Review 6 - Andrew O Loughlin - World Of Warcraft
From DIT Experimental Gaming Group
World of warcraft is a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG . It is the current installment of the ever popular Examplewarcraft series designed by blizzard entertainment . It was released on November 23, 2004, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise.
World of Warcraft Shatters Day-One Sales Records ''IRVINE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Dec. 1, 2004 -- Blizzard's Newest Title Becomes North America's Fastest-Selling PC Game Ever, with Record Number of Accounts Created and Concurrent Players in First 24 Hours
Blizzard Entertainment(R) today confirmed that World of Warcraft(R) has broken day-one sales records in North America, making it the most successful PC game launch ever. World of Warcraft, the company's subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), sold through to over 240,000 customers at retailers in North America on Tuesday, November 23, selling more in its first 24 hours than any other PC game in history.''quote from tmcnet.com
The game is based in the fantasy world of Azeroth and dominated the mmorpg market since release. The current active subscriptions is now currently in the 10.2 - 10.3 million range . Due to the high customer backing and massive demand the company on the 9th november 2006 offically declared the highly anticpated expansion the burning crusade .
This would be the game which shot blizzard into gaming history by becoming the fastest selling game of all time with 2.4 million copies being sold upon the inital hours of release . It was announced that in april 2008 world of warcraft currently holds 62% of the mmorpg market .
Contents |
Gameplay
Unlike the rest of the warcraft series that was based in the real-time strategy style of gameplay , world of warcraft is mmorpg and as such is played in third person. The gamer has the freedom to create his/her own avatar and through this medium is able to venture into the game. As with the majority of mmorpgs the player has access to many races and classes with define how they will interact with npcs (non-playable characters) int the game . The majority of the gameplay is based around a simple quest and reward system and it is here that the player will see and interact with the game world but thats not to say that there is no other elements of the game, being that the game is an multiplayer based game there is many dungeons and raids which require the players to band together to overcome various barriers and enemies .
Game Controls
In world of warcraft the controls are based upon the usually mmorpg basic controls ie. the arrow keys being used to move around or the popular WADS setup in which each of the keys represents a direction for the avatar to move in the game world. The game as stated before is played in the 3rd person style similar to alot of games in this genre.
User Interface
The standard wow screen has the avatar centered in the middle of the screen , below there is an action bar in which the player may allocated specific skills and abilities to be later used with ease , in the top left corner of the screen is the avatar panel with consists of the current picture of the avatar , the health and the mana / rage / energy . In the top right corner is the mini-map which basically shows the current map in your location. Being that wow is heavily user modified there is a huge range of cleverly designed interface mods available to people and these mods are all based towards the players certain play style or design style .
The Story
Ok well after carefully consideration and a chat with some classmates I think i should create a link to the full background behind the online phenomenon that is world of warcraft, but I think just before you read the story one must take into account that this game and the warcraft franchise is currently over 15 years old with the first installment being Warcraft Orcs and Humans which was released in the USA on the 15 January 1994 but production began 2 years before by blizzard entertainment. Anyway here is the link to the warcraft history In depth history of wow
The Tech Specs
Many have said that blizzard were able to create a game in which people did not need to have highly powerful computers to enjoy the game ( although it helps alot !!). Blizzard also did not want to leave the cartoonist style in which the previous games in the series were made. This is the recommended requirements to run wow on a home computer , the only thing i must mention is that there is a 2nd expansion coming out which may ask for better hardware due to new lighting effects and shadow elements being implemented.
OS: Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4); Windows XP (Service Pack 2) Processor: Intel Pentium3 800MHz or AMD Athlon 800MHz Memory: 512 MB RAM, 1GB RAM is recommended Video: Minimum: 32MB 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as an NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or above. Recommended: 64MB VRAM 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability, such as an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 class card or above. Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
Too Addictive ??
As with all mmorpgs it allow people to cast off there real selfs and adopt a new persona and it is in the nature that many of the people who play world of warcraft get emerised very fast. Since its release there have been countless storys of people dying or people losing there jobs and families through wow addiction .
I feel that the games are at fault more than the players. "This isn't about willpower or restraint," she said in an interview. "These games are very elaborately designed to ease you in gently, entice you, and keep you there. And it's a cycle: people begin to spend too much time playing and their careers and personal relationships begin to deteriorate."Dr. Orzack, who is the founder and coordinator of the Computer Addiction Service,
It has become to an extent so addictive that in Usa and austrialia there have set up clinics for people who are so far gone that they need help keeping reality and there game life seperate . Austrailian addiction
Now that may seem serious but the most effected country in the world has to be china simply because the game has assimilated intro everyday life.
Extreme devotion
Games are serious business in China. Last year, Chinese players spent almost US$500m on online games.The government has been encouraging the growth of online gaming. It is hosting a two-day games conference in September in Beijing in the hope of attracting more foreign investment.But the phenomenal popularity of online games has fuelled concerns that some people may be losing themselves in the virtual worlds of massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). In one extreme case, a player killed a fellow player who had stolen his virtual sword. The gamer received a suspended death sentence in June. The measures announced by the Chinese authorities are due to be introduced from October.The new system will impose penalties on players who spend more than three hours playing a game by reducing the abilities of their characters.
Overall
To sum up world of warcraft I would have to say that the game is excellent . Although not without flaws as with any online game it has become the benchmark of all online games around the world and with its continued success I feel it will only go from strength to strength. The concepts behind all online gaming is to create a world in which players may choose to do what the want and how they want , and world of warcraft does certainly give this abilities to people who play the game and on that i think this is done .
P.S. please dont mind spelling mistakes i make them alot
