http://www.stern.de/computer-technik/computer/:World-Warcraft-Entwickler-Fliehen-Fantasiewelt/581202.html
"Flee to a Fantasy World"
In this article, Frank Pierce has an interview with Stern, a famous and reputable magazine in Germany.
He is asked 5 real questions in the interview:
(This is not verbatim; the answers will be summarized by me.)
1.Was ist so faszinierend an diesem Spiel?
(What is so fascinating about this game?)
WoW requires minimal processing power and is quite easy to learn. Many players enjoy the social aspects of the game, especially meeting and/ or fighting new people. Once the player learns the control scheme it opens up the possibilities and creates an opportunity to explore a gigantic world.
2.Jeder Spieler entwickelt eine eigene Figur, mit der er sich durch den Fantasiekosmos kämpft. Ist das Rollenspiel das wichtigste Element?
(Every player creates for themselves an avatar (lit. figure) with which to fight through this fantasy universe. Is roleplaying the most important element?)
I found this answer interesting.
Yes, of course. The player forms an emotional bond (emotionale Verbindung) with their individual avatar and can form friendships with other avatars.
3.Gerade jüngere Spieler verbringen sehr viele Stunden in der "WoW". Wie denken Sie darüber?
(Many young players spend countless hours in WoW. What do you think about that?)
This was also an interesting response.
"Das ist ganz abhängig von der persönlichen Situation eines jeden." This is very dependent on the personal situation of every individual. Everyone should decide for, and set limits for themselves, as to how much time they are going to spend playing. This applies to all kinds of media.
I don't really know why they spend so much time ingame. We have huge scenarios, PvP, and many other features that make our game attractive.
4. Flüchten sich die Spieler mit der "WoW"-Identität aus ihrer Realität?
(Do players flee from their realities with their WoW identities?)
This is a point made for every type of media, that one can flee to a science fiction or fantasy world. It is no different than reading a fiction book.
5.Sie haben mit diesem Konzept eine Monopolstellung in der Spieleindustrie aufgebaut. Wie ist die Konkurrenz auf sie zu sprechen?
(You have built a monopoly in the gaming industry. How is the competition?)
They are very enthusiastic. The market grew rapidly last year and surprised everyone.
Germans, like the Americans, are worried about how much time people are spending in these virtual worlds. Mr. Pierce does an admirable job answering these questions and deflecting any controversy or criticism. The majority of European concerns about gaming (except the French who have embraaced the idea) are
tied to violence and time spent playing. Luckily, we don't have anyone playing the role of Thompson in our society.
I find the issues surrounding MMO's to be very important. WoW has over 10 million players from countries with vast linguistic and cultural differences.
However, I think that gamers are made fun of more in
Germany than in the US.
http://www.stupidedia.org/stupi/World_of_Warcraft
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4 comments:
One reason could be that, Germans seem to be not as used to seeing their kids play video games, as much as Americans have since the late eighties. Even though culturally Europeans are more liberal, when it come to spending time on video games or computer they kind of get conservative. Just my 2 cents!
The answers to the interview seem like reasonable answers that any person, no matter what country he or she is from, might say. I personally don't know why you would single the article out as a German perspective when it seems more like a general perspective, but I could be misinterpreting your intent. (And what do you mean by "real" questions? I don't know enough German to read the article if that would explain it.)
That aside, I think the emotional bond mentioned in the interview is a concept that many non-gamers fail to realize. There are people who play MMOs and see their avatars as tools, and there are people who see their avatars as an extension of themselves, like a virtual friend, or even like a baby to dress up and send on adventures. Then again, people might consider it weird to be so attached to a virtual body.
Germans have become pretty afraid of the amount of time people (especially children) spend playing games. They have been referred to as gift (poison), soziales verfall (social downfall), and responsible for chubby, dumb kids. I chose this article because of the questions the interviewer asks. By "real" questions, I mean questions that tried to go somewhere. There were questions that only required 1-word answers and one about the Warcraft movie. Also, some of the answers may seem general because:
1. Frank Pierce (Pearce?) is an American
2. He is an executve within Blizzard
3. It is his job to try to deflect any criticism or controversy to protect his product
In my own family, despute how many sports I played growing up, I'm still somewhat of a pariah because of my love of video games and the amount of time I spent playing them as a child.
Who knows? Maybe the Germans don't have an exceptionlly unique view on games. Obviously there will be some overlap in concerns from one culture to another. The major differences may lie in the emphasis they put on certain points.
PS - I must apologize for my English. It tends to get pretty simple and wierd when I'm in the middle of translating and/or writing in my native language.
You're English nothing to apologize for. I was just confused about some things, but you've cleared them up. I misread who was the interviewer and who was the interviewee. Is it just my computer, or do some posts get cut off at the right-hand side?
Actually, now I find it more interesting that you've mentioned being sort of an outcast in your family because of the amount of time you played games.
In my family, the "outcast" is the one not playing games. My sister, her boyfriend, my brother, and I play MMOs, but sometimes different ones at different times. We bond a lot ingame, so when one of us isn't there, that one misses out on a lot of events, jokes, etc.
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