My Life As A Gamer: Most People Won't Work For Entertainment (Still)

The Mythic Plus scene in World of Warcraft continues to prove what I've said for year: the common man will not work for his entertainment.

This is not the first time that Preach has made a video about how the playerbase in the game refuses to Git Gud and earn their way to the top rewards in the game. He's been doing this for years, and his criticisms each time have been both accurate and precise. This video is no different; the changes to how Mythic Plus works has demoralized players wanting to give this mode a go, especially compared to the piss-easy alternatives showering players with free loot that isn't terrible.

The issue is simple: People Don't Work For Entertainment.

World of Warcraft is a game. Dungeons & Dragons is a game. Games are entertainment, and entertainment is not taken to require effort akin to work to enjoy, and "enjoy" means "succeed". That's what professional athletes do, and pros get paid to do it.

There's a threshold of effort past which most people turn off and do something else, and with games that line is "Does it feel like work?" Most people expect a game to be something they can do cold (no preparation) and stupid (no prior/outside knowledge), have a good chance at winning, and have no ongoing commitment. They expect that because the very games that endure generation on generation are exactly that, a fact summarized with "Easy To Learn; A Lifetime To Master".

I'll get more specific about this in later posts on this topic, but for now consider Preach's commentary in this light; World of Warcraft has a serious problem because what it requires to justify itself financially cannot be had unless the game is too easy for the core audience to stomach for long. All of the game's problems stem from this conflict.