Why do we like WoW?

During one of my daily World of Warcraft (WoW) General Forum sessions, I was reading a post that someone slipped in about the new hot MMO in Beta call Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. They proclaimed it the new "future" leader in MMO space and provided a link to it's website. Being a fan of MMOs, I clicked the link and started doing some research.

MMO communities are competitive regardless of their size. WoW stands at 5,000,000 subscribers, but judging from the log in wait times I have a feeling it's a much larger number. Vanguard is still in beta - I'm guessing it's in the hundreds of thousands. Curious about what they were saying about us WoW players, I slipped into their forums and read some of their posts.

One post caught my eye: It was titled "WoW -- why?" Why indeed. Why do we play WoW? Why do they play Vanguard? The post was constructive, but I don't think they ever really touched on why WoW is such a huge success.

I've been playing WoW since launch - over one year of play time. That's a long time to play one game in an industry that is more instantaneous than the movie industry. However, my experience has not been as enlightening as my good friends Matt and Adele, who have recently began their adventures in Azeroth. It's through them that I understand.

I have played, quite literally, most MMOs that have hit the shelf - an embarrassing amount of experience with MMOs. On the other hand, my friends are having their first MMO experience with WoW making them a good litmus test.

That they can jump right in and get hooked is the answer to the question. WoW is a complicated game with a fantastic learning curve. At level one, the game is very simple, and it's very clear where you are supposed to go and what you need to be doing without feeling like it's leading you around by the nose. As you progress through the ranks, it adds skills little by little; it even makes you purchase them which is a clever way of letting you progress at your own rate. This accessibility is the main reason for Blizzard's success with WoW.

I have to mention my recent experience with Everquest 2: I just recently returned to this game after a 10 month absence to see what was up. My level 13 bard was still there, and as soon as I hit the world I was assaulted with countless pop-ups with confusing skills and additions to my character I didn't understand. I was only level 13 after logging maybe 2 weeks of play time total - I had no idea what to pick and what not to pick. However, the game was forcing me to choose right there. This is not catering to the masses. A non-gamer would feel threatened by this sort of game design. After picking my skills, I started killing a few things - the same things I've killed for 13 levels. I want to move on, but I'm not sure where to go and where I should be at this level. Things I should be able to kill at 13 kill me. Friends, this is why WoW won the great 2004 MMO battle.

Another thing to mention is WoW's graphical style. The game has a look that the common person can "understand". It doesn't look like Dungeons and Dragons might look, which I'm sure puts off a few people with other games. It's stylish and clean; it's fun to look at even after playing it for a year.

WoW is the MMO equivalent to Pac-Man or Space Invaders - and I mean this is a compliment. It's the sort of game that can get business suits, women and children all to play it. As a matter of fact, it has: 5 million of them. Is Vanguard going to steal away WoW's thunder? Who knows. I haven't played it yet (although I'm sure I will), but from the screenshots and webpage I would say they are making the same mistakes as their forefathers - make it simple stupid!