Recently started playing what might be the best computer game ever made. World of Warcraft (WoW). It's an MMORPG, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Basically everything that classic Dungeons & Dragons ever promised but couldn't deliver.
Quick backstory. When I was a kid, my uncle introduced me to D&D. The original fantasy role playing game. You venture off into a made-up world as a character you create (maybe a fighter, maybe a cleric) with abilities you'll never have in real life. Great way to escape teenager problems. Back then it was still first edition rules in the red books, expert rules in the blue books. Don't have my original basic rules anymore but I've still got a copy of the 1st edition expert rules. Also have the original Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. But I digress. Point is, after that introduction? Hooked on the fantasy world of D&D.
Here's the thing though. D&D always had some pretty fundamental problems.
First: every game needed at least two people, realistically three. One person played Dungeon Master, the others formed a "party" of characters venturing through the world. That requirement alone kept me from playing much. Nobody I knew really got into it.
Second: the rules. So. Many. Rules. The DM had to master all of them and implement them fairly. Never met a DM who actually knew them all. Complicated stuff, requiring various dice rolls for every little interaction with monsters and the environment. A simple dungeon could eat up hours because everyone's fumbling through rulebooks.
Third: players depended on the DM to verbally describe the environment. Which put even MORE pressure on DM skill. A bad DM could ruin the whole experience. Enough to make people quit forever.
Enter WoW. The computer takes over as Dungeon Master. Environment? Beautifully rendered in 3D. Sounds and music pipe through the speakers perfectly. The "massively multiplayer" part means thousands of people play at the same time over the Internet. 4.5 million people play WoW right now. My first night I saw hundreds of characters. Since then, thousands. Even starting solo, you can meet other players online and team up for "quests."
And as it happens, a buddy of mine picked up the game at the same time. D&D was always most fun questing with friends. WoW is no different. It's a total blast playing cooperatively. Throw in a decent Internet connection, instant messaging, and a headset for voice chat? Feels like everybody's sitting around the same table again. Just like the old days.
All those painful rules? The computer handles them seamlessly. Every interaction feels smooth and fun. Battles with monsters are fair and smart. Tedious stuff like experience points and treasure? Automatic. Plus the game nails details that nobody ever got right in tabletop D&D. Mixing reagents for spells. Professions and talents as side goals. All of it just works.
One problem though. This game is more addictive than crack. Hours vanish. Day becomes night, night becomes 3 AM. The most important skill might honestly be knowing when to shut it down and walk away.
And WoW is just the beginning. Think about it. A really good Hollywood movie does maybe $100 million in ticket sales at $10 a pop. That's 10 million viewers. WoW costs $50 and 4.5 million people bought it. That's $225 million right there. Now tack on the $15 monthly subscription those 4.5 million people pay. Almost $70 million recurring. Every single month. If you're a Hollywood exec, would you rather sink $20M into one movie with a one-time $80M profit, or $20M into a game generating $1 billion in under 2 years?
As graphics improve and game AI gets smarter, it's only going to get better. For those of us who grew up in the early D&D days, this game is everything we ever dreamed about. Starting a new blog just about my WoW experiences at wowclassguide.com.