Wednesday, July 29, 2009

World of Warcraft - World Gaming Phenomena

By Michael Arthas

World of Warcraft was originally developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It is one of the world's famous massive multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG). The World of Warcraft is the fourth series in the Warcraft universe. Blizzard Entertainment announced its development on September 2, 2001 following the success of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. World of Warcraft was released on November 23, 2004.

Ever since its release, World of Warcraft has become tremendously popular. This online game has experienced success beyond what anyone could have anticipated. With more than 11.5 million monthly subscribers (yup you read that right), World of Warcraft is currently the world's most-subscribed MMORPG. More than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, about 5.5 million in Asia, and the rest scattered around the globe. Did you know WoW holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG until now? In April 2008, an estimation of 62% of the worlds market for MMORPG was held by, non other than, World of Warcraft. This online game has become a mainstream triumph and has widened the audience for its genre and for gaming in general.

Before the launch of World of Warcraft , the majority of people who play MMORPG are most likely teenager or male around the age of 20. When World of Warcraft was introduced to the online gaming world, all sorts of age groups and individuals starting to play this MMORPG. This online game was not to be dominated by teenagers anymore. World of Warcraft, in particular, has successfully brought younger people, around 10-15 years of age, to play and enjoy the game.

World of Warcraft has appealed to people who are not normally into gaming. It is very common for someone who at first did not want to play the game but then got influenced by their surroundings, such as roommate, teammate, friends, brother, sister, spouse, etc. You can also find people playing and addicted to WoW was at first has very little experience in video game, especially multi-player online gaming.

Female is most likely not to play an online game. But that is not the case with World of Warcraft. WoW has successfully attract female person to also enjoy the online game. Around 30% of the world MMORPG's player are female. They usually play the game accompanied by their partner such as boyfriend, brother, or husband. World of Warcraft is often the first game introduced to them.

World of Warcraft has successfully made online game as a social experience. Often people play this online game together in groups. Well, apparently it is more fun to play online games in groups rather than to play it alone as individual. Parents and their children play together. Brother's and sister's too. And don't forget couples. Almost 25% of people playing online games in group are involved romantically. Playing in groups can certainly tighten your relationship with others.

Why is it World of Warcraft so popular? Well, one of the reason is the availability of free trials for the game. Before it was launch to public, the developer, Blizzard Entertainment, has prepare the beta version for online gamer to test it. Blizzard made the beta version free of charge. That's why people try it. And when they eventually fall in love with it, it is not an issue if they have to pay for monthly subscription fee when the game is ready for public. Most people who play the beta version are more likely to buy the game and sign up for the monthly subscription.

Another reason is, although World of Warcraft follows a similar model to others in the genre and was noted for having many familiar concepts from role playing games, the new approaches to reduce pauses between game encounters was well liked. A common example was the new approach to character's death; in previous MMORPGs, a player would suffer a high penalty for character's death, while in WoW a player would be able to recover and start playing quickly. Combat was another area where "downtime" or pauses between play were reduced. By allowing all character types to recover from damage taken, players could return to combat quickly. These improvements made WoW chosen by online gamers as a great MMORPG.

The vast audience for World of Warcraft has also been of interest to the gaming industry. Many game companies felt that there was no room in the online gaming market for a new title. Thus gamers didn't have much to choose from, since there isn't much option for online game. Blizzard Entertainment has made a brave step and its game, WoW, has proven otherwise. WoW has show that the online game market can and still expanding and growing. Blizzard has proven that the market for online game still has much potential and with the right title, it will be profitable. Other game companies have been impressed by its success, and are very interested in why it has taken off to the extent that it has.

Blizzard Entertaiment has sets new ground in MMORPG world. With World of Warcraft, Blizzard has also successfully captured more vast audience to play and enjoy the game. With WoW's success, Blizzard has been known as a reputable game developer. It has also experience much success in financial. The success of World of Warcraft has made other game developer to start thinking and being innovative and creative. Thus, in the future, online gamers will be expecting many more exciting MMORPG other than WoW. Bravo Blizzard. Bravo World of Warcraft.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment