covert.creations

I have done well in my life to always heed the words of Mutha. So when he says, “Don’t miss out on the FPS Squad game of the year”, you no longer have free will.

So of course I listened! I rushed out and bought Battlefield 2 as soon as I could. Well, actually, I tried. Virgin Megastore Vancouver has been axed by its distributor so no more PC games for a while, LOL. I am certain that the competition will be happy to hear this.

Instead, I bought Diablo 2 for 10$ in the clearance bin.

Note : I did get Battlefield 2 eventually, so watch for a review soonish.

So I took my new 10$ purchase home, installed it, and levelled my fresh and sparkling Paladin to 7.

So what the hell did I do that for? Why should I waste money, time and CPU cycles for a game that was originally released in June 2000? Doing it just for clicks? A click down memory lane? Gah, sorry about that. Diablo was alllll about the clicking.

The main reason was Blizzard, actually. I must admit to some fascination with their story. Although the Blizzard of today is probably different than the creature that created those cool games back in the nineties, I think that the core staff has probably remained. Blizzard games have rivalled iDSoftware Valve in both their fan and developer devotion. Today, it is owned by Vivendi Universal, a French media conglomerate that includes DefJam Records and STUDIOCANAL. Their most recent release has become one of the world’s biggest and most popular MMOs. In fact, their subscriber numbers so exceeded their best-case scenarios that they’ve had to madly scramble to produce more boxes, add world servers and hire personnel. Quite the success story!

But back in the day, there was Diablo. Not high tech, even for the day. But solid. Well constructed. Playing Diablo today allows me to re-experience that polish and attention to detail, as I click my character through each hackfest on his way through the story. And the more I played it, the more I realised that really truly, the template for the design of World of Warcraft exists soley within the domain of Diablo.

Looking back to this game, I was shocked to see how far the roots of WoW extend. Aside from the obvious and unavoidable similarities with other games of the MMO, RPG and MMORPG genre, I see a complete replication of core Diablo elements that make me wonder why they chose Warcraft as the centerpiece theme of their new MMO at all (most likely a market decision, not a design one). Examining the “Diablo on steroids”, World of Warcraft exists as one absolutely gigantic treadmilling machine. In every conceivable direction, the game has been designed from the very foundation to keep as many people playing it for as long as possible. Again, the game was not designed to disguise this, because the treadmill is the fun.

It owes this to Diablo, which turned into its own phenomenon because :

• It was exremely simple to learn.
• Little effort was required to excel in the early game.
• Did not overextend the technology so that it ran well.
• Clean and predictable RPG UI. Didn’t rock the boat.
• Attention to the “feel” of the world. Sound effects and music, etc.
• Happy to be stupid!

Was it stupid? Well.. yeah! As a player, it was a repetitious, grinding machine. it barely had “virtual worldness” in its 8-bit universe. But because everythin was so complete, it was a place you could sort of hang out in. It was predictable, at least in the established visual language. Just like WoW. But there was something more to Diablo 2 that kept a significant fanbase playing…right up until, well, last night! How could a mindless hackfest do that?

RPG Combinatorics.

1. Combine item A with item B and you get item C. [Crafting / Loot]
2. Equip character X with item C and receive benefits Y and Z. [RPG abilities]
3. Allow these “world primitives” to be interchangeable and collectable. [Game mechanic]
4. Then combine it with competitive or cooperative online play [Quests / Instances]
5. Add a touch of visual reinforcement to show who was better [Characters]

and voila! People are still playing it today. Warcraft 1, 2, or 3 did not achieve this.

Obviously there are other elements involved in these games. But if you look at the long-term viability of World of Warcraft, you need only look as far as Diablo. The items are the game. In fact, the loot is so important, that the upper level WoW game (the “uber game”) is exclusively devoted to the procurement and display of the most powerful and unique items in the game. And it is so important that its almost like gambling when you hope that the next drop will be one that nets you tangible in-game benefits. And really – how does gambling in virtual space really DIFFER from gambling in real life? Our world of dollars is truly as constructed as the so-called “fake” world of gold. Even WoW has a rudimentary economy, just as evolving and dynamic as the western world’s.

This is an MMO that is essentially designed to make the players feel unique, and does this through stark, staring materialism. It really does say something about the depth and genius of the WoW game design. It takes all of these elements and wraps them up perfectly! (except for the grind, aspect, ahem)

Its amazing what games can teach us about the world we live in.

I found it hard to write about Diablo without writing about WoW (and vice versa). They are the same game. So… when my new Paladin struts around, swinging his “Green Curved sword of the Fox” against Troll Priests, I know that I’m really playing…. which?