As posted on my personal blog.
www.Nomorequarters.blogspot.com

I thought i'd bring this over here for more people to read.


Like many of you (what is it now? 10 million?) I'm a World Of Warcraft addict. After the 4 years it has been out, World of Warcraft's graphics have been getting a little dated compared to the various other games that have been released since then. (crysis anyone?)Yet, the game has a higher, and steadier player base than any other PC game on the market. Why do we constantly crawl back like flies to shit to the never ending grind for experience, and phat l00ts?
World of Warcraft is easily one of the most accessible games to anyone. A player will not even have to bother to read the lengthy and extremely helpful instruction booklet if they just use their mouse, and their eyes. A simple interface, already easy controls that are customizable, and graphics most computers can process with out breaking a fan, or burning a motherboard.
With any game, theres accomplishment, in an FPS you might get a better fun, in a plat former you might beat some excruciatingly hard level yadda yadda. Any game that is not an MMO (or broken) can be "beaten" World of Warcraft really takes this feeling to a whole new level because you can never truly finish it, and that's what strives us to keep coming back for more. There is always something that is better than what you have, and something harder that you haven't completed.
What drives us to come back and play any game is the simple factor called "fun" World of Warcraft is like many of the other MMO's on the market. You make a character, pick a class, select a race. You create an alternate you. Start off in a low level area, click monster, cast spell, hit with weapon, take the item, return to sender. It's the same repitive ass process over and over until you level up, get new gear, get more skills. The never ending grind for something. Purpose isn't the right word but it's the first that comes to mind.
Having a sense of accomplishment, seeing your character flash with light as the number that indicates your level goes one digit higher. The enemy hitting the ground right as you do so. That alone is worth the smelly hours of sitting in one spot all day long. It's a great feeling, and the higher up you are on the level scale, the greater the feeling. Like your first orgy. If you have played an MMO before, it can take hours, even days of grinding and questing to obtain a higher level.
Unlike most other MMO's, WoW really strives a player to communicate with the community. Better gear, and a better sense of accomplishment awaits a player when they decide to team up with others just like themselves, and down a hulking polygon filled with delicious new items. World of Warcraft has really hit the perfect amount of soloing, and team play in a game.
We constantly click and press to have fun, to feel good. To get better, and better and better. Better equipment, better spells, better everything. To do what with? To try and complete harder quests, defeat harder enemies, and fight harder players. It's a very repetitive formula but with dedicated players, it seems to have worked. Many other MMO's have tried to copy WoW, and why wouldn't they? I mean shit, the forumla has worked fantastic for blizzard. WoW is the juggernaut of the PC gaming market. it's seemingly unstoppable, and with every other MMO that hits the market, World of Warcraft remains on top.
Even when a player finally reaches their peak level, World of Warcrafts being 70. (which took me a total of 20 something days play time overall) There is still much to do. Endgame content is substantial in WoW, still providing players with that feeling of accomplishment by taking down the hardest, and biggest enemies in the game. Communication becomes a big part for endgame players though, and if a player likes to solo, that's probably the time when the fun stops for the casual player, and they finally decide to pull the plug and cut the addiction.
Eventually, World of Warcraft will die down. Something new and improved (WoW 2 maybe? or Warhammer online)will come along, and like little sheep we will flock to it. I personally don't expect something like this to happen to soon as WoW is still gaining players daily, and like a toy to a child, it will be hard for a player to abandon all their hard work that they spent not eating, nor sleeping, just grinding away at polygons, and stuffing their faces with Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets.
Yet with an almost endless amount of different things to do, quests, reputation grind, PvP fighting, dungeons to explore, bosses to raid, loot to obtain. World of Warcraft will go on for years. With Blizzard constantly updating the game with fresh content in patches and expansions, expect players (myself included) to continue to throw down 15$ a month to get a fix of pure virtual crack.



So, do you play WoW?
You guys think it will die out?