The World of Warcraft Demographics

Although Blizzard Entertainment had already produced 3 successful  single player games with the Warcraft title they had no idea the phenomenon that would be born when they realised the online version - World of Warcraft. Not only has it broke all records of the type of game it is, a MMORPG, it has also shattered industry records and has demonstrated to the entire game industry just how popular online games now are.

Before World of Warcraft the gaming demographics were very different than they are now. There are millions of WoW players actively subscribed to the game. Estimates put the number just over eleven million. The 11,000,000 active subscribers belong to almost every age group and come from a variety of cultural and economic backgrounds.

Traditionally online gamers were teenage or twenty-something single men who liked sci-fi. However, nowadays you will just as easily find middle-aged men, young women and children playing online games.

As there were very dramatic changes in the online player demographics, i.e. age groups, male versus female, economic backgrounds of players etc., that came about at the same time as World of Warcraft was released many people believe it is because of this game. Although there are usually many dynamic reasons for such huge shifts in social interactions there is mounting evidence that points to the fact that Warcraft may have been a catalyst for these changes in online gaming.

The Daedalus Project, conducted by Nicholas Yee, the American researcher who attained his Ph.D. in Communication from Stanford University, clearly shows that about twenty percent of WoW gamers never played a video game prior to their involvement n world of warcraft!

In addition it has also been noted that there are more women playing online games now than ever because of the large numbers playing world of warcraft.

Although many men will use a female avatar while playing world of warcraft it is believed that about one third of players are actually female. It is believed many have become WoW players because they were introduced to the game by their male partner.

To successfully move forward in world of warcraft it is necessary to interact socially with other players and form alliances within the game. This may be one reason that females enjoy this type of game as social interaction is critical.

World of Warcraft has been designed as a socially interactive experience. It is extremely difficult to make any real progress as a solo player and impossible to enjoy all the game has to offer if you refuse to align yourself with a group or guild. Believe it or not  this unique form of social interaction in the virtual world created by Blizzard has the capability of teaching players some very useful real-world skills.

Many experts, and some high ranking executives from billion-dollar companies (like Yahoo) have praised World of Warcraft for helping players develop team skills, team building attributes and managerial skills equivalent to a college level education or years in the business world!

Truly World of Warcraft is much more than just an online pastime and far more than just a video game. World of Warcraft is an enjoyable way to earn real usable skills that bleed into the everyday world!