Difference between revisions of "World of Warcraft"

Revision as of 23:02, 6 October 2011

World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) produced by Blizzard Entertainment, based in Irvine, California. It is the fourth game set in the Warcraft Universe that was originally conceived in 1994 with Blizzard’s release of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. The game takes place in a virtual fantasy world called Azeroth. The game’s storyline is set four years after the conclusion of Blizzard’s previous Warcraft series release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. World of Warcraft was announced on September 2, 2001 and was released on November 23, 2004.

World of Warcraft Logo

There are three expansions that impacted the gameplay and storyline in significant ways. The first, The Burning Crusade, was released on January 16, 2007. Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion, was released on November 13, 2010. The most recent expansion, Cataclysm, was released on December 7, 2010. In October 2010 at Blizzcon, Blizzard’s annual gaming convention, a fourth expansion was confirmed, but the details are not yet public.

World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG to date, with approximately 11 million subscribers as of June, 2011.

Gameplay

Creating a Character

In World of Warcraft, players create and control a character avatar within the virtual world Azeroth. The virtual world offers the player many gameplay options, most of which involve exploring the virtual landscape, fighting monstrous creatures, following quest lines, and interacting with other players and non-player characters (NPCs).

Similar to other MMORPG games, World of Warcraft requires a subscription to play, which can be paid using pre-paid game time cards, or setting up a recurring subscription through a credit or debit card.

Players choose between two opposing factions when creating a character, Alliance or Horde. Characters from opposing factions are not allowed to communicate with each other beyond the in-game basic emote functions. Only members of the same faction can speak, mail and adventure together in game.

While creating a character, the player must choose a race and class. The player’s faction choice dictates access to different race types. The Alliance faction has more traditional race types like Humans and Night Elves, while the Horde faction has more sinister race types like Orcs and Undead. All class types are accessible to both factions, but some class types are only accessible to specific race types.

Before a character avatar is created, the player must select a realm to play on. Players can create multiple characters on all realms. Realms are either player versus player (PVP) or player versus environment (PVE). Player versus player realms are geared towards players who enjoy engaging in combat with each other freely throughout the virtual world. Player versus environment realms are the opposite, player versus player combat is only accessible through specially designated zones or in-game battlegrounds and arenas. Realms are categorized by language.

In-Game Play

As characters increase in level, they gain various new talents and abilities that expand upon the gameplay for each class type. Much of the gameplay in World of Warcraft is based around completing quests offered by NPCs that advance the main story line and the numerous subplots. Quests are structured around killing monsters, gathering resources, finding hidden objects, interacting with NPCs, discovering new locations and delivering items. Players are given rewards for completing quests that include new items, in-game money and experience.

After characters progress beyond their basic starting zones, they are offered options to group with five other players and enter instanced dungeons. Grouping with other players brings a new dynamic to the gameplay. Players must use their specific class abilities to aid other members in the group in defeating more resilient monsters and bosses.

The three main class types that form a group dynamic are healers, tanks and damage dealers. Healers heal the group members, tanks protect the group by directing monster’s attention on themselves, and damage dealers use their abilities to damage and kill the monsters.

As characters reach the maximum level, level 85, they gain access to “end game” content, which usually consists of raids that progress the main story line in World of Warcraft. Raids are similar to grouping for instanced dungeons during lower levels.

There are two group sizes in the raid environment, 10 player groups and 25 player groups. Raids are considerably more difficult than five player dungeons, and the difficulty varies between 10 player content and 25 player content.

Characters can choose to learn two main professions in the game such as blacksmithing, tailoring and leather working. Characters can also learn fishing, cooking and first aid as secondary professions. Players can abandon and learn new professions freely at any time.

Ethical Issues

Numerous ethical issues arise in World of Warcraft because of its massively multiplayer environment. In-game examples are player killing, division of loot items, twinking, power leveling, hacking, etc. The debate in World of Warcraft’s virtual world is the moral status of such activities, and their implications on people’s real world lives.

Other ethical issues include time spent playing game, abandonment of one’s real life obligations, loss of real world social relationships, trading real money for in-game items, attachment to player avatars, etc.

World of Warcraft is a socially driven game, with players interacting with other players and thus, humans interacting with other humans. Unlike a game like chess, where players generally don’t brood over a loss for weeks after detaching from the game, World of Warcraft is a game which is played every day for long periods by most players.

World of Warcraft player’s real live behavior can become seriously influenced by in-game actions, and often players establish a strong connection between themselves and their in-game avatars. In this context, World of Warcraft’s affects on peoples real lives and MMORPG social environments are the subject of much ethical study.