World of Warcraft is a “massively multiplayer online role-playing game” (MMORPG). It does not involve real-time strategy. It falls into the fantasy genre where people can explore a virtual world, perform quests, slay monsters, build skills and interact with other players as well as non-player characters (NPCs). It has been developed by Blizzard Entertainment.
It took Blizzard five years of extensive testing to develop the game and it was released in November 2004 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. World of Warcraft (commonly known as WoW) is presently the world’s largest MMORPG judging by its monthly subscribers. As of January 2008, WoW had more than 10 million subscribers worldwide: 2 million in Europe, over 2.5 million in North America and over 5.5 million in Asia.
World of Warcraft is played in the Warcraft universe where four years have passed following Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos throughout Azeroth. The races begin to rebuild their shattered lives and kingdoms, but new threats loom once again. A dedicated live team constantly creates new adventures, ensuring gamers a fresh experience that is different each month. The salient features of this complex game include the opportunity for thousands of gamers to play together and the backdrops include exotic lands, snow-covered mountains, forests and valleys. There are four realm types: Normal, Player versus Player, Role-playing, and Role-playing Player versus Player. There are eight races (including dwarves, humans, gnomes, night elves, orcs and trolls) and nine classes (including hunter and druid). Players can learn and encounter many Warcraft characters, take up quests, practise new professions, and travel by air with creatures like bats and goblin zeppelins. Players can also buy their own mounts such as horses, rams and wolves. Like-minded players can jointly conquer challenges, sell items or buy items at auction houses. Using XML, the game’s interface can be customised.
World of Warcraft works natively on both the Windows and Apple Mac platforms. A hybrid CD of the game is used to install it, allowing many players to simultaneously play the game together irrespective of the operating system that you use. The game has won numerous awards, including the Game of the Year Award for 2004 from GameSpot, the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006, and the IGN Editor’s Choice Award. Blizzard announced in 2007 that they would aim to release a film based on the game in 2009.
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