How World Of Warcraft Has Affected Gaming
Although Blizzard Entertainment had already produced 3 successful single player games with the Warcraft title they had no idea the phenomenon that would be born when they realised the online version - World of Warcraft. Not only has it broke all records of the type of game it is, a MMORPG, it has also shattered industry records and has demonstrated to the entire game industry just how popular online games now are.
Traditionally gamers were made up of a very different type of person than you find playing online games now. Blizzard figures indicate that approximately 11,000,000 people from all over the world actively play the online game. World of Warcraft players are a very varied bunch. They do not fit into any stereotypical type or even demographic because ages range from children to pensioners and from rich to poor.
Before Warcraft the average online game player would have been either a teenage boy or very young man. In these changing days, post world of warcraft, you can find young, middle-aged and older men and women playing the game online and are just as likely to run into children in you warcraft travels in the virtual world of Azeroth.
Many experts argue that the changes in the types of people, and their age groups, who play online games is due entirely to Blizzard. There is strong evidence to suggest this may be correct.
The Daedalus Project, conducted by Nicholas Yee, the American researcher who attained his Ph.D. in Communication from Stanford University, clearly shows that about twenty percent of WoW gamers never played a video game prior to their involvement n world of warcraft!
Women are also being drawn to online gaming. In the past online games, and video games in general, have been enjoyed mostly by males. However, with such a large number of females now engaged in WoW all this is changing.
It is estimated that about one third of the population of Azeroth, the online gaming world of world of warcraft, are female. The vast majority of the female players of WoW started playing because of their partner or due to the influence of a close male companion.
To successfully move forward in world of warcraft it is necessary to interact socially with other players and form alliances within the game. This may be one reason that females enjoy this type of game as social interaction is critical.
In fact in order to get ahead in the game and truly experience all of its attributes you need to socially interact with other real people within your realm. For this reason the online version of Warcraft has been praised by academics and business leaders for its unique ability to teach team skills that are relevant and highly desirable in the offline world (such as in employment).
So, not only has WoW changed the game world it seems that it has also changed the world. This is no mere game. WoW is an interactive training field - a world where you are taught the value of team work and shown how to manage a multitude of tasks through developing skills that are easily transferable to the real world!
Traditionally gamers were made up of a very different type of person than you find playing online games now. Blizzard figures indicate that approximately 11,000,000 people from all over the world actively play the online game. World of Warcraft players are a very varied bunch. They do not fit into any stereotypical type or even demographic because ages range from children to pensioners and from rich to poor.
Before Warcraft the average online game player would have been either a teenage boy or very young man. In these changing days, post world of warcraft, you can find young, middle-aged and older men and women playing the game online and are just as likely to run into children in you warcraft travels in the virtual world of Azeroth.
Many experts argue that the changes in the types of people, and their age groups, who play online games is due entirely to Blizzard. There is strong evidence to suggest this may be correct.
The Daedalus Project, conducted by Nicholas Yee, the American researcher who attained his Ph.D. in Communication from Stanford University, clearly shows that about twenty percent of WoW gamers never played a video game prior to their involvement n world of warcraft!
Women are also being drawn to online gaming. In the past online games, and video games in general, have been enjoyed mostly by males. However, with such a large number of females now engaged in WoW all this is changing.
It is estimated that about one third of the population of Azeroth, the online gaming world of world of warcraft, are female. The vast majority of the female players of WoW started playing because of their partner or due to the influence of a close male companion.
To successfully move forward in world of warcraft it is necessary to interact socially with other players and form alliances within the game. This may be one reason that females enjoy this type of game as social interaction is critical.
In fact in order to get ahead in the game and truly experience all of its attributes you need to socially interact with other real people within your realm. For this reason the online version of Warcraft has been praised by academics and business leaders for its unique ability to teach team skills that are relevant and highly desirable in the offline world (such as in employment).
So, not only has WoW changed the game world it seems that it has also changed the world. This is no mere game. WoW is an interactive training field - a world where you are taught the value of team work and shown how to manage a multitude of tasks through developing skills that are easily transferable to the real world!
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