In late 2004 when I was running my very first blog on the interwebz, which was not at all about games but all the “dear diary” type of trivial things happening in my life at the time (everyone had one of those even if people won’t admit it), I published the following entry:
 |
| This is going to rule so so much!!! |
A screenshot of beta Syl and me all hyped out about World of Warcraft, a game I highly anticipated for over a year. I had no idea if WoW was really going to be all that – but gawd, did it look friggin’ fabulous and now I even had an idea of how it played! Which led to me being even more hyped and making sure everyone on my message board knew, notorious killjoys included. Looking forward to WoW was almost as good as WoW. And everything that followed after its actual launch was well, more than worthy.
That’s not the point though. Sometimes games we really look forward to and get excited about will deliver, in very rare cases more than in our wildest dreams. More often they will not though and it doesn’t matter one bit. I’ve talked about the term “Vorfreude” before and I’ll repeat myself on what a great feeling it is. Sure, hypey people are annoyingly pink-glassed at times; they just want/need something to be great, so they choose to focus on (or talk about) the good aspects more than bad ones. Sounds pretty okay to me. Maybe they also have a gut feeling, the way I had 8 years ago about an upcoming MMO by Blizzard Entertainment.
Either way, anyone should be able to appreciate (or at least tolerate) a little hype by his fellow geek. Take it with a pinch of salt maybe. And if you can’t, well…..you’re a cynical grump that needs to remember how to feel excited and euphoric about something well in advance, no matter the risks – you know, it’s called hope. If things go pear-shaped, you’ll be disappointed either way and you know it. Let yourself catch some euphoria sometime – it’s healthy.
Where I’m going with this is that nobody should have to justify himself for hyping a game he is looking forward to, just like nobody needs to excuse himself for being too critical on his blog. God knows, we’ve been through a drought in the MMORPG corner – and if you’re waiting on GW2 there’s still some way to go. In the meantime, what else are people supposed to do and write about, if not about all the good (they hope for) or all the bad (they dread)? We might as well all close our blogs during times such as these (ignoring you happy SWTOR people), if we’re not allowed to theorize and occasionally nag, panic or hype about upcoming titles.
We don’t know how GW2 is going to turn out. Admittedly, things are looking damn fine at the moment, but still – we simply don’t know! So, our Vorfreude might be the best thing about GW2; we are safe and well here in the land of assumption where everything is still possible. Our Vorfreude might be all we get.
…And we might as well enjoy that.
P.S. “Hyping / hypey” is used synonymously to “being excited or euphoric about something” in this post for the term has no negative meaning to me personally.
P.S.2: Expect a lot more GW2 hyping (and a little griping too) on this blog here over the coming weeks – “there is one (more) hyper yet in the blogosphere who still draws breath!”
P.S.3: To all the apathetic and grumpy: */cookie*
P.S.4: Happy weekend – all ye past, present and future hypers!
everyone had one of those even if people won’t admit it
What do you mean, “had”? I still have mine! 😀 It’s pretty cool to be able to look back at eight years of your life in writing and realise how much you’ve changed…
Anyway, on topic: I agree that there’s nothing wrong with being excited about a new game, but I can see why a person who only ever dreamed about the future could be annoying to be around. There is value in being able to appreciate what you have, and if someone is never satisfied with the current offerings, they are the grumpy killjoy IMO. 😛
Hehe, you’re right. am not in fact embarrassed about it, I think it’s pretty cool to have been an early blogger. but at some point my “topics” were too boring even for me. 😉 luckily, I’ve found a better solution since!
And point taken; it’s about degrees too of course. I haven’t been hyped about an MMO like GW2 since WoW, it’s doesn’t happen so easily. and we are not all into the same type of MMOs, as simple as that. what I mostly don’t get is people who literally rain on somebody’s else’s parade on his own blog or start mocking him, but I guess that’s just me. I can be very critical, but if I see somebody genuinely excited about something, I don’t go haunt him with all my negativity.
The supposed “joy of anticipation” is a myth. There is only the joy of having. This is why it is more fun to get loot instantly rather than eventually and why bosses should die on the first try.
I knew you re-subbing to WoW was a bad idea.
I’m pretty.. suspicious of GW2, I guess, but I think your enthusiasm for it is awesome and just a little bit infectious. Some folks certainly do seem to get some kind of vicious joy out of tearing down the expectations of others, and I don’t get it.
My worry, personally, is only when those high expectations turn into shattered hopes and the energy goes in the other direction. In the wake of SWTOR I have seen a lot of disappointed people turn into ravening spittle-inflected haters. It’s kind of the other side of the issue — there’s nothing wrong with not liking a game or not looking forward to it or even thinking it was designed poorly, but one can have an opinion without disrespecting the opinions of others.
…amen to that. it’s exactly how I feel. it is about the ‘how’ and ‘where’, but then isn’t it always.
As for GW2 hehe, well I guess I am exposing myself quite a bit with my positive expectations; it’s a risk I’m willing to take though. even if I will get disappointed in some areas (and that’s almost a given), I expect to play GW2 for a longer time than Rift and have lots of fun with it. the world doesn’t end for me if it isn’t all that. 🙂 for now, it’s getting the benefit of the doubt.
by the by, since you were also worried about fights getting potentially messy or boring in GW2, I found Azuriel’s current follow-up post on this rather interesting from the comments it received. the link posted by ‘Randomessa’ there might be of interest to you as well: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/trinity-mechanics-vs-guild-wars-t30044.html
maybe that can clarify few more things (although it will not change anything about losing dedicated healing as a role).
Agreed.
http://tishtoshtesh.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/schroedingers-game/
And once more I find myself in the situation where you have gotten there long, looong before me (and much more eloquently too…damn y000), dear Tesh! 🙂 a formidable post.
I dunno, you got the (oddly concise) German word for it. I just used a bunch of English ones. Y’know, the old “throw 2000 words at it and hope it makes sense” tactic. 🙂
I’ve been thinking before that it’s a bit odd how German has more words for different types of joy – Vorfreude, Schadenfreude, no English equivalents. it can only mean that the original English were a very grumpy people (Brits /cough)! 😉
It’s definitely good to be excited however I do believe that MMO players never had it this good to be honest. Recent releases of Tera and Secret World, Guild Wars 2 imminent, Rift, WoW, LotRO and DDO expansions on the way, SWOTOR announcing free to play, SOEmote announced….well anyways…. there is lots to get excited about.