World of Warcraft

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Modèle:Pp-semi-protected Modèle:Redirect Modèle:Infobox VG World of Warcraft (commonly known as WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). It is Blizzard Entertainment's fourth game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994.<ref>Excluding expansion packs and the canceled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans.</ref> World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth, four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001.<ref> Blizzard Entertainment announces World of Warcraft

.</ref> The game was released on November 23, 2004, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. It is currently the world's largest MMORPG in terms of monthly subscribers.<ref> Blizzard

     (11)
   
.    WORLD OF WARCRAFT® SURPASSES 8 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS WORLDWIDE 
 (HTML)

. Retrieved on 2007-05-16.

 “World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG around the world.”

</ref><ref name="mmogchart">"MMOG Active Subscriptions 21.0", MMOGCHART.COM, June 29, 2006.</ref><ref> GigaOM Top 10 Most Popular MMOs

.</ref>

The first official expansion pack of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released on January 16, 2007. During the 2007 Blizzcon event, Blizzard announced a second expansion pack called Wrath of the Lich King on August 3, 2007.<ref name="wrathofficialsrc"> Wrath of the Lich King - Official Site

.</ref> The release date of Wrath of the Lich King has not yet been announced.

Gameplay

Unlike previous games in the Warcraft series, World of Warcraft is a MMORPG, not a real-time strategy game. As with other MMORPGs, players control a character avatar within a persistent game world, exploring the landscape, fighting monsters, performing quests, building skills, and interacting with NPCs as well as other players. The game rewards success with money, items, and experience, which in turn allow players to improve their skill and power. Players can level up their characters from level one to level 60, level 70 if they have The Burning Crusade expansion (released on January 16 2007), or level 80 if they have the yet to be released Wrath of the Lich King expansion.<ref name="wrathofficialsrc"/> In addition, players may opt to take part in battles against other players of an enemy faction, in PvP battlegrounds or in normal world zones subject to the rules in place on the particular server. Duels can also be fought between members of the same or opposing factions, although these do not provide tangible rewards. Many players also choose to join guilds in order to conduct raids against enemy territories and instances.

Characters

There are two types of characters in the game: Player Characters (PCs, or simply "characters") and Non-Player Characters (NPCs). A Player Character is an avatar in the world of Azeroth that is controlled by a player. The color of a PC's name tag can be blue, green, yellow or red depending on faction and Player vs. Player (PvP) status. Non-Player Characters are controlled by the game software and can only interact with PCs through scripted events or artificial intelligence (AI).

There are three types of NPCs. Friendly NPCs, whose names are displayed in green, cannot attack friendly characters and vice versa. Hostile NPCs, whose names are in red, are either of the opposing faction or are mobs (enemies controlled by AI) and will freely attack any PC with whom they are hostile. Neutral NPCs, whose names are displayed in yellow, are neutral and will only attack if provoked. Some NPC interaction is affected by the reputation a PC has with them.

NPCs in major and minor cities can buy and sell merchandise, train class and profession skills, give quests and provide a large number of services that are needed in the game. While some will merely offer advice or further the story, others, such as city guards, patrol around set paths to keep cities defended against attacking PCs or hostile NPCs that may attempt to invade.

When creating a character in World of Warcraft, the player can choose from ten different races in two factions: Alliance and Horde. Race determines the character's appearance, starting location, and initial skill set, called "racial traits".

• The Alliance currently consists of Humans, Night Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Draenei.
• The Horde currently consists of Orcs, Tauren, Undead, Trolls and Blood Elves.

Draenei <ref>Interview: Jeff Kaplan on World of Warcraft Expansion, New York Times</ref> and Blood Elf characters were introduced in The Burning Crusade expansion, and require the expansion in order to be created.

In addition to the ten playable races there are many NPC races including (but not limited to) Goblins, Ogres, Murlocs, and Naga.

Classes

The game has nine character classes that a player can choose from, though not all classes are available for each race. Each class has a set of unique abilities and talents. Abilities are general skills and spells available to the entire class, while talents allow players to specialize their character and further refine their role. Each class has a set of three talent trees. Depending on class, players may choose to build their character's talent trees for damage-dealing (also called damage-per-second, DPS), healing, tanking, or a mix of these.<ref name="wowclasses"> Classes in World of Warcraft at official US site

. Retrieved on 2007-02-26. </ref> Some classes, known as "hybrid classes," are able to perform different roles depending on a group's needs.<ref> Blizzard Entertainment

.    Party Roles 

. Retrieved on 2007-10-19. </ref>

The nine available classes in World of Warcraft are:

