Hello, I'm here to talk about the worst "problem" WoW players face today: Bots. This tool was very popular amongst PvPers, but today we can even see a few running heroics and even raids. Players from Europe and USA complain about this problem, and the appearant lack of action by Blizzard is making the problem worst. But, why do players use bots in the first place? Think about it, you are playing a game (an activity that occupies your mind, and makes you have fun), but instead, you put a machine to do that for you, illogical? Maybe not.
The gaming philosophy has changed. Back in time, games were designed to be fun and quick. Think about Mario Bros. you have a challenging enviroment, you have to overcome everything, otherwise you will have to start over again, and in the end, you finish the game. After that, there is little you can do, of course you can find secret levels, beat the game faster, but the game won't last many months, so you buy a new game.
Today's games have a new design approach, they are made to keep you playing. Think about all the updates, expansions and even subscriptions, it means you will always have something to do in the game, right? WoW is the perfect example, a huge success (even tho declining year after year) for 8 years, you always have something to do in game. So here lies the point of this topic, "something TO DO".
By developing a game following psychology patterns (check the internet for those), you hook the players and order them to perform some task. If you don't believe in it, try to remember that time you were in the main city, with nothing to do, and it came to your mind that it would be cool to raise your fishing skills to max. Of course this is just an example, but WoW is designed to have a huge pool of "jobs" you can/have to perform in order to shine in game or to not die of boredom.
Reputation grinds, gear farm, Honor, Conquest grind, Valor/Justice grind, rare drops grind, etc etc etc. Today in 5.1 patch we see the points been converted into items upgrades, what is it if not an "you have to grind in order to be competitive in PvP/PvE"? Ask yourself, do you run Warsong Gulch because it's fun to play a battleground for over 8 year, or because you have to if you want to have that feeling of accomplishment "yay, I got new gear", andstay conpetitive until the next patch hits?
If in Mario Bros. (example) the journey was fun and the end was rewarding, in WoW the journey is not fun, but you have rewards all the time. Of course there are TONS of fun stuff in WoW, but once you HAVE TO do this over and over again to satisfy your need, it becomes as boring as playing Sonic for the 10x time, it becomes a job. Of course there are some players who actually enjoy the repetition, but not everyone. Players are starting to realize that, as each day more and more players complaing about the fact the grind is terrible and boring. For someone who has been playing for 7 years, I can clearly notice that there are more and more complains about this subject each expansion.
So, you like to recieve items, and would like to be able to kill a player, or kill the boss boss, but you do not want to have a second job in your life, what do you do? Some players cancel their subscription, others employ BOTS.
Are bots a real problem, or a natural reaction to the game flaws? A player wants to have fun above all else, not to have a part time job in order to have fun later, and repeat the process each patch and each expansion. I have never used bots (afraid they will somehow catch me), but I understand the people who use it. Don't you think if the game was designed to be fun, and not a repetitive job, players would enjoy playing it and don't use bots?
So, what is your opinion?