World at War

Now that I've been playing World of Warcraft for a while now, it does invite the opportunity to look back over previous posts and look at them through a different perspective.
Well actually there's only two of them but what the hell: this is my blog and I'll say what I damn well feel like.

I recall once lamenting the lack of multi-player RPGs. You know, how multiple players can go through the same series of quests and kill stuff with equal abandon - as opposed to a bunch of people helping out one character). I thought such an undertaking would be impossible but it seems WoW has proven me wrong. Now all I gotta do is be online the same time as some of my fellow guild members - and be on the same quest path >_>

And there's this post. Despite it being incorrect and largely based on assumption than fact, it's become one of the more popular posts on this blog - much to my chagrin.
Much of my assumptions was based on the misinformation that Alliance = good and Horde = bad. But this is not the case: They are merely factions and are no less angelic/demonic than the other one - Although Blizzard didn't make the difference any easier with their titling, and coloring, of the factions.
But since then, I've played both with the Alliance and with the Horde. And the contrast couldn't be more jarring: In the Horde, I've been having a good time, met & quested with some people who couldn't be friendlier and been going through quests with ease. But in the Alliance, I've met some rude people, the quests have been difficult to accomplish and I've lost count how many times I got my Dwarf character plastered and subsequently resurrected.
As is my understanding, Blizzard have put a lot of time, effort and careful attention to detail in making sure everything is balanced and accommodating to the millions of players in WoW but somehow I'm taking that notion into question: As there is seems to be a lot of contempt for the Alliance and, as a result, many are flocking to the banner of the Horde. Indeed, from the player's perspective the general vibe seems no different from when I was an outsider. Thus I still see stuff like: "You're in the Alliance! YOU SUCK! FUCK THE ALLIANCE!!!!" and "The Horde favors honor and courage but THE ALLIANCE AREN'T THE GOOD GUYS! THEY'RE ALL HYPOCRITES!!!!!"
Granted this may not seem that much of surprise since Blizzard have used the 'good guys who aren't really good guys' motif before but seeing as they have used it numerous times, it makes me wonder if Blizzard's writing department gets a near sexual satisfaction every time they do so....

But ultimately I find the whole Horde vs Alliance debate futile because, at the end of the day, it is really no different than the arguments over Star Wars or Star Trek. Or religion or atheism. Or one's favorite footy teams. Or Metallica or Megadeth. Or.....