• Druid: Hybrid class. A nature-oriented class capable of fulfilling the role of a damage dealer, a tank, or a healer. The druid can shapeshift into many forms to increase its combat or movement abilities, such as a bear (for tanking), a "moonkin" (for ranged magical damage), and a seal (for water travel).
• Hunter: Damage class. A combination of a marksman/archer and animal specialist, the hunter specializes in ranged damage dealt by means of a bow, crossbow, or gun with the help of an animal pet. The hunter also employs a series of traps for damaging or disabling enemies.
• Mage: Damage class. The wizard-esque damage dealer of World of Warcraft, the mage employs spells of the "arcane," fire, and frost elements. Mages can also conjure food and water to replenish group members, and teleport themselves and others to most major cities.
• Paladin: Hybrid class. A heavily-armored holy warrior. Like druids, paladins can specialize to fulfill each of the three major roles in World of Warcraft. (See also: Paladin (character class).)
• Priest: Healer/damage class. A lightly-armored class that typically represents either the forces of good (as a "Holy Priest") or evil (as a "Shadow Priest"), becoming a healer or damage dealer through each type of "faith" respectively.
• Rogue: Damage class. A shadowy assassin that can "stealth" to avoid being seen by enemies (providing near-invisibility). The rogue deals damage by dual-wielding melee weapons such as daggers or swords.
• Shaman: Hybrid class. Unlike other hybrid classes (paladins and druids), the totem-wielding shaman's tanking abilities are quite limited. However, they can specialize to become effective healers, or damage dealers using either melee weapons or spells.
• Warlock: Damage class. Essentially a sinister combination of the mage and the hunter, the warlock deals magical damage like a mage but also has demonic "pets" (called minions) like hunters. Depending on their specialization, the warlock's damaging spells can come chiefly in the form of "damage over time" spells that, after being placed on an enemy, slowly deal their damage, or in the form of direct damage spells that deal damage all at once, as those of a mage or shaman do.
• Warrior: Tank/damage class. A heavily-armored class, the warrior is a general melee fighter who can use any non-magical weapon in the game and who can specialize to be either a damage dealer or a tank.

The Paladin class was previously only available to the Alliance, and the Shaman only available to the Horde. Now, with the release of The Burning Crusade, the Draenei (Alliance) are able to be shamans and the Blood Elves (Horde) are able to be paladins, removing the previous faction exclusivity. In the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, a tenth class known as the Death Knight will be added, which will also be the game's first Hero class. <ref name="wrathofficialsrc"/>

Professions

During the course of playing the game, players may choose to develop side skills for their character(s). These non-combat skills are called professions. Professions are divided into two categories, primary and secondary.

Primary Professions are skills related to the creation and enhancement of weapons and armor, and can be subdivided into gathering and crafting professions. The gathering professions in WoW are Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning. Crafting professions include Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Tailoring, Alchemy, Engineering, Enchanting, Jewelcrafting (added in The Burning Crusade expansion), and Inscription (to be added in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion<ref name="wrathofficialsrc"/>). Crafting professions also have specialization categories that when trained, allow for more diverse items to be created, depending on the character's direction in the game. There is also the Enchanting profession, which allows a character to enchant weapons and armor, and also disenchant magical items in his or her possession. A character is limited to two primary professions.

Secondary Professions are skills that serve to enhance the player's experience. The secondary professions are First Aid, Cooking and Fishing. Characters can learn all three secondary professions. The Rogue class has two unique secondary professions: Poisons and Lock Picking.

Items and equipment

Player characters can acquire various items in the game. Items can vary from resources such as herbs or raw ores to items to be retrieved for quests. Player characters can also equip different weapons and armor, either to customize their character or to improve abilities (such as better attacks or defense skills). Item rarity is classified by the color of the item name: grey means "poor" (otherwise known as "vendor trash"), white means "common", green means "uncommon", blue means "rare", purple means "epic" and orange means "legendary". <ref>WoW Basic Info on Items Blizzard Entertainment. Retrieved 19-09-07. </ref>

Mounts

A mount refers to an item or spell that, upon activation, summons a mount. Once summoned it shows the character riding atop the mount until the spell/item is dispelled or cancelled. Characters of certain levels and skill ability can acquire these mounts in order to increase their movement speed on land. Mounts can also be acquired via reputation with certain factions, completion of quests, through special items produced via professions, or as very rare loot drops obtained by defeating bosses in instances. In the expansion pack The Burning Crusade, the ability to purchase or acquire flying mounts became available in the expansion areas.

PvP rankings

Upon defeating another player of the opposite faction in player versus player (PvP) combat the victor earns "Honor Points" which may be spent as currency to purchase various rewards like armor, weapons and mounts. Some rewards require marks of honor from various Battlegrounds as well (a loss in a battleground awards the losing team 1 mark, while a victory awards the winning team 3).

