I Noticed That Too

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had watched some friends playing World of Warcraft for the first time, and I made some perfunctory "not really for me" decision... but it was a bit more than that. I couldn't figure out why I didn't find it all that engaging. (Hell: 20 years ago, upon seeing a game like this, I probably would have had a huge mental erection and wouldn't have been able to sleep for weeks.)

Here is a paragraph that sums up what I felt, but couldn't vocalize:

In fact, I struggled to maintain interest in the game. World of Warcraft is structured around quests, almost all of which conform to a small set of patterns: kill x number of enemies, retrieve such and such an item (which usually requires killing x amount of enemies to procure), go interact with such and such an object (which usually requires killing x amount of enemies to get to). The various enemies in the game are often recycled versions of the same things that one sees scattered throughout one's gradual ascent in level. Many parts of the game are beautiful, but beyond a certain level of superficial art, there is simply smoothness. There is no more detail to be absorbed in an area than is immediately obvious, generally speaking, quite unlike the real world, which yields depths upon depths the more one peers. The best experiences were with other players; interaction with them was, of course, complicated and unpredictable.

None of the play that I watched included interaction with other players, so the one part which the person who wrote this considered most worthwhile was the part I didn't see. (Truth be told though, I'm a lone gamer... playing with other people doesn't interest me.) But, it was the shallowness of the world... the lack of intimate details or hidden discoveries that created the deficiency. To me, the game seemed to consist of run-run-run, slash-slash-slash, grab-grab-grab, run-run-run.