Tobold's Blog
Friday, July 25, 2008
 
Project Lore

I don't know if you ever saw World of Warcraft video guides on YouTube, but there are tons of them, with vast differences in the quality of the explanations. But what unites them is the bad quality of the video images captured from the game, making it really hard to actually see anything useful on them. So a couple of guys went and founded Project Lore, a site with high-quality video guides through the dungeons of World of Warcraft.

They just started, and did Hellfire Ramparts first, and now progressed to the Slave Pens. The gameplay video is in the middle, small webcam cutouts of 4 of the 5 group members in the corner, and some text explanation at the lower edge. Generally quite well done. But of course right now it isn't terribly useful. Who needs a video guide how to beat Hellfire Ramparts on normal now? We've all been there a year ago. Slave Pens on heroic is somewhat more useful, but again most of us already know the place inside out. So I just hope the guys got enough WotLK beta keys to already start producing video guides of the dungeons there. Now THAT would be useful!
Comments:
Why bother to do the dungeon if you've got a gude telling you everything step by step? This approach to gaming is what made me quit WOW in the first place... far too repetitive and procedural for me. I guess that's why I like PVP though, the unpredictable nature of real opponents.
 
Even watching videos of raids I have participated in, is pretty boring!
I only watch them to try and understand a raid boss fight better; for a normal instance I wonder if there is any point.
 
I would rather watch political broadcasts 24 hours a day...

I watched these a week or so a go... so forced and a pathetically cheesy!

The content was massively lacking!
 
I normally enjoy Alex Albrecht's shows (Diggnation, TRS), but I thought Project Lore was terrible.

The video quality and production is good, but the players are unfortunately quite terrible and not very funny despite obviously trying to be.

I think that type of show would be more interesting if the players were more skilled and they had waited until WotLK and did video guides to new dungeons as they progressed through them.
 
Its pure entertainment! I dont think its supposed to be userful as such. (Fair enough if you dont like their humor tho)

I personally found it hilarious, even after having beaten the living !@#$ out of slave pens more times than I can remember in less time than it takes to get a pizza delivered.

Thanks for flagging it T. I'm gonna keep an eye on it.
 
I don't care about videos and I won't watch them. I want to explore the dungeons in WotLK for myself. I wonder, why people do want to know everything about a dungeon before setting even one foot in it. Don't they like surprises any more?
 
Yeah, like someone previously commented I love Alex Albrecht on Diggnation and Totally Rad Show. But those shows are good because of the great chemistry all the co-hosts have to make it work. In all honesty, the recorded vent conversations of me and my friends doing the same runs that Project Lore is doing would be more interesting because the PL people haven't meshed together real well yet.
 
Guess wot? Somma us nebber been to dugeons before. This does help! U no likey, do ur own! WTFBBQSTFU!
 
Not PL, but someone else has recorded the first instance of WotLK:

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/07/25/wow-radio-runs-utgarde-keep/
 
I think Tamzin's raid videos are better than Project Lore, because they focus in on what makes a dungeon hard, rather than attempting to provide entertainment in their own right. But Project Lore will "sell" for its personalities, not specifically for the quality of its tutorial or the "world first" expertise of the players.

I made 2 fishing-related video tutorials earlier this year, mostly to "test the water". Very basic introductory stuff. But they collectively get over 1000 views each week, and the feedback I get is very positive. Many people like to watch things, and find it more useful than reading! It takes me about a day of work per minute of video to make... considerably longer than writing traditional web content (text and images). Lots more planning required too. Plus there are a whole host of practical problems: How to keep content up to date; what not to include to ensure the right pace; how to narrate when you personally don't sound anything like a female gnome...

I won't be switching entirely to video anytime soon, but intend to make more video of content that is popular in text form.

I suspect we (collectively) have not yet managed to work out how to use video to explain WoW activities. With HD video possible to make and distribute using "home" equipment, there is a lot of potential to do things that simply did not work in the age of YouTube. Personally I still find myself wanting to move the camera for a better view: The logical conclusion is that I should create a 3D WoW simulator. A real World of World of Warcraft, where players can learn to play using all the same models and environments, without actually being in the game. Sounds crazy, but is entirely logical.

(Links for the curious: http://www.elsanglin.com/first_catch.html and http://www.elsanglin.com/equipment_and_pools.html.)
 
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