Why I Think Wynncraft Is A Better Mmorpg Than Other Games

So I’ve played various MMOs throughout my life, and so far Wynncraft is the one I’ve enjoyed the most and played for the longest. You might be wondering how an MMO made in Minecraft could possibly be better than a ‘real’ MMO (though I consider Wynn as more of a real MMO than the other games, but I’ll get into that later). I wondered about that too, and I realized that Wynn is designed differently and actually focuses on aspects that other MMOs should, but don’t. Of course, Wynncraft still has its own flaws which I could go on and on about, but that’s a whole different story and overall, Wynncraft still does a better job than other MMOs.

In the other MMOs I’ve played, grinding is the often the most significant, if not the only part of their gameplay. Their players spend loooooong periods of time (days, weeks, or even longer) grinding. While their worlds are sometimes large, they are lazily done and barren with very little content. The quests are lame and uninteresting, being ignored by the players as a result. There is simply no meaningful content outside of the grinding(which isn’t exactly meaningful either). Players usually rush the endgame by grinding really hard, only to continue the grind at the endgame as it is just more grind with nothing better to do. Eventually, they either get tired of the game or run out of things to grind for. Since so many MMOs are like this, it has become the standard and is the reason my friends avoid such games. It took over a year for me to convince them that Wynn was different from the others.

Wynncraft, however, doesn’t focus on grinding. Instead, it focuses on adventure, creativity, and having an overall enjoyable and immersive experience, as an MMO should. Most quests are very well designed, and those that aren’t will eventually be reworked into better ones. They have interesting lore, dialogue, and mechanics that the quests of other games do not have, so doing them feels like an adventure, not like a chore. While they’re at it, they give enough experience so that there’s little grind between levels, and that little bit of grinding is fine because grinding is fun in small amounts. The game also encourages exploration and adventuring by rewarding those who do so through discoveries, boss altars, loot chests, and a world filled with content almost everywhere. There is a large amount of content at every stage of the game, and the world actually seems like a world. All of this makes the player’s journey meaningful and provides enjoyment, which excessive grinding doesn’t.

Wynncraft also promotes creativity and diversity with its item and class build system, allowing a massive number of combinations and encouraging players to create their own unique, personalized build to suit their playstyle. Unlike other games where there is only one or two optimal ways of building your character, Wynncraft’s system doesn’t have one perfect build better than the others as each build will have its own up and downsides. In a way, it’s like having additional classes within each class as the playstyles between builds can vary greatly. It ends up fixing major issues in other systems as well, such as monotony, elitism, and boredom. This system is better because it rewards creative thinking and creates diversity among the players as even two people with the same class may fight in completely different ways, all while giving players more things to do.

The content team of Wynncraft is very dedicated to developing this game and ensuring everything in it is of the highest quality by taking the game’s mechanics to their full advantage and reworking things that are flawed or not up to the standards. Meanwhile, there are other companies with full-fledged game engines that decide to half-ass everything and do a lazy job creating their content. For example, Kingdom of Sand’s mansion heist is a higher quality stealth heist than Payday 2’s stealth heists (that’s not an MMO but still), and Payday 2 is supposed to be a game based on heisting with stealth as one of its main mechanics.

The community here is also one of the best I’ve seen in the games I’ve played. This has been the only game I’ve played where random people who I encounter say hi to me. People are generally helpful, and toxicity is less common than in other communities. I actually avoided the community for like a year when I first returned to the game, and I sure do regret that. While this is not necessarily related to the game’s design itself, it is yet another thing that Wynn has that is better than other games.

The creators of other MMOs have a lot to learn from Wynncraft and should be ashamed that they’re being outdone by one made in Minecraft by volunteers. MMOs should focus on adventure and unique content, not grinding for more grind, and that is what makes Wynncraft more of a real MMO than other games.

So yeah, thanks for making this game what it is, whether you’re a moderator, CT, admin, or another player, because the game would not have been possible without you guys. It’s brought me many hours of enjoyment and has filled a void in my life as I have been searching a good MMO for a long time.

TL;DR Wynn is better than other MMOs because it focuses on things an MMO should focus on instead of grinding for more grind.

Also feel free to send this to people to try to convince them to play this game

EDIT: It seems a few of you guys are accusing me of being biased. You need to realize that there’s no reason for me to be biased. I have nothing to gain from posting this. This post does not state that Wynncraft is absolutely perfect and that no game will ever be better. I made this thread because I’d been thinking about the topic for a while and wanted to share my thoughts and praise this game and its creators for doing things differently and taking a step in the right direction.

 

Spam10nerd

 

wxhlf are you ok.

 

someone's been thinking recently..

 

His intrusive thoughts are winning

 

sir i think wynncraft is the most amazing game however there is one serious point: WHY CANT I STILL DO DAMAGE AS ACROBAT OR SHADESTEPPER WHYYYYY

 

real-talk I think wynncraft is as it is in large part because the content creators for wynn are doing it for free.
Because the GMs, IMs, Builders, etc. All do not make money, everything that gets added is there solely because somebody was passionate enough about it to do it for free.


edit: I would prefer if CT got a portion of the profits from wynn.

 

Imagine being so good that your own fanbase works for you free of charge.

 

yea.

________________________________

im passionate about personally killing every hich with fall damage btw

 

i am so goddamn tired of people bringing this up as a positive thing

what you are describing is exploitation

 

How so? They're free to leave the CT whenever they want, there's no minimum amount of hours, no hazards, no cost on the CT members' side aside from some of their free time.

 

time is the most valuable resource of your life

the fact that they can quit does not mean they are not being exploited. this is a non-argument

 

This goes hard ngl

 

Time is important, but could you tell me what it is that makes working for Wynncraft exploitation? Or put differently, what's the difference between this and volunteer work?

 

Volunteer organizations sweating as they read this statement

Time may be the most valuable resource of your life, but your life is also your own so if the CT members decide that the best way to use that extremely valuable resource is to help Wynncraft become bigger, what is the issue? Again, contrary to the memes about Salted's basement, they aren't being forced to work for the server and they have extremely flexible conditions.
Besides, they publicly admit that they don't pay them and it is all volunteer work, so they aren't being lied to either. The owners aren't doing anything wrong since they are being fully honest about what the conditions are and they aren't forcing them to work for them.

Am I being exploited if I voluntarily offer myself to make a promotional poster for free for an event that I'm really passionate about? I guess I could ask for some form of payment but I'm already satisfied enough by the fact that I'm helping something I love become even better. This is the same.

No one is being exploited here since it is all voluntary and consensual. The payment is knowing that you have helped something you love become better.

 

I (mostly) agree.
Didn't mean it as a positive thing. Rather as a positive aspect of a negative thing.

When I was posting it I was thinking about adding a whole rant under it about the ethics of unpaid labor as applied to wynncraft but decided it was against the spirit of the thread. But you've given me an opportunity now ;p

Spoiler: why I agree

I can not come up with any real argument against the fact that wynncraft is a company that makes money and would make significantly less money without the free labor of (often underage) workers. Which is something I dislike.

Also, I'm of the opinion that people doing voluenteer work for things I consider systemic governmental issues (bad distribution of food, few workers in hospitals, giving money to charity, etc.) to be a result of a failing goverment. (Or, to be less extreme, a (possible series of) failing governmental policy)

And I consider companies using voluenteer work to get things done (unpaid internships, literal slavery, the steam workshop, and of course the wynncraft content team) to be a result of maximized cost-efficiëncy. And the argument of capitalism (basically a synonym of maximized cost-efficiëncy when talking about the money-flow of companies) leads to exploitation is something I mostly agree with.

I would absolutely support a cut from the profits going to CT.

