Thursday, July 5, 2012

Special Snowflake Syndrome?


When prowling around the WoW forums, one thing you're bound to hear sometimes is "special snowflake". Usually it's inserted in a mindless rant against "elitists", and in the large majority of cases (in my experience) accompanied by a wealth of spelling and grammar errors.

Yes, I judge people by their spelling and grammar - I know, I know, how horrible! I'm so ashamed of my proper English that sometimes I want to write like a 10-year-old on purpose to hide it.

It's surely one sign of things going down the drain when people who do things properly are openly shunned for it.

Anyway, after this digression, which was not as random as it might have seemed, there's one specific case that breeds accusations of "U JIST WANT 2 FEL LIEK A SPESHUL SNOWFLAKE!" like no other: people complaining about Challenge Modes only awarding vanity rewards.

I'll try to get to the root of the problem. The game today seems to be all about "fun". If it's not "fun", then it's not worth using gear to bribe people into doing it. Gear, apparently, has become as reviled in the eyes of WoW's mainstream as capital in the eyes of Hollywood liberals. They might acknowledge... grudgingly... that the world doesn't function well without it. But boy, do they wish it did.

Since they can't do away with it, then, they try to reduce its role as much as possible, and replace it with "fair" but utterly dysfunctional rules. Hence Blizzard's bending over backwards to normalize gear acquisition rates across all levels of dedication and skill.

Of course, in my view, the whole idea that gear is a "cheap" part of the game is ludicrous, especially in a game that's (supposedly) about improving your character's power. It's like outlawing V6 engines in small cars because, after all, a 1-liter straight-4 does the job perfectly. If you want something with more kick, you're obviously an "elitist" who wants to feel like a "special snowflake" and "ruin everyone else's fun". Boo to you.

Sticking with the analogy, Blizzard's solution (Challenge Modes) was to give everyone 1-liter engines (well, okay, maybe a 1.4-liter if you're really that adamant) and package it in a Ferrari body. It still can't run for crap, but hey, at least now you're special! (Add condescending pat on the head for emphasis)

For the lowest-common-denominator crowd, the whole idea is the best thing since sliced bread, of course. It gets them all comfy at the idea that those nerds who are only better than them because they have no life and live in their moms' basements and (...) won't be able to best them this time. No, sir. Let's see how they do with equal gear! (Insert mentally retarded laughter for emphasis)

Because they consider the "no-life nerds" to now be in their proper place, they'll react that much more vociferously if someone complains about the lack of incentive to run Challenge Modes. Even after all the bragging rights and vanity rewards and (BlizzSpeak on) cool stuff (BlizzSpeak off), you still want gear, gear, gear! Your selfishness is revealed!

Well, duh. Look, if you think that improving one's power is bad because it means that person just wants to show off, I suggest you stop eyeing other people's failings and start looking into your own. Starting with, say, envy. Of course people want to feel special, dimwit, and as long as they don't hurt anybody, what's the matter with that? Oh, they hurt your ego? Well, sorry, but if that's the case the problem is not that others are out to make you feel bad, because by and large people have better things to do. Most likely your sense of self-importance is too bloated and sensitive.

The people who benefit from "gear socialism" are just as selfish as the "elitists". Actually, I'd say the former are far worse. A successful player got there on his own, and whatever injustices he might have committed on the way there - rudeness, guild hopping, ninja looting, et cetera - were localized. An "equalizer," on the other hand, is readily willing to screw everyone else without exception in order to raise his own boat in relative terms.

The excuse, of course, is that it's okay to screw the dedicated players out of their feeling of being special because they "don't really need it" and also because "it will benefit the 99%". As in real life, one should be extremely careful with those who pose as a selfless heroes for the poor and downtrodden. More often than not, they're one of three things: fools, crooks, or psychopaths.

There's a miasma of mediocrity hanging over WoW (and Western society in general). It is revealed in such things as kindergarten children being taught that "everyone is special", or welfare bums claiming that it's "society's" fault they can't pull their own weight, or envious WoW baddies shrieking against challenges with rewards because it would "ruin the game for everyone".

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