What happened to the gaming World (of Warcraft)?

Damn, missed one when posting these old blog entries, so this isn't in the right place date wise, sorry for that.

October 10th, 2007

World of Warcraft - it would be hard to find someone who hasn't heard from it.

In November 23. 2004 - the 10th Anniversary of Warcraft franchise - World of Warcraft, a eagerly waited MMORPG to rule them all was released, few months later it was unleashed for europeans as well. Those two releases have changed the world of many, including mine.

The game has consumed lives, marriages, relationships, I've witnessed it all even though not for myself, but for people I know.
The game is a drug - it's more addictive than heroin for many - one might ask why?

Why does the endless quest for glory and more shiny epix lure people to play endless hours of the same, repeating instances, quests, mobs, over and over again?

What did WoW do that others didn't, why did it became so succesful?

It made it easy to start. You don't need to be expert with computers or computer games of any sort to get hang of it, but still, for the people who play more, it's hard to master, there's always something improve in your own gameplay, more places to discover (thanks to constantly growing world, getting new instances in patches etc)

But that's only a small part of it - the biggest draft in the game is the social side - many times I see myself and others logging in just to chat, somehow it's more fun in WoW than it would be over IRC or MSN or something similar to those.

The bonding between long time guildmates, gone from getting your very first kill on Lucifron in Molten Core to killing Illidan at Black Temple is a strong emotional bond, it shouldn't be looked down compared to "real friendship" as some call the relations in "real life" - I see it different, I see them just as much as my friends as the people I am with in the "real life" even if I can't see them face to face (excluding meetings people arrange, and those few living near enough to meet every now and then or more often). 

People might think of it as "meh", they're just people writing over net, who cares? Well, the people doing it care - spending endless hours with 39 (or 24 later in BC) others in a raiding instance practising new bosses will make you know others no matter if you want it or not.

Many times it's also easier to speak of some things online, seemingly anonymous even if the other would know you in person aswell. I'm especially thankful to the two "long distance friendships" I've built during my years of playing, one living in Sweden and other in Norway - those two, even though I've never met them (hoping I will sooner or later, though, we might get a meet up at some festival for example, they're QUITE close after all), mean a lot more to me than many I know in person, I've talked with both of them in WoW, in phone, over MSN etc from everything between the ground and sky, they know me better than most, I know, or at least believe I know, them quite well too.

But, this has all been a bit off the topic I was thinking when I started writing this.

What did World of Warcraft do to the gaming World (of Warcrat)?

Well, that question has to be answered of course by each of us to ourselves - but to me, it changed it for good.

Before I played many, many single player games over and over finding new stuff etc - now I just rush through the few I even bother trying, only putting serious time to the few gems in the pile of what I now see as junk. Many new games are now in my eyes just nice tech demos, but that's it.
I have the normal urge to upgrade every now and then, but I'm not making any real effort towards it, I'll upgrade when I have the money if I feel like it, I won't start saving for it or anything - my computer runs WoW fine, and that's enough for me as of right now. Without WoW, I would have for sure upgraded now once, if not twice since getting my current rig - just to run all the newest titles at maxed out candies and good framerates.

For me, even though I have to pay ~13€ per month to play WoW - it's clearly worth it. I've bought less games since, and saved money on not upgrading my computer so often - and built several friendships, which can't be measured in money.