Achieve This!

As I suspect that the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion "Wrath of the Lich King" will weigh heavily on my random musings for the next aeon, I feel the need to begin the process of dissecting the transitional experience before I become completely anesthetized to the changes. First and foremost on my thoughts in the last week is a concept familiar to anyone who has ever played an MMO or RPG style game: farming. It is in the front of my mind, as I have spent the last few days killing hundreds (really, hundreds. Eight hundred and thirty-eight to be completely accurate up to the moment) of firefly mobs for the slim chance of obtaining my own cute little firefly pet and the adorable skunk rewarded for collecting 50 vanity pets. Every time I get sucked into "farming mode" for one reason or another, I am reminded of the ways in which MMOs function as work rather than play. Play is an open ended concept, and carries with it both implied unpredictability and enjoyment. Work is directed and focused, and though it can be fulfilling it is not primarily regarded as enjoyable. MMO's somehow manage to fuse together work and play into a system that functions as both entertainment and labor, and that dichotomy serves as my primary academic interest in the genre.

Having deliberately and agonizingly avoided all information about WoTLK, I was unaware about the new system of achievements that is being added to the game. Early last week when my curiosity overcame my better judgement I stumbled upon a listing of these various achievements. The more I read, the more and more amused I became at the magnitude and intense time commitment some would require. The sheer size of the list is impressive (nearly one thousand different achievements are currently listed, though this includes "double" listings for many, one for each faction) and while I am eager to check them off one by one, I am left to wonder why this is being added to the game.

While it's true that this new system provides motivation and reward for the completion of tasks that might otherwise remain incomplete (and hey, some are just plain silly fun), it also firmly cements the cycle that ties most serious MMO players to a game title: an unattainable, perpetual goal. The current list of achievements, as long and exhaustive as it is, will likely never be complete. It is a system that can very easily be expanded infinitely. It is both a whimsical diversion to fill empty hours in-game and a devious method of keeping players addicted. In the aimless months that typically precede a major patch or expansion, many players desert a game, and not all of them return. The timing for the release of this feature, exactly 1 month before the expansion, leads me to believe it has been orchestrated to serve as a tool to keep players task oriented and engaged with the game. And hey, it's working. After all, I did kill eight hundred and thirty-eight fireflies, and I'm still going strong - in a caffeine induced, sleep deprived, dry-eyed stupor.