World of Warcraft: Introduction

On November 23, 2004 Blizzard Entertainment released the MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) World of Warcraft or WoW. It is Blizzard's fourth game set in the fantasy Warcraft world. Not many, if any at all, could have foreseen the popularity, success or impact on the industry this game would have. It has only been three years since its release and World of Warcraft has eight million subscribers, that have control over fifty percent of the MMORPG market share. It has crushed limitations and taken this type of game and the gaming business to a totally different level.

If a survey was done asking people if they would rather spend $70 and then an extra $15 a month to play a game, not many people would say yes. Yet there are eight million people who are willing to do just that to play one of the greatest games on the market today. If you have not already figured it out, World of Warcraft is a virtual online game where you can create a character and venture around the world of Azeroth. There are 9 different classes and 8 various races to chose from when making your character.

The game has endless possibilities and begins with a long journey of leveling up the character that you create. Your character starts the game at level one and is able to advance to level 70 by killing various monsters, grouping with other characters, and completing quests. The time spent to get a character to level 70 is a great adventure and small stepping stone to a wonderfully different experience. Just because a character reaches 70th level it does not necessarily mean that the game is over. There are still tons of things to do, like getting suitable armor and equipment for a character so strong.

A player will spend a great amount of time working to gain the better equipment for their character. The means to get the equipment are separated into two categories: PvE and PvP. PvE stands for player verses environment and PvP stands for player verses player. With PvE, players can join organizations called guilds and work with other players who are out for the same thing. With PvP, players can battle other players in battlegrounds or in arenas. Eventually the characters are geared up enough to access harder areas of the game and more competition.

There are many people who will never understand why someone would want to waste their time and money playing this game. The time spent to level and gear up the character can sometimes be frustrating but it can also be rewarding as a player. Both categories of play, PvP and PvE can be compared to team sports. People all over the nation can work with one another to defeat whatever foe gets in their way. There are some that say that its not only worth playing for the incredible experience but also for the respect you can gain from other players when you become great.