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WoW is Microsoft and SWTOR is Apple

Meldwyn

By Meldwyn
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Meldwyn

Meldwyn

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This kinda hit me this morning as I contemplated the comparisons that we so often see on these forums to WoW and SW. Here's my take in a general sense (pure opinion) based upon the early days of both companies and their philosophies (Microsoft and Apple)!

 

Like Microsoft's operating system, WoW is very open for external development for addons, macros, etc... Thus, WoW is extremely popular because so many people can personally contribute to its success and its ease of use/play.

 

Like Apple's operating system, SW is very closed to outside development. Thus there are no addons, no macro support, no customization of any kind, without BW's implementation of it. So BW creates the environment/player experience and you decide whether you like it or not.

 

Both philosophies are valid and both can and do work in the real world. But, as a result (if these philosophies continue)...

 

WoW will always be the most popular MMO of all time and will continue to have a very large player base as long as they keep it open to others to help develop the experience.

 

SW will have a big following and people will love it for what it is, but it will be more niche (big niche, mind you) and will never fully envelop the MMO market. Additionally, I don't ever see BW opening its engine up to outside development for addons and such because they want to maintain the "integrity" of the game and to control the player experience (philosophy).

 

Can both survive in this space... Absolutely! Will SW kill WoW, definitely not! Will WoW kill SW, NO! Both can and will coexist, but for different reasons and will cater to different crowds (eventually). They share the same game "space" but with different philosophies and a different player experience. Additionally, strong feelings on both sides of the fence will create a WoW and SW "fanboy" schism in the genre, it has already reared its ugly head (just like Microsoft and Apple).

 

Personal experience...

 

I don't play WoW anymore, but I don't know if I will play SW for years either. Not because I don't like SW (I do), its more because I tend to "finish" games in my mind and want to move on. I couldn't make the transition to Cata in WoW very well, cause it was so "same o, same o". Once I finish a story line or two in SW, it will probably be "finished" for me too.

 

TL;DR = Title says it all... :)

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Meldwyn

Meldwyn

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lol WoW vs TOR is not bad enough we gotta draw Microsoft and Apple into the comparison as well haha

 

LOL, not drawing Microsoft and Apple in to the discussion to compare the two of them as much as draw a parallel in company development philosophies and how Blizzard and BW have gone about their own developments. Which will then drive the long term outcome, which can be paralleled as well, to a degree.

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Quip

Quip

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But Microsoft is a vastly more ethical company than Apple. Not to mention that Bill Gates is a kindly saint to Steve Job's baby munching demon.

 

You have a bad analogy there.

 

Now if you just mean being cool to the sheeple then yeah, you have a point. But that's a delusion brought on by blind devotion coupled with irrational hatred, just like Apple and Microsoft.

 

Bioware is EA, Blizzard is Activision. There's no hero to be found. I don't think development philosophies are even compatible.

Edited by Quip
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Meldwyn

Meldwyn

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But Microsoft is a vastly more ethical company than Apple. Not to mention that Bill Gates is a kindly saint to Steve Job's baby munching demon.

 

Not sure where you were going here...

 

Philosophy of development was the point, not ethics and saintliness... But, sorry you missed the point. I did proofread my original post though. :D

 

Maybe you stopped at the title and thought I was saying that Microsoft developed WoW and Apple owns Bioware... nope, that wasn't what I was saying.

Edited by Meldwyn
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Flyceratops

Flyceratops

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Like Microsoft's operating system, WoW is very open for external development for addons, macros, etc... Thus, WoW is extremely popular because so many people can personally contribute to its success and its ease of use/play.

Every successful MMO has interface addons and a macro system. This is not optional; it is expected! People want to be able to edit their own interfaces with ease and to have a way to display useful information that they otherwise couldn't see, and that's what addons do.

 

Like Apple's operating system, SW is very closed to outside development. Thus there are no addons, no macro support, no customization of any kind, without BW's implementation of it. So BW creates the environment/player experience and you decide whether you like it or not.

BW creates a user experience devoid of any UI customization options (even UI scale ... I mean, really?). This is not a good sort of 'closed' application.

 

SW will have a big following and people will love it for what it is, but it will be more niche (big niche, mind you) and will never fully envelop the MMO market. Additionally, I don't ever see BW opening its engine up to outside development for addons and such because they want to maintain the "integrity" of the game and to control the player experience (philosophy).

Somehow I doubt that the game is going to be a niche. If they actually add addons/hopefully macroing to the game (full customization, basically), made some more focus on making endgame encounters difficult and 'epic' (we would need threat meters for this, I don't get why we don't have them if we're addonless and thus can't make ones ourselves), catered to the 'casual' player who doesn't really want to do hardmode raids, and also made it so animations showed up smoothly (I mean, honestly, half of the time my channeling spells don't show up on my Sorcerer because it was showing the spell I'd cast before it! What the hell?).

 

Bioware isn't competitive yet and the game will not be successful until they get to such a point. (Note that I really like the game, this is just my opinion on how the market works.).

