Remember when I posted this YouTube video a few entries ago?
Well, now is as good a time as any to discuss this.
John's premise in the video is that anybody who has 'solved' an MMORPG and figured out the optimal path toward achieving the goals set out in said game is providing people with the 'metagame'. No, not the Facebook 'Meta', which is abjectly silly and just marketing speak for trying to bring as many disparate concepts/items/whatever under one roof*, but something quite different.
This is the roadmap of "how to level in TBC Classic properly", or the definitive boss strategy in raids. Or the optimal raid composition and/or class spec for raiding. Or how to get yourself attuned (or Attune-d (tm), couldn't resist) most efficiently. Or.... Well, you get the idea.
But to continue, Josh believes that the metagame or 'meta' is ruining MMORPGs because it eliminates player choice.
Yes, you read that right. And, once you hear him out, you'll likely agree with him.
The entire point of the meta is that it is the optimal way of doing something. And if that is the optimal solution presented to the gaming community, why would you do anything else BUT that? To do so is to cheat yourself of the best solution in a game.
I was reminded once again of the metagame after the Friday Karazhan run** when during the Discord chatting post-raid someone mentioned about getting rep for Cenarion Expedition. Another person chimed in with how you "ought to do it" by buying those Unidentified Plant Parts and turn those in, one after another, until you reach Honored. Then you can go questing and get the rep needed rather than running Steamvault multiple times. Considering that I just went out and quested on Linna, not really caring about rep, until I hit Honored and the Plant Parts left in my bag*** were useless. But I was more annoyed that I knew about the meta for Cenarion Expedition rep and I deliberately chose not to do it, and I was --unintentionally-- having my nose rubbed in a pile of dogshit because of my choice.
And that's the thing about the meta: it exists, and because it exists you are always reminded of it even when you aren't following it. Unless you turn off Discord or chats and eschew grouping in favor of solitary play. Even then, the knowledge that a meta exists in some form or another will haunt you, despite your protestations of innocence.
After all, even I end up on some WoW websites, trying to figure out the optimal builds and talent trees for my toons. Those published entries are as much a metagame as Attune or other attunement walkthroughs, and a not so secret reason why I haven't gone into any 5-person instances on Linna**** is because I messed up and took an extra level to finally get the talent for Blessing of Kings, and I didn't want to blow any extra gold on resetting my talent trees just to fix my screw up.
And then I thought, "Why the hell should I be apologizing for not having the 'right' build, anyway?"
My brain almost immediately responded with multiple instances in the past where I was in instances, learning, and being told that I suck and the rest of the people dropping group.
"Oh, right."
Then I thought about guild groups, and then I remembered that I was --rather politely-- told to 'get gud' by being 'counseled' on how to improve my DPS in SSC/The Eye and in Naxx.
***
Oh, you didn't know about that in Naxx?
Oh yes, I was given some unsolicited 'counseling' by a fellow guildie one evening --who didn't even run a Mage as anything other than a lasher farming alt-- on how to maximize my DPS. I was seething afterward, because I knew exactly where I needed to go but gear held me back, and here was someone who didn't even take part in our Mage Crew discussions trying to tell me what to do. I basically took the 'advice' and threw it in the trash, because I had my own roadmap and I knew that the rest of the Mage crew would back me up.
And now, having been on the other side of the raiding leadership, I know how this works: someone in raid leadership asked him to talk to me about it, rather than asking my class lead who was likely not involved at all. (And I have a really good feeling as to who it was who asked him, too.) Even though I didn't raid with him in TBC Classic (or that part of guild leadership), that experience soured me considerably on whether some random person might want to 'help' me by 'informing' me of the meta for whatever it is I'm doing.
So yeah, I don't need any guild groups in 5-person instances while I'm learning things, thankyouverymuch.
