Focus Shifts To World Of Warcraft

A while ago, we argued in a post called ‘Will We See A Dumbed Down Virtual World Beat Second Life?’ that a virtual world with less functionality and more gameplay like Grand Theft Auto could supersede SecondLife. With disappointment over accurate resident numbers in Second Life, commentators are shifting their focus from the virtual world to the hugely popular online video game World of Warcraft.

Clay Shirky argues that video games have a better chance of adoption than non-game worlds. Here are his three reasons:

Games have at least three advantages other virtual worlds don’t. First, many games, and most social games, involve an entrance into what theorists call the magic circle, a setting with simplified and knowable rules. The magic circle saves the game from having to live up to expectations carried over from the real world.

Second, games are intentionally difficult. If all you knew about golf was that you had to get this ball in that hole, your first thought would be to hop in your cart and drive it over there. But no, you have to knock the ball in, with special sticks. This is just about the stupidest possible way to complete the task, and also the only thing that makes golf interesting. Games create an environment conducive to the acceptance of artificial difficulties.

Finally, and most relevant to visual environments, our ability to ignore information from the visual field when in pursuit of an immediate goal is nothing short of astonishing (viz. the gorilla experiment.) The fact that we could clearly understand spatial layout even in early and poorly rendered 3D environments like Quake has much to do with our willingness to switch from an observational Architectural Digest mode of seeing (Why has this hallway been accessorized with lava?) to a task-oriented Guns and Ammo mode (Ogre! Quad rocket for you!)

SECOND LIFE: Put your money on World of Warcraft – Valleywag