World of Warcraft (WOW) Essay -- essays research papers fc

humankind of Warcraft (WOW) IntroductionAccording to the World of Warcraft Community Site, World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online gameenabling thousands of players to come together online and combat against the world and each other. pseuds from across the globe can leave the genuine world behind and undertake grand quests and heroic exploits in a land of fantastic adventure (World of Warcraft Guide). Although the origins of MMORPGs can be traced to the 1970s, the release of Ultima Online and Everquest, commonly called UO and EQ respectively, in the late 1990s brought MMORPGs to a broader PC gaming audience. Since the release of UO and EQ, MMORPGs have become a multi-billion dollar market. World of Warcraft went live in November of 2004, and its community has since grown to over 1.5 unmatched million million million players. Effective community attention was made a staple in the industry by its two most notable pioneers. Community management is vital to the succe ss of a MMORPG, and WoW is no exception. Need for Player Representation in MMORPGsA system of communication between the players and developers has the potentiality to directly influence node satisfaction. Jeremy Kelly points out it is assumed that developers seek to increase profits (Kelly). From a developers standpoint, knowing the thoughts and feelings of the player base is one of the most important parts of the ongoing development MMORPGs are know for. Joshua Hong states that the key difference between a MMORPG and other online or offline videogames is the humanity of a persistent world (6). Creating a MMORPG costs upwards of 15 million dollars, and this figure does not even include the cost of continue support after the game launches (Hong 8). These games demand virtual worlds, significant computer hardware requirements from the developer (e.g., servers and bandwidth), and dedicated support staff (MMORPG). Due to the unusually large investing needed to develop a MMORPG comp ared to normal games, MMORPGs only thrive financially through longevity. It is therefore imperative that good communication exists so customer satisfaction can be kept high. As seen in variety 1, 63.5% of MMORPG players consider the most important aspect of the game to be influenced or directly controlled by mechanics coded by the developers (Making friends and Pretending to be someone else are considered to be primarily soci... ...esentation system for World of Warcraft alike to the systems used in other leading MMORPGs.Works CitedBlizzard frolic Announces World of Warcraft Street Date November 23, 2004. Blizzard Entertainment - Press Releases. 4 Nov. 2004. Blizzard Entertainment. 13 may 2005. Hong, Joshua. Play for Keeps. Play for Keeps. 2003. Juniper Networks. 13 May 2005. Kelly, Jeremy. Play Time. Anthemion.org Words. 8 Feb. 2004. Anthemion. 13 May 2005. MMORPG. 2003. Absolute Astronomy. 13 May 2005. Team Leads. The Camelot Herald. 2005. Mythic Entertainment. 30 April 200 5.Who are Correspondents and What do They Do. Station.com supporter WarsGalaxies. 2 Nov. 2004. Sony Online Entertainment. 30 April 2005. World of Warcraft Guide. World of Warcraft Community Site. 2005. Blizzard Entertainment. 30 April 2005. World of Warcraft Sets New Milestone with 1.5 Million Subscribers Worldwide Blizzards MMORPG Achieves Unprecedented world(a) Success. TMCnet News. 17 March 2005. TMCnet. 13 May 2005. WoWCensus - WoW Classes. WoWCensus. 10 May 2005. 13 May 2005. Yee, Nick. The Daedalus Project. The Daedalus Project The Psychology ofMMORPGs. 11 May 2005. 13 May 2005.