 

Also, honestly, I wouldn't compare it to Apple and Microsoft; I'd compare it to Android and Windows Phone 7. With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is telling phone developers the minimum specs for the phone and not letting them 'reskin' the interface build (they don't want it filled with advertisements and annoying stuff). The result is that WP7 looks gorgeous, and while it's a 'closed' system, it's a very nice one that results in an obvious standard and you always know what you're buying.

 

Android is 'open' and everyone can edit it if they want to, pretty much (and if they're not supposed to they will anyway). It's completely open with roots, hacks, etcetera. This does not make Android a worse OS; it just makes it different and will appeal to different people, well... differently!

 

Although really, I wouldn't call WoW open; I'd say that they're both 'closed', inclusive developments. What you're saying are 'closed' developments are actually a lack of standard features, which is bad - not a design support, but a massive flaw.

 

Edit: Also, I will be incredibly surprised if this doesn't start a Mac vs PC war, heh.

Edited by Flyceratops
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Quip

Quip

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Not sure where you were going here...

 

Philosophy of development was the point, not ethics and saintliness... But, sorry you missed the point. I did proofread my original post though. :D

 

Maybe you stopped at the title and thought I was saying that Microsoft developed WoW and Apple owns Bioware... nope, that wasn't what I was saying.

 

 

My point is (though I rambled horribly) I think the whole analogy is strained, there is no philosophy in the mechanics that were left out of SWTOR. "Don't know how" and "Don't have time" aren't decisions, they're situations. There is more stuff listed as "post-launch" than you can shake a stick at, this is a pretty clear indication that these aren't philosophical decisions at all, these are adaptations to time constraints.

 

There is no parallel to be drawn.

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Meldwyn

Meldwyn

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My point is (though I rambled horribly) I think the whole analogy is strained, there is no philosophy in the mechanics that were left out of SWTOR. "Don't know how" and "Don't have time" aren't decisions, they're situations. There is more stuff listed as "post-launch" than you can shake a stick at, this is a pretty clear indication that these aren't philosophical decisions at all, these are adaptations to time constraints.

 

There is no parallel to be drawn.

 

Gotcha!

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Meldwyn

Meldwyn

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Also, honestly, I wouldn't compare it to Apple and Microsoft; I'd compare it to Android and Windows Phone 7. With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is telling phone developers the minimum specs for the phone and not letting them 'reskin' the interface build (they don't want it filled with advertisements and annoying stuff). The result is that WP7 looks gorgeous, and while it's a 'closed' system, it's a very nice one that results in an obvious standard and you always know what you're buying.

 

Android is 'open' and everyone can edit it if they want to, pretty much (and if they're not supposed to they will anyway). It's completely open with roots, hacks, etcetera. This does not make Android a worse OS; it just makes it different and will appeal to different people, well... differently!

 

Although really, I wouldn't call WoW open; I'd say that they're both 'closed', inclusive developments. What you're saying are 'closed' developments are actually a lack of standard features, which is bad - not a design support, but a massive flaw.

 

Well put!

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Sohtaraz

Sohtaraz

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So your willing to say that SWTOR is a overpriced peace of WOW junk that was obselete on their parts, and do to awesome marketin they can rip off consumers for several times the money? Ouchie.

 

I would also like the point out the only good freature in the entire mac family is the UI and looks, neither this game has. Its as userfriendly as a fireball inside your pants.

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Skizzik

Skizzik

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This kinda hit me this morning as I contemplated the comparisons that we so often see on these forums to WoW and SW. Here's my take in a general sense (pure opinion) based upon the early days of both companies and their philosophies (Microsoft and Apple)!

 

Like Microsoft's operating system, WoW is very open for external development for addons, macros, etc... Thus, WoW is extremely popular because so many people can personally contribute to its success and its ease of use/play.

 

Like Apple's operating system, SW is very closed to outside development. Thus there are no addons, no macro support, no customization of any kind, without BW's implementation of it. So BW creates the environment/player experience and you decide whether you like it or not.

 

Both philosophies are valid and both can and do work in the real world. But, as a result (if these philosophies continue)...

 

WoW will always be the most popular MMO of all time and will continue to have a very large player base as long as they keep it open to others to help develop the experience.

 

SW will have a big following and people will love it for what it is, but it will be more niche (big niche, mind you) and will never fully envelop the MMO market. Additionally, I don't ever see BW opening its engine up to outside development for addons and such because they want to maintain the "integrity" of the game and to control the player experience (philosophy).

 

Can both survive in this space... Absolutely! Will SW kill WoW, definitely not! Will WoW kill SW, NO! Both can and will coexist, but for different reasons and will cater to different crowds (eventually). They share the same game "space" but with different philosophies and a different player experience. Additionally, strong feelings on both sides of the fence will create a WoW and SW "fanboy" schism in the genre, it has already reared its ugly head (just like Microsoft and Apple).

 

Personal experience...

 

I don't play WoW anymore, but I don't know if I will play SW for years either. Not because I don't like SW (I do), its more because I tend to "finish" games in my mind and want to move on. I couldn't make the transition to Cata in WoW very well, cause it was so "same o, same o". Once I finish a story line or two in SW, it will probably be "finished" for me too.

 

TL;DR = Title says it all... :)

 

You are so clever, here's a cookie.

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