IGN: GDC 2007: Why Does Everyone Like World of Warcraft?
A Korean professor tackles the burning question.
by Charles Onyett
US, March 8, 2007 - What made Blizzard's MMO such a sales behemoth? At GDC 2007, Jong Hyun Wi, Ph.D, president of the Game Contents Research Center at Chung-Ang University, Korea, gave a presentation emphasizing the differences between Eastern and Western gaming interests. His numbers were based on polls taken from communities of gamers from both territories, asking about their motivations for hopping into the online space. Though games from countries like Korea and China have started to catch on in the United States, cross-pollination between the two territories has yet to see a major integration with one exception, World of Warcraft.
According to charts shown during the presentation, World of Warcraft is currently the most popular MMO in the United States, number three in Korea, and number six in China. Though Eastern MMOs have been gaining more and more popularity in the United States, Western games, such as EverQuest 2, have failed miserably at trying to establish an Eastern user base. The reasons behind World of Warcraft's successful exportation includes playing to a number of different MMO aspects, including PK (player killing, or PvP) opportunities and the rationale behind gamers' decisions to enter these virtual worlds (item acquisition versus questing).
Dr. Wi's data compared gamers from China and the United States, as he said they showed the most diverse results. When he asked gamers if they'd experienced PK gameplay, 91.3 percent of Chinese gamers said they had, compared to only 34.7 percent of Americans. He concluded Asian gamers consider player versus player combat to be an integral part of the gaming experience.
Gamers from both nations differed even more when asked what they looked for in a game experience. American gamers said they preferred attractive graphics and logical quests above diverse character customization options and a wide variety of obtainable items, which the Chinese held in higher regard. Korean and Asian markets, according to Dr. Wi, are more focused on end results, or item acquisition. In contrast, gamers in the United States are more interested in the process of obtaining those items.
Ideas about the functions of online communities differ as well. 71.13 percent of Chinese gamers polled reported they joined in-game guilds for a play advantage, while only 20.69 percent of Americans chose the same answer. When asked if they joined guilds to make friends, only 14.81 percent of Chinese gamers reported in the positive, compared to 48.68 percent of Americans. Dr. Wi drew the conclusion that American gamers are looking to foster a community and communicate with friends, whereas Chinese gamers are more focused on achieving end goals.
World of Warcraft's success, according to Dr. Wi, is that World of Warcraft managed to capitalize on these cultural gaming divides. It effectively combined party and solo play, questing and PK gameplay, and online community integration to create a game that's appealing worldwide. Other factors not mentioned include Blizzard's use of particularly stylized graphics, attractive to Eastern markets accustomed to super-deformed style MMOs. Blizzard also had the advantage of an existing brand recognition in Eastern territories, which was mentioned in a different panel discussion entitled MMOs, Past, Present, and Future, featuring MMO experts Mark Jacobs, Daniel James, Mark Kern, Raph Koster, and Gordon Walton.
