Timothy Kennedy M.

Villar
UWRT 1101-088
October, 2014

World of Warcraft Creating and Destroying:

World of Warcrafts Positive and Negative Impacts Within The Game Industry
Introduction/Background
Since its release in 2004 Blizzard Entertainments World of Warcraft (WoW) has deeply
impacted the MMORPG field, game development, and the people who play the game. The game
has attracted more than 12 million people to enter and explore the world of Azeroth all while
playing $15 a month. Whether its to escape reality, socialize with other players, have fun, or just
relax it is clear that WoW has affected the world. Previously MMORPGs were meant for the
hardcore who may have also been well antiquated in pen and paper RPGs such as Dungeons and
Dragons, which the first MMORPG, MUD, was inspired by. Only anticipating 400,000
subscribers within the year Blizzard had severely underestimated the appeal of their game,
breaking 400,000 within a month, and by the end of the year having over 4 million subscribers.
WoW has had a comfortable grip on the MMORPG field, with many reason. This paper seeks to
discuss how WoW has grown to its current level from meager beginnings and how it has affected
not only gaming culture but society as a whole.
As opposed to traditional video games, the characters you interact with in the game of
World of Warcraft are real people rather than computer programs. The other members within
your party to take on the boss could be your school or work friend, or a stranger across the
world. On hearing about the World of Warcraft as a child I was elated to discover there was an
entire world of thousands of people on their own mission forming their own story.
As an avid gamer who enjoys nearly every genre from first-person shooters and roleplaying games to real time strategies and simulators; I appreciate the scale that MMORPGs, and
specifically WoW offers. An MMORPG offers a very different experience from that of a single
player game for not only players but development as well. Traditionally, MMORPGs operate on
a monthly subscription meaning that a player must pay a fee, in WoWs case $15, every month
to gain access to the game. This is justified by the developers as a way to pay for server upkeep
as well as support the company in developing new content on a regular basis. This is in stark
contrast to single-player games that in the past only charged a rate of around $60 for a whole
game. The effect that WoW has had on single-player games is already apparent in that
Downloadable Content, or DLC, is becoming more and more accepted as a form for companies
to not only provide more content for old games, but generate more income from pre-released

Comment [1]: Great background into what

WoW is. Be sure to clarify what MMORPG is
the first time you state it. I see that you do that
later on. The hook is very interesting and the
thesis is easy to find.

games as well. Ever since its release WoW has become the standard in the MMORPG field, with
every MMORPG released since then claiming to be the next WoW Killer while none actually
succeed at matching WoWs ability to reel in players and keep them coming back for more.
We all have our typical image of what a typical MMO gamer looks like, unhealthy,
unkempt, and pathetic. It has become increasingly acceptable for people to express their
enthusiasm for video games without fear of ostracization but it seems that MMO gamers have
been left in the dust. The typical WoW player is often judged almost immediately as soon as
their affinity for Warcraft is learned. This presumption is not completely unwarranted video
game addiction or dependence is an issue many WoW players face with the best guilders putting
in 29+ hours a week playing the game. Some play for a source of fun and challenge, while others
play to cope with loneliness, isolation, boredom, stress, anger, or even to escape reality.
As someone who loves video games, and someone whose childhood is defined by those
games, I am very interested in how World of Warcraft continues to send shockwaves within the
industry and affects people all over the world.
Review of Relevant Literature
Spoils of Warcraft, All Your History Are Belong To Us: MMO, and World Of Warcraft
And The Impact Of Game Culture And Play In An Undergraduate Game Design Course all relate
to WOWs impact on the MMORPG industry as to how games are developed. Spoils of Warcraft
from Fortune magazine discusses the profitability of the game and delves into the economics of
game development and data warehousing. It can cost over $70 million to produce an MMO, not
only that but a company must support its servers after launch. Designers must constantly build
new dungeons, develop expansion packs, and craft new stories. All Your History are Belong To
Us: MMO is a documentary series that provides a lengthy history of the MMORPG industry
from the humble beginnings of MUDs, Habitat the first virtual world with onscreen avatars,
and Meridian 59, the first MMORPG to have a 3D engine and introduce a monthly subscription
service. The documentary reaffirms that WoW has changed the industry for better or for worse
and is the standard. World Of Warcraft And The Impact Of Game Culture And Play In An
Undergraduate Game Design Course is perhaps the article that most displays WoWs impact on
the gaming industry, playing and studying WoW is officially given to game development
students to learn about level design, gender in games, and game culture. One interesting
interaction is the incident at shadowfang keep, where a groupmate purposefully claims all the
loot in an instance for him and as a result gets kicked from the group and tensions arose. The
article doesnt necessarily delve into the business aspect of development, but the process of
development in creating game mechanics and studying them.
(2011). /afk: Away from Keyboard, The effects of collective MMORPG (Massively
Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) play on gamers online and offline social capital, and
Notions of Video Game Addiction and Their Relation to Self-Reported Addiction Among Players