Spoiler: why I disagree

exploitation is a big word, with many different practical definitions ranging from "using something" (like how using oil will sometimes be called exploiting oil) to "slavery of individuals by institutions with systemic power over these individuals" (source: heard it used these ways in conversations, no real sources sry).

truth is, wynncraft:
- is completely open about its lack of payment
- does not force anyone to work for them
- allows people to leave when they want
- holds no power over its CT in any area related to their human rights (or any area other than wynncraft prestige).

to use the same word for wynncrafts CT as is used for slavery is, in my eyes, disrespectful to slaves.

Working for the wynncraft CT is a hobby that people do because they like it. Not because their human rights would be violated if they didn't. It's more like a hobby than a job in my eyes because of the four -'s above.

 

It's not really an exploitation because were not forced to work. We only contribute to the project if and when we want to. Here's Grian's message of how the CT is treated:

For me personally, im contributing to the server because I love working with all the talanted people in the Content Team. And if im working on something, its always on a project that im personally interested in. This idea that your work could be experienced by thousands of players keeps me motivated to make something new and creative for the server. If money were involved, it would've been just another obligatory and boring job.

 

most volunteer organizations are not structured in such a way that volunteer work is primarily done for the organization's profit incentives. the ones that are like that are also exploitative though

this repeated argument - that the CT isn't possibly being exploited because it's "consensual" - underscores a fundamental misunderstanding of what exploitation even is and how it manifests in workplaces

of course if someone volunteering for wynncraft thought they were being exploited, they would just quit; nothing is stopping them from doing that. believing you are not being exploited does not preclude you from actually being exploited. the reality is that exploitation is most effectively conducted on people who are genuinely putting themselves in that situation of their own accord because they believe, through misplaced intentions, manipulation, or some other reason, that there's nothing unfair in their work environment.

in fact, this is an extremely common phenomenon in the game dev industry specifically, for exactly the reasons everyone is already saying the CT does what it does. people get into game dev because they're passionate about it! they want to make something cool, that they're proud of, and that will make other people happy. and there's nothing wrong with that, of course; such enthusiasm for what you do is vital if you're producing a work such as a video game.

however, this kind of passion also makes someone pretty prone to being exploited by others with less pure intentions. if something is a labor of love for you, it makes sense that you'd be easily convinced to do it without seeking the same external compensation you would expect otherwise! but if someone is taking advantage of this willingness for their own (monetary) benefit, you are being exploited. this could be in the form of accepting unhealthy/unsafe work environments, subpar wages, working extra hours that aren't compensated fully (or at all), or maybe providing all your labor entirely for free.

there's quite a lot of writing available online about how this stuff crops up in the game development industry, and i'd encourage anyone reading this thread to look into it. here's one such article, but there are many, many more: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020...m-job-passion-can-open-us-up-to-exploitation/

EDIT: as a quick aside i do want to mention something about using the term "exploitation" at all because i think there's a bit of confusion: exploitation exists on a spectrum. the vast majority of people in the modern world are, unfortunately, being exploited in one way or another. but wynncraft's model of extracting free labor from a volunteer team of teenagers and young adults is a particularly egregious example of exploitation, which is why i am writing this post

 

You can make the argument that it can be on the spectrum of "exploitation", sure... but is it anything more than a word? You really fail to convince me that the current CT dynamic is something negative or worthy of being condemned, considering all parties involved get something that they want. That's not to say the CT is perfect, I've heard my share of perspectives of not feeling like you have the most influence in how the game actually goes, but I don't see what's wrong in the way that work is done.

 

the idea that exploitation is still possible despite one party feeling that they're getting what "they want" is like, the entire crux of the post you're responding to. i'm not sure how this is supposed to be a counter-argument to it. the simple fact of the situation is that wynncraft is extracting labor from the CT in order to make profit, and not giving any compensation to said CT members in turn.

[to condone something is to support or approve of it fyi - i am condemning wynncraft's labor dynamic, not condoning it]