Column: 'Blogged Out: A Lonely World'

In the latest edition of 'Blogged Out,' regular columnist Jim Rossignol takes a look at developer blogging and communications being had with the community at large, including the joys of playing WoW solo and solving publishing risks with casual games. In the following extract, Rossignol responds to a recent post by 3D Realms' Scott Miller, who admits to finding World of Warcraft more enjoyable as a solo experience than a social: "Miller wonders whether this is the real reason for WoW's success. It's certainly his reason for playing. And there's no doubt that flexibilty is an essential factor in the existence of such a massive subscriber base... but I can't help feeling that WoW's concessions to the solo player were a sign of weakness. Sure, it said: "You can play on your own," but it neglected the real gift of online games, which is to say "hey, you can make some friends". In my mind, none of the character classes got to be particularly extreme or specialised, because they were catering for solo play. Instances meanwhile (at least for the first 40-odd levels) were barely implemented. I've been playing the more advanced instances recently and I have to say that although I've never been a happy solo player in any MMO, I only really see WoW shine in its instances. Why do they shine so? Because you have to face challenges as a group." You can now read the full Gamasutra column, including further analysis (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).