Even if I did want to group up in guild, guildies would soon learn about my toons outside of the auspices of the guild and start adding them to their friends list. The only person who knows Neve and Linna are attached to me is my questing buddy, and I prefer it that way. A few other people are aware that I boosted a Paladin in case Ret were needed, but that's all they know.
***
Regardless, Josh's 'solution' isn't one that I think would work. You'll have to watch the video to form your own opinion, but my belief is that the meta is here to stay, and it will pretty much rule the MMOs that already have been 'figured out' because of human nature.
If you ask someone what their goal is in playing an MMO such as WoW Classic, what is the answer?
How many say 'To win"?
How many say "To have fun"?
But the kicker is what does 'winning' and 'fun' mean to people?
If it means 'endgame', odds are very good that it also means utilizing the metagame to win the endgame. Even if 'having fun' means that people want to 'raid with friends', eventually raid leadership will have to come to some hard decisions about people who simply aren't doing a very good job but happen to be good friends. Who do you pick, the friendship or finishing a raid tier?*****
If it means 'winning PvP', it means following the PvP meta. After all, the PvP crowd is more intensely driven to winning and min/maxing their way to success than even progression raiders.
If it means doing anything other than that, then perhaps the meta doesn't matter that much. But to an MMORPG, where everything is geared around Endgame and PvP and raiding, the meta will still rule.
***
So....
Where does this leave me?
Probably trying my damnedest to keep my head down, run the Friday Kara until it simply isn't viable anymore, and just mind my own business. Eventually I'll get over this funk, and since I've got about 10 months or so until Wrath drops I've got plenty of time. I can console myself in that no matter what MMO I play, there will be a meta lurking out there, so it's not like I can change a game and free myself from the metagame. It's all about the community, and how overt --or backhanded-- they are in pushing people toward the metagame that matters.
And that last statement probably deserves a post of its own.
*There's another Josh Strife Hayes video on that, right here:
**You remember the person who was interested in learning to raid lead and was offered --without my knowledge-- a chance at running my Friday Kara run? He never followed through. I was going to contact him directly, but I was told to wait to see if he followed up with me. So far, he hasn't. Of course, he might contact me this week because that's just my luck. I post about it, and it happens.
***And a few mailed over by my questing buddy.
****Outside of 'Normal' runs for Hellfire Ramparts, Blood Furnace, etc. being very hard to find.
*****A couple of weeks ago, during the Friday Kara someone said in Discord that they missed raiding with me on Mondays. "Thanks," I replied, "but you at least have [raider's name] now, and she brings 300-400 more DPS than me." And nobody said a word about missing raiding with me after that. It's very easy to assuage your own guilt by saying platitudes, but the reality is that my replacement brings significantly more DPS than me. People can't deny the uncomfortable fact that when I replaced her for Vashj in SSC on my very last progression raid night we couldn't bring Vashj down. The next week, they nailed her on the second try. My questing buddy continues to insist that I'm missing the point and that people do miss me, but I believe I just simply said the quiet part out loud that nobody wanted to admit.
I have a feeling that even if a metagame didn't exist or multiple equally good paths existed, a player base is going to anoint one particular path as _the_ 'meta'. The current mindset in both players and developers about efficiency and moving the player base to the next 'new thing' really pushes everyone towards deciding on way is the 'best true path'. :/
ReplyDeleteThat comment about [raider's name] bringing more dps could be perceived the wrong way. It sounds more like you got replaced for bad dps than because of real life issues. People tend to be quiet when those things are mentioned because they feel sorry and don't want to add to any hurt. I know as a dps it is easy to be down on yourself because your performance isn't where you wanted it to be, but don't let that be a definer of yourself with other people. Just like your questing buddy, they like you for who you are and what you bring to the group. DPS is just one thing that makes a good group and for some people DPS will never be the important contribution they bring. Don't ever sell yourself short.
True about how equally good selections might have one lose out because people want one choice.
