Why is WoW addictive?
I recently had a talk with my brother telling him about my adventures in WoW and informed him about a recent article which I read not long ago stating that WoW has 7 million active subscribers world-wide. What is that I hear you muttering? Huh… you don’t believe me? Ok then, try going to Google.com and type “7 million subscribers wow” in the search text. This should give you:
OMGWTF#$!%^BLIZZPWNEDUS$%#$&!!!11!!11oneoneone...
Being well educated and all in Mathematics during my high school years, I shall do an extremely complex equation that no one has ever attempted. So, here goes…
*starts scribbling while narrating*
Assuming each player pays a monthly fee of USD 14.99. With 7,000,000 subscribers, the below equation will explain things a lot better:
USD 14.99 x 7,000,000 x 12 months = USD 1,259,160,000
USD 14.99 x 7,000,000 x 1month = USD 104,930,000
Hmm… no doubt it is a rough number since the numbers are based on world-wide statistics; some countries pay a lower monthly fee while some pay slightly higher. Still… that is a lot of commas and zeroes.
Coming back to the question again, Why is WoW addictive? Is it because of Blizzard’s marketing strategy? Is it because of Blizzard’s quality content in a game? Are we all part of a mastermind scheme by Blizzard that has lured us into addictively playing their games while they suck our brain juices? I just don’t know.
Let study this from a physiological point of view. Taking my brother’s words in to consideration, do we actually know the gender statistics of WoW players? I would assume that male players will be more dominant and the ratio for male to female players would be approximately 20:1 or maybe 30:1. Now, ask yourselves… why male players would be more dominant in MMORPGs such as WoW?
With the assumed statistics, my brother told me why WoW has so many active subscribers is because men in general have a strong sense of being able to conquer. How do you define conquering? Is it the feeling that gives you a swell in your chest when you have achieved something significant? Is it a feeling that makes you smile without thought and makes you want to scream because you are about to blow if you don’t let it out? Is it a drive that you make work towards while taking down any challenges which prove to be an obstacle in your course of achieving your goal?
No doubt that the content in WoW is extremely well portrayed with many elements of allowing a player to feel that they have conquered something. With each “conquer”; it feeds the pride of the player. For example, finishing a quest and rewarding the player with experience or defeating a dragon which is a prominent character in the Lore of Warcraft. Being able to organize 40-man together to venture on a journey to kill elemental lords and rewarding players with equipments which makes them feel more powerful. All these examples actually give players the pleasure of conquering. Blizzard has wittingly made a lot of progress on content and publishing it on their website which allow players to look forward to “conquering”.
Is that what men truly feel and is it total sense of domination which drives men differently from women? I am not implying that females do not have a sense of conquering; I am just simply assuming that it would be more dominant in males compared to females.
I guess it could be our hormones which makes us act differently and Blizzard is smart enough to actually tap into our weaknesses which we have undoubtedly fell prey thus making WoW the most successful MMORPG of all times.
OMGWTF#$!%^BLIZZPWNEDUS$%#$&!!!11!!11oneoneone...
Being well educated and all in Mathematics during my high school years, I shall do an extremely complex equation that no one has ever attempted. So, here goes…
*starts scribbling while narrating*
Assuming each player pays a monthly fee of USD 14.99. With 7,000,000 subscribers, the below equation will explain things a lot better:
USD 14.99 x 7,000,000 x 12 months = USD 1,259,160,000
USD 14.99 x 7,000,000 x 1month = USD 104,930,000
Hmm… no doubt it is a rough number since the numbers are based on world-wide statistics; some countries pay a lower monthly fee while some pay slightly higher. Still… that is a lot of commas and zeroes.
Coming back to the question again, Why is WoW addictive? Is it because of Blizzard’s marketing strategy? Is it because of Blizzard’s quality content in a game? Are we all part of a mastermind scheme by Blizzard that has lured us into addictively playing their games while they suck our brain juices? I just don’t know.
Let study this from a physiological point of view. Taking my brother’s words in to consideration, do we actually know the gender statistics of WoW players? I would assume that male players will be more dominant and the ratio for male to female players would be approximately 20:1 or maybe 30:1. Now, ask yourselves… why male players would be more dominant in MMORPGs such as WoW?
With the assumed statistics, my brother told me why WoW has so many active subscribers is because men in general have a strong sense of being able to conquer. How do you define conquering? Is it the feeling that gives you a swell in your chest when you have achieved something significant? Is it a feeling that makes you smile without thought and makes you want to scream because you are about to blow if you don’t let it out? Is it a drive that you make work towards while taking down any challenges which prove to be an obstacle in your course of achieving your goal?
No doubt that the content in WoW is extremely well portrayed with many elements of allowing a player to feel that they have conquered something. With each “conquer”; it feeds the pride of the player. For example, finishing a quest and rewarding the player with experience or defeating a dragon which is a prominent character in the Lore of Warcraft. Being able to organize 40-man together to venture on a journey to kill elemental lords and rewarding players with equipments which makes them feel more powerful. All these examples actually give players the pleasure of conquering. Blizzard has wittingly made a lot of progress on content and publishing it on their website which allow players to look forward to “conquering”.
Is that what men truly feel and is it total sense of domination which drives men differently from women? I am not implying that females do not have a sense of conquering; I am just simply assuming that it would be more dominant in males compared to females.
I guess it could be our hormones which makes us act differently and Blizzard is smart enough to actually tap into our weaknesses which we have undoubtedly fell prey thus making WoW the most successful MMORPG of all times.
posted by Dreadpaladin / Vanguardlock at 10:20 am
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