WoW, Negative Blogging, and Creativity
A few people have remarked recently on the overall negative attitude on blogs and message boards about World of Warcraft, and particularly concerning the Burning Crusade expansion. I think I've - anecdotally - identified a factor in this.
The main common factor I'm seeing across the people who are unhappy with the game, and particularly with changes in the expansion and subsequent patches, is that they're not doing anything creative with the game. They're heavily involved in raiding, and in other end-game material, but they're doing so from a consumer perspective. People who are doing "creative" things with the game - crafting and RP within it, making comics, machinima, building websites and databases outside it, seem to have a much more positive attitude with regard to changes.
This is, of course, completely anecdotal, and I have no numbers to back it up. I'm seeing a definite pattern, though - it first came to light when I was reading the forums on some of the crafting sites, and thinking, "these people are not complaining much". Complaints, whinging, and what seems to be called "qqing" are such a standard feature of other message boards, particularly the official ones, that many people avoid them entirely.
What's your take? Does doing "creative" stuff improve your attitude to the game?
Posted by Drew Shiel at April 18, 2007 12:37 PM