A recently added PvP activity, "Arenas" offer gladiator-like combat in a World of Warcraft setting. The Arenas<ref>Arena facts taken from http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/arena/index.xml </ref> have a separate system from the Battlegrounds. Instead of honor, the Arenas give "Arena Points" which can be spent to purchase items just like Honor Points. Only level 70 players can participate in rated arena matches. Lower level players can always participate in arenas but no arena points are awarded.

There are also "Arena seasons" where, at the end of each season, the best Arena teams in each category (2v2, 3v3 and 5v5) are rewarded with titles<ref> http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/arena/index.xml bottom part of the page</ref> - from highest to lowest these ranks are Gladiator, Duelist, Rival and Challenger.

With the release of version 2.0, a change was made to the honor system making it easier to obtain certain powerful items. This change was met with mixed reactions. Some criticized the change, claiming that the huge dedication in time and effort that players put forth under the old system had now been cheapened. Others, however, welcomed the change, since they felt the massive amount of time required under the old system was excessive and unhealthy, and was unreasonable for most people with jobs and other responsibilities.

As of March 2007, Blizzard added "The Armory"<ref> World of Warcraft Armory

.</ref> to their web site. The Armory allows everyone to view any WoW character's statistics, reputation, skills, talents, arena teams and guild information. Only characters of level 10 or greater are displayed in the Armory. It also allows the ability to look up even more detailed information about any guild from any server in addition to any item in the game.

Reputation

The reputation system is complex and can have direct impact on character advancement. In World of Warcraft, there are many groups of NPCs known as "factions" (two of the most notable being the Alliance and the Horde). Characters' reputation with a faction can be increased or decreased by killing certain mobs or handing in items to certain NPCs. Higher reputation can grant many benefits to characters including reduced prices from vendors, the ability to purchase unique items including specialized mounts, and expanded access to certain areas of the game.

However, characters cannot gain reputation with opposing factions, so a Horde character cannot gain reputation with any Alliance-only faction and vice versa. There are also diametrically opposed factions in which gaining reputation with one will result in loss of reputation with another.

World

Geography

The current virtual world consists of two planets, Azeroth and Draenor (a.k.a Outland). Azeroth consists of two main continents, the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Located to the northwest of Kalimdor are the Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles, and Teldrassil.

Kalimdor contains the starting areas for the Orc, Troll, and Tauren races of the Horde. The Night Elves and Draenei of the Alliance both begin in areas off the coast of Kalimdor (Teldrassil and Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles respectively), but move to the mainland fairly early. The Eastern Kingdoms contain the beginning areas for the Undead and Blood Elves of the Horde, as well as the Humans, Dwarves and Gnomes of the Alliance.

Draenor, added with the release of The Burning Crusade, is only accessible to those who have purchased and activated the expansion pack. It is reached through the Dark Portal in the south of the Eastern Kingdoms or through in-game teleportation. Draenor was the original home of the Orcs and was also inhabited by the Draenei for over 200 years.

The Wrath of the Lich King expansion will add the continent of Northrend in the northern region of Azeroth and will be available exclusively to those players who purchase and activate that expansion pack.<ref name="wrathofficialsrc"/>

Instances

Instances, also known as instance dungeons or simply "dungeons", are areas where multiple copies of the same area can exist concurrently.<ref name="Instancing"> Blizzard Entertainment

.    Instancing 

. Retrieved on 2007-01-18. </ref> This means that multiple groups can both be doing the same activities in the same location, yet not interfere with one another.

"Instance" can also refer to a particular copy of such an area. Other areas, such as battlegrounds, are also instances, enabling multiple groups of players to participate at the same time.

Major in-game events

In an effort to further players' enjoyment and create common goals for large groups to accomplish, game developers began to add World Events into the game. The first world events were outdoor raid bosses that could be challenged without entering an instance. These bosses were the blue dragon Azuregos of Azshara and the Burning Legion demon Lord Kazzak in the Blasted Lands. These were followed by four green dragons corrupted by the "Emerald Nightmare." In addition, certain areas of Azeroth experience an "elemental invasion" where waves of elemental-class monsters will run rampant for a time or until they are destroyed.

