Blizzard Entertainment first released World of Warcraft in November 2004, so the New York Times celebrated the anniversary by outlining the many ways the massively multiplayer online role-playing game’s influence can still be seen 20 years later.
For one thing, multiplayer games and early social networks like MySpace already existed, but WoW gave us a real-world preview of a future where everyone could connect with friends and strangers online. As another example, the game has made billions of dollars through a business model that combines monthly subscriptions and in-game purchases (including pets and animals that players can ride), making it a huge cash generator for Blizzard and paving the way for future Internet business models. showed the way.
The game also spawned immortal memes, captured the attention of celebrity fans, and prompted epidemiologists to argue that studying events involving the uncontrolled spread of fantasy diseases could yield insight into real epidemics.
And for the record, I didn’t think the movie was that bad.
