This article may have a broad range of appeal, from folks who play or are interested in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), computer security geeks, social science academics, to the bored. I've tried to allow the focus of this article to appeal to complete outsiders looking to understand what the whole phenomenon is about without slogging through too much minutia that would disinterest the already informed. It would be silly to think the entire article would hold the attention for all these groups, so I’ve broken it into sections for readers who are just looking for what they may be interested in. Those who are familiar with the nomenclature of MMORPGs can safely skip the terminology section, while others may want to give it a skim before diving in.
Bona Fides:This is a fairly specific topic and as it’s difficult to objectively judge the credibility of anyone on the internet, so a brief introduction on who I am is appropriate. I was a WoW player for approximately one and a half years. I clocked in over a month /played on my main character and over two on all characters across my account. I was a member of a ~300 member guild with a broad focus, from raiding, PvP, gimmick goof off events, to alt progression. I was also a member of a meta guild which had easily over a thousand members spread out across smaller guilds on the server.
Focus:A lot has been written on MMORPGs since their inception, and an enormous amount has been written specifically on World of Warcraft. Academic literature [1] and social anecdote provide some interesting ideas about why MMORPGs are so popular. Most anecdotal accounts are either fairly limited in scope or not presented in such a way that is easily understood by most. I’m hoping this article fits in the niche of being representative and easy to understand. What follows is mostly my experience from playing the game. The experiences of others, where appropriate, are included to more thoroughly cover a topic.
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