Comment [2]: ELABORATE MORE ON THIS

POR FAVORRRR. This is a very good point
and even I have been guilty of judging (although
I shouldn't). Explain how this wrong, why this is
wrong, and what can be done to change this
way of thinking

Comment [3]: Great transition, indicative of

your point. Links personal experience with your
point. Try expanding your conclusion just a little
more.
Comment [4]: Nice explanation with the
literature review. Great elaboration on how
WoW has impacted the MMORPG. Just
remember to add in your in-text citations.

of World of Warcraft are sources that demonstrate why business may follow suit in Blizzards
footsteps. Just as with everything which may be perceived as addictive, companies will capitalize
on that addiction. A recent anecdote is the Call of Duty franchise, which releases DLC map
packs or other content for a fee without hesitation, because they know their user base is hooked
on the game and will purchase anything with Call of Duty plastered on it no matter what. /afk
does not display much in the production aspect of WoW, but rather allows viewers to see the
negative ramifications of playing MMORPGs, WoW in particular. We see many protagonists
lives crumble before them as they let the game take over their life. Peoples careers are
jeopardized, with their personal lives following suit. One person we follow loses his wife as a
result, while roommates begin to detest each other. Eventually some quit the game for their
betterment while others are still gripped to the world as it is the only thing they have left. Notions
of Video Game Addiction discusses exactly that, addiction to gaming and its effects on the
players socially and physically. Players are often aware when they spend too much time
playing games. Problematic gaming interferes with various aspects of life including work, having
a partner, free time, or living in an independent dwelling.
The effects of collective MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) play on
gamers online and offline social capital, and Being in the World (of Warcraft): Raiding,
Realism, and Knowledge Production in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game justifies the
play of video games, and specifically WoW. Golub gives a brief history of MMORPGs starting
with MUDs, going on to the graphical importance in games during the 90s, including the
grandfather of MMORPGs, Everquest in his discussion with Being in the World (of Warcraft).
This journal mostly discusses the various topics that arise within living in a virtual world
bringing up the payment of virtual goods with real world currency. Golub does an efficient job of
introducing WoW and its gameplay and discusses his firsthand accounts in WoW. He discusses
the diversity within his guid Power Aeternus and goes on to describe the mechanics of raiding, as
well as how experienced players opt for practicality in game rather than immersion. Golub is
explicit in his description of the game, dedicating a portion of his journal on the means of verbal
communication in game using Vent, a voice chat program. He argues that World of Warcraft for
medium-core players is a healthy activity, and not poisonous like the media would typically
say. Race to World First focuses on the positive aspects of playing World of Warcraft including
a sense of camaraderie and thrill when defeating a raid. The documentary follows the guild
Blood Legion in their quest to become ranked number one as a guild in the race to defeat the new
expansions boss first with their ups and downs. The documentary works to portray competitive
WoW players as not only normal, but breaking gamer stereotypes altogether.
Zhong discusses the social interaction MMORPGs provide to players in The effects of
collective MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) play on gamers
online and offline social capital. Social capital refers to the resources and support provided by
bonding and bridging social networks MMOs, massive multiplayer, depend on the building of
social networks. This article works to provide evidence for the positive effects of online gaming

