The primary reason WoW still has ~7mil subs. IMHO

Hrimnir

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-the-sunk-cost-fallacy-makes-you-act-stupid.html

IMO the reasons vast majority of the reason people still pay the game as much as they do is 3 fold:

70% - Sunk cost.  People have invested hundreds or thousands of hours and don't want to feel like they've wasted that time:

20% - Lack of anything else worth playing out there

10% - Popularity.  Some people just want to be part of the group, so to speak.

 

Now, i'm not suggesting EVERY person playing the game is part of this group.  But i think its a significant majority.  I'm sure there's a few hundred thousand playing it who are honestly, truly enjoying it and having fun, but i think probably 80% or better are just falling victim to the above listed reasons.

doodphace

Originally posted by Hrimnir

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-the-sunk-cost-fallacy-makes-you-act-stupid.html

IMO the reasons vast majority of the reason people still pay the game as much as they do is 3 fold:

70% - Sunk cost.  People have invested hundreds or thousands of hours and don't want to feel like they've wasted that time:

20% - Lack of anything else worth playing out there

10% - Popularity.  Some people just want to be part of the group, so to speak.

 

Now, i'm not suggesting EVERY person playing the game is part of this group.  But i think its a significant majority.  I'm sure there's a few hundred thousand playing it who are honestly, truly enjoying it and having fun, but i think probably 80% or better are just falling victim to the above listed reasons.

I'm sure it has less than 20% to do with it being a good game

Amjoco

Hmm, nice theory. Now do one on why you think millions of people keep quitting.

kurosenshu

Originally posted by Hrimnir

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-the-sunk-cost-fallacy-makes-you-act-stupid.html

IMO the reasons vast majority of the reason people still pay the game as much as they do is 3 fold:

70% - Sunk cost.  People have invested hundreds or thousands of hours and don't want to feel like they've wasted that time:

20% - Lack of anything else worth playing out there

10% - Popularity.  Some people just want to be part of the group, so to speak.

 

Now, i'm not suggesting EVERY person playing the game is part of this group.  But i think its a significant majority.  I'm sure there's a few hundred thousand playing it who are honestly, truly enjoying it and having fun, but i think probably 80% or better are just falling victim to the above listed reasons.

Finally someone that understands reasoning !

Which sadly will be used against you to discredit you, since wow can do no wrong and anyone that says otherwise is punished and silenced fast, because they don't wish to admit that what you said above is the truth and nothing but the truth.

syriinx

75% Its good/its fun/better than the competition

20% friends/guild

5% sunk cost

 

There is some overlap between sunk cost and friends maybe, but the #1 factor by an enormous margin is because the game is fun for a lot of people.

 

 

 

Distopia

Originally posted by Hrimnir

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-the-sunk-cost-fallacy-makes-you-act-stupid.html

IMO the reasons vast majority of the reason people still pay the game as much as they do is 3 fold:

70% - Sunk cost.  People have invested hundreds or thousands of hours and don't want to feel like they've wasted that time:

20% - Lack of anything else worth playing out there

10% - Popularity.  Some people just want to be part of the group, so to speak.

 

Now, i'm not suggesting EVERY person playing the game is part of this group.  But i think its a significant majority.  I'm sure there's a few hundred thousand playing it who are honestly, truly enjoying it and having fun, but i think probably 80% or better are just falling victim to the above listed reasons.

I agree with this (Red), but I'd add it's more than just the money, a lot of that has to do with power. I"ve been there before I'm sure most have. When SWG was gutted, it was high time to find a new game for myself, what I had the hardest time accepting was being at the bottom of the "food" chain again so to speak. It's a hard thing to leave behind when you have no choice (SWG's case), I'm sure it's even harder when that power is still available.

aesperus

Originally posted by Hrimnir

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-the-sunk-cost-fallacy-makes-you-act-stupid.html

IMO the reasons vast majority of the reason people still pay the game as much as they do is 3 fold:

70% - Sunk cost.  People have invested hundreds or thousands of hours and don't want to feel like they've wasted that time:

20% - Lack of anything else worth playing out there

10% - Popularity.  Some people just want to be part of the group, so to speak.

