blog 7

One genre I am considering writing about is the genre of MMORPG video games. This genre, standing for massive multiplayer online role playing game, includes games where players are able to log on and play with thousands of other people around the world and interact with them in many different ways. These games are very popular in today's culture with the most popular being World of Warcraft which has over 10 million monthly subscribers. I feel that often people misunderstand the genre because reviewers often do not pay attention to the social aspect of the game which I feel makes them very popular. Critics often only focus on game play and other interactions with the game's AI and scripted events. While this is an integral part of any video game, I feel the social aspect is of equal importance to whether a game is going to be popular or not. I feel that WoW is able to remain the most popular MMORPG of all time is due to its loyal community and the friendships that are built through the game or strengthened by it. One of the major reasons why I feel critics often miss this point is because they do not play the game, but instead look at it from the outside looking in. From this viewpoint they are unable to see the player interactions and the friendships developed. Objective viewers only see the game play and battles between computers and not other people and are unable to understand why the game has survived where others have failed.