Second Skin and World of Warcraft

Second Skin was definitely not what I expected, nor was I surprised at the end of the movie at how good it turned out to be after watching it as I was with Indie Game: The Movie and Reformat The Planet. Instead, this movie seemed to reinforce some of the most negative gamer stereotypes, such as sitting in front of their computer screens for hours at night, gaining weight and becoming so obsessed with the game that they potentially lost their job. Probably the only non-stereotypical part of the movie may be the couples that met through a certain game.

I have friends that used to play World of Warcraft (WoW), none of who fit the gamer stereotype portrayed in Second Skin; even though they may have spent several hours playing at night a few times a week, they usually spend the majority of their time working, going to school, going to the gym, or hanging out with each other in person. All of these friends have stopped playing WoW and moved onto other MMORPGs such as League of Legends and Diablo III. According to this article on Mashable (http://mashable.com/2012/08/02/world-of-warcraft-lost-1-million/), my friends may not be the only ones who are leaving WoW whether it is for another game or to stop gaming entirely.

People may also be leaving WoW behind because it has not transitioned its playing platform beyond a PC or a Mac as other games are beginning to do. As we have discussed in class multiple times, many people play games on their smartphones or tablets because they are always on hand and are generally quick games that can be played during a break.

Besides WoW’s singular playing platform potentially pushing players away, there is the cost of playing the game. Currently, a player must pay $15 a month to continue on in the game past level 20. Some games, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, have transitioned to being completely free to play as a way of keeping their players. In this article from March (http://www.gamespot.com/news/next-two-world-of-warcraft-expansions-planned-6367729), Gamespot said that WoW’s developer was happy with the price players pay to play the game. If Mashable’s article is correct in saying that WoW has lost one million of its players in the last three months, will Blizzard keep the $15/month charge, or reconsider it?