Assignment 5-1

I can quit at any time, seriously...

In 2007, U.S computer video game and software sales tallied 9.5 billion in receipts (Entertainment Software Association [ESA], 2008). The video game industry is huge and one of the most popular games in the multi-player online genre is World of Warcraft, with over 10 million monthly subscribers.

World of Warcraft is the fourth installment of the Warcraft universe, created by Blizzard Entertainment. The first three games in the series were not massive online games, they were strategy games which only had limited elements of online play that allowed a few players to battle each other on static battlefields. World of Warcraft is a massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) that allows thousands of players to be on a single realm at a time and with over 200 realms, total player counts in the millions of users is normal (Blizzard, 2008). The environment is no longer static, but instead it is open ended and allows the player to explore the game in a non-linear fashion.

My experience with World of Warcraft was a short one. A few friends of mine were playing regularly a few years ago and convinced me to give it a try. After playing the 30 day trial, I determined that if I were to be successful at creating a powerful character, it would require too much of my time. Eventually, many of my friends came to this conclusion as well and quit playing the game. Some quit and have been ‘clean’, while others still play on a casual basis. For me, paying a monthly fee and only playing part-time would not be worth it, financially. I will stick with rocking out to Guitar Hero for my casual gaming fix.

References
Blizzard Entertainment. (2008) FAQ. Retrieved July 28, 2008 from
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/realms.html.

Entertainment Software Association [ESA]. (2008). Industry Facts. Retrieved July 28, 2008
from http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp.