The entire internet* is besieged by outrage** today*** by the news**** that an exploit in Blizzard’s Diablo III can allow some folk playing as Wizards to become invincible.***** No doubt it’s being patched out at a desperate rate, but for me it exemplifies just why Diablolikes, WoWlikes and games using similar progression mechanics will often lose their appeal to me relatively quickly. It’s all about the invisible numbers, forever escalating, forever having the ceiling above them raised, and our being tricked into thinking we have any real control over those numbers. Something can go wrong with the equations, and the numbers can then dictate something like invincibility.

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