Tag Archives: jeff kaplan

WoW pioneer Jeff Kaplan told Blizzard’s own staff at GDC yesterday that they are “not Shakespeare” and need to focus on methods of narrative deliver unique to videogames.

“Basically, and I’m speaking to the Blizzard guys in the back: we need to stop writing a fucking book in our game, because nobody wants to read it,” he said.

“We need to deliver our story in a way that is uniquely video game,” Kaplan added.

“We need to engage our players in sort of an inspiring experience, and the sooner we accept that we are not Shakespeare, Scorsese, Tolstoy or the Beatles, the better off we are.”

There was some consolation to WoW’s poor old writers, however.

“If it makes us feel better, Shakespeare couldn’t 3D model his way out of a paper bag,” Kaplan said.

Thanks, Shacknews.

According to this MTV story, World of Warcraft designer Jeff Kaplan has said that eventually Blizzard will create an Achievement system in which gamers will be able to track progress across titles like WoW, Diablo III and StarCraft II.

“Eventually, our plans are for the Achievement system to become an account-based system,” he said.

“It’s basically a gamerscore. For now the points are just a ‘WoW character score. As we graduate to that Blizzard Account system, which is right on the horizon, it will switch over to a Blizzard Level.”

He added, “Your WoW score would be just one factor that will go into your Blizzard Level. And rather than call it a ’score,’ we just wanted it to be like you’re leveling up on Blizzard games… You’ll have this Blizzard identity, and you’ll be able to see things like ‘Oh, this guy was great at Diablo III, but he never played Starcraft and he was mediocre in WoW. That sort of thing.”

More through the link.

World of Warcraft lead designer Jeff Kaplan has revealed in this forum post that the team are “planning on speeding up levelling in the 60-70 range” when Wrath of the Lich King releases later this year.

Posting under the alias Tigole, Kaplan said that Blizzard is “still adjusting” the patch and wanted feedback from players.

Full thing through the link.

By Mike Bowden