May 15, 2006

• World of Warcraft FAQ

  What is World of Warcraft (WoW)?

  An online game set in a fantasy world (think: “Lord of the Rings”). 
  You can play a “good” Alliance character as a human, elf, dwarf, or
  gnome.  Or you can play an “evil” Horde character as an orc, troll,
  undead, or tauren (minotaur).

  
  Is it related to Starcraft, that game where a Korean guy died playing
  for 50 hours?

  It’s made by the same company, Blizzard Entertainment.  But the gameplay is totally different.  Starcraft
  (as well as the original Warcraft, Warcraft 2, and Warcraft 3) is a
  strategy game where you build cities and control large armies to raze
  your enemy’s cities.  Those games are limited to 8 players at a time,
  while up to 1000 people can play WoW at once on any given server.

  
  Why is it such a big deal?

  
  Recently the lead designer of WoW was listed in Time’s “100 People Who
  Shape Our World.” [*]
  The New York Times regularly reports on it — here are two articles
  from last week: [1] [2].
  A major venture capitalist runs his own WoW guild, leading people to speculate whether WoW is the new golf.
  The studio that did Batman Begins is going to produce a WoW movie.  June and I are considering dressing up as WoW characters for opening night.  What a wife!

  As of February of this year, there are 6 million subscribers.

  
  Subscribers?  You have to pay money to subscribe?
  
  
  Yes, about $15/month in the U.S.

  
  $15/month x 6 million subscribers = $90 million/month = over $1 billion/year.  That’s higher than the GNP of Bolivia!

  Actually, not quite.  The game is cheaper to play outside of the U.S. 
  For example, in China people pay by the hour.

  
  Speaking of China, I heard that people play WoW for a living there.

  
  This is true.  They play 12-hour shifts to earn “gold” in the game,
  which they sell to mostly rich American players.

  
  You mean people will pay other people to play for them?  That’s messed
  up!
  
  
  Yes.

  
  Do you buy “gold” yourself?
  
  
  No, I prefer to make money on the Auction House, an in-game
  ebay-like system where you can buy and sell items to other
  players. 
  For example, I might kill a giant turtle, skin it, and list the skin on
  the Auction House, where someone else might buy it and turn it into a
  piece of armor.

  
  How much do you and June play?
  
  
  I play about 10-20 hours a week, usually with lcshih during lunch
  “hour” and on Tuesday nights.  June has only played a few times but is
  remarkably supportive, having made me a world map for a Christmas gift,
  and a set of 10 1-hour “play together” coupons.

  

  
  Besides June, do other real women play?

  I’ve played a bit with chartouche.  Almost all of the women
  players I’ve met play online with their boyfriends or husbands.

  
  What’s the point of the game?

  The goal is to advance your character, primarily in experience level. 
  You gain levels by killing monsters and completing quests.  The level
  cap is 60, but that will be raised to 70 when the expansion comes out. 
  You can also advance your character’s honor by killing other enemy
  players (killing Horde if you are Alliance).  Other goals include:
  raising your wealth, reputation score, tradeskills, or quality of your
  equipment.  Intangible goals might be: making online friends, helping
  people (or hurting them), gaining popularity on your server, and
  learning new tricks about the game.

  
  Killing other players?  Can you die in the game?

  Other players or monsters can kill you.  But it’s not a big deal — you
  just turn into a ghost and have to run back to your corpse.  The
  penalty for death is minor equipment damage which is easily repaired. 
  It’s mostly just a brief inconvenience.

  • 8:53 pm
  • 11 Comments