DeleteAs for my comment, that's exactly what I was aiming for. You see, I was already in the bottom 5 on DPS, and those of us at the bottom were already given a talking to a couple of times because of that and how we could improve. The original message (prior to editing) by the raid lead about a week before I announced that I had to leave included a plea that we're [paraphrasing] "hitting a DPS wall, and while I love raiding with you all, if we can't bring our DPS up we'll have to take some measures." So yeah, that was also on my mind when I made the double edged comment. The only thing that prevented the raid lead from putting me on that short list was because I was a raid lead myself, and I knew that if I didn't improve I'd stick out like a sore thumb. People would assume that I'm not being benched because of my status, not because of my performance. So yeah, there was pressure to improve prior to my leaving as well. I just made the decision easier by walking away because of work.
This is a problem peculiar to "gamers". Pretty much everyone else who plays games but doesn't consider it a defining part of their identity remains blissfully unaware of even the existence of "the meta", let alone what it might be in their particular game.
ReplyDeleteIt happens in every hobby and pastime. It's the difference between people who like to go to the movies and cineastes or people who like to read and book bloggers. SOme people can't help taking their hobbies as seriously as though they had some kind of external significance beyond the immediate pleasure they give in the moment. Most people just do stuff they like, enjoy it, then move on to the next thing.
It only becomes an issue when the people who produce the "content" begin to tailor it towards the elite group rather than the general audience. That has been happening in gaming for a while but I suspect we're past the peak of it. There's always going to be elite content where the meta is expected but it's becoming increasingly siloed for specific groups who demand it, not the general playing population. I do think that WoW in general and the retro servers in particualar are one of the most determined hold-outs for that way of thinking. I'm not sure you'd see anything like that strong a focus on the meta in many newer mmorpgs these days.
I do wonder whether games such as WoW conditioned the gamer community too well, so that even in games where there's an unintentional meta (such as the Classic versions of WoW) that people have gone back and found one. So that, you know, you're 'doing it right'. After all, Tier gear was supposed to be the top end rading gear, but in Classic and TBC theorycrafters figured out that --for the most part-- Tier gear wasn't worth a damn for a lot of classes if you wanted to maximize your output.
DeleteWhile you're leveling, you can simply outlevel an area and then attack the problem of not having maximum output in that manner, but at max level you can't do that. Once you hit a wall and you want to find out why, you end up discovering the meta. At that point it's a bit like that first free sample of crack cocaine, where you discover something that dramatically improves your output and you're able to do things you didn't think you could. Once you follow further down that path, however, you become an unwitting slave to the meta because 'It worked once, so why not a second time? Or a third? Or a fourth?'
Hi Red;
ReplyDeleteI watched that video, and agreed with the author's intent throughout the whole thing. Even his solutions make sense. Was enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately, I see it as the natural human condition that drives us to this point, every case you can think of. It isn't limited to gaming, it's all throughout life.
Sports and Business come to mind. Any form of competition, once the route to success is determined, anything that veers from the path is seen as sub-optimal and you'll be guided back to the path or left to flounder.
Even 'fun' sports leagues there's always that optimal 'path'. We strive to be better, almost always. If we're not working on it, the less 'fun' it becomes, and eventually your team will fall apart from disinterest. It's just human nature.
Throughout my wow experience I've always tried to find the group/guild/whatever that will match what I want to get out of the game, just as everyone else does. Usually it falls towards the more casual side of the game, far from hardcore but always trying to get through whatever raid tier I'm working on. Pretty much every time there's a sub-optimal non-meta group, it'll last until the people at the top of the dps charts start looking at greener pastures, and feel they're being kept behind by those not improving... and it's always led back to the meta. Always.
Human nature
Bill
Alas that you're likely right. The guild I'm in started as just a Monday night raiding guild only, but over time it's morphed into a semi-hardcore raiding guild. I'd dispute the 'semi' part, since to me it's pretty obvious that we're hardcore by now. Even if people try to be casual about some things, it's almost as if they can't help but go in a hardcore direction.
Delete