Sifting World of Warcraft

Under the gun in my cultural criticism class I decided that my main focus for the study of modern pop culture would be the hugely successful MMO (Massively Multi-Player Online) franchise World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft - to those who don't play, or don't know of someone who plays - is an MMORPG wherein the player creates a character (a.k.a. avatar) and interacts with many other similar player characters in a large fantasy world. To no ones surprise this is not a novel idea. The game has over 11 million customers so its not a shock that the subject has already been a subject of study. My only hope is that previous analysts didn't delve deep enough into the strange new social space forming in World of Warcraft and other MMO games.

Despite the vast supply of other MMO games and the slew of MMO's that rose in ages past as the crude ancestors to the now ridiculously popular World of Warcraft (hereafter abbreviated simply as WoW), this game released by Blizzard Entertainment stands as the most popular and (arguably) influential of any other MMO. The game's massive success has started to give rise to an interesting cultural phenomenon in countries around the world. Video game addiction rehab clinics are becoming common, people meeting in the context of the game and later getting married (both in the game and out), and emerging studies into the psychology behind social interactions in a character driven online context are all evidence of an expanding social environment that people can now engage in.

Much like how movie theaters do fine during periods of economic downturn, WoW is showing no sign of decline in the modern economic environment. There seems to be a growing need to 'escape' to a digital universe while maintaining and building new social ties in an ever growing network of customers. All of this subject matter seems ripe for analysis and I can only hope to explore facets of WoW that were not discovered by previous students. How does the rising popularity of MMO games such as World of Warcraft affect human social interaction? Will there be lasting long term results from this new form of social interaction?