Affordances and Constraints

I don't want to get in to Gibson's definition or Norman's extension of the yin/yang concepts of affordances and constraints and how they mediate our experience. At least, not here, not now. I want to tell an illustrative story.

Last night, late, I was in WoW with Felison. We were whacking moles up in Arathi Highlands. We got the quest done easily; and it was one I'd had for a while and been unable to do alone. Then we decided we wanted to do more, and we opted for a shot at Stromgarde Keep. PIck up badges as drops from bad guys there.

Pretty quickly we realized we couldn't do that alone and we called for another guildie in the area. His name slips my mind at present, which is kinda sad actually. I remember everyone else in the eventual party. We headed into Stromgarde and did fairly well in the courtyard, but we were having enough trouble that everyone agreed when I suggested we summon Brudie. Brudie popped in, full of energy and pep, and we proceeded to do a nice clean up in the courtyard. Then we charged the steps of the castle. And died. Complete party wipe, twice. So I suggested we get a fifth, but no more guldies were on that were above lvl 27. The guy who's name I forget suggested a friend, Addida (yeah, no S), and we summoned him. To my surprise he was a 6" gnome warrior. Very cool guy.

We really wiped up the courtyard and headed inside. We were making great progress and found the final room. It was a blind turn, and even with Brudie/Datta sneaking ahead, we got blind sided by three elites. We tried three times; wiped all three, and Brudie suddenly said, "So uh does anyone actually have the quest for these guys' heads?"

To our amusement we all answered, no, we needed the badges. "So why are we here instead of successfully killing in the courtyard?" We offered sarcastic replies, and then headed to the courtyard.

My point is that we went into the castle and fought our way all the way up without thinking because the game culture and the presence of a castle, guarded by bad guys, and with interior stairs leading up, shaped our behavior. Like trained seals we did as we assumed, without even conscious acknowledgement, we were meant to do. Now it was fun, but it was a waste of time. But it WAS fun, but it was not useful. We made a mental note to come back with a posse and clear the place cause we don't like losing.

and oh yeah...DING! level 36!