The WoW Generation, and The Finale

The World of Warcraft has graced (or plagued) my campus for years, and before that, my hometown while I was in high school. It is the titan of the MMORPG market, the standard by which all other Massively Multiplayer RPGs are judged, and is still after nearly four and a half years. The players of World of Warcraft, and often their parents who pay for game time, must wonder to themselves at least once: what is so appealing about a game with no end?

I have a thought or two on this. To me, a game without an ending is a horrifying thing - it is a vortex of incomplete plot, and a game without an ending is no game at all. After all, traditional games are made for the ending - a satisfying sequence in which all that is wrong is set to right, and the protagonist generally trots off to go make babies with the damsel formerly in distress off-camera. The ending, which is to me perhaps the most important element of a game, is utterly absent in the MMO, which is fast becoming the business model of choice for many web-based game publishers.

The truth of the matter is, of course, that endings are contrary to the nature of a persistent online world. If the story concluded, and the millions of players who walk around in World of Warcraft "go home," then Blizzard would indeed lose money, and the game would die. But how does one go on enjoying a world in which they ultimately have little to no impact on?

The MMO is special, in that the players themselves provide the staying power. World of Warcraft is more a game about overcoming great adversity with your friends, rather than seeing a plot to its conclusion. It, and other games like Everquest, Everquest II, Lord of The Rings Online and Age of Conan, are all part of the ultimate online teamwork exercise in which large numbers of players strike out to topple a foe that would be impossible to beat with fewer numbers. The challenge of the endgame attracts people to pursue it, even if the path that leads them there never truly ends.

The World of Warcraft to me is iconic of a change in perception. No longer are we out to rescue the princess from the castle. The princess and her captivity are but a backdrop for the more exciting, dynamic world of human interaction. Players talking with players, and cooperation on a large scale, is the driving force behind the online subscription game. EVE Online is a particularly good example of this, as organizations consisting of thousands have banded together to reach the endgame, pitting the resources of the collective against other organizations in what have become titanic clashes between the members of the player base. The leaders of these organizations run their in-game corporations like they would run their own businesses, and in many cases (being a former EVE player myself), their 'employees' take their job just as seriously.

The drive to compete, whether cooperatively or pitted against one another, is immense. The Internet, a land nearly without accountability, is perhaps the best place for aspiring players to do so. The MMO is fast becoming the standard for PC gamers (if it has not already), and with the advent of the genre, our goals in gaming itself are shifted. Welcome to the Web 2.0 of computer games, and settle yourself in for a long ride.