World of Warcraft
Alex Kayle
World of Warcraft, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Blizzard Entertainment, has taken the gaming world by storm with more than 11.5 million players and dominating 62% of the MMORG market.

The concept of the game was first envisioned in Blizzard’s first title Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. This was soon followed by Warcraft II and the highly successful sequel Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne four years later.

I remember as a nine-year-old playing Warcraft as my first introduction to strategy gaming, and admittedly, despite being quite a basic game, in 1994 it completely revolutionised the gaming market. It’s still one of my favourite games.
Ten years later, in 2004, Blizzard decided to take a completely different approach to its traditional gaming, after releasing its equally successful Starcraft – a futuristic version of Warcraft. Blizzard, for the first time, took a role-playing take on the game, expanding Warcraft’s lore and literally turning it into an immersive third-person role-playing game.

In the game, players choose their faction, whether it be the righteous Alliance or chaotic Horde and then ten customisable races, classes and professions for their playable character. Players can choose to traverse the expansive seamless world, completing thousands of quests and can play competitively against other players from a different faction. There are also dungeons where players have to group together, either with their own guild or in random small groups, to complete intricate and lengthy quests, usually defeating several unique bosses.

The game world essentially features two continents of Azeroth: Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, and two separate expansion realms: Outlands and Northrend. The first expansion of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released in 2007, followed by the 2008 title Wrath of the Lich King.

The immersive gameplay, storyline and rich collaboration between players have been key to the MMORG’s success. It’s also a limitless game, where players can choose how they want to play the game and with continuous quests and achievements to be seized long after the player reaches maximum level 80.

Controversially, World of Warcraft has been blamed for spurring gaming addiction among many players, where people can spend up to 12 hours a day or more stuck to their computer screens playing their alto ego. Account hacking and theft of personal information have been other problems that has plagued Blizzard. It’s been reported that some players illicitly sell in-game items for real money.

Blizzard’s annual convention, Blizzcon, last year revealed that the game’s third expansion, code-named Cataclysm, will be released later this year, and will feature two new races: goblins for the Horde and worgen for the Alliance. I for one can’t wait to see the return of Deathwing in the latest expansion.