idiggory wrote:
But if I'm going to play and enjoy a game in which I'm forced to be involved in said war in a direct, factional sense, then I need to feel justified.
This is something I differ on, for a few reasons. To start with, there's the whole question of what does or what can justify war? I'll try to avoid any deep, nihilist philosophical explorations into if "right", "wrong" or "justification" actually exist or not really but, if we're talking justification, it could be argued that the only way to justify warfare or killing is self-defence, or the defence of the innocent from those who choose to inflict harm, etc. Which is all an interesting discussion but, for me, not something I feel is necessary for me to agree with to enjoy WoW.
I'll go with the idea of someone not finding this Alliance/Horde war or world PvP stuff compelling. Just on that basic statement. But I don't personally feel the need to be justified to fight or inflict war to do this in WoW. It's not about
me or how I see the world or sociopolitical issues and I don't feel the need to have a side to pick that matches my idea of those. This is about story. About the characters within the world we're navigating and the characters whom we play as.
idiggory wrote:
Yeeeeeeah, that's racism. It's no different than how my Great Uncle had issues with the Japanese after WWII. It was still racism, even though he felt justified in it.
That's the key for me. I don't, in my own mind, need to feel that "the ****" or "filthy green-skins/puny humans" are my true enemy, the complete monsters that make me need to kill them to stop them all. I can sink into Azeroth, knowing that this is a world with bitterness used as a banner of righteousness and people who won't let themselves face the idea that maybe
they're the complete tools who need to change. I don't need to feel my side is right or allowed to do what it's doing. I simply want to understand the decisions they're all making and enjoy their dramatic results.
As for as justification goes, I'm not sure how there could be any. We're playing as people like mages who
set fire to other people to burn them alive! We root people to the spot so they can't do anything but stand there while our friends run swords through them and slowly beat their heads in with a blunt mace. There's probably a whole bunch of stuff that we each do every time we play that none of us feel could ever really be justified. That disconnect from ourselves is a significant element.
Edited, Oct 25th 2011 4:24am by Smallsword