 

Now, i'm not suggesting EVERY person playing the game is part of this group.  But i think its a significant majority.  I'm sure there's a few hundred thousand playing it who are honestly, truly enjoying it and having fun, but i think probably 80% or better are just falling victim to the above listed reasons.

You're percentages are probably a little off, but this is probably the closest post i've seen someone else make to coming to the truth about WoW.

At this point WoW's success has little to do w/ the actual game. It's got a lot of people invested in it, meaning their far less likely to give up on that investment. Because so many people are invested, it also tends to get their friends hooked into the game, because it's what their friends are playing.

It's a similar phenomena to many popular social media services. They start small, get everyone's friends hooked, and then they've got you.

WoW was able to do this at a time when there was no real competition. And it was able to bring in a much larger outside market into the MMO space as well. The closest competitor it had was EQ2 at the time, which couldn't even come close to competing with a multi-million dollar consumer base.

The landscape is very much different now, which is why so many games that try to do the same fail. They never seem to grasp that they aren't bringing in millions of new players the same way WoW did. They're competing for the few million players that are left.

jusomdude

How much I've already spent has nothing to do with it for me. I play it because it's the best on the market.

Iceman8235

I agree with your points, but not your percentages.  Sunk cost plays a factor, but not that big of a factor.  Lack of options is about right, but you need to add the fact that it's actually a good game and having friends that play it.

Ergload

Can't really say why people still enjoy WoW, I played it for maybe a month before getting bored. But I also hate quest hubs with endless "kill X to gather Y" quests and grinding for loot. The mainstream seems to enjoy this. I can't explain why people like Britney Spear's music, I hate it, but millions of teenage girls love her so she makes money.

yaminsux

Originally posted by Ergload

Can't really say why people still enjoy WoW, I played it for maybe a month before getting bored. But I also hate quest hubs with endless "kill X to gather Y" quests and grinding for loot. The mainstream seems to enjoy this. I can't explain why people like Britney Spear's music, I hate it, but millions of teenage girls love her so she makes money.

One man trash is another man treasure. You found WoW boring, but for others it's fun.

You can try to understand why WoW still standing, simple truth is that, it is very accessible, easy to understand game. There are tons of contents, and because of this it is the "best bang for the buck" MMO out there.

FlawSGI

For me it was the add campaigns. Chuck Norris and Mr T made me do it.  After that is was community that kept me around for a few years. Not the games community mind you because it was a cesspool, but my RL friends and our guild stayed put for so long.

Ergload

Originally posted by yaminsux

Originally posted by Ergload

Can't really say why people still enjoy WoW, I played it for maybe a month before getting bored. But I also hate quest hubs with endless "kill X to gather Y" quests and grinding for loot. The mainstream seems to enjoy this. I can't explain why people like Britney Spear's music, I hate it, but millions of teenage girls love her so she makes money.

One man trash is another man treasure. You found WoW boring, but for others it's fun.

You can try to understand why WoW still standing, simple truth is that, it is very accessible, easy to understand game. There are tons of contents, and because of this it is the "best bang for the buck" MMO out there.

Yeah, that was my point. It was boring for me but millions of people play it religiously for the reasons you listed. I love LoL for some of those reasons (accessible, easy to understand). I'd try another MOBA but don't feel like investing the time into learning something else, even though the mechanics are probably nearly exactly the same.

To be fair though, a lot of WoW's content is more of the same from start to finish. I played on a private server for a little bit with super boosted exp gain where you could get to level 200 and solo dungeon bosses. This let me fly through WoW's content in like a week and from start to finish it was the same "kill X to gather Y" quests from the newbie zone to the endgame zone.

