Online Gamers Get Bigger World to Conquer

By STANLEY A. MILLER II

A new expansion of “World of Warcraft,” the most popular online game ever, will reshape the virtual reality of more than 8 million people worldwide, many of whom lined up at midnight to ensure that they would get the latest update.

The expansion, dubbed “The Burning Crusade,” changes this online digital world in so many ways that even seasoned veterans of the game are more than willing to plunk down $39.99 today. Some local games and electronics stores planned to open at 12:01 a.m. to sell it to eager fans, and many expect it to sell out.

“It’s going to be huge,” said Matt Hackbarth, 26, of Wauwatosa, a seasoned player who has several advanced characters in the game. “Everyone is excited about the expansion, and we’re all going to buy it as soon as we can.”

“World of Warcraft” is a massively multiplayer online game, which means thousands of players adventure in huge, shared online environments. The basic premise of the game, which takes place in a colorful, 3-D swords-and-sorcery fantasy setting, is simple: Create a character, explore the world and kill things. As players complete various tasks, they gain experience points that raise their level and unlock new abilities.

Since “World of Warcraft” was launched on Nov. 23, 2004, the game has landed more than 8 million subscribers, including more than 2 million in North America, 1.5 million in Europe and 3.5 million in China, said Blizzard Entertainment, which runs the game, in a statement last week.

That membership includes young professionals, children, senior citizens and even celebrities: During a comedy show in Los Angeles in 2005, Dave Chappelle professed his love for the game.

” ‘World of Warcraft’ is the most popular of these games by far,” said Jim Gee, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies games and learning. “The genius of the game is that it lets people play in many different ways. You see a lot of married couples playing it. . . . If you don’t want to play with others, you don’t have to. It also has a tremendous amount of immersive properties.”

Gee, whose wife, son, brother and several colleagues also play “World of Warcraft,” said the expansion will probably make the game even more appealing to a mainstream audience.

“I think they want a mass audience, but they also don’t want to alienate the hardcore gamer,” Gee said.

Testing the new stuff

Blizzard often digitally distributes updates to “World of Warcraft” over the Internet, fixing bugs and rebalancing various features. But the “Burning Crusade” expansion rolls out sweeping changes, including new areas, enemies, items and two new races for players to create characters, said Lee Sparks, an associate producer for Blizzard. Game designers are also retooling the various skills and professions characters can have in the game.

The Irvine, Calif.-based company has a vested interest in making sure its customers are happy: Each player pays up to $15 a month to connect to the online realms where the game takes place.

Hackbarth and his wife, Linn Elliott, who also plays the game extensively, have tried out the early version of “The Burning Crusade,” which was offered to a limited few to help test the new content. The couple, who used to run the now-closed Portal computer gaming center in Wauwatosa, give the fresh material high praise, noting that the new areas look impressive and will be fun for players to explore.

However, Elliott said she stopped playing the Beta version of “The Burning Crusade” after a few weeks because she wanted to share the new experiences with her friends and not the random group of people testing.

The goals of the game vary depending on the player’s priorities, but many gamers say they enjoy watching their characters grow as well as outfitting them with the best equipment they can find.

The endgame

The advanced challenges of “World of Warcraft,” often called the endgame, typically require coordinating 20 to 40 players in order to defeat the most difficult enemies.

Advanced players usually download voice-over-IP software that lets them talk to each other instead of typing text messages through the game itself – it’s a lot faster to say “look out behind you” as opposed to typing it out.

The expansion adds endgame goals that can be reached with five and 10 players, an addition Elliott and her friends welcome because now “sometimes you have to group with people you really don’t like” otherwise.

Gee, the UW games scholar, said that because endgame goals require coordinating so many people, large, powerful online player associations have formed. These massive player groups, which are often called “guilds,” can have hundreds of members and wield tremendous influence over the game worlds.

“Some guilds were becoming very authoritarian and very powerful, and I think Blizzard wanted to change that,” Gee said, noting that some guilds have strict requirements, including how often their members play and how their members can design their characters.

Potential problems

Blizzard’s success with “World of Warcraft” has suffered some missteps, including occasional game-breaking bugs, unstable or overcrowded servers and poor customer service. Players say that when the game first launched, technical problems were common, and they fear history will repeat itself when “The Burning Crusade” goes live this week.

A possible harbinger of things to come, “World of Warcraft” suffered a service failure Sunday that prevented some players from logging into their accounts and playing. It’s possible that when subscribers try to play the updated game today, Blizzard’s networks could be overwhelmed, and servers could crash.

“We all remember when the game came out,” Gee said. “I don’t think Blizzard ever expected WOW to be so popular. It’s made servicing the game a real challenge. I hope they’ve learned some lessons. They are making scads of money . . . and yet they’ve allowed service problems to fester.”

Medieval shopping network

“World of Warcraft’s” popularity has helped boost the virtual currency market – in which players pay real money for virtual wealth within the game – as well as other independent cottage industries designed to make playing the game easier.

For example, players can buy rare items in the game with real- life money: A “glowing brightwood staff” for a character on the Whisperwind server costs $149 at World of Warcraft Treasures (wowtreasures.com).

There are independent “power-leveling” services, too, in which players pay someone else to get their character to a high level. Ige.com charges $175 for boosting a character from level 1 to level 60, the top threshold for characters until the expansion, which increases the cap to level 70.

Escort service

And for players who have trouble getting others to team up with them, services such as MOG Masters will escort them through difficult dungeons that normally would require 40 players to complete. For example, a run through Black Wing Lair, currently one of the most dangerous places in “World of Warcraft,” costs $20, according to the site Mogmasters.com.

Some fans of the game who play enough not to need such shortcuts say these services – which are not affiliated with or approved by Blizzard – appeal to more casual players who can’t invest the time to keep up with “hardcore” gamers but want the experience and virtual items available only to the elite.

“For a lot of people, that is the only way they are going to see the inside of some of those instances,” said Miles Melius, a 30- year-old player who lives in Menomonee Falls.

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