07-01-2011, 07:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-01-2011, 07:50 PM by rentreality.)
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me to re-introduce myself, as I have been away for some time now: I'm rentreality, best known for playing Doctor Elliott Mansfield, and, more recently, the Dwarven explorer Cadmael Cairnsmith. While I have no medical training in real life, I am a passionate student of the history of medicine, and the role it has played in the advances of human culture and civilization.
I thought I would introduce a discussion today here on the forums after overhearing an interesting conversation in GMI. The position I heard, to boil it down, was that there was little to no reason for the classic elements of the medical profession (doctors, surgeons, etc) to exist in a world with magical healing. I'd like to politely, but firmly, disagree -- and it is my intention in this post to point out why. I apologize in advance for the length of this document.
Allow me to note that, while I won't be touching at any great depth on "game mechanic" reasons for the existence of doctors, et al, in this post, I would like to point out that there are a few examples that suggest that more traditional methods of healing do exist in-game, i.e. First Aid, the Alliance Trauma Certification and its Horde counterpart, and a number of NPCs with some variation of Doctor in their name or title, aside from the Troll witch-doctors. No, the majority of my points in this will be based on the niche role that traditional medicine can play in a magical world.
To begin on a somewhat blunt note, the magical healing we see from the classes in WoW -- Paladin, Priest, Druid, etc, etc -- is essentially a very crisis-oriented form of medical treatment. It is very much like a game of whack-a-mole: as a problems appear, you bludgeon them until they go away. While blatantly effective at treating trauma, it lacks the depth and power of traditional medicine in one serious way, summarized in the well-known maxim, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Magical healing cures the symptoms of the disease, but may not truly cure the root issue.
Allow me to explain myself by relating a bit of medical history: the story of physician John Snow. Dr. Snow was one of the original founders of the theories of Epidemiology, and he got this status through his work combatting cholera. Dr. Snow stopped a deadly epidemic of the disease not by curing each patient individually, but by attacking the root cause of the problem: the pump that linked the citizens of London to the cholera-contaminated water supply.
This is where the role of the physician, rather than the blessed healer, comes to the forefront. There can be no denying that a Paladin will do a cleaner, faster job of closing a wound, or purging the deadly cholera from a patient's body -- but where that Paladin may fail is in the ounce of prevention. Lacking the training of the physician in identifying the source of disease, he may be stuck in an endless game of whack-a-mole, cleansing the lines of patients, while a doctor could end the epidemic in one move. While there is a thrill in the ideas of surgery and treatment, it is in this aspect of play that a player doctor truly has the chance to shine.
I hope that this will help convince you that the position of a doctor in the World of Warcraft is far from an idle or silly proposition. It is an opportunity for your character to explore a depth and wealth of roleplay opportunities that are rarely tapped -- whether as the doctor or the patient.
Allow me to re-introduce myself, as I have been away for some time now: I'm rentreality, best known for playing Doctor Elliott Mansfield, and, more recently, the Dwarven explorer Cadmael Cairnsmith. While I have no medical training in real life, I am a passionate student of the history of medicine, and the role it has played in the advances of human culture and civilization.
I thought I would introduce a discussion today here on the forums after overhearing an interesting conversation in GMI. The position I heard, to boil it down, was that there was little to no reason for the classic elements of the medical profession (doctors, surgeons, etc) to exist in a world with magical healing. I'd like to politely, but firmly, disagree -- and it is my intention in this post to point out why. I apologize in advance for the length of this document.
Allow me to note that, while I won't be touching at any great depth on "game mechanic" reasons for the existence of doctors, et al, in this post, I would like to point out that there are a few examples that suggest that more traditional methods of healing do exist in-game, i.e. First Aid, the Alliance Trauma Certification and its Horde counterpart, and a number of NPCs with some variation of Doctor in their name or title, aside from the Troll witch-doctors. No, the majority of my points in this will be based on the niche role that traditional medicine can play in a magical world.
To begin on a somewhat blunt note, the magical healing we see from the classes in WoW -- Paladin, Priest, Druid, etc, etc -- is essentially a very crisis-oriented form of medical treatment. It is very much like a game of whack-a-mole: as a problems appear, you bludgeon them until they go away. While blatantly effective at treating trauma, it lacks the depth and power of traditional medicine in one serious way, summarized in the well-known maxim, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Magical healing cures the symptoms of the disease, but may not truly cure the root issue.
Allow me to explain myself by relating a bit of medical history: the story of physician John Snow. Dr. Snow was one of the original founders of the theories of Epidemiology, and he got this status through his work combatting cholera. Dr. Snow stopped a deadly epidemic of the disease not by curing each patient individually, but by attacking the root cause of the problem: the pump that linked the citizens of London to the cholera-contaminated water supply.
This is where the role of the physician, rather than the blessed healer, comes to the forefront. There can be no denying that a Paladin will do a cleaner, faster job of closing a wound, or purging the deadly cholera from a patient's body -- but where that Paladin may fail is in the ounce of prevention. Lacking the training of the physician in identifying the source of disease, he may be stuck in an endless game of whack-a-mole, cleansing the lines of patients, while a doctor could end the epidemic in one move. While there is a thrill in the ideas of surgery and treatment, it is in this aspect of play that a player doctor truly has the chance to shine.
I hope that this will help convince you that the position of a doctor in the World of Warcraft is far from an idle or silly proposition. It is an opportunity for your character to explore a depth and wealth of roleplay opportunities that are rarely tapped -- whether as the doctor or the patient.