What makes the people who play WoW a community?

[luna]

What do you do to try to get more people to join TG?

We have actively recruited people to join the guild through the game and through our friends. We attempt to draw people into the community as a whole, as we have a whole lot more to offer here than just this one game. Some take us up on the wider invitation, others prefer to stick with WoW. It's a balance, as far as I can see.

What's in the future for the WoW community at TG?

Hopefully we will continue to stay true to our identity as a successful guild who's members still know what their children/spouses/outside of their houses look like. We have always been focused on fostering a community atmosphere both in game and here on the forums. I hope we will continue to be a community within Tactical Gamer that the entire community as a whole can be proud of.

[beep]

Here's another HUGE resource of material about MMO gaming and surveys about them.

Click here

[beep]

Interesting stuff...

Players were asked to read through a set of motivations and pick the one that was most important to them. The motivations were generated from earlier findings:

Achievement
- Becoming powerful
- Making progress
- Competing with others
- Analyzing game mechanics

Social
- Socializing with others
- Making good friends
- Working with others in a team

Immersion
- Exploring the world
- Role-playing
- Escaping from RL problems
- Customizing your character
- Being immersed in the MMO

Here's the result.

[MasterEditorInChief]

Yikes, so much info!

Well, my paper is due today so I'll keep you posted on how well I do on it. I just polished it up with Luna's quotes and some of the info I found on the Daedalus Project. Thanks for the help!

[MasterEditorInChief]

Good news, I got my paper back today.

Bad news, it didn't do so good. Long story short, I didn't "analyze" what my interviewees said enough. Pah, my paper still rocks. I'll post it here when I can.

[Gaiaghost07]

Well tell your teach I said he/she can shove their projects up his or her bumm! We gave lots of info, shoulda been an A !

[luna]

Can you revise the paper and resubmit it, Master? If so, I can take a look at it and give you some advice.

[MasterEditorInChief]

Can you revise the paper and resubmit it, Master? If so, I can take a look at it and give you some advice.

As it turns out, I can. I know what I need to do (analyze your quotes and break down what it is you guys are saying), and I really appreciate your offer. Here's the paper in it's entirety.

[xylotism]

How did you get into WoW? Recommendation? From playing Warcraft III? I had bought/finished Warcraft 3 before, but it wasn't my reason for getting WoW. Simply put, I was just looking for new games. I'd been downloading [and buying, if I wanted multiplayer action] tons of games to keep me occupied, and WoW was just one I had overlooked for a long time, probably due to my grudge against it for stealing all the Everquest players. But sometime last September, I think, I decided to buy it, but first picked up some random guy from XFire to send a trial account so he could have 15 days free play time when I activated the full account. Good karma and such.


How much money do you think you've spent on playing WoW? Include purchasing the game, subscription fees, possible computer upgrades, etc. As long as they're related to the game. I think the game was $19.99 from Direct2Drive.com, shortly thereafter I bought Burning Crusade for $29.99 from the WoW site, and I've spent $14.99 a month for subscription since September, so about 7 months, so the total comes to about $155. Not too bad compared to most, I think. Definitely worth it, as I've had 7 months of fun for about three times the price of games that last just a week or two, and I'm still not done.


Is there some sort of organization amongst the group (say, by rank or by class)? What are guilds and how do they work? A guild can be a lot of things. A chat medium, a source for ingame groups, or just a guild bank to pay for your armor repairs. I personally would like all of those, but I can't seem to find a guild that's good at each.


What activities do you engage in on a monthly/weekly/or daily basis in WoW? Just leveling. I'm an alt-oholic so I have the need to level up several characters at once. My main is a Hunter, and he's working through the expansion's content to hit level 70. So mostly quests, with an occasional dungeon group if I can find one.


What methods are used to communicate with each other in game? Public chat, guild chat, whispers [private messages], and sometimes guilds use Ventrilo to communicate, but I'm not sure if that counts as ingame.


Seeing that WoW is primarily an online endeavor, are there instances where you gather with others who play WoW in person and play/talk about the game? I talk to a few of my online friends about it when we're not playing, but I don't know many people that play it, in person. I've been trying to get my little brother to play... he uses my account while I'm at work, but so far he's not really at a level of knowledge to be able to talk about the game outside of it.


There have been many parodies and jokes made about the game and those who play it. How did you react to these parodies/joke? Some are funny, some are untrue, but none really affect me either way. I'm aware of the stereotypes, and I probably fit some, but hey, I enjoy what I do, so judge away.


Has playing WoW changed the way you live your life? How? I play most days after I get off work... I get home around 10pm though, so I get 2-4 hours of playtime before bedtime. This is excluding of course outside plans, or simply other games. Currently my gaming is split between WoW, Guitar Hero and Call of Duty 4.

With a market becoming saturated with MMOs, what will keep you playing WoW? I'm not sure. I thought I'd play Everquest forever, but after a couple years I just got bored with the constant grind... it would take days of killing the same monsters in the same area to level, even in the middle of the game. WoW is much more accepting as far as varying gameplay and environments, but I could see how it could get boring sometimes. But with nine different classes to play, another expansion with 10 more levels to gain, that's at least 90 more levels if you want to experience everything, let alone things not related to leveling. It's got tons of life left, for me.

You can just call me Johnny, if quotes are needed.

@Ghost - You also left off Warrior, and replaced it with a second Warlock. o_o

EDIT: Oh, more questions.

How did you react when news came that WoW had broken the 10 million player mark? Unsurprised. I had no idea how many people played, other than a LOT, but I wasn't surprised it was in the millions.

Do you think that the condition known as "Game Addiction" is a serious issue for you or anyone you know who plays WoW? Nope. If this is wrong, I don't wanna be right. I don't play as much as others, anyway.

What issues have you run into since you've played the game? Nothing much...I have more problems with addons being buggy than the game itself. Also the general chat gets pretty annoying sometimes.

Explain a few of the gameplay mechanics in WoW. Keep in mind, neither the reader nor myself understand the game. One big difference between WoW and other MMOs is that it's more endgame based. As you level, you'll see two hundred level 70 [max] characters for every one your level. They don't tease you with experience points... up until around 40 or so you can gain a level or two every night, just by doing quests in the appropriate areas. Then when you hit level 60 and start getting into the endgame play, it becomes a new game. Raids of forty people, gear with much better stats, etc. The game may not feel very rewarding at lower levels, but it makes up for it by giving you a ton to do, even if you've already hit the highest level you can.

What do you do to try to expand the population of WoW? I recommend it to any computer gamers I know, and some gamers that only play consoles. I don't suggest it much to people who aren't gamers, but I've heard some have picked up WoW as their first ever video game, and I think that's pretty cool.

What do you do to try to get more people to join TG?
What's in the future for the WoW community at TG? These questions I can't quite answer, as I'm still pretty new here.

EDIT 2: I should probably not answer questions for a paper that's already done. But hey, it was fun for me, so whatever. :P