and notes that social experience in MMORPGs and how it influences social networks and
participation. The article makes an argument for both the support of playing video games as a
supplement or replacement for physical social interaction and the negative aspects of it.
Entering The Conversation
World of Warcraft has simultaneously impacted the game industry in positive and
negative aspects. Game companies are still companies their goal is to create a profit;
Activision-Blizzard is one of the most profitable game companies in the business, much of this is
due to Blizzards merging with Activision, bringing some of their skills with them. Not only did
Blizzard influence the economic aspect of the game industry with WoW, in addition many
studios felt the actual developmental facet of WoW.
Meridian 59, EverQuest, Ultima Online, and numerous other MMO Grandfathers laid
the foundation for the modern MMORPG. Meridian 59 introduced the monthly subscription
service that many MMOs operate on, EverQuest introduced a more structured world with quests
for players to follow, and Ultima Online allowed for players to do almost anything they wanted.
World of Warcraft offered all of these experiences, simultaneously streamlining them allowing
greater accessibility to players. Prior to WoW MMORPGs were a niche game market, often
catering to the hardcore gamer, who often studied the mechanics intensely, keeping
spreadsheets for their various characters. World of Warcraft casualized the MMORPG field,
within a year millions were playing for this reason. Players hands were now held as they played,
leaving the players likelihood of getting confused and frustrated diminished. The trade-off with
this approach is that WoW was often seen as too easy from many veteran players, this
mattered little for coorpoorate heads as World of Warcraft exceeded Blizzards expectations tenfold within a year boasting four million subscribers.
EverQuest and Ultima Online also wavered in popularity due to the traditional release of
sequels from developers. Sequels worked for standard games because players valued progression
in gameplay and story, and sacrificed nothing by moving on to the next title. EverQuest 2 failed
to bring all players to the sequel and actually competed against its predecessor for the same
subscriber base weakening both game worlds. WoW opts to instead continually release patches
which add patches on a regular basis. Patches improve graphics, gameplay mechanics, and add
new features such as weapons or quests. MMORPGs no longer release sequels due to the
disastrous results of EverQuest 2 and instead follow WoWs patch based system.
MMORPGs are not the only games that have noticed World of Warcraft, many modern
videogames from Halo, Call of Duty, Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption, and countless games
now release content in small portions of Downloadable Content (DLC) instead of expansion
packs or sequels. Bungie of Halo fame has decided to release a Massively Multiplayer Online
First Person Shooter titled Destiny which has many business similarities to WoW besides being

part of the Activision-Blizzard family. Bungie is moving towards releasing content more
constantly in a WoW-like fashion as players are burning through content faster than anticipated.
World of Warcraft was also made with future content in mind. This fits the MMO model
just perfectly, but unfortunately has seeped into the rest of the game industry. Games are now
made with content in mind, and instead of this content being included it is taken out and sold as
DLC, or included with a much more expensive version of the game. Assassins Creed II, is the
first game I personally remember doing this after discovering content included on the disk
must be unlocked by purchasing a code I was outraged and regretted my purchase as I supported
this inexcusable behavior with my dollar. From then on I choose to boycott game companies that
act this way such as Capcom, EA, Activision, and countless others. Attached is a diagram
visualizing this.

Comment [5]: The diagram is a good way of

giving the reader a visual of showing the
problem you mentioned in the paragraph. It
shows the progression of future content of the
video game. Would what you get out of
boycotting the companies?

Conclusion/So-What?
World of Warcraft has impacted gaming in a way many people dont realize. It is
responsible for many innovations beneficial to gamers, and beneficial to stock-holders, with both
usually being mutually exclusive. WoW although seen as a hardcore game to the public and
even ignorant gamers is actually fairly easy, and was one of the industry giants to dumb down a
games difficulty for a broader audience. While games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of
Duty has made gaming more accessible and cool to the general public, WoW has been doing
the same to the existing gamer market having an almost complete monopoly on the MMO field.
This is of legitimate concern to game players and game developers the continual watering
down of content and hand holding in games being released threatens advancement in the
industry and fosters an environment of complacency. World of Warcraft was one of the first big
projects from a major publisher to do so and many other companies quickly followed suit.
Game developers of the current generation should consider the MMO genres evolution
as it can easily apply to any genre. Once a niche field is now one of the most lucrative, a delicate
balance between challenge and ease is needed to have a fun game and a profitable one. The
continual release of new content is one that should be welcomed without hesitation, but with
DLC being content shallow and devoid of value (Bethesdas Oblivion and its horse armor, Call
of Dutys map packs) this great idea has become corrupted. The age of large expansion packs
worth a purchase is ending, WoW now annually releases an expansion pack to increase
profitability while desperately trying to recoup their subscription base (once 12 million, now 7.4
million) lost due to deviation from the original formula. While many corporate giants are
continuing to rehash the same formula a new movement in gaming is rising: the independent
game. While the indie game scene has its fair amount of issues (being equally superficial with
games such as Gone Home, and Planetary Annihilation being examples) the freedom from a
publisher allows for unlimited possibilities. Games such as X-Com: Enemy Unknown, and
Europa Universalis IV are returning to the high difficulty games were once known for, being
intellectually stimulating and entertaining. With World of Warcraft on its way out from
relevancy, gamers have to ask: is this movement towards ease ending, or just beginning?

Comment [6]: You should include your

stereotypes about gamers in the conclusion as
well. You wrote a very good point and standing
on the matter without introducing or concluding
it. Further elaboration and you're golden, pony
boy.
Comment [7]: Your conclusion is well put
together. How or why is Grand Theft Auto and
Call of Duty considered "cool" to the general
public?. It's nice to see you're interested in a
entertaining game.

Comment [8]: Good way to give the reader a

curious reason to further researcher on this
matter. WoW seems to be an interesting game.
What other possibilities could also arise?