, you SJW!", you're encouraging the poor behavior. If you were treated like this in a face to face encounter, you'd be upset. So why are you fine with it when the person in your face is hidden behind a screen?
(But for the record, I'd still like one of those statues. Not very fond of the Thrall one, tho. His clothing is too busy for my mind. And where's Tyrande, Baine, or Malfurion?)
*To be completely honest, I'd bet money that the entire questline/storyline was done simply to provide an excuse to "radicalize" Jaina. It wasn't needed, and it definitely was not consistent with the storyline. And a radicalized Jaina wouldn't have pulled back from the brink, either, just because Thrall and her dragon boyfriend asked her to. Radicalized is radicalized, and Blizz' story team should have completed the story that way it's turned out in real life over centuries (and turned her into a Vlad the Impaler type seeking vengeance), or they should have done something else entirely.
Likewise, the "let's destroy Teldrassil" storyline served only to make the Horde the Baddies of BfA and to radicalize Tyrande herself. I don't really care for the "real" explanation that came later, because that's only so much handwaving. And like Theramore, it was only a cutscene showpiece rather than a natural progression of the personalities of the people involved.
**There's a post here that I have to finish, about how Cardwyn's personality is based on a merging of both of my daughters' personalities, but they've both surprised me lately by their clothing/fashion choices. This will cause me to re-evaluate Card's own approach to fashion, because if I merely imposed my own fashion choices on Card, it wouldn't just feel right. Card's her own personality, and I am definitely not a woman, so I don't have a woman's approach to fashion. That's where the girls come in.
There's a ton to unpack here today! First: Jaina. She seemed innocuous to me as a character until Battle For Azeroth when she became magnificent. She has a great story arc. She's relegated to the sidelines, I feel in Shadowlands, but you can't take BFA away from her. In TBC, my husband and I recently did the Theramore/Dustwallow Marsh questlines. Near the end, there she was up in a tower, Ruler of Theramore, looking as you have her pictured. She clearly has the character model of a human female from that time period. I was excited to see her and gave her a hug (as I do) and my husband and I got screenies of us standing on either side of her. Big fans! I wonder how they decided in BFA to change her character model (and Clothing/Armor!) to something no other NPC or Player Character could look like. I completely missed the Fall of Theramore, and have no idea what expansion it occurred in. I don't see her as being radicalized, just better written.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the monetization video, I've been reading about monetization since the big "Free To Play" era of games began. I found the techniques and strategies described to be interesting, not angering or offensive. Sales techniques are an ancient art. It's always understood that not everyone can or will pay extra. That some do excessively is an individual personality trait that is akin to gambling, and should be considered and treated in the same way, I feel. I also speak as someone with huge sales resistance, and if I think someone is trying to hustle or trick me into buying something for any reason I'll never give them a penny. That's just me.
The Fall of Theramore was one of the bridge events that led to Mists' launch. It was also covered in detail in a novel, in which (understandably) she does an almost 180 in personality direction, from a uniter to a kill 'em all type, but is pulled back from the brink by Thrall and (I'm blanking out here) the "fill in" Blue Dragon Aspect, who is her boyfriend. (I'm not making this up.)
DeleteThe biggest beef I have with the Fall of Theramore is with Garrosh. He ordered it and used a bomb similar in scope to that used in Stonetalon. If you didn't play on the Horde side after Cata, that Stonetalon bomb was not done with Garrosh's approval, but rather an underling, and when Garrosh finds out he calls the Horde leader out for lacking in honor and tosses him off a cliff as punishment. So, Garrosh ordering the destruction of Theramore --something so outside of his mental wheelhouse and maturity level, and against the one human settlement likely to take his side in any argument, it makes absolutely no sense.
That's why I say it was done because they wanted to have an excuse to change Jaina's personality rather than for any natural outgrowth of events in game. And given Jaina was voted "Most Likely to be a Peacenik" on the Alliance side, her transition from pro-peace to pro-war is why I call her radicalized.
The thing that gets me the angriest about the monetization video is that the mobile games and these lootboxes/cash store games aren't just targeting whales, but children. They don't come out and say it, but given the stories that came out in 2019 about children being targeted via lootboxes --which is when this video blew up on the net as part of the EU investigation into gambling mechanics-- yeah, that's what ticks me off.
Sadly, Garrosh and Stonetalon was a mistake in writing. The devs said the writing team had a miscommunication. If they had been in sync then he wouldn't have been written that way so that his greater story arc would have been consistent. (Greater story arc being this was the worst of all possible Garrosh Hellscreams.)
DeleteThey'll change his language so that a dev isn't uncomfortable letting their young child play. Heaven forbid they actually take the time to keep his character consistent. :sigh:
So they wanted him to approve of Stonetalon?
DeleteIf that were the case, I'd have to think that a ton of people would dump playing Horde for that.
I had not heard about Stonetalon being a mistake before, Pallais, thanks! That was really interesting. (I googled for more info and found this interview from 2014.
DeleteAlex Asfirabi. Well well well.
DeleteBut that aside, that article made me more depressed for what Warlords ended up being than what it was already. And that they decided to not go with the semi-redemptive arc really speaks a lot as to how they view the Horde in general. Instead of the Classic and BC version of a likeable bunch of misfits, Alex and Co. decided to go more along the lines of Warcraft 2's version of the Horde.
http://bhagpuss.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-perks-of-game-everquest-style.html
ReplyDeleteHmmm, yes I did notice this from Bhaggy. I wasn't planning on commenting directly, because I don't know how much this impacts raiding and whatnot (and apparently neither does he, since he doesn't raid). But given the price standpoint versus what you get, I was thinking it less whale hunting and more "let's raise prices without saying as such". If the price were, say, triple that, I'd say that the "bonus" was closer to whale hunting than sneakily raising sub prices. Or, "spend $20 for a 'Treasure Chest' with the chance at a custom mount or a piece of current raid tier loot," then I'd call it a whale hunting loot box mechanic.
DeleteIt sounded quite a bit like the man in the video to me. Clearly they know the Whale Game.
DeleteRegarding your previous comments, anything harmful aimed at children should be prosecuted.
Ha! I call him Bhaggy to myself too :)
You know, the more I look at it, the more I think that the new model of Jaina has the look of someone who will likely never laugh again. I don't know why, per se, but she just gives me that vibe. Maybe it's the eyes.
DeleteOh, that's so interesting. Your daughters are your Card consultants, no wonder she rings true to me. There are quite a few authors I've read that are great at say plot but character building, not so much.
ReplyDeleteWow, nothing in that video is a surprise but still depressing to me. I don't know why I like to think the people who run game companies care about them like I do. I am sure some who work there do, but yeah, old Bobby sure doesn't.
Well, don't tell them that. It's a secret. ;-)
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