I am slowly making my way through the Boss Fight series of books. I have an affinity for these short form books that tackle one topic and the Boss Fight Books are great, as are the 33 1/3rd book series for music. I finished Daniel Lisi’s World of Warcraft over the weekend and enjoyed the read. I didn’t really expect it to be so much of a personal story, when I finished it up I was actually really glad it was presented that way. I don’t think I would categorize it as a memoir, but it is a deeply personal story about Lisi and his interactions with the game against the backdrop of social systems both in game and the real world related to the game. I really enjoyed it and it may be the best Boss Fight book I have read thus far.
I do wish there were more Blizzard dev input points in the book, maybe about some of the design decisions that lead to the engulfment of time that Lisi and tons of other players felt they needed to invest in the game at such a high level of raiding. Lisi does a good job by saying that it was based on business decisions to keep players involved, but hearing Blizzard's side some more would have been helpful.
Overall great read, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to explore more about the culture during this time period that may have led to some changes in the way games are made, or at least MMOs, since then. The burnout seemed real, and Lisi does a good job describing being in the thick of it and its effect on players. If you were into MMOs during this period, go grab a copy. It’s a quicker read and well worth it.
