A Brush with the World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is currently the most popular Massivley Multi Player Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) in circulation right now. Based on the Warcraft Universe, made famous by Blizzard in the Warcraft I-III strategy game series), World of Warcraft, (WoW) will probably be remembered as the game that made MMORPGs mainstream. WoW has brought millions of players into the magical realms of Azeroth, and for good reason.

I had been eagerly following WoW ever since it was announced in a PC Gamer magazine issue. Screenshots and info on the early build of Blizzard's upcoming game had me interested, but I wasn't sure if I was willing to pay the required monthly fee (most MMORPGs have monthly fees attached to them). So, I watched, read, and waited for the game to come out, but didn't get my hopes up to high.

WoW came out around Christmas of 2004, and instantly began generating much attention. Many gaming websites gave WoW good reviews, and gamers took notice. Blizzard had taken many of the good things from other online role playing games, and eliminated the common complaints about the genre [MMORPG genre], and crafted what appeared to be the perfect game. Copies of World of Warcraft disappeared off of store shelves right away, and the game was virtually sold out everywhere. I saw copies of the game on eBay going for upwards of $90+. Keep in mind that the in-store price was $49.99. I was finally able to get the last copy at a Gamestop near my home, although most people were not this fortunate.

I instantly fell for WoW. It was everything I had ever wanted in a MMORPG, and I couldn't bring myself to not play it, even for a day. School and homework began to be neglected, and I even found myself rising an hour or two before school, simply to play it with one of my friends. This led to me going to school in utter exhaustion, which was not a fun experience (Eventually, I quit waking up early to play WoW, thank Jesus!). I was pretty much addicted to the game.