Albatroes

Do we REALLY REALLY REALLY need more and more of the same threads?

Townfool

My percentages....

10%:  WOW/Warhammer  history and characters

20%: Long established history playing with friends/guild networks

30%: Game design and mechanics

40%: Game plays on any computer newer than an IBM XT.

 

Thanks...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I miss Robin already!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Albatroes

Originally posted by Townfool

My percentages....10%:  WOW/Warhammer  history and characters20%: Long established history playing with friends/guild networks30%: Game design and mechanics40%: Game plays on any computer newer than an IBM XT. Thanks...      I miss Robin already!!!!!     

 

I will actually agree with you on point number 4. Everyone's wanting next gen and stuff but people do not realize that the "average" gamer does not have a good pc. Then you wonder why these newer games aren't so popular in comparison to wow. Yes, wow was marketed probably the best out of any game to date tbh, but the other part is that is can run well on practically any crappy rig from like 10 years ago.

Hrimnir

Originally posted by Iceman8235
I agree with your points, but not your percentages.  Sunk cost plays a factor, but not that big of a factor.  Lack of options is about right, but you need to add the fact that it's actually a good game and having friends that play it.

You and a couple others have brought up that its a good game.  I won't deny this, i played it pretty heavily.  I think it *was* a good game.  Now? maybe only decent or bordering on mediocre, but thats just my opinion /shrug.

The point i make is this:  I loved the book Shogun.  I have read it 5 times.  I recently after about 5 years picked it up to read it again and stopped after about 200 pages.  Why?  I've read it 5 times already.

I love the star wars movies.  I've seen them almost a dozen times.  Its been almost a decade since i last watched them.

The point is.  You eventually have to move on.  I honestly don't understand how people can sit there and make character after character after character, and do the EXACT same content over and over and over again and not want to bash their heads into a wall.

It takes nothing away from the experience you had, but at some point you gotta look inward and figure out why you're REALLY playing the game.

Horusra

Maybe they are REALLY playing cause they like it.

reemi

This is true and false at same time. 

You need a very good product to keep the player playing for a while, (at least few years) before you enter in your sunk cost mode. 

I played Guildwars ~12-16 month and I never had the feeling with that game. 

I have this feeling with WoW but, I also have lot of fun with WoW...

vveaver_online

nah man, i think the number one reason is that real life can suck more then wow at times in peoples lives. Combine that with 10 years worth of content, its just a winner.

That said, i have not played wow in a long long time now, and have no idea how these pandas have been working it.

I'v played MMO's since they where called MUD's and its always been about avoiding real life more then its been about being ingame.

reemi

u eventually have to move on.  I honestly don't understand how people can sit there and make character after character after character, and do the EXACT same content over and over and over again and not want to bash their heads into a wall.

For the same reason why you watched Starwars a dozen times... For the same reason why I watched Game of Thrones 3 times yet...

Because we like it?

Note:

Everytime I play a new character, I found something new... I learn things... too many changes, too many stories, too many quests, to many classes and races... it's never the same content... And if you just raid or pvp, well it's like playing Call of Duty, it's always a new game but always the same map, always the same guns, etc... 

I always stop playing once a while, my last break was ~april 2014 to last week, I have 10 level 90 alliance that I didnt logged yet because at the moment i'm ONLY playing new characters (but horde) on a new server! It's a start over, I'll play horde on WoD with 0 golds, no friends, no guilds, no gear, nothing... It's really fun and I don't really miss my other toons at all. No I'm not addicted, I can stop anytime, I never play more than 30-45 minutes and I only play if I have fun. 

I also read WoW books, wiki, comic, watch lot of videos. I really enjoy that universe, it's more than a game!

CrazKanuk

Originally posted by Hrimnir

Originally posted by Iceman8235
I agree with your points, but not your percentages.  Sunk cost plays a factor, but not that big of a factor.  Lack of options is about right, but you need to add the fact that it's actually a good game and having friends that play it.

