Quote of the Day: Childish or Childlike?

Syp has a few things to say about Wildstar today. I have not been a big advocate of the game, which I have IRL taken to jokingly called “WoW 101 In Space.” But today’s post help me put a finger on one of the things that I have struggled with in everything I have seen about the game so far.

“WildStar is… well, very much in your face about everything. It’s not a game for subtle beauty or sublime moments. It’s a hyperactive kid with a tin foil helmet running around going “PEW PEW!” while giggling maniacally…In my book, there’s a difference between being childish and being childlike, and I see WildStar as the latter.”

And in my book, it is exactly the opposite. Childlike implies an innocence regarding the world. That innocence takes the form of an unawareness of what the world thinks. Childish on the other hand, knows what the world thinks and continues its antics without abatement for the sake of self-entertainment or out of a desire to prove the antics have merit.

See, its okay for my five year old to run around doing what Syp’s hyperactive kid is doing. Heck, its okay for a thirty something do it, in the right circumstances (the lock in I had with my youth group this past weekend comes to mind). But its not okay for either the five year old OR the adult to do it through the isles of the grocery store on Senior Discount Day. Savvy?

Because if they did, it would stop being childlike and move to childish.

Now, I have not played the game yet, and so perhaps the atmosphere of the game itself is the real golden egg here that makes the game standout. Atmosphere, the “feel” of the game can really make or break things both in games and in real life. Its the difference between the lock in and the grocery store, and so maybe that is what makes this all work. Maybe that is what takes shooting people to heal them from stupid to fun.

But an atmosphere like that…can it really have lasting success as an MMO? Particularly an MMO that wants to command a subscription from its users? Doesn’t that atmosphere get old after awhile outside of a very small niche market?

As with all things, time will tell, but color me, as I have been from the beginning, as skeptical. And nothing I’ve seen or heard so far has done anything to change that.