World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is a fantasy-themed massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) published by Blizzard Entertainment for the PC and Mac. It is currently the most successful game of its kind, with nearly 10 million subscribers worldwide, appearing 83rd in IGN's top 100 games of all time (2007). First released in 2004, an expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, was published in 2007. A second expansion pack, Wrath of the Lieh King, is scheduled for release in 2008. It is the fourth game in the Warcraft series but eschews the turns-based strategy game play of previous releases in favor of quest-orientated fantasy role-playing. A series of novels have also been published under the Warcraft brand.

Like other MMORPGs, World of Warcraft allows thousands of players to simultaneously share the same persistent virtual world. Players create and control their own avatar—a virtual realization of their game-world alter egos. Avatars are used to explore the environment and to interact with other players and computer-controlled non-playing characters. Each avatar is assigned a class from a choice of nine including druid, hunter, priest warlock, and warrior, each possessing a unique set of abilities and talents that can be exploited during the game.

Avatars are also assigned to one of 10 different fantasy-themed character races occupying two opposing factions: Alliance and Horde. Choice of race determines the appearance of the player's avatar, its starting location, skill sets, and certain other traits. But although appearance is partly determined by character race, some customization of features such as hairstyle, hair color, and face shape is also possible. During play, further customization of appearance can be achieved through acquiring artifacts of different kinds. The game therefore encourages players to identify with and develop their avatars.

World of Warcraft's game play is predominantly quest based. Players are given quests to complete by non-player characters, typically killing specific creatures or collecting specific artefacts. Many of these individual quests are linked into longer storylines that may develop over many gaming sessions. Most quests can be attempted by solo players, but some require the skills of multiple players and therefore encourage collaborative play. The persistent virtual environment of the game means that play is open-ended; acquired artefacts and traits are carried over between gaming session, and the world continues to evolve whether the player is online or not.

The game therefore invites players to develop their characters over a long period of time, acquiring new artifacts, developing character skills grouped into professions, and earning experience points. As experience points are earned, the player's avatar progresses through character levels, acquiring new skills and abilities. There is no overall objective; although levelling-up a player's avatar does provide an extrinsic motivation, many different modes of play can be adopted which provide more intrinsic rewards. Many players, for example, treat the fantasy environment as merely a shared social space in which to interact and develop personal relationships.

World of Warcraft is notable for its very accessible mode of play, and for attracting casual gamers into MMORPGs. The game has a shallow learning curve and is equally accessible to occasional and frequent play. It is also orientated toward action gaming rather than dedicated role-playing, and is forgiving of casual or inexperienced gamers. In contrast to most MMORPGs, for example, death of the player's character carries no real penalty; avatars can be reincarnated with no loss of character experience or acquired artefacts. Its accessibility and popularity is part of the reason why World of Warcraft has crossed over into mainstream popular culture. There is an allusion to the game, for example, in the title of the South Park episode “Make Love, Not War-craft.” However, its popularity has also resulted in concerns about game addiction. Like other virtual worlds it has also been the subject of studies concerning identity, gender formation, collaborative play, online communities, and educational uses.

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