You and a couple others have brought up that its a good game.  I won't deny this, i played it pretty heavily.  I think it *was* a good game.  Now? maybe only decent or bordering on mediocre, but thats just my opinion /shrug.

The point i make is this:  I loved the book Shogun.  I have read it 5 times.  I recently after about 5 years picked it up to read it again and stopped after about 200 pages.  Why?  I've read it 5 times already.

I love the star wars movies.  I've seen them almost a dozen times.  Its been almost a decade since i last watched them.

The point is.  You eventually have to move on.  I honestly don't understand how people can sit there and make character after character after character, and do the EXACT same content over and over and over again and not want to bash their heads into a wall.

It takes nothing away from the experience you had, but at some point you gotta look inward and figure out why you're REALLY playing the game.

This is possibly the weakest argument ever. First of all your percentages are ridiculous. You're basically saying that 100% of the people are playing the game against their will. In your opinion, zero percent of people are playing the game because they enjoy it. So I think you've got to take that back to the drawing board. 

 

Secondly, I doubt the majority of players have been subbed to WoW continuously since 2004, never missing a month. At this point, I go in 6-month cycles or so. It goes in ebbs and flows with the content releases. This is, actually, much more indicative of what the reasoning is for many players. It'd be interesting to see if Blizz could handle monthly releases what their subscription numbers would do. Think of it this way, are you going to go and see the new Star Wars movie? Or watch it on video? Probably, come on now, be honest. Even though you heard Episode 1 was horrid, you still watched it. Probably watched it a couple times. You are 100% watching the next film. Also, if there was a new Shogun book released, would you read it? Yes. Of course you would! Why? Well, first of all, Star Wars is just awesome. Even when it's bad it's still kinda good. Shogun is a freakin' awesome book. For you, it's the best of that genre. WoW is no different. Take a look at the WoW WoD cinematic trailer and tell me that there is something better than that. Fact: Blizz is great at rounding up all those who have unsubscribed over the past 2 years and trailers like that are one of the reasons.

Azaron_Nightblade

No doubt those are part of the reason why some people keep playing. But I imagine the "primary" one is far simpler.

They still have fun with the game.

The simplest explanation is often the right one.

Vonatar

Originally posted by Azaron_Nightblade

No doubt those are part of the reason why some people keep playing. But I imagine the "primary" one is far simpler.

They still have fun with the game.

The simplest explanation is often the right one.

+1

 

But people who don't like WoW seem to have trouble accepting that others do. Lack of viable alternatives certainly has something to do with it, because people play, leave and then return. But it seems for a large number of MMO players it's just plain enjoyable. Nothing wrong with that.

Thane

Originally posted by Horusra
Maybe they are REALLY playing cause they like it.

yea some people will never understand that taste differs.

WoW IS a good game, some people just don't like it. doesn't make it bad

BadSpock

I know I personally keep coming back to WoW over and over again because the moment to moment gameplay is just the most solid, polished, responsive, and interactive of any MMORPG I have ever played.

Going to Timeless Isle and killing Elites/Rares solo just... FEELS good. You hit the buttons on your keyboard, the things that happen just feel right. So well timed. The response/feedback is unmatched.

Hop into an instance, dungeon or raid etc. and the way all the mechanics work from threat to healing to debuffs and boss abilities etc. etc. just FEEL good - they feel so solid.

People (myself included) complain about LFD and LFR - I do miss the days of having dozens of friends/guildies online and running content together that required coordination and some skill etc.

But WoW gives me the ability to do what I love to do (dungeons and raids) on my own - quick access to PUGs as my chosen role.

Sure, there can be problems in LFD/LFR - mostly rude players and players who still for whatever reason just can't seem to figure out the basic mechanics of a fight...

But no other MMORPG has ever come close to matching this experience. WoW just nails it.

UO will always be my first love, but my lord that was 15 years ago - on dial up - and it was 2D lol it is just a completely different experience.