Blizzard has also implemented holiday content that could be considered a world event. Valentine's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Oktoberfest, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, as well as New Year's and its lunar counterpart all have their Warcraft-themed counterparts. During these week-long events players partake in holiday-themed quests usually involving humorous references to real-world pop culture surrounding the holiday. For example, one of the Winter's Veil (Christmas) quests involves fighting a creature known as the Greench and rescuing a kidnapped reindeer named Metzen (styled after lead designer, Chris Metzen). Some world events are designed to repeat themselves on a regular basis such as the Darkmoon Faire. Others have been a one-time event that marked a large change in the in-game world like the opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, the Scourge Invasion, and the opening of the Dark Portal which signaled the beginning of The Burning Crusade expansion, along with other less notable events.<ref> Blizzard Entertainment

.    In-Game Events 
. WorldofWarcraft.com

. Retrieved on 2006-08-21. </ref>

Voice chat

As of Patch 2.2.0, Blizzard has introduced an in-game voice chat feature. The program is designed to replace text chat more efficiently and provide voice chat to more players. Channels are set for various things such as groups, instances, raids, battlegrounds and general zones. Players may also join, create and moderate their own channels.<ref>http://worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/voicechat.html bottom part of the page </ref> Players may enable the program through their sound options, which means that no third-party programs are needed. Although processor usage and game latency are reduced (as compared to using a third party application) the sound quality is noticeably lower as well, however other players are still easily understood. The program features "push-to-talk" and "voice activated" modes to conform to the players' preference.

Development

World of Warcraft was first announced by Blizzard at the ECTS trade show in September 2001. <ref name="ECTS"> ECTS 2001:World of Warcraft

. Gamespot  
 

 

. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. </ref> Development of the game took about 4 years with extensive testing done to make sure everything was ready for launch. The 3-D graphics in WoW uses elements of the proprietary graphics engine originally used in Warcraft III. <ref name="ECTS"/> The game was designed to be an open environment where players were allowed to do what they please alongside optional quests that players can complete to advance further in the game. In addition, the quests were made to help guide players along a path that would spread players out across different zones to try to avoid what developers called 'player collision'. <ref> World of Warcraft Preview - Page 2

. GameSpy  
 

 

. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. </ref> The game interface was also designed to be easy to use allowing players to customize areas to their likings and also allows for add-ons and other modifications. <ref> World of Warcraft Preview - Page 6

. GameSpy  
 

 

. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. </ref>

Realms

World of Warcraft uses server clusters (known as 'realms') to allow players to choose their preferred gameplay type and to allow the game to support as many subscribers as it does. There are four types of realms: Normal (also known as PvE or player versus environment), PvP (player versus player), RP (a roleplaying Normal/PvE server) and RP-PvP (roleplaying PvP server). The latter two enforce a set of roleplaying rules - players can be penalized for not roleplaying.<ref> Roleplaying Policy

 (2007)
   

. Retrieved on 2007-04-25. </ref>

Users may have up to ten characters per realm and up to a maximum of fifty characters per account.<ref> Blizzard Entertainment

     (2006)
   
.    Characters FAQ 
. World of Warcraft Game Guide
. Blizzard Entertainment 
   

. Retrieved on 2006-09-06. </ref> Characters can be moved between realms in the same region (e.g., from one European server to another, but not from a European server to an American one) for a fee.

Blizzard posts announcements on the login screen of World of Warcraft and on the official forums about realm status or other technical issues. The status for each realm can also be viewed on their main website.

• Normal

On the Normal (also know as PvE, Player versus Environment) realms throughout most of the world the PvP flag may only be enabled by actively turning it on, attacking a PvP-flagged player or NPC, entering a "PvP Territory" (such as a Battleground), entering an "Enemy Territory" (an enemy faction Capital City) or casting a positive spell on a friendly PvP-flagged player or NPC. The PvP flag will be removed after 5 minutes from the last PvP action. If the PvP flag was enabled using the command the player will need to turn it off using the same command and then avoid PvP combat for 5 minutes.

• PVP (Player versus Player)

On a PvP realm, players are flagged for PvP by default. This flag is only disabled when a character is in a friendly faction city or a zone dedicated to newly created characters. All other zones are considered "contested territory" - players are automatically flagged for PvP upon entering a contested zone. Most players will not need to enter a contested zone until roughly level 20.

On PvP servers, a player is limited to creating characters on one faction. This is in contrast to PvE servers, where a player may create characters from both factions.

The PvP servers also feature a more "hands-off" approach to server policies, facilitating the state of open war in these servers. Thus, The in-game GMs will deal with PvP related offenses differently than on the PvE realms, and some player actions are allowed to occur. These actions include, but are not limited to, corpse camping, ganking, and other PvP related sections of Blizzard's harassment policy.

• RP (Roleplaying)

The roleplaying servers use the same ruleset as PvE realms, with the exception that players must act and behave in character, and must follow "naming rules" when they name their character. This means that if players go onto one of these realms, those players act as their characters and anything that is not said in character is then considered out of character and usually presented in ((double parentheses)), or preceded by "OOC:". It is also against the rules to be off-topic in all public channels, such as General and Trade.<ref> Blizzard Entertainment

     (2006)
   
.    Roleplaying Policy 
. World of Warcraft In-Game Support Knowledge Base
. Blizzard Entertainment 
   

. Retrieved on 2006-10-27. </ref> However, out of character chat is not uncommon on RP servers, though usually not in such a blatant manner as on non-RP servers.

