OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 31those ideas will still spill over.
But I worry the damage has already
been done. WoW Classic is already
splitting some of the community. Aside
from copyright issues, “classic” servers
were fine when they existed only on rogue
platforms like Nostalrius Begins, but
hosting them on the official client opens an
entirely different can of worms. From a
personal angle, I have one friend who’s
been playing the mainstream game
constantly since 2004 who now says he’s
“switched over full time” because he likes
Classic a “billion percent more than
current retail.” Classic essentially
introduces another faction rivalry aside
from that of Alliance and Horde—the
Classic players versus the mainstream
players—and so slips a little too neatly into
the modern proclivity toward tribalism.
The next time WoW has an unfavorable
content patch, people may just say “to hell
with it” and play Classic instead. That means
we may see the end of the WoW community
that, much like people in the real world, has
stuck together through the good and the
bad times and held out hope that better
things await down the road. As for me? I
prefer to look forward rather than behind.
I have little doubt that Classic will be a
financial success. But as for World of
Warcraft’s place as an evolving and
relevant cultural phenomenon? We may be
looking at an end. ■The “good ol’ days” included such fun as going AFK for hours so you could level your weapon
skills with auto-attacks. Photo from 2005.