Nostalgia...

I've been wanting to write a blog post about in-game nostalgia for some time now. I have however struggled to work out a way of writing down my feelings without sounding like an arse. But, WoW Insiders Matthew Rossi has inspired me!

Firstly the inspirational article in question. Matthew Rossi posted an article about The living game and the end of nostalgia which I highly recommend everyone reads (especially if you intend to read further on). I think that he has hit the nail on the head repeatedly throughout his article. It's well balanced, well written and most of all sums up how I feel.

Anyway, I have decided to jump right on into the deep end so here goes.

Nostalgia is very common in my guild. Compared to a lot of my guild I am a newbie playing WoW. The vast majority have played for several expansions and some since beta. Obviously the game has seen many changes in the 8 years its been around and people have rosey memories of the past.

"The past is a vast and detailed country we believe we have a perfect image of, frozen forever in our minds as a perfected world. Indeed, only the past can be so perfect, because it's the only place that doesn't change on us." Source

As much as I appreciate people are entitled to their memories I am quite frankly sick of hearing that the game has been ruined, it was better 'back then' and a whole heap of other criticisms. What really gets to me is that 99% of what's said is as unconstructive as you can get. I never hear/read "I loved how you had to form a group in trade and use the summoning stone", no it's "Dungeon finder sucks" or "LFR isn't real raiding". Now last time I checked nothing was stopping you forming a group in trade and doing things the old fashioned way. But when I've bring up points like this at I get it thrown back in my face because I "didn't play WoW back in the old days".

"This difference between fond remembrance and willful drowning in the past has to always be kept in mind, and managed. The reason the game has changed and changed over the years is in response to us. As the player base changes, so does the game it plays in." Source

Personally though the worst thing I hear/read is people comparisons. My guild master has a very rose-tinted view of the world. Sometimes I even wonder if he is on the same planet as the rest of us! Now raiding hasn't been going all to well so yes there's pressure etc. but I don't feel alienating and insulting people is not the way forward! For example, saying to the best geared raider in the guild that you'd 'rather play with x, y and z'. Granted this may not be too uncommon a thing to happen but when x has left never to return, no-ones heard from y for months and z is deceased it's pretty darn rude (in my opinion). For me this really is an example of the ugly side of nostalgia!

In addition, they don't seem to want to even contemplate that the game has changed as a result of changes in the player base and changing needs. In fact, if you spent time reading /gchat you might even think that Blizzard have purposely sabotaged their own game

"Looking back is fine, even healthy - it informs us as players, it helps us decide what worked the best and what didn't - but you can't live back there. It's buried with Mankrik's wife." Source

In conclusion, it seems that a select few people in my guild just can't move on and really are stuck back in time. The need to constantly bring up the glory days doesn't just annoy me though. There are other guildies who also get frustrated by the constant need to complain - some were even around back in the day. I just wish they realised that they can't live back then. Hopefully they'll soon realised the game has moved on and now-is-now. Or they'll quit. Or they could find themselves a few guildies down!

Sorry about the massive wall of text!