Why is it that an MMORPG seems to bring out the childish nature in people?
Stranglethorn Vale (STV) is a contested territory in WoW that has a jungle motiff with raptors, gorillas, tigers, panthers, and lots of baddies to farm. The term “contested” has different meanings for the server type that you are inhabiting but on my PvP server it means that all Horde can be KOS and vice versa for the other side. STV also features a neutral town, Booty Bay, that has a crazy pirate motiff. It is the first really accessible “neutral” location for both the Alliance and Horde where proximity becomes an issue. Typically you level in this location from levels 31-45 and you end up spending a lot of time in the area as a low level.
STV is also known as the ganking capital of the world. Nessingway (an infamous locale in STV) seems to draw level 60 players like flies to honey which is a bad mix with lower levels. My level 35 druid is constantly being harrowed by these uber-players. LEVEL 35 folks. I am all for PvP but where is the fairness, or fun, in a level 60 taking out enemy almost twice smaller than his current level. These characters can literally one-shot a lower level and not even blink. I have literally watched (in cat form and stealthed of course) as a lvl 60 warlock and his friends summmoned two other level 60’s to join in the fun!!!
I am lucky to work with other WoW addicts, who bat for the Horde side (BOOO!!!). I asked them why they tended to do this and was boggled by their responses. One of them said, “If I can make an alliance lowbie “log” then I feel I have done my job. If I can make them quit the game then I have done an even better job. If I can make them take their life, then I have done the ULTIMATE job.” Granted, his last statement was facetious but still the attitude is there.
I am not saying that the Alliance is spotless. These other Horde players (who play on a PvP server also) complain that they get the same treatment from the Alliance on their servers, except they have it worse. On Burning Legion, we have a 1-to-1 ratio of Alliance-Horde. On their servers it’s a 2-1 ratio of Alliance-Horde. So they have it twice as bad.
Don’t get me started on engagement killing. One of my other pet peeves is being attacked by another character while I am engaged with one or more NPC’s. This isn’t quite as high as lowbie ganking because I can usually kill the monster before I get killed and then return the favor once I am rezzed. I just consider this bad form. I have actually seen Horde players wait until I am finished with the mob that I am on before finishing me off and I can actually respect a player for that.
This problem isn’t exclusive to WoW unfortunately. Anybody who had experience with Ultima Online and Trammel will know what I am talking about. You can maybe even go as far and abstract this same attitude out towards malicious hackers and virus writers.
In conclusion, I am all for player killing and PvP. Some of my most fun times playing WoW is being able to evade somebody trying to gank me or stalking another Horde player (although I don’t do a lot of that because I am busy with my own tasks that I want to accomplish). I just strongly feel that an honor code should at least somewhat be followed so that everybody can enjoy the experience. I wonder if people realized that there is a real person sitting on the other side of the monitor that has real feelings and emotions, their attitudes would change just a little. Better yet, I think that the golden rule (within certain limits) should still be applicable within a virtual environment.