• RP-PvP (Roleplaying Player versus Player)

The roleplaying PvP realms are an extension to the role-playing realms in that they use the PvP ruleset instead of the Normal (PvE) ruleset. Blizzard did not initially have this server type when the game was launched; it was added later, largely due to player request.^{[citation needed]}

• Public Test Realm

A Public Test Realm, also called a Test Server, is used to test features in development for the next patch. Players can copy a character to the Test Realm or can sometimes copy a premade character. Players on test realms should not be surprised by character wipes, item wipes, or frequent downtime to make changes or apply patches.

Version history

World of Warcraft runs natively on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Boxed copies of the game use a hybrid CD to install the game, eliminating the need for separate Mac and Windows retail products. The game allows all users to play together, regardless of their operating system.

Although there is no official version for any other platform, support for World of Warcraft is present in Windows API implementations Wine and Cedega, allowing the game to be played under Linux<ref> Wine application notes for WoW

.</ref> and FreeBSD.

As of Patch 1.9.3 the game added native support for the newer Intel-powered Macs, making World of Warcraft a Universal application (as defined by Apple). As a result of this, the minimum supported Mac OS X version has been changed to 10.3.9; World of Warcraft version 1.9.3 and later will not launch on older versions of Mac OS X.<ref> "World of Warcraft Client Patch 1.9.3 (2006-02-07)" patch notes

.</ref>

Due to the fact that new content is constantly being added to the game official system requirements often change. As of version 1.12.0 the requirements for Windows have increased from requiring 256 MB to 512 MB of RAM and official Windows 98 technical support has been dropped even though the game continued to run fine <ref>

  Technology FAQ 
    . World of Warcraft Game Guide
. Blizzard Entertainment 
 
 (2006)
   

. Archived from the original on 2004-11-13.

 Retrieved on 2006-09-06.

</ref> until version 2.2.3. After version 2.2.3, the official patches to version 2.3.0 failed on Operating Systems earlier than Windows XP, except Windows 2000. By knowledgeably using an old update executable with new patch data, Windows 98 and Windows ME users could update from 2.2.3 using one of the released patches. Once successfully upgraded, the new version of the game then worked with Windows ME, although version 2.3.0 did not work with Windows 98 Second Edition unless applying updates to the operating system, including an unofficial third party's operating system modifications. <ref> Official WoW forum, thread on 2.3 patch issue for Win98/Me, post # 271

 (2007)
   

. Retrieved on 2007-11-21. </ref>

Pricing

World of Warcraft is priced differently in different regions of the world. Usually, the pricing model is similar to that of MMORPGs previously released in the market.

In the United States and Canada, Blizzard distributes World of Warcraft via retail software packages that originally had a suggested retail price of US$50 at the time of release, but have since dropped to around $20. The software package includes 30 days of gameplay (worth $15) for no additional cost. After 30 days in order to continue playing additional play time must be purchased using a credit card or prepaid game card. The minimum gameplay duration that a player can purchase is 30 days using a credit card, 60 using a prepaid game card. A player also has the option of purchasing three or six months of gameplay at once for a slight (6% to 15%) discount. A player pays about US$0.50 for one day of gameplay.<ref> Payment Options

. Blizzard Entertainment 
 
 (2007)
   

. Retrieved on 2007-04-25. </ref>

In South Korea, there is no software package or CD key requirement to activate the account. In order to play the game, however, players need to purchase time credits online via credit card or the ARS billing system. The minimum gameplay duration that a player can purchase via credit card is five hours. A player may also purchase game time by thirty hours or by increments of one week. A player also has the option of purchasing game time by one, three or six months of gameplay at once for a slight discount.<ref> Billing Guide

. WoW Blizzard Korea 
 
 (2006)
   

. Retrieved on 2006-12-17. </ref> As of December 17 2006, 30 days of gameplay costs ₩19,800 (US$21.46).

In China, because a large number of the players do not own the computer they use to play games (e.g. Internet cafes), the CD keys can be purchased independently of the software package. The CD key, which is required to activate an account, is sold for ¥30 (US$3.75) each. The software packages vary in price depending on the items they contain. In order to play the game, the player would need to purchase prepaid game cards in denominations of ¥30 each that can be played for 66 hours and 40 minutes.<ref> Buyers' Guide

. WoW China 
 
 (2006)
   

. Retrieved on 2006-10-21. </ref> This equates to exactly ¥0.45 (US$0.06) for one hour of gameplay. A monthly fee model is not available to players of this region.

