World of Warcraft is a complex game in which we can see aspects of humanity and its nature. Ultimately this is an attempt to imitate the real world but with a touch of magic and mystery. So, we can start at the beginning of any player’s experience. Why would a person start playing and continue playing over the years? This is a very good game, which is very well developed and has a great amount of interesting details that make it special. I believe there is something deeper that continues to pull us in to this illusion. I am almost certain that because in this reality all the big questions are answered or are irrelevant, we can find at least an illusion of happiness in here. Not having to wander where we came from or why we are here makes life easier for us. “Give up earning and put an end to your troubles. Is there a difference between yes and no? Is there a difference between good and evil? Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense! Other people are contented, enjoying the sacrificial feast of the ox.” (p.22) I believe this quote has two parts. In the first one we see how through learning we might get to know great things but as well we discover a great amount of trouble. The second part has to do with the questions that humanity has asked itself all the time. Living in the hands of the gods we continue to think of that but it’s just not relevant there are other more important things to think of or to worry about. It is in the simplicity of the leaver life style in which happiness is found. That is partially what the game is trying to recreate. Although it is not entirely leaver because we have forgotten how to be such, it is the closest thing we can get to through our life style.
There is another point in World of Warcraft and it is through the bosses and what each requires. “Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations”. (p.3) Here, we see that if we want to understand the Tao one must not want to see it but by wanting to see it one can at least watch the physical manifestations. Taking it to a more general idea, desire to have or understand something can be the only real obstacle to reach our goal. In many cases we can see this way of thought. In the game “Go!” We explored this concept but it is also seen clearly in World of Warcraft especially in the end-game bosses. Supremus for example will start running after someone at random and everyone has to stop hitting him and run away from him so that he won’t kill you. In a certain way one must be desireless in order to master this boss because if you are completely controlled by it you would be unable to stop doing damage and would die in the process making it harder for the rest of the group. Another example of this would be High Warlord Naj'entus who after some time covers himself in a water bubble and one must explode it hitting everyone in the group very hard. He also Pins people to the floor randomly incapacitating them and doing damage over time. In this case one must be desireless because a damage dealer (like myself) not only has damage but take the spines out of people and warn the healers before continuing to do damage. (One must “pop” the bubble in order to continue.) This proves that with all of the action occurring around you one must continue calm and be able to analyze the situation in an objective way because by helping the group first you are helping yourself but by helping yourself alone you will accomplish nothing. We can see a similar concept in the Tao here: “Who can wait quietly while the mud settles? Who can remain still until the moment of action? Observers of the Tao do not seek fulfillment. Not seeking fulfillment, they are not swayed by desire for change. ” After reading these two boss fights you can see that we are acting as if we weren’t seeking fulfillment for we don’t allow desire take over us but ultimately we are trying to get better armor and be admired for it with in the player community. So here we see a contradicting way of acting which obeys and disobeys the Tao at the same time. Although thanks to this, we are able to see a different part of the human being, because we see how we attempt to be desireless, yet we fail because all of that we do due to desire. If this were to be so then we are unable to achieve happiness for we are unable to see the mystery and understand some of it. I think this is part of why so many people live unhappy lives, because of this contradiction.
The World of Warcraft is divided in to three factions. The first one the Alliance composed by Humans, Dwarves, Night elves and Dranei. The Horde made up by Orcs, Tauren, The Undead and the Blood Elves. Finally the wilderness I would say which is basically anything that doesn’t belong to those two factions and is their enemy. The Horde and the Alliance are enemies to each other. Although there are some situations in which evil and good are clear when it come to the Horde and the Alliance, there is no real good or evil. The problem I think goes beyond this game. We only see things through their opposite: “Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil”. Sometimes, both sides have good and evil. There are battles in which we can’t really see that border where good and evil are divided. Today’s civilization forces you to decide between sides in which there are no goods or evils. This makes us unhappy and uncomfortable, for sometimes, we are in situations where choices are beyond our capability of calculation. But what does the Tao Tell us? To not worry about, it to avoid such situations and to attempt to obtain happiness through other methods through which you don’t have to question yourself in things that only the gods can answer. “Give up earning and put an end to your troubles. Is there a difference between yes and no? Is there a difference between good and evil? Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense! Other people are contented, enjoying the sacrificial feast of the ox”. (p.22)
In this game one can see that time doesn’t erase memories, and although (according to the story)thousands of years have passed after the creation of the world, or Azeroth in this case, people still remember how it was created and all the questions are answered in a clear way. What is most impressive is that immortality is something touched by this. Not in the way Gilgamesh was able to live for such a long time but rather the actual body and soul who were able to live for an eternity. The well of eternity was the source of their immortality and in the end they were the ones who destroyed it. This can be seen as a way to prove that all that is born must die and because the Night elves were born they must die. “Heaven and Earth last forever. Why do heaven and earth last forever? Because they are unborn”. (p.9) although this is completely fictional it represents the mortality that all living things have. It also shows us that although this has happened a lot of time ago it is still remembered and it appears as if the almighty time weren’t slowly consuming their memories like I said before and like it is told in the Tao. “To talk little is natural. High winds do not last all morning. Heavy rain does not last all day. Why is this? Heaven and Earth! If heaven and earth cannot make things eternal, how is it possible for man?”. (p.25) Also it is taken for granted that everything will be forgotten even the Tao: “When the great Tao is forgotten, kindness and morality will arise”. I believe this is another reason for why this game has caught so many players. It makes it seem as if time never passed and you are able to relive similar experiences on very similar conditions as the first time you went through the (I make it clear that it is impossible to live the same experience twice but in the game one can restart and through this, attempt to go back in time.) experience. Most importantly if the smallest details of creations are remembered in such way why it is not possible for them to remember you. This sensation which takes away the anguish of being forgotten helps you enjoy the moment more and want to continue playing to get this feeling.
Finally there are also examples in the game of how too much of anything even a good thing can harm us. An example of this would be when the Night Elves began to wonder and study the Well of Eternity. They became corrupted by its energies and by the Evil Titan Sargeras. Because of this they became evil and although they were able to find their path once again they had lost their precious immortality. Here we see the moment where Sargeras decided to attack Azeroth and due to his almost limitless power was able to greatly harm the world. “The Highborne's reckless use of magic sent ripples of energy spiraling out from the Well of Eternity and into the Great Dark Beyond. The streaming ripples of energy were felt by terrible alien minds. Sargeras - the Great Enemy of all life, the Destroyer of Worlds - felt the potent ripples and was drawn to their distant point of origin. Spying the primordial world of Azeroth and sensing the limitless energies of the Well of Eternity, Sargeras was consumed by an insatiable hunger. The great dark god of the Nameless Void resolved to destroy the fledgling world and claim its energies as his own.” (War of the Ancients) We can see how too much of anything can harm us in the Tao here: “The Five colors blind the eye. The five tones deafen the ear. The five flavors dull the taste. Racing and hunting madden the mind. Precious things lead one astray”. (p.14) We might not call a demon by our reckless use of Magic but we can see similar things happening all the time. Excess of power leads to dictatorships like Cuba, too much food leads to obesity and similar things.
In the end we can see that the Tao applies to a great amount of situations in Warcraft but what does this mean for real life? World of Warcraft can be seen as a reflection of real life, a place where we can have fun and adventures without the worries that a taker life comes with. It is an illusion of how we wish the world to be but at an even deeper level we can see the way we are and our mistakes although unable to see them we put them in a visualization of an idealistic world.
For more understanding on Boss Fights see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbBH0RaSgOI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vFMl5ftQ-8
The Story of World of Warcraft can be found
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/chapter1.html
