Thursday, July 13, 2006

World of Warcraft Idea

Though I game far less than I once did, I do play World of Warcraft. Not so much because it is the best game evar or anything (it is pretty good though), but more because there aren't any better out there that don't require massive and continuous commitments for my time.

One thing I always wondered though is why more games didn't learn from the old Jumpgate MOG (I refuse to use the longer acronyms, so MOG is Massive Online Game... that's as  much hype as you'll get from me). Like most games, especially MOGs, Jumpgate started a web site long before the game released. But from the start one thing really stood out about their web site. The site was linked very deeply into the actual game (in beta at the time). You could look up who was online, where, what they were doing, see statistics, and even manage your in game character a little.

Where the fuck is that feature in every game released since then? Jumpgate is years and years old... I don't even know how old. And it had deep integration with their game database back then.

What I'd love to see is WoW implement a way to actually log into the web site and see your character info, spend your talent points, talk to in game players (at least ones in your guild), and most of all... monitor and participate in the auction house. Man I'd love to be able to watch the AH for those rare items from work without having to actually log into the game itself (which is a sure way for the boss to know you aren't working :P).

Anyway... I do hope future games take some Qs from Jumpgate. Make your web site PART of the game... not just a bullshit marketing ad.