Hmmm, this a random thoughts post, just airing out some ideas abou the community of WoW in all of its subtelties and variations.
WoW is the and will continue to be the game all others will be measured against. No idea when it will be "toppled" but not any time soon. They were there and fortuitously did the things at perfect timing with the culture that did not exist but was born out of the times they were in.
WHAT!!!
Okay. Warcraft, Warcraft II, and Warcraft III. Still great RTS games. In their time, MMO and on-line games were in the first generation past MUDs. (by my account, and for my argument anyway) However they were console games for PCs. I dont believe there is anywhere near the market for that type of game anymore. And those games brought an enormous player base to the World of Warcraft. and it grew... Certain elements and foundations were developed from the begining and in the infancy of the MMO world. They built on the philosophy of principles that it had to be right to release. And by right they also had firm ideas that have been built upon for the engaging aspect of the game, the quests and such, there are also the goals and the e-sports environment that were built upon and devleoped over time to current raiding and PVP environments.
Now that said, the Building of WOW was on a firm foundation, at least now looking backwards it seems it was. It has of its own accord and that of the push of the community grown to become a living mountain.. wide at the bottom, and cold, lonely, presitgous at the top. Few can and will get there, and finding others who can, will and do commit their schedules to be there, make the elite... truely elite... Paragon and other of that community made the world first kills months ago... when did you get yours? have you? I know I would like to just be a part of maybe a server first, but then, no, I am not willing to commit to that level of play for the hours and times to a group. I prefer to be casual and dream about the top of the mountain when it comes to raiding.
Why is that important... and what does it have to do with the title...
The Mountain is an eco system. WoW is fed by the gold sellers, the gold buyers, that casuals, the elitists, those that are more interested in the wardrobe than the quest, those more interested in the stats than the wardrobe accent, those who are loremaster by title, but are really just an achievement whore, and those that are really a "loremaster" and know all the lore of all the tribes, factions, races, leaders, key figures, etc. etc. etc. The PVPers, the raiders, the farmers, the "insert nationality here" farmers, the crafters, AH elitists... they all play a part in the game..
Now step outside the game... the game is the building.. the initial, construction... built well and in a time that can not be replayed, on priciples that have found them ahead of other games repeatedly.
Look at the Blogger community, the elitistjerks.com community, the wowhead.com, fansites, PVP, class, spec, theory crafting, fun, silly directed, random, and more... the rate my gear sites, the pimp my gear sites, the addon community, and on and on.. the guild communities, and their own websites...
That is the mountain each one of the elements parts of ecosystems... with out the whole unit and all its parts, their begins erosion...
Blizzard needs gold farmers and gold sellers and gold botters... They dont want them, but there is a symbiosis there... they have acounts and pay to do some of their activities. there is a portion of the community that exist because they can buy gold... if they could not they would not be here.
As long as it seems better at the top, and there is the dream among the community to get to the top... to be a part of a server first, or server top 10 guild or whatever your goals are... WoW will reign. The elusiveness of the top spots that everyone wants and thinks they can get, or whatever e-peen they can attract attention to themselves with... keeps them around. /2 chuck norris ... for example... a failed raider? that needs attention? I would like to think it is sometimes.
Blizzard is the only one that can kill WoW right now. No other new game or title can do what they did, times have changes, the opportunities they build on with the original warcraft games do not exist like they did before. no other new game or title can build the community like WOW... how long did it take for addons to become what they are now... a couple years really before they started to take off...
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