Lemires
5 years ago
Metzen on how NOT to act as a fan
From the latest wowhead interview:

As the interview progresses, one can start to sense parallels to the most-extreme fan reactions to the Burning of Teldrassil, with the discussion explicitly moving towards WoW around the 30 minute mark. We're reminded that story arcs are started years in advance, and raking one employee over the coals, like Christie Golden, is unfair and unjust. Big decisions like Teldrassil are made way in advance by the game team, only later brought to members of the story team to dramatize the plot, not to actually create the plot.

Overall, Metzen doesn't shy away from stern language, expressing embarassment for the behavior of the nerd community. He's concerned with the community's mentality to throw stones online, and worries that some players cannot differentiate between being mad at an upsetting character within a work of fiction, and being mad at creators tasked to bring a story to life. He also pointed out the hypocrisy of people losing their minds over Teldrassil, completely writing the story off, and then a few days later gushing about how Saurfang's cinematic and story are absolutely perfect.


Given how many people all angry and shouting "bad writing" at Blizzard while attacking Christie Golden on twitter, Metzen's words ring true.

No, your idea of how the story "should" have played out is not valid.

Yes, you should consider that maybe, just maybe, you're being toxic and terrible.

And if you aren't a fan of something anymore, consider that perhaps it is not for you anymore.
Edited by Blizzard 08/10/2018 08:06 PM
Ythisens
5 years ago
Metzen on how NOT to act as a fan
08/10/2018 02:23 AMPosted by Lemires
From the latest wowhead interview:

For context this wasn't a Wowhead interview, this was an interview done by Scott Johnson from The Instance podcast, one of the longest running WoW podcasts (I think the oldest but I could be wrong).

Here's the link to the website where you guys can listen to it if you want:
https://www.frogpants.com/blog/2018/8/9/special-interview-chris-metzen-20

If you're a lover of anything that would be considered "geek culture" its a really good interview. It also paints a lot of humanization into someone like Chris Metzen who even I myself built up as a fan for so many years as this mythical endlessly creative being.

I'm really a fan of this style of podcast and really hopeful they do another one.
Currently Ranked: Fluff