In Australia, the United States and many European countries video game stores commonly stock the trial version of World of Warcraft in DVD form priced at A$2 or €2 including VAT, which include the game and 14 days of gameplay, after which the player would have to upgrade to a retail account by supplying a valid credit card, or purchasing a game card as well as a retail copy of the game.

       (2006)
     
   
 
.    General FAQ 
. World of Warcraft Europe Game Guide
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.    Paid Character Transfer FAQ 
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.    World of Warcraft 
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. World of Warcraft Game Guide
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.    Paid Character Transfer FAQ 
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Virtual community

In addition to playing the game itself and conversing on discussion forums provided by Blizzard, World of Warcraft players often participate in the World of Warcraft virtual community in creative ways, including fan artwork<ref> Blizzard fan artwork web page

.</ref> and comic strip style storytelling.<ref> World of Warcraft comic strip site

.</ref> Blizzard furthers this community by offering in-game and out-of-game prizes, as well as highlighting community events and occurrences. Blizzard has also provided incentives for introducing new members to World of Warcraft. In late October 2005 each subscribed player received a 10-day free pass<ref>Blizzard Entertainment (2005). World of Warcraft Community Site - Check your inbox for the Recruit-A-Friend e-mail! Retrieved March 6, 2006.</ref> which they suggested be employed as seasonal gifts that could either be used by the current player or given to a friend. These passes would generate a free month's usage if the guest player purchased a full account.

There are various memes, including "Face Melting,"<ref> "Face Melting" WoW forum reference

.</ref> a reference to a very long thread on the priest forums on the World of Warcraft website that consisted of players saying, "You will melt faces as a Shadow Priest in PvP" in different ways. This is because the icon for Mind Flay, a powerful skill used heavily by Shadow Priests, looks like a melting face. Another popular phenomenon in the community are machinima videos such as the one<ref>Modèle:Cite video</ref> starring a player named Leeroy Jenkins, showing him and his guild in a funny encounter. Leeroy's popularity inspired more videos and tributes in other games, and he was even part of a clue on the November 16 2005 episode of the TV game show College Jeopardy!.<ref>Modèle:Cite video</ref> These memes gain notoriety through postings on the World of Warcraft Forums.<ref> A WoW Forum Post About Leeroy Jenkins

.</ref>

As of August 2005, the Dark Iron server has been home to the guilds of web-comic creators Scott Kurtz (PvP) and Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (Penny Arcade). Kurtz created Panda Attack and Djörk on the Horde side, while Holkins and Krahulik initiated a series of guilds that is now known as the Penny Arcade Alliance. This event is referred to as the Comic Guild Wars, and has created healthy competition between the authors, to the extent of dedicating some of their strips to the subject. Tim Buckley of [[Ctrl+Alt+Del]] and the creators of Holy Bibble have also joined in on making guilds for Dark Iron players.

Modifications

.</ref>

As of the 2.0 release of World of Warcraft, certain modifications and "Addons" no longer function the way they were intended by the addon designer, as the way that an addon interacts with the game has been changed. This has forced all addons pre-2.0 to have to be rewritten. This is such a drastic change to the addons that all players must now download new copies of the addon that they were using. More information on this topic is available in this forum post.

Addons are created using one or both Lua and XML, and images used for modifications are created using the .TGA (Targa) and .BLP image formats. Blizzard has also released a User Interface Customization tool to support and encourage UI modders.<ref> Blizzard's WoW User Interface Customization tool download

.</ref> However, Blizzard is unable to endorse or provide support for third party interfaces due to issues that may be caused by them.

Some third-party programs that operate in a stand-alone mode, or independent of World of Warcraft, may be considered exploits, especially if they automate operation beyond that made available using the built-in macro functionality, or pass information in or out of the game. Use of these is against the Terms of Service agreed to when playing the game, and as such, may lead to possible suspension or closure of accounts. Blizzard has stated on the official forums that any modification that uses the Lua programming language will not be considered an exploit, though Blizzard reserves the right to change information available via the Lua language if the modification changes the nature of encounters in the game.<ref name="WoWToU_righttochange"> Blizzard Entertainment

     (2007-01-11)
   
.    Terms of Use 
 (English) 

. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.

 “Section 9, Changes to ... the Program”

</ref>

Corrupted Blood plague incident

The Corrupted Blood plague incident was one of the first events to affect entire servers. Patch 1.7 saw the opening of Zul'Gurub, the game's first 20-player raid dungeon where players faced off against an ancient tribe of jungle trolls under the sway of the ancient Blood God, Hakkar the Soulflayer. Upon engaging Hakkar, players were stricken by a debuff (a spell that negatively affects a player) called "Corrupted Blood" which would periodically sap their life. The disease would also be passed on to other players who were simply standing close to an infected person. Originally this malady was confined within the Zul'Gurub instance but made its way into the outside world by way of hunter or warlock pets that contracted the disease.

