It’s a Bullshit Encounter

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is from My Cousin Vinny when Ms. Vito (Marisa Tomei) puts the prosecutor in his place for asking an unanswerable question. I couldn’t find a youtube, but below is the transcript. Believe me it’s a great scene, and reading it doesn’t do it justice.

D.A. Jim Trotter: Now, Ms. Vito, being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me... what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet, with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor?

Mona Lisa Vito: That's a bullshit question.

D.A. Jim Trotter: Does that mean that you can't answer it?

Mona Lisa Vito: It's a bullshit question, it's impossible to answer.

D.A. Jim Trotter: Impossible because you don't know the answer!

Mona Lisa Vito: Nobody could answer that question!

D.A. Jim Trotter: Your Honor, I move to disqualify Ms. Vito as an expert witness!

Judge Chamberlain Haller: Can you answer the question?

Mona Lisa Vito: No, it is a trick question!

Judge Chamberlain Haller: Why is it a trick question?

Mona Lisa Vito: 'Cause Chevy didn't make a 327 in '55, the 327 didn't come out till '63. And it wasn't offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till '64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top-dead-center.

D.A. Jim Trotter: Well... uh... she's acceptable, Your Honor.

As of a couple days ago, Stars, a Chinese guild who rerolled on Taiwanese servers so they could play WotLK, took down Yoggy with 0 watchers.

What’s most interesting about the encounter is when last we heard Exodus had been punished for using a bug to exploit the encounter. Ensidia had insisted they used a bug because by all accounts, the encounter was mathematically impossible. Ensidia has long snagged world firsts, and according to even Michael Sacco over at wow.com, who used to be a blue, they have a close relationship with some developers at Blizz. He made some pretty vague comments recently on their podcast, but the gist of it is pretty basic. Yes, Ensidia uses bugs in the programming, and yes, Blizzard listens to them. This makes the Exodus 72 hour ban even more disgusting when the developers are playing favorites, but it has allowed an even greater irony.

See up until now, Ensidia has been the Marisa Tomei of WoW guilds. Blizzard puts them on the stand, and they cry out, “that’s a bullshit encounter.” Somewhere along the way Blizzard made a fatal error and instead of cross examining them they decided to make them their very own expert witness. It’s great for Ensidia, but bad for WoW. Now when they cry out that an encounter is mathematically impossible, everyone, including the devs, all tend to agree. Blizzard isn’t morally against making guilds bang their head against an encounter that’s impossible. If you listened to Sacco on the podcast, you even get the feeling that they revel in it, and I think it’s commendable.

It has been a way of pushing players to theorycraft and then implement ideas that have never been used before. There, according to Blizzard’s recent action, has always been a difference between exploiting a bug compared to exploiting a failed game mechanic. Mob evading vs spellstealing is a good example, and though none of us really understand Blizzards rationale, I’d hope they have enough internal protocols that whether I agree with the Exodus punishment or not, Blizzard’s big men are able to sleep at night not because of their pillows made of real world gold but because they treat their player base fairly.

Top end guilds are the checks and balances for the developers. Just like any system with a similar mechanic, whether it is a government or a financial hierarchy, the system will fail if those that monitor another are compromised. Ensidia has become that compromise. When your developers’ greatest adversary then becomes their lapdog, it hardly suggests a system where one is trying to expose the other. When did Ensidia stop being Marisa Tomei (if they ever really were) and start becoming the star expert witness?

Well, it doesn’t really matter anymore now does it? While Blizzard was busy making a star, there was another star for the players being made in Asia. Who would have thought that a guild of Chinese players would defect to Taiwanese servers level all the way to 80, organize their guild to get the 2nd Mimiron hard mode achievement and then devise an ZOMFG plan to take down Yogg?

If you read their strategy, you can’t help but be in awe. That is some serious scheming and they didn’t do it with some of the questionable techniques that Sacco suggests of Kungen in the podcast.

My only remaining question is what becomes of Stars now? Everyone who saw the summer games in Beijing knows there is an enormous amount of national pride among the Chinese. Everyone who sees the hero that Yao Ming is to his people also understands this. I can’t help but wonder if and when the Chinese government learns and understands the scope of Stars kill and just how is has put Ensidia in their place as a Chihuahua to the Paris Hilton that is Blizzard if they might work to get their people WotLK and subsequent expansions sooner. The Chinese government, despite what anyone may think of them, aren’t likely to pass up on an opportunity for such national pride long term, especially when their biggest rivals are a euro guild adored by the prince of Dubai and Americans.

-Rhab