HackerTube
HomeLongsLikedHistoryWatch laterCategoriesPlaylistsSettings

Why It's Rude to Suck at Warcraft

Folding Ideas3 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2023-2025
YouTube
3.9M views · 3 years ago · documentary · evergreen

Folding Ideas' long essay on why playing poorly in World of Warcraft feels rude. It traces how raiding culture shifted from relaxed fun to optimization, theorycrafting and wikis.

Recommended as a thoughtful, research-heavy dive into game culture and the social pressure of competitive play.

Gaming culture & analysis#wow#raiding#theorycrafting#gameculture#foldingideas

5 comments from Hacker News

@nozzlegear2025 · in “OnlyFangs has made 'World of Warcraft' into Twitch's best soap opera”

You've had several replies talking about how Molten Core will be cleared easily by modern WoW players, and as someone who plays retail WoW (and has been playing continuously since Burning Crusade) I'll vouch for that take. Molten Core's mechanics are trivially easy compared to the things retail players are up against even in simple dungeons. That said, the type of player who plays WoW now has also changed since the original raiders entered Molten Core so many years ago. People still raid for fun, but like many things in modern society¹, you're also there to raid "efficiently." This documentary that I watched recently called "Why it's rude to suck at World of Warcraft" is worth the watch. It talks about how raiding has changed from a fun thing that people used to do in vanilla WoW, where a guild of 40 people would put up with the weird gnome in the guild who wouldn't wear boots, to a hyper competitive pseudo-esport where players stopped tolerating that gnome player over a decade ago. ▶ this video ¹ trying not to sound too preachy, I personally love the "get good and keep improving yourself" aspect about WoW, and it's why I push in the game's rated arena brackets each season.

RecommendsView on HN
@steveklabnik2023 · in “Oxide: The Cloud Computer”

I am unsure why you are curious about documentary recommendations from me, haha, but here's one I enjoyed quite a bit recently: ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
@a13o2023 · in “Minecraft Wiki has forked from Fandom”

You might enjoy this citizen science dive into the relationship between WoW and wikis, titled "Why It's Rude to Suck at Warcraft". One of the premises is that wikis are required reading; because if you aren't min/maxing, you're breaking the social contract with your guildmates. It's a totally emergent and novel way for a game to become 'unplayable'! ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
@dbg314152023 · in “Valve permabans 40,000+ dota2 accounts using honeypot patch”

I remember this... "Why It's Rude to Suck at Warcraft" and I feel like a lot of people want to be good so they cheat... they want to not be seen as bad, or a drag on their team. But yeah... DotA, and League of Legends... some of the most toxic games out there. No community to speak of, just a bunch of sweaty try-hards who probably don't get out around humans enough since they're too busy playing these games. It's rough. ▶ this video

CitesView on HN
@AlexandrB2023 · in “Valve bans 40k accounts after laying a trap for cheaters in Dota 2”

One of the things that drove me nuts about Overwatch 1 was the common demand from other players that you employ the pro-league meta when playing even at the lowest levels. A lot of players seem to imagine themselves as the next Ninja (or the Overwatch equivalent) in training and playing multiplayer in that environment is not much fun. See also this video about why it's considered rude to suck at WoW: ▶ this video

CitesView on HN
[Highlight] StarCraft Remastered Rant11:17

[Highlight] StarCraft Remastered Rant

Day9TV
453K views • 9 years ago
TUN: Un-Ruining the MMO14:05

TUN: Un-Ruining the MMO

MrBtongue
291K views • 13 years ago
Why Are You So Angry? Part 1: A Short History of Anita Sarkeesian9:36

Why Are You So Angry? Part 1: A Short History of Anita Sarkeesian

Innuendo Studios
1.1M views • 11 years ago
Manufactured Discontent and Fortnite21:19

Manufactured Discontent and Fortnite

Folding Ideas
1.7M views • 7 years ago
Game Critics8:53

Game Critics

videogamedunkey
17.7M views • 9 years ago
What Games Are Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games20:38

What Games Are Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games

Razbuten
16.9M views • 7 years ago
The Immoral Design of Diablo Immortal44:23

The Immoral Design of Diablo Immortal

Josh Strife Hayes
4.4M views • 4 years ago
Jonathan Blow: Video Games and the Human Condition1:44:09

Jonathan Blow: Video Games and the Human Condition

rubbermuck
158K views • 15 years ago
This is Financial Advice2:31:44

This is Financial Advice

Folding Ideas
8.4M views • 3 years ago
You guys all have phones right?0:29

You guys all have phones right?

MrNinjaBurger
184K views • 8 years ago
How lucky is too lucky?: The Minecraft Speedrunning Dream Controversy Explained39:47

How lucky is too lucky?: The Minecraft Speedrunning Dream Controversy Explained

Stand-up Maths
8.4M views • 5 years ago
Gacha Drama and the Korean Gender War47:11

Gacha Drama and the Korean Gender War

Moon Channel
987K views • 2 years ago
Newsroom : Warcraft Sequel Lets You Play A Character Playing Warcraft2:59

Newsroom : Warcraft Sequel Lets You Play A Character Playing Warcraft

The Onion
4.6M views • 18 years ago
The Next Major RTS Will Fail. This Is Why.25:09

The Next Major RTS Will Fail. This Is Why.

GiantGrantGames
985K views • 4 years ago
MMO Economies - Hyperinflation, Reserve Currencies & You! - Extra Credits8:44

MMO Economies - Hyperinflation, Reserve Currencies & You! - Extra Credits

Extra Credits
1.5M views • 9 years ago
The Addictive Cost Of Predatory Videogame Monetization (The Jimquisition)34:13

The Addictive Cost Of Predatory Videogame Monetization (The Jimquisition)

Stephanie Sterling
1.3M views • 7 years ago
How Gamers Killed Ultima Online's Virtual Ecology | War Stories | Ars Technica7:24

How Gamers Killed Ultima Online's Virtual Ecology | War Stories | Ars Technica

Ars Technica
3.2M views • 8 years ago
Jonathan Blow: Game design: the medium is the message48:27

Jonathan Blow: Game design: the medium is the message

CreativeMornings HQ
119K views • 13 years ago
Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper.35:22

Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper.

People Make Games
7.9M views • 4 years ago
Reboot Develop 2017 - Jonathan Blow, Thekla Inc. / Making Game Programming Less Terrible1:02:49

Reboot Develop 2017 - Jonathan Blow, Thekla Inc. / Making Game Programming Less Terrible

Reboot Develop
112K views • 9 years ago