Within hours Corrupted Blood had infected entire cities such as Ironforge and Orgrimmar because of their high player concentrations. Low-level players were killed in seconds by the high-damage disease. Eventually Blizzard fixed the issue so that the plague could not exist outside of Zul'Gurub.

The corrupted blood plague so closely resembled the outbreak of real-world epidemics that scientists are currently looking at ways MMORPGs or other massively-distributed systems can model human behavior during outbreaks. The reaction of players to the plague closely resembled previously hard-to-model aspects of human behavior that may allow researchers to more accurately predict how diseases and outbreaks spread amongst a population <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6951918.stm</ref>.

Reception

Although its initial release was hampered by overpopulated servers,<ref name="queuecraft"> Massimilla , Bethany

     (2006-02-27)
   
.    Welcome to the World of Queuecraft 
 (English) 
. Freeplay
. CNET Networks, Inc. 
   

. Retrieved on 2006-09-27. </ref> the game became a financial success.<ref>G4 - Feature - World of WarCraft from G4TV.com Retrieved on 2006-01-16.</ref><ref>World of Warcraft for PC Review from gamespot.com Retrieved on 2006-01-16.</ref> On July 24 2007, Blizzard announced that the user base for World of Warcraft had reached a new milestone, with 9 million players worldwide.<ref name=eighthalfmillion>World of Warcraft surpasses 9 million subscribers worldwide. Blizzard Entertainment press release, July 24 2007. Retrieved July 24 2007.</ref> There are more than 2 million players in North America, 1.5 million players in Europe and 3.5 million players in China as of January, 2007 and as of August, 2007; the game has over 9 million subscribers worldwide. <ref name=eightmillion>"World of Warcraft surpasses 8 million subscribers worldwide", Blizzard Entertainment press release, January 11 2007.</ref> The game has been consistently ranked as one of the best by review sites and has won numerous awards, including GameSpot's Game of the Year Award for 2004 and IGNs Editor's Choice Award. <ref> WoW --> Awards

 (English) 
. Blizzard Entertainment  
 

 

. Retrieved on 2007-10-09. </ref><ref> Gamespot World of Warcraft Review

 (English) 
. Gamespot  
 

 

. Retrieved on 2007-10-09. </ref><ref> IGN:World of Warcraft Review

 (English) 
. IGN Entertainment  
 

 

. Retrieved on 2007-10-09. </ref>

Controversy and criticism

Main article: Criticism of World of Warcraft

WoW is often criticized for a number of reasons.

Game addiction

Stories of game addiction are a common source of criticism. In June 2005 it was reported that a child had died due to neglect by her World of Warcraft-addicted parents in Korea.<ref> www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=59697

.</ref> In August of that year, the government of the People's Republic of China proposed new rules to curb what they perceived to be social and financial costs brought on by the popularity of games such as World of Warcraft. The measure would enforce a time limit on China's estimated total of 20 million gamers.<ref>"

   China imposes online gaming curbs 
     
 " , BBC
  , 25 August 2005
 
 . </ref> The Chinese government and The9, the licensee for World of Warcraft in China, have likewise imposed a modification on Chinese versions of the game which places flesh on bare-boned skeletons and transforms dead character corpses into tidy graves. These changes were imposed by the Chinese government in an attempt to "promote a healthy and harmonious online game environment" in World of Warcraft.<ref>"
   Censorship reaches internet skeletons 
     
 " , Gulfnews
  , 03 July 2007
 
 . </ref>

Dr. Maressa Orzack, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, was interviewed August 8, 2006, stating that of the 6 million subscribers "I'd say that 40 percent of the players are addicted."<ref>"

   Expert: 40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Addicted 
     
 " , TwitchGuru
  , 8 August 2006
 
 . </ref> The 40% figure was not derived from a scientific study overseen by Dr. Orzack, but rather came from "a forum that Nick Yee runs". She added in an August 2006 interview that "even if the percentage is 5 to 10 percent which is standard for most addictive behaviors, it is a huge number of people who are out of control."<ref>   Ars Technica interview with Dr. Orzack, 8/9/2006 

 

.</ref> Also, according to Dr. John Grohol, a colleague of Orzack's, "Dr. Orzack is not claiming that up to 40 percent of World of Warcraft gamers are addicted based upon any actual evidence or surveys of players. This is just her opinion, based upon her own experience and observation of the problem."<ref> PsychCentral - John M. Grohol, Psy.D., August 10, 2006

.</ref>

Spam problems

After Blizzard started offering free trial gameplay accounts, players started receiving increasing numbers of spam sent by bots in the virtual mailboxes of their characters, advertising virtual gold, honor, and experience selling services.<ref>GigaOM: Inside World of Warcraft Gold Farm, Future of Work by Wagner James Au, retrieved 2007-01-13</ref> One study shows that this problem is particularly prevalent on the European realms.<ref>World of Warcraft Gold Farmer Study by GamerPrice and Sheffield University, retrieved 2007-01-26</ref> In patch 2.1, Blizzard responded to this by adding additional anti-spam mechanics including whisper throttling, and the report spam function. However, this may be countered by creating more accounts and characters.

