Q: Going onto the darker side of criticisms about the game. A lot of critics focus on 'gaming addiction' and gamers becoming addicted to WoW, relationships breaking up because of the game and so on. There's actually a bunch of WoW 'detox' sites and so on. What's your response to these kinds of criticism?
IBB: Well first of all, my mom used to say that I was addicted to TV. So, back in the 80s that was the big thing, she was yelling at me that I should get away from the TV and do my homework and so on. And you know, she was there to make sure that that's what I did. So she was a responsible parent that made sure that I did my homework and then I got to watch TV. With
WoW we provide a parental control system that allows them [parents] to decide when their kids can and cannot play the game. If you are a responsible parent today, then you have more tools to decide when your kid is going to be engaged with
WoW. Many more tools than my mom had to control my TV use in the 80s.
The second thing is that if you are an adult, then we all need to consume entertainment (and everything else) moderately and it is the responsibility of every adult person to do so. We as a company feel like we are a very responsible company: for example we have the rest system in the game that encourages you to take a rest from time to time and through doing so, you can get double experience points. So for us we are providing an entertainment experience and we are trying to do whatever we can in order to provide tools for parents to control how much time their kids play the game, as well as a moderated experience for adults.
Q: Would you say that there are cases where WoW is unfairly demonised just as TV, rock music and the like has been in our not-too-distant past?
IBB: Or microwave! When microwaves came out what did people say - 'don't stand next to the microwave, you're gonna get cancer, you're gonna die' - everything new is a bit frightening. In marketing, there is a term called laggards - the last group of users to adopt an innovation. And when you launch a new product, everyone is a little bit 'laggard', everyone is a little bit afraid of a new experience they've not had before. With time, people understand, 'you know what, it's another entertainment product.'
Q: Looking at your own personal roles and jobs in the project - game designer and business development - what are your favourite and least favourite aspects of your day to day jobs?
JC: Hmmph.
IBB: I'm not gonna answer that [laughs]
JC: Certainly my favourite aspect is when we come up with cool new stuff. Y'know, that whole brainstorming session where ideas are going back and forth, and probably my least favourite is when I experience frustration trying to implement some of the really good ideas! 'Oh we don't have this or that piece of code ready, or I can't get this particle of wood to look right… or whatever'. In the end it's all worth it, of course.
IBB: Let's see. My most favourite is that as a gamer, I'm able to influence online gaming every day and make changes around the world - China, Korea, US, Europe - and be part of the management team of the biggest gaming company in the world. My least favourite is probably the same kind of things - the fact that we are so successful! So I start my day at around 6am answering around 50 emails from my BlackBerry while I'm still in bed so Europe can get going and then I work with Europe all morning and then with the US through the afternoon and then Asia wakes up and I basically work with them until I go to sleep. So it can be pretty exhausting at some points when we are working around the clock like that! So it's the benefits of influencing on the one hand, but the commitment that you need to have in order to do something like that on the other.
