1. Computer Game Evaluation: World of Warcraft
Dustin Kelley
CIS 487
Fall 2005

2. Basic Information Game Title: Company & Author: Minimum Requirements:
Type of Game: MMORPG
Price: $49.99 purchase, $15/month subscription
Launch Date: 11/22/04
ESRB Rating: Teen (13+)
Platforms: PC & Mac
Minimum Requirements:
800 MHz CPU
256 MB RAM
32 MB 3D Graphics Card
5 GB hard drive space
DirectX 9.0c
56k modem w/ internet
Recommended:
1.6 GHz CPU
512 MB RAM
64 MB 3D Graphics Card
Cable/DSL internet

3. Installation
4 CDs
Easy installation, automated and prompts when to insert next CD
Patches and upgrades are automatically downloaded and installed when game is started
May take a few hours total
Writes nearly 5 GB to your hard drive
CD not required while playing

4. Quick Overview Game must be played online only
Standard RPG elements (leveling, experience, etc.)
Real-time, action-oriented rather than turn-based
Many different options when creating your character, each giving the player a new experience
Two factions: Alliance & Horde
Choose male or female
Eight races to choose from
Alliance: Dwarves, Gnomes, Humans, Night Elves
Horde: Orcs, Undead, Tauren, Trolls
Nine classes total, with eight in each faction,
Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin (Alliance only), Priest, Rogue, Shaman (Horde only), Warlock, Warrior
Well-balanced; each have their own advantages/disadvantages
Each faction has 3 different starting locations

5. Storyline Alliance vs. Horde ceasefire
Still warfare through in-game run-ins
Each race is fighting for their place in the world of Azeroth
Each race has an introduction video describing its role in the world
Storyline is driven at will by the player through quests

6. Player’s Role
Immerse yourself into the fantasy world of Azeroth to take on the role and live the life of your chosen race & class
When grouping with other players, each class has it’s own role(s), such as tanking (keeping mobs from attacking other members), healing group members, etc.

7. User Interface Simple and easy to learn
Actions, attacks, and other items are accessed through buttons on the action bar located at the bottom of the screen
Top row of keys, 1 through =, may be assigned to actions for quick access
“Smart mouse” cursor changes as different object types are hovered over, and mouse-click actions are changed as well
By default, character movement controlled by mouse, ASDW keys, or arrow keys
All keys and actions are fully customizable
Custom UI mods are available for download, or may be created by the user

8. User Interface

9. Game Play Player can choose different styles of play at any time
Questing
Accept and complete a quest for an NPC for rewards (money, items, experience)
Leads player to new areas
Grinding
Kill mobs just to gain experience
Farming
Gathering materials or items needed for various reasons
Killing certain mobs hoping for a particular dropped item
Instances
Dungeons usually attempted with a group
Individually spawned for your own group only (no other players encountered inside)
Rare item drops
Battlegrounds
Groups of each faction compete in Player-vs-Player (PvP) instances

10. Game Play (cont’d) Non-linear progression
Gain experience by questing or fighting
Level up your character to learn new skills, get better items, become more powerful
Level 60 is the cap
Make friends by grouping with others, or joining a guild
Many later battles require groups
Guild members can be very helpful when learning the game
Learn professions to make useful items for yourself, or to sell/trade to other players

11. Scoring Experience points
Leveling your character, skills, talents, etc.
PvP rankings
Honor points
Guild rankings
Territory reputation

12. Artwork Landscapes Characters Beautifully designed
Wide variety of vast areas to explore
Characters
Easily distinguishable races
Each new piece of armor or weapon equipped changes the look of your character accordingly

13. Sound & Music Background music Realistic nature sounds
Changes accordingly with new locations
Not always on, but kicks in at just the right times
Realistic nature sounds
Birds chirping, crickets at night, etc.
Unique sounds for the many different actions/events keep you more aware of what’s going on
Different enemy types have distinguishable sounds/voices
Never seem overly repetitive

14. Special Features
Game is always growing as patches and updates are released
New instances & battlegrounds
New items
Choose server (PvP or not)
Multiple race/class combinations
Auction House (in-game eBay)

15. Manual Over 200 pages Well-organized Very helpful to new players
Explains quite a bit about the game’s many different features
Not completely necessary to read, as there is an optional in-game alert system to tell you about new situations

16. Bugs Not currently aware of any
New patches are occasionally released by Blizzard to fix bugs found, add new features, etc.

17. Game Review The Good The Bad Countless hours of play
Always find new milestones to work toward
Always something to do, even after you reach 60
Extremely high replayability due to the many character options
Encourages grouping with other players
Open-ended: you decide what you want to do next
The Bad
Very addicting
Game doesn’t end
Some quests get repetitive
Kill [blah], bring me [blah]
Could consume your life if you’re not careful
Subscription cost ends up being ~ $180/year

18. Game Review (cont’d) Comparison Audience Design Mistakes?
First MMORPG I’ve played
Therefore, no other games I can compare it to
Audience
The Teen rating seems suitable
Competence
Ability to handle complex situations
Design Mistakes?
I think not

19. Summary Overall strengths Overall weaknesses Funativity: very high
Player choices affect how game is played
Enormous world to discover
Huge amount of information to learn
Overall weaknesses
Subscription costs
Game has no “ending” or “final boss”
No ultimate goal
Hinders the feeling of completeness you get from beating a game

20. Summary (cont’d) Is the game worth purchasing?
Yes, very much so
The subscription cost is not too bad
Always being updated
Very high fun/cost ratio
How could it be improved?
Add a balance system that doesn’t cause over-crowding of one faction on a server
Overall game is improved with every patch release