In other media

WoW has become increasingly referenced in popular culture as a result of the game's popularity. One example is the Emmy Award winning South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft." <ref name="South Park PR">Modèle:Cite press release</ref> In the Louisville World Series of Video Games competition, World of Warcraft was a featured game.<ref> www.thewsvg.com/news/112

.</ref>. WoW itself also contains references to pop culture within the game.<ref> Pop-culture references

. WoWWiki  
 

 

. Retrieved on 2007-09-21. </ref> The game has even made the jump into advertising for unrelated products, such as Toyota trucks.

WoW has inspired a board game produced by Fantasy Flight Games, as well as a trading card game produced by Upper Deck Entertainment.

Film adaptation

In May 2006, production company Legendary Pictures acquired film rights to adapt Warcraft for the big screen with the game's publisher, Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard had originally considered hiring a scribe for the film adaptation before teaming up with Legendary Pictures.<ref> Pamela McClintock

   ; Ben Fritz . 
 "
   Brave new 'World' 
     
 " , Variety
  , 2006-05-08
 
  . Retrieved on 2007-01-31
 . </ref> The companies plan to create a film that would not follow one specific Warcraft game's storyline, but would still take place in the fantasy universe.<ref>   Borys Kit
     
   
  . 
 "
   Legendary enters world of 'Warcraft' 
     
 " , The Hollywood Reporter
  , 2006-05-09
 
  . Retrieved on 2007-01-31
 . </ref> According to Blizzard's Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams, the film's budget would be over $100 million.<ref>   Tal Blevins
     
   
  . 
 "
   GC 2006: Warcraft Movie Update 
     
 " , IGN
  , 2006-08-24
 
  . Retrieved on 2007-01-31
 . </ref>

In June 2007, Legendary Pictures chairman Thomas Tull said that the studio was working closely with Blizzard's designers and writers to adapt World of Warcraft. Tull explained the desire to have a good story for the film adaptation, "I think some of the stuff that makes a game translate well... if there's a lore, if there's a road and story and a world that's been created, and characters that are interesting in a way that's more than just point and shoot."<ref> Brandon Sheffield

   ; Brandon Boyer . 
 "
   H&G: Tull Talks World of Warcraft Film 
     
 " , GamaSutra.com
  , 2007-06-29
 
  . Retrieved on 2007-07-06
 . </ref> World of Warcraft's lead designer Rob Pardo expressed interest in being able to adapt the intellectual property of World of Warcraft to the appropriate medium of the film. He also added that the designers were collaborating with Legendary Pictures on story and script development.<ref>   Brandon Sheffield
     
   
   ; Jolene Spry . 
 "
   H&G: Blizzard's Pardo Talks WoW Film 
     
 " , GamaSutra.com
  , 2007-06-28
 
  . Retrieved on 2007-07-06
 . </ref>

In August 2007, at BlizzCon, it was unveiled that the film will aim for a projected 2009 release. It was also revealed that the movie will take place from an Alliance perspective and will be geared towards a PG-13 audience, with a storyline set one year before the beginning of the World of Warcraft storyline. As of this time no director or cast are yet associated with its development. Thomas Tull stated that, "It’s not so much a quest movie. It’s more of a war movie."<ref> Paul Hayes

  . 
 "
   Warcraft Movie Chronicles: 'WoW' Film at BlizzCon 2007 
     
 " , Movie Chronicles
  , 2007-08-05
 
  . Retrieved on 2007-08-05
 . </ref>

See also

References

External links

Official websites

• The official US World of Warcraft website
• The official EU World of Warcraft website

Information for players

• Allakhazam
• Thottbot
• Wowhead
• World of War
• World of Warcraft Vault
• Modèle:Wowwiki
• WoW Insider - blog

Modification Info

• Curse
• WoWInterface
• ui.worldofwar.net
• Official Interface Customization forum

Other sites

• World of Warcraft review listings on Metacritic
• [{{{2}}} Catégorie Games/Video_Games/Roleplaying/Massive_Multiplayer_Online/World_of_Warcraft] de l’annuaire dmoz.
• World of Warcraft in the Yahoo! Directory

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