Why is Wow (World of Warcraft) so successful?

Because it’s the only way for a person with no “life” can have any type of excitement and it completely fulfills their fantasy of being a powerful being.

I think it’s the feeling of constant progress. You can work for weeks, months, or years at your job without seeming to attain anything lasting, doing nothing but treading water, but when you come home to your avatar you can quickly start to advance, accumulating gold and experience and completing quests. Virtual achievement is easy to see and it is immediate, so even though it is affords you no material or social benefit, it is far more satisfying than the slow grind of real life.

Why not Fluther instead and accumulate Lurve. It’s free!

I have wondered the same thing… I saw groups of guys playing it in the dorm lobby in college and they looked like they were having the time of their lives, lol! Geesh.

@Lupin Im with you on that!

Well I’ve never played it but I’ve been told it’s “fun” so I guess thats why

It’s pretty apparent that this question is going down the “Har har, those silly nerds!” path.

I play WoW for the same reason I play any other game: it entertains me.

Because it’s addicting, fun, and never ending. I love it.

One hypothesis that occurs to me is that the game rewards effort with relative ease and efficiency while punishing failure in a lackluster fashion (something that is rare in general life) and such can be displayed and discussed ostentatiously with other people playing.
P.s I used to play “WoW” regularly and still do on occasion. It is an entertaining game.

I have a negative outlook on WoW mainly because my uncle became addicted to it and lost custody of his children for negligence. It is just sad how much a simple game can hurt peoples lives.

@Nefily It can get crazy. You just need to know how to limit yourself.

@chelseababyy Ya, true.

Human nature. Some people desperately seek out a way to escape from reality.

How much money do you spend on that game? What are you supposed to be doing when you are playing it? Will it cause you to not get a good job later? Does it affect your family life?
It seems like a very expensive game indeed.
I’ve got a Quest for you. How about finishing that assignment or project you started last month.

It’s like 15.99 a month or so.
You level up, can join/create a guild. Do quests and instances. Get badass gear, etc.
I don’t know why you would think it would cause any of that.
I live with my boyfriend and we quest together all the time.

That should answer all your q’s

@Nefily: Addiction is the problem. Not the game itself. You have to remember that the majority of people are able to play with moderation.

@Lupin: It’s not any more expensive then shelling out fifty or sixty dollars on a game I’ll never see new content for. And I spend 15$ a month. What am I supposed to be doing while playing it? Nothing, other than anything I want to do, otherwise I wouldn’t play it. No, it will not impact my career and no, it does not affect my family or social life.

Not everyone is stupid about the game. Your questions make it sound otherwise, which is kind of offensive.

I don’t get the point of the question. Economically, the game is successful because of monthly subscription fees. Upwards to 3 million people have active accounts, all paying about 16 bucks a month. All Blizzard (the developer) needs to do is pay server maintenance, staff salary and development on expansion packs. The rest goes straight into creating new titles and capital.

Popularity wise? Because it’s fun? There’s a myriad of things to do in the game, and the social aspect is more than enough to have people coming back for more. The false sense of entitlement when you get that awesome set of armor, a high powered weapon or new class for your character is very rewarding. It’s just fun, dammit.

I’ve said it before, though. EVE Online is my shit, yo.

@chelseababyy As long as you are not hurting yourself in other areas I guess you can figure it is a replacement for cable TV. If your partner likes it too then you’re all set.
Personally, I like to move (he says as he sits in front of this keyboard at midnight…)
@MrMeltedCrayon No offense meant. (Cool name by the way.) I do know kids that blew hours in their dorms when they should have been doing homework.

@Lupin Exactly, esp since my boy and I don’t have cable. We’d rather have badass 20mb internet.

@Lupin: (Hey, thanks!)

I’m sorry if I was a bit testy. It’s just a bit of a sore subject for me, especially since I’ve had people I didn’t even know treat me like I was a heroine addict or something of the like when they found out I play WoW.

Well, MMORPG’s in general are successful because they allow you to live an alternate life in which you can move up the ranks, become powerful, gain notoriety, and do it all alongside of friends or people from all across the globe.

Now, why an overpriced MMORPG with outdated graphics and gameplay is as popular as it is, I don’t know.

@Ivan Popularity and false rumours?

@Nially_Bob

Well, popularity definitely has something to do with it. I think a lot of players either don’t really care so much about Warcraft and are more interested in playing with friends. I also think that a lot of people don’t know that there are other, better options.

Blizzard is particularly adept at making games that people seem to play compulsively. I’m certain that there are many therapists in the world today who have patients who talk about how difficult World of Warcraft have made their lives.

Diablo III is coming out soon. If you have compulsive gaming friends, say your goodbyes now.

@Ivan Or perhaps for some WoW is the better option because their friends play it

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Screw Diablo. STARCRAFT 2 is coming out.

@Grisaille We hope you’ll remember us and occasionally visit.
Starcraft was pretty awesome

@The_Compassionate_Heretic I fear my life, as I know it, will end when Blizzard quits fucking around and releases the damn game already.

:[

@Grisaille Greatness takes time. I’d rather wait for a superior product to be released than wait for a patch to a rushed project that doesn’t work.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic No, I understand. But I’m under the impression they they pushed it back to beat the holiday rush. Which doesn’t really make sense, honestly. SC can be sold on brand recognition alone.

Hum. But why WoW as opposed to other MMORPGs?

This is an easy question to answer. WOW is successful because its an amazingly well designed game. The variety of items, characters, geography, monsters, and things to do go beyond almost any other game I can think of.

I’ve personally never played WoW, but I did used to play Ultima Online and loved it, though it ate up too much of my time. Games like that are so addictive simply because they’re so fun.

@Zaku: Probably because WoW is already established